Big increase in Antarctic snowfall

[Still Waters]

Scientists have compiled a record of snowfall in Antarctica going back 200 years.

The study shows there has been a significant increase in precipitation over the period, up 10%.

The effect of the extra snow locked up in Antarctica is to slightly slow a general trend in global sea-level rise.

However, this mitigation is still swamped by the contribution to the height of the oceans from ice melt around the continent.

Some 272 billion tonnes more snow were being dumped on the White Continent annually in the decade 2001-2010 compared with 1801-1810.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43691671

[bison]

Snow, like rain, needs minute atmospheric particles upon which to condense. An increase in smoke due to increased agricultural burning, coal burning, and other technologically-related smoke could explain an increase in snow in Antarctica. Note that the effect was especially prominent in the Palmer Peninsula, one of the northern-most parts of that continent, which also means closest to the smoke producing parts of the world.