USA TODAY International Edition
Antarctic ice melting 6 times faster than in ’80s
The ice in Antarctica is melting six times faster than it did 40 years ago, according to a new study.
This acceleration of the ice loss is a clear indication of human-caused climate change, the study authors said.
Lead author Eric Rignot, an ice scientist at the University of California–Irvine, said the melting ice has caused global sea levels to rise more than half an inch since 1979.
Though that may not sound like much, the amount is alarming to climate scientists, as it’s a preview of things to come.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak,” Rignot said. “As the Antarctic ice sheet continues to melt away, we expect multi-meter sea level rise from Antarctica in the coming centuries.” In this century, a 10-foot rise is possible, he said.
(A reminder: This isn’t the floating sea ice around Antarctica, which melts and refreezes with the seasons. This is freshwater ice on the gigantic ice sheets that cover most of the continent.)
Since 2009, almost 278 billion tons of ice has melted away from Antarctica per year, the study found.
In the 1980s, it was losing 44 billion tons a year.
Scientists combined satellite data records with computer model outputs to estimate the Antarctic ice loss since 1979.
Richard Alley, a Pennsylvania State University scientist not involved in Rignot’s study, called it “really good science.”
Rignot said that as climate warming and ozone depletion send more ocean heat toward the Antarctic, the continent’s melting ice will contribute to sea-level rise for “decades to come.”
The solution to halt the melting, as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, isn’t a surprise: Stop the burning of fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans.
The study was published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.