A new study revealed that the Antarctic ice sheet may pass the point of extinction in as little as 10 years due to global warming, once again revealing the sad state of the world’s climate and ecosystem.
In other words, this means that the point of no return for the ice sheet’s destruction comes much sooner than anticipated, 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 verge of extinction, it is certain that this will have very serious consequences.
Results obtained match previous patterns of ice loss
To get a better idea of how dire the situation is right now, the researchers looked back at the continent’s last 20,000-year history, up to the last ice age, through samples of ice extracted from the seafloor. As they leave Antarctica, the icebergs float in a large channel known as the “Iceberg Alley” (Iceberg Channel). Debris from these icebergs also accumulates on the seafloor, providing researchers with a source of ‘historical record’ about 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) underwater. 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 destabilization and subsequent rebalancing of the ice sheet took place over a period of about ten years.
“Our study reveals that when the ice sheet retreated in the past, periods of rapid mass loss “started” very abruptly, within just a decade or two,” says Zoë Thomas, a paleoclimatologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia. “After the century continued to recede, 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 means we may already be in the middle of a new tipping point, as we have seen before elsewhere in the world and in the Arctic. More evidence for these tipping points can also be found in previously analyzed samples from the region, and this latest study matches previous patterns of ice sheet loss in the region, according to the researchers. Geophysicist Michael Weber of the University of Bonn, Germany, said: “Our findings show that the acceleration of Antarctic ice mass loss in recent decades may signal the beginning of a self-sustaining and irreversible period of ice sheet retreat and significant global sea level rise. “It is consistent with a large amount of evidence,” he said.
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