Ice observations recorded by Antarctic explorers about 100 years ago show that the sea ice at the South Pole has barely changed in size over the last century, scientists say.
Ship logbooks of explorers such as the British Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton have been used to compare where the Antarctic ice edge was during the Heroic Age of
Antarctic Exploration (1897-1917) and where satellites show it is today.
The study suggests that the Antarctic sea ice is much less sensitive to the effects of climate change than that of the Arctic, which in stark contrast has experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century.
The research, by scientists at the University of Reading in the UK, estimates the extent of Antarctic summer sea ice is t most 14 per cent smaller now than during the early 1900s.
"The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice," said Jonathan Day, who led the study.
"We know that sea ice in the Antarctic has increased slightly over the past 30 years, since satellite observations began," said Day.
"Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new," he said.
"If ice levels were as low a century ago as estimated in this research, then a similar increase may have occurred between then and the middle of the century, when previous studies suggest ice levels were far higher," he said.
The study is the first to shed light on sea ice extent in the period prior to the 1930s, and suggests the levels in the early 1900s were in fact similar to today, at between 5.3 and 7.4 million square kilometres. Although one region the Weddell Sea did have a significantly larger ice cover.
Published estimates suggest Antarctic sea ice extent was significantly higher during the 1950s, before a steep decline returned it to around 6 million square kilometres in recent decades.
The research suggests that the climate of Antarctica may have fluctuated significantly throughout the 20th century, swinging between decades of high ice cover and decades of low ice cover, rather than enduring a steady downward trend.
"The Southern Ocean is largely a 'black hole' as far as historical climate change data is concerned, but future activities planned to recover data from naval and whaling ships will help us to understand past climate variations and what to expect in the future," said Day.
Capt Scott perished along with his team in 1912 after missing out on being the first to reach the South Pole by a matter of weeks, while Shackleton's ship sank after becoming trapped in ice in 1915 as he and his crew journeyed to attempt the first ever cross-Antarctic trek.
