There is no doubt that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been melting, although the rate of melting has varied over time. Climate scientists simply assumed that this was due to man-made global warming.  But scientists measuring the geothermal heat generated under the ice sheet found that the temperature was "surprisingly high," throwing the theory that global warming is responsible for the melt into a cocked hat. The West Antarctic sheet is the part of the Antarctic ice cap thought to be easiest to melt and thus worries over global warming and sea-level rise lead to it being investigated much more than other parts of the frozen austral continent. Some parts of it, for instance the Pine Island Glacier, have appeared at times to be melting faster and faster, though it is not clear that this is due to global warming. At other times, ice loss to the sea has appeared to slow right down. Meanwhile all around the rest of Antarctica, the extent of sea ice...(Read Full Post)