Antarctic Ice Sheet Might Be Unstable Before Expected

A new study has shown that the Antarctic ice sheet is falling due to global warming. in as little as 10 years By demonstrating that it can pass the extinction point, the sad state of the world’s climate and ecosystem once again revealed.

In other words, this is the point of no return for the ice sheet to disappear, than predicted. much earlier It means that it has arrived and we may already be in the middle of this process. Considering that the sea level is rising globally and the natural habitats of animals in Antarctica are on the brink of extinction, very serious consequences sure will happen.

Results obtained match previous patterns of ice loss

To get a better idea of ​​how dire the situation is right now, the researchers are using ice samples from the seafloor to get a better idea of ​​the continent’s last 20,000 years In history, they studied the past up to the last ice age. As icebergs leave Antarctica, “Iceberg AlleyThey swim in a large channel known as the ” (Iceberg Channel). Debris spilled from these icebergs also accumulates on the seafloor, giving researchers about 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) underwater. ‘historical record’ provides the source. Combining this natural logbook with computer models of ice sheet movements, the team identified eight stages of ice sheet retreat over the last millennium. In each case, the ice sheet destabilize and then rebalance took place over a period of about ten years.

Zoë Thomas, a paleoclimatologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, “Our study shows that in the past, periods of rapid mass loss were just a matter of time when the ice sheet retreated. in ten or twenty years reveals that it “started” very suddenly” says and “Interestingly, after the ice sheet continued to recede for several centuries, this rapid loss of mass stopped again in just a few decades.” he adds.

Considering that the current change in the Antarctic ice sheet is in line with the past events described by the researchers, this is already as we have seen before elsewhere in the world and in the Arctic. in the middle of a new tipping point It means we can be. According to the researchers, more evidence for these tipping points can be found in previously analyzed samples from the region, and this latest study is also consistent with previous patterns of ice sheet loss in the region. matching. Regarding this issue, geophysicist Michael Weber from the University of Bonn in Germany, “Our findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence suggesting that accelerating Antarctic ice mass loss in recent decades may mark the beginning of a self-sustaining and irreversible period of ice sheet retreat and significant global sea level rise.” used the phrases.