ANTARCTIC: Most of the glaciers on the Antarctic peninsula are in headlong retreat because of climate change, according to a leading scientist.
An in-depth study using aerial photographs spanning the past half century of all 244 marine glaciers on the west side of the finger-like peninsula pointing up to South America found that 87 per cent of them were in retreat - and the speed was rising.
"Regional warming is the strongest single factor in this retreat, and there is growing evidence that this is due to global warming," said scientist David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
"The peninsula could end up looking like the Alps if the glaciers retreat far enough from the sea."
Fellow BAS researcher Alison Cook, who spent three years studying thousands of old aerial photographs, said they clearly showed a general glacial retreat that had accelerated sharply in the past five years.
Scientists have noted before the shrinkage and break-up of some of Antarctica's giant sea ice shelves, but the new study is the first comprehensive look over a long period at the state of the glaciers that flow into the sea.
Scientists have predicted that global temperatures could rise by up to two degrees this century, pushing the planet into the unknown with rising sea levels and an increase in extreme weather events threatening millions of lives.