Aussie scientists find evidence of rapid and potentially irreversible changes in Antarctica
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Rapid loss of Antarctic sea ice could be a tipping point for the global climate, causing sea level rises, changes to ocean currents and loss of marine life that are impossible to reverse, a new study published in Nature says.
The review of published Antarctic science by 21 Australian and international scientists found evidence of rapid, interacting and sometimes self-perpetuating changes in the Antarctic environment.
Data from observations, ice cores and ship logbooks showed a regime shift had reduced sea ice extent far below its natural variability of past centuries, in some respects more abrupt, non-linear and potentially irreversible than Arctic sea-ice loss.
Risks highlighted include the severe risk of West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse, which could raise sea levels by more than three metres, accelerating sea ice loss since 2014 at double the rate of the Arctic, and the potential rapid slowdown of the Antarctic Overturning Circulation. This ocean-spanning current distributes heat and nutrients and regulates weather.
The context: Antarctica’s natural systems are tightly interwoven, meaning disruption in one system triggers cascading effects IN others. Since 2014, sea ice extent has been shrinking dramatically, now declining at double the rate of the Arctic.
Ice loss from West and East Antarctica has increased sixfold since the 1990s, and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet alone contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by more than five metres, it says.
The sources: Nature, Reuters, The Conversation
