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Tuesday, October 24th, 2023

Rapid melting in West Antarctica is ‘unavoidable,’ with potentially disastrous consequences for sea level rise, study finds

Author:     Rachel Ramirez
Source:     CNN
Publication Date:     Mon October 23, 2023 | 1:03 AM EDT
Link: Rapid melting in West Antarctica is ‘unavoidable,’ with potentially disastrous consequences for sea level rise, study finds
Stephan:  

Here is the latest report on Antarctic ice-shelf melting. This melting is going to produce disastrous sea rise. But except for the scientists who study this issue few politicians in the world seem to even be paying attention. In the United States all we have is a bratty kindergarten fight going on in the House. If you live along a coast or in Florida. or along the coast of North Carolina you life isin for a big change.

If you would like to read the formal research study upon which this report is based go to: Unavoidable future increase in West Antarctic ice-shelf melting over the twenty-first century

West Antarctica — home to the Thwaites Glacier, also known as the “Doomsday glacier” — is the continent’s largest contributor to global sea level rise.
Credit: Jeremy Harbeck/OIB/NASA

Rapid melting of West Antarctica’s ice shelves may now be unavoidable as human-caused global warming accelerates, with potentially devastating implications for sea level rise around the world, new research has found.

Even if the world meets ambitious targets to limit global heating, West Antarctica will experience substantial ocean warming and ice shelf melting, according to the new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Ice shelves are tongues of ice that jut out into the ocean at the end of glaciers. They act like buttresses, helping hold ice back on the land, slowing its flow into the sea and providing an important defense against sea level rise. As ice shelves melt, they thin and lose their buttressing ability.

While there has been growing evidence ice loss in West Antarctica may be irreversible, there has been uncertainty about how much […]

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