Antarctica ice melting increased by 280 per cent in last 16 years

The pace of melting rose dramatically over the four-decade period. From 1979 to 2001, it was an average of 48 gigatonnes annually per decade. The rate jumped 280 per cent to 134 gigatonnes for 2001 to 2017.

antarctica, NASA, antarctic ice, antarctic ice melting, global warming, world news, indian express news — According to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Antarctica is melting more than six times faster than it did in the 1980s. (NASA via AP)

Yearly loss of ice from Antarctica has increased by an alarming rate of 280 per cent between 2001 and 2017, according to a study which showed that accelerated melting caused global sea levels to rise more than half an inch in the last four decades.

The researchers, including those from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, were able to discern that between 1979 and 1990, Antarctica shed an average of 40 gigatonnes of ice mass annually.

From 2009 to 2017, about 252 gigatonnes per year were lost.

The pace of melting rose dramatically over the four-decade period. From 1979 to 2001, it was an average of 48 gigatonnes annually per decade. The rate jumped 280 per cent to 134 gigatonnes for 2001 to 2017.

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Earth's ozone hole shrinks to smallest size since 1988

The ozone hole over Antarctica shrank to its smallest maximum area since 1988, Nasa said on Thursday. Scientists say overall the ozone layer is beginning to recover because of the phase-out of chemicals used in refrigerants and aerosol cans.

For the study published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers conducted the longest-ever assessment of remaining Antarctic ice mass.