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Article: Arctic ice cap: It's thinner than we thought; New data have implications for global climate and present an intriguingmystery.(USA)(Science)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- November 17, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Scientists mining old data have discovered "a major climatic signal." The Arctic Ocean's ice cap has shrunk more dramatically than anyone realized.
Comparing ice thicknesses measured by submarines between 1958 and 1976 with measurements made this decade, scientists found that, on average, the cap is 4.3 feet thinner. It has lost some 40 percent of its volume.
Several earlier studies had indicated widespread thinning. But they didn't give a comprehensive picture. Now a team of scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle has sketched that picture.
The results, to be published in the Dec. 1 edition of Geophysical Research Letters, are ...