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Scientists reported in January that new flow measurements for the Ross ice streams indicate some of their movement has slowed or halted, allowing the ice to thicken. Researchers don't know if the thickening is merely part of some short-term fluctuation or represents a reversal of the ice's long retreat.
That report, in the journal Science, came less than a week after a paper in Nature reported that Antarctica's harsh desert valleys _ long considered a bellwether for global climate change -- have grown noticeably cooler since the mid-1980s.
(Wed May 22, 2002 - 1:09:22 pm)