ICE CAPS MELTING

Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica continue to shrink at a alarming rate; faster than what scientist thought.  New Data from NASA shows that the ice sheets are slowly becoming just lakes.  The ice sheets in Antarctica have been losing 30 feet a year since 2003, according to the paper published in the Nature journal.  The melting of the ice sheets has really taken off.  Since 2003, the melting has increased 50% over that of the previous reporting period,1995 to 2003.  NASA used one of their satellites to get these new measurements, showing that there are two main ice sheets that are melting very quickly.  It will probably take hundreds of years for a sheet to fully melt, but it will surely add several feet of water to the lakes and oceans.  I think this is an issue that is not very often looked at.  It needs to get more attention than it does, because global warming is causing the ice to melt, which in turn is causing the animals that live in that environment to die. 

"To some extent its a run away effect."

"It is more widely spread than we thought," said Hamish Pritchard of the British Antarctice Survey.

"The recent measurements eliminate the most optimistic view," said Penn State University professor Richard Alley.