Antarctica Collapse Unavoidable, Continent To Break Apart Forever?
Here’s a bit of doom and gloom for the beginning of your week — West Antarctica is rapidly melting, which spells catastrophic trouble for sea levels that have already been on the rise. In what should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, scientists are reporting that the deterioration is happening faster than ever due to what else but global warming. The findings were shared in a new study published in Nature earlier this week that states mankind has simply “lost control” with no very little hope of turning things around.
West Antarctica Ice Shelves Melting At A Point Of No Return
The report states that the ice shelves in West Antarctica that are so crucial to ensuring that glaciers don’t slide into the ocean are completely falling apart, thinning more and more by the day. Even more terrifying, should the shelves completely disappear, enough water would dump into the ocean to raise the water by a large percent, meaning it would put the world in an all-hands-on-deck situation as it would be at a “tipping point.”
Ocean Warming Will Wreak Havoc On The Rest Of The World
Using advanced technology, the researchers invested in the help of computer modeling, which horrifyingly reported that things will only get worse in Antarctica as the melting will only accelerate as the ocean warms. While it technically won’t come to a fever pitch for several years, the effects will slowly but surely add up and wreak havoc on the planet. The findings also reported that things have gone from bad to worse over the last century with the ocean warming about three times as fast in the 21st century as opposed to the 20th century.
Sea Levels Projected To Rise 1 Meter
At this point, researchers are hoping that their findings will give more of a base for politicians to do the work and stop climate change. From where we are now, with Antarctica’s ice shelves melting at such a rapid rate, Kaitlin Naughten of the British Antarctic Survey who serves as the lead author of the study, says that they project that sea levels will be up by a meter by the end of the century.
Rising Temps Are Changing The Color Of The Oceans
Beyond the incredibly distressing news coming from the melting ice shelves of Antarctica, climate change has been a hot topic for the last decade or so with a new threat to humanity seemingly coming out every day. A few months ago, we reported about the increase of phytoplankton in the ocean which is changing it from its classic blue color to green. Essentially, as the temperature in the ocean gets turned up, the phytoplankton grows, taking up more of the area and tinting the sea green.
More Species Face Extinction
Just one week ago, we delivered the news that the Earth may be losing amphibians at a rapid rate. As climate change rages on, numerous species are facing extinction with many already labeled as endangered. So, while the ice shelves in Antarctica melting is one piece of the equation, we as the guardians of Earth, have so much more to care about when it comes to fixing the climate crisis.
Sure, there’s a lot to focus on, but as the researchers behind the study of West Antarctica reported, there’s still hope that we can – at the very least – slow things down.
