As industrial nations, including the US, continue to thwart efforts to curb greenhouse gases leading to global warming a team of scientists drill through Antarctic ice sheets and sea bed to determine how much time we really have left.
A newly released study of the West Antarctic ice sheet indicates a rapid rise in sea levels resulting from minor temperature changes already occurring.
…changes in the ‘grounding line’ — where an ice sheet floats free from its base of rock or sediment — could lead to the disintegration of ice sheets and result in a significant rise in global sea level.
The volume of ice locked up in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is equivalent to a sea level rise of around 3.3 metres,’ said Dr Richard Katz of Oxford University’s Department of Earth Sciences, an author of the report. ‘Our model shows how instability in the grounding line, caused by gradual climatic changes, has the potential to reach a ‘tipping point’ where disintegration of the ice sheet could occur.’
Use the Google interactive tool to view the consequences of sea level rises around the world.
The green areas in this image reflect the consequence of the entire Antarctic continent melting upon Coos County, Oregon.
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