(deepening) - why is antarctica so important? (part1)
There are essentially three reasons: scientific, technological, geostrategic, economic.
Scientists: the importance of the Antarctic lies in the demonstration of the fact that the climate policies are completely wrong, and that President Trump has done well to change completely. (net of any geoengineering interventions)
Indeed sea ice has grown to a record large extent for a second straight year, baffling scientists seeking to understand why this ice is expanding rather than shrinking in a warming world. The ice extent reached 19.51 million square kilometers, according to data posted on the National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site. (ftp:// sidads.colorado.edu/DATASETS/NOAA/G02135/south/daily/data/)
That number bested record high levels set earlier and in 2012 (of 19.48 million square kilometers).
In a new study (Modeling the Impact of Wind Intensification on Antarctic Sea Ice Volume) in the Journal of Climate, Jinlun Zhang finds both strengthening and converging winds around the South Pole can explain 80 percent of the increase in ice volume which has been observed.
"The polar vortex that swirls around the South Pole is not just stronger than it was when satellite records began in the 1970s, it has more convergence, meaning it shoves the sea ice together to cause ridging," the study's press release explains.
(http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/09/17/stronger-winds-explain-puzzling-growth-of-sea-ice-in-antarctica/)
All of this clearly defeated 25 years of climate change policies.