Melts in Your South, Not in Your Plans

Antarctica ice sheets melting faster than expected

Another day, another round of studies showing the world's ice sheets melting faster than expected, another outbreak of indifference from the public, another resigned sigh from enviros, another bout of empty rhetoric from legislators. K, see you tomorrow! Oh, what, you want details? All right: The lucky ice sheets featured in these particular studies are in Antarctica. New research shows they're melting faster than they can be replenished by new snow. So, sea levels could rise faster than anticipated in coming centuries. The result was confirmed in two independent studies, one in the journal Science, another in The Journal of Glaciology. The reports come on the heels of last month's news that Greenland's glaciers are melting twice as fast as expected. Congressional Democrats say the new findings should impel the U.S. to put mandatory curbs on greenhouse-gas emissions right away. Only, like, for real this time. They mean it. Ooh, look, a shiny port scandal ...