Climate Model Shows How Antarctic Ice Could Melt at Faster Rate Than Previously Thought
News| | By Margo Gothelf
The warnings about rising sea levels increased this week with reports coming in showing a rapid change in ice melting in Antarctica that could drastically raise ocean levels.
An ice sheet, larger than the area of Mexico, is melting quicker than expected in Antartica. The latest findings, published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature, explained “melting ice in Antarctica has the potential to contribute to a rise in sea levels of 1 meter — more than 3 feet — by the end of this century,” shared CNN.
The study also concluded that with the combination of melting ice in other parts of the world, a five- to six-foot increase in sea level could be seen by the end of this century. The increase would be much higher than what was initially predicted during a 2013 United Nations study.
“By the year 2500, Antarctica could contribute to a rise in sea levels of 15 meters, or nearly 50 feet,” Robert DeConto of the University of Massachusetts and David Pollard of Pennsylvania State University explained in the study. “By the middle of the next century, seas could be rising at a rate of more than one foot per decade if the emission of greenhouse gases continues unchanged.”
Researchers originally thought this would naturally happen over the course of thousands of years. However, the new information shows it could occur far faster than previously thought.
“We are not saying this is definitely going to happen,” Pollard shared in the New York Times. “But I think we are pointing out that there’s a danger, and it should receive a lot more attention.”
The new study comes weeks after the conclusion of a study conducted by the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The results from that study also conformed a wild increase of melting ice in Antarctic.