The most recent study of the Antarctic ice melt ... severe consequences for the world's coastal cities

An international research team has warned of the danger of escalating warming, which in turn increases the speed of the ice mass loss on the continent, and the implications of this unrecoverable loss on coastal cities and cultural heritage sites in the world, from London to Mumbai, and from New York to Shanghai, in a new study conducted by The team on the steady state of Antarctica.

Serious consequences

The study was attended by researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, and Columbia University in New York in the United States (New York's Colombia University).

In their study, published on September 23 in the journal Nature, a team of researchers shows how much warming the Antarctic ice sheet can withstand.

The study monitored the environmental impact over a period of approximately one million hours (approximately 114 years) from the date of the start of the detailed simulations of the climate models that they developed.

They were able to determine the exact location at which the glacier would become unstable, as well as the levels of warming associated with it.

They found that when the ice turns unstable, it will melt and move towards the ocean, which will have dire consequences in the long term.

For example, if the average global temperature level persists long enough at 4 degrees above pre-industrial levels, then the melting of Antarctica alone could raise the global sea level ultimately by more than 6 meters.

Escalating warming accelerates ice mass loss in Antarctica (Pixabay)

Positive relationship

Antarctica holds more than half of Earth's fresh water, frozen in a vast ice sheet about 5 kilometers thick.

In view of the warming of the ocean waters and the atmosphere;

Due to human greenhouse gas emissions, the good Antarctic cover loses its mass and eventually becomes unstable.

Thus, at two degrees of warming, the melting of ice and its accelerating flow into the ocean, will eventually lead to a rise of 2.5 meters in global sea level from Antarctica alone.

And at 4 degrees of global warming, the sea level rise will be 6.5 meters, and at about 6 degrees the sea level will rise for an additional 12 meters, in the event of the continuous escalation of global warming degrees over a long period of time as is the case in which we live today.

Antarctica holds more than half of Earth's fresh water frozen in a vast ice sheet (Pixabay)

Melting is slow but eternal

Antarctica is considered a heritage foundation in Earth's history dating back nearly 34 million years, and the simulations conducted by researchers have indicated that once it melts, it will not return to its initial state again even if temperatures drop again.

In fact, temperatures are bound to return to pre-industrial levels to allow for a full recovery, which is an extremely unlikely scenario.

This means that what we lose from the southern continent is considered irrecoverable losses, due to intrinsic mechanisms in the behavior of ice sheets under global warming conditions, as the main driver of ice loss is warm ocean water, which leads to higher melting under ice shelves, which leads to In turn to destabilize the land ice sheet.

Once temperatures cross the threshold of 6 degrees above pre-industrial levels, giant icebergs slowly sink to lower altitudes, as the air is warmer;

This causes more ice cover to melt, as it does in Greenland.

The simulations report that once Antarctica's ice melts, it will not return to its initial state even if temperatures drop (Pixabay)

Our fate is in our hands

Ice loss and melting have accelerated dramatically over the past decades in Antarctica.

However, the authors did not explicitly address the issue of time scale in their work;

Instead, they assessed critical levels of warming, with which parts of the Antarctic ice sheet would become unstable.

Herein lies the original contribution made by the researchers in their study on determining the time scale of the cascading repercussions of global warming.

Ultimately, it is our burning of coal and oil that determines current and future greenhouse gas emissions, and thus we can now decide whether we will succeed in stopping warming and protecting what is left of Antarctica, and in a better sense protecting cities and cultural sites across the world, from Copacabana in Rio. De Janeiro to the Sydney Opera House from a certain lions fate in case we fail to stop this warming.

Thus, giving up the Paris Agreement and not abiding by it means giving up cities such as Hamburg, Tokyo and New York.