More proof that global warming is a hoax ...

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2362745.ece

Ocean heat blamed for the mysterious disappearance of glaciers
By Steve Connor
Published: 16 March 2007
A mysterious phenomenon is causing four major glaciers in the
Antarctic to shrink in unison, causing a significant increase in sea
levels, scientists have found.

The rise in atmospheric temperatures caused by global warming cannot
account for the relatively rapid movement of the glaciers into the
sea, but scientists suspect that warmer oceans may be playing a role.

"There is a possibility that heat from the ocean is somehow flowing in
underneath these glaciers, but it is not related to global warming,"
said glaciologist Duncan Wingham of University College London.
"Something has changed that is causing these glaciers to shrink.

"At this rate the glaciers will all be afloat in 150 years or so."

Satellite measurements have shown that the Antarctic glaciers are
retreating in a uniform manner, suggesting a common cause. Air
temperatures over Antarctica are much too cold for any significant
surface melting, which suggests that the flow of the glaciers into the
sea is being aided by melting at their base, lubricating their
movement into the ocean.

In a study in the journal Science, Dr Wingham and colleague Andrew
Shepherd of Edinburgh University found that the Greenland and
Antarctic ice sheets have together contributed a sea level rise of
0.35mm a year over the past decade - about 12 per cent of the current
global trend.

While the retreat of the Greenland ice *** can be linked to melting
of the glaciers' surface, the same it not true of the four major
glaciers in the Antarctic identified by Wingham and Shepherd.

"These glaciers are vulnerable to small changes in ocean temperature,"
he said. "A rise of less than 0.5C could have triggered the present
imbalance."

However, it would take about 200 years for extra heat from the ocean
to reach the underside of the glaciers, which makes it difficult to
believe that the present shrinkage is due to global warming, Dr
Wingham said.

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