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The ice on Earth is melting, at record speed.
The losses are now on par with the UN worst-case scenario.
– What they fear is that the pace will continue to accelerate, says Anna Wåhlin, professor of oceanography at the University of Gothenburg.
At the same time that winter has swept through parts of the Northern Hemisphere, another horror report looms: the melting ice.
The loss of ice is now on par with the worst-case scenario from the UN IPCC climate panel, reports The Guardian. Melting is increasing the most in Greenland and Antarctica, according to the report published Monday in The Cryosphere magazine.
In their work, the researchers have used satellite data for 23 years to measure ice losses. Annual losses have increased about 60 percent since the 1990s.
Lead author Thomas Slater from the University of Leeds is surprised by the rate of ice falling. He warns that the effects will be felt around the world.
“Sea level rise on this scale will drastically affect coastal areas during this century,” he told The Guardian.
Photo: Felipe Dana / TT
Ice loss has increased by about 60 percent in about 40 years.
It can drive climate change
Researchers worry about melting ice, the self-reinforcing effects on climate change. When white ice melts, less solar radiation is reflected, something that risks further accelerating global warming.
A total of 28 trillion tons of ice have melted since the mid-1990s, according to Reuters. This equates to 3,700 tons for every human being living on earth today.
Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG / GU
Anna Wåhlin, Professor at the University of Gothenburg.
Photo: Felipe Dana / TT NEWS AGENCY
Greenland’s ice has been melting for many years.
Anna Wåhlin, a professor of oceanography at the University of Gothenburg, notes that the melting of Antarctica’s ice today only accounts for about one-tenth of sea level rise. The rest is due to rising sea temperatures causing the water to expand, melting glaciers on land and melting from Greenland.
“There is no good news”
– What we are seeing now is that the thaw is increasing along Greenland and in West Antarctica. This is not good news, but neither is it imminent disaster.
In the future, there are reasons to monitor developments closely, according to Wåhlin. Every time the water level has risen rapidly throughout human history, it has happened as a result of the ice ending up in the sea in a short time.
– What scares you is that the pace continues to accelerate. If the ice melts over the course of 100 years, we may be able to live with it. But if it happens in ten years, it will be dramatic, he says.
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