Antarctica’s Ice Melt: The Shocking Truth About Global Warming and Its Historical Climate Change

Antarctica suffers from a defrost severe as a result of global warming. Estimates suggest that this phenomenon should increase in a few decades, possibly ending it all. continental ice from 2100. But did you know that if the situation comes true, this is not the first time the area has been free of ice?

Well, the South Pole wasn’t always cold. In fact, according to the Living sciencethe formation of ice is a relatively recent phenomenon (if we take into account the age of the Earth). Before the ice, researchers believe that the continent had tundra and coniferous forests.

But when was the last time Antarctica was ice free? According to Eric Wolff, paleoclimatologist at the University of Cambridge, in an interview with Live Science, the continent was not completely covered in ice for more than 30 million years. “I think most people would say that it was back 34 million years ago when the ice sheet first formed in Antarctica,” he explained.

The reason for this is the temperature. At the time, the world was about 8°C warmer than it is today, with temperatures gradually decreasing since then. If we go back even further, 50 million years ago, this difference increases to 14 °C.

What caused Antarctica to be frozen?

But if Antarctica was free of ice, what caused it to freeze? According to the expert, there are two reasons why this happened. “One is a change in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.” The more carbon dioxide there is in the atmosphere, the more heat is trapped and the hotter the planet will be.

read more

“And the other is the movements of the continents and, in particular, the opening of the Drake Passage”, he said. The Drake Passage is a sea strait located between the extreme south of South America (Cape Horn, Chile) and the South Shetland Islands, which are part of Antarctica. This is the natural link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

These movements caused South America and Antarctica to separate. “This caused what we call the circumpolar current – water going around Antarctica in a circle,” Wolff said. “This isolates Antarctica from the rest of the world and makes it much more difficult for warm air masses to cross the Southern Ocean thus making Antarctica cooler.”

According to the researcher, as things are going, a situation in which Antarctica becomes free of ice is completely possible in the future and this would be terrible for humanity. According to the expert, it is up to us to change this situation.