Snow over Antarctica Buffered Sea Level Rise during Last Century

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A new NASA-led study tells a complicated story

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Snowfall over Antarctica increased on average between the years 1901 and 2000

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Mitigating sea level rise by 0.4 inches

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Red = less snow

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Blue = more snow

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However, that doesn’t mean that the Antarctic ice sheet has stopped shrinking

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Or that sea level rise is slowing down

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Sea level is directly affected by changes in snowfall

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The amount of snow controls how much water is locked up in ice sheets

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Even with the extra snowfall, the Antarctic ice sheet is still melting due to a warming climate

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Findings reveal that without these gains, the planet could have experienced

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Even more sea level rise during the 20th century

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But extra ice gained from more snow only makes up for a third of the current ice loss

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Scientists expect snowfall will continue to increase into the

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21st century and beyond - but so will ice loss

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