Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica seen in this NASA image. Photo: NASA/Reuters
JAKARTA, lightning.com – For scientist warned the world that the ice sheet housing critical glaciers in Antarctica could break apart within the next five years. The warning was delivered at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Monday (1/24/2022).
The Thwaites Glacier is a sheet the size of Florida that is responsible for about 4% of global annual sea level rise as it slowly melts into the ocean. But the glacier sits on an ice sheet that is prone to failure, due to newly detected fissures on its surface and large cracks across the layer, according to satellite images.
Warmer ocean temperatures, driven in part by human-caused climate change, are eroding the eastern ice sheet. “If the layer breaks, the glacier’s contribution to sea level rise could eventually increase by as much as 25%,” the scientists said.
CNBC said ice loss in Antarctica had gotten worse in recent years. Research suggests a dangerous amount of sea level rise would occur if global warming reached about three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The Earth itself has already exceeded one degree Celsius of warming.
Cracks in the Antarctic ice sheet are similar to those in car windshields, where slowly growing cracks suggest that the windshield is weak and a slight impact on a vehicle could cause the windshield to immediately shatter into hundreds of shards of glass, according to Oregon State University glaciologist Erin Pettit. .
During the meeting, the scientists explained, they had targeted both weak and strong parts of the shelf and concluded that the fault would take a “zigzag” path through the ice. This ultimately caused the shelves to break in just five years.
Global sea levels will rise by two to six feet by 2100 in the current trajectory, driven primarily by melting in Greenland and Antarctica, according to NASA satellite data. However, scientists have warned that projections underestimate the impact of climate change on sea level rise.
“We are already on a path of sea level rise in the coming decades that will impact coastal communities around the world,” Pettit said. “We can’t reverse this sea level rise, so we need to consider how to reduce it and protect our coastal communities now.”
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