Antarctic summer ice melting at record rate

Summer ice is melting at a faster rate in the Antarctic Peninsular than at any time in the last 1,000 years, research has shown.

The evidence comes from a 364m ice core containing a record of freezing and melting over the previous millennium.

Layers of ice in the core, drilled from James Ross Island near the northern tip of the peninsular, indicate periods when summer snow on the ice cap thawed and then refroze.