As climate change raises global temperatures, a massive chunk of Antarctica’s ice sheet is expected to melt and raise sea levels in the coming decades. Considering that Antarctica’s ice sheet is the most enormous ice mass on Earth, the rising sea levels would be catastrophic for island nations and populations living near coastlines.
Fortunately, not all hope is lost. A new study published in Scientific Advances suggests Earth’s natural forces could significantly reduce ice loss, but only if humans reduce carbon emissions.
“With nearly 700 million people living in coastal areas and the potential cost of sea-level rise reaching trillions of dollars by the end of the century, understanding the domino effect of Antarctic ice melt is crucial,” says lead author Natalya Gomez, an associate professor in McGill University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Canada Research Chair in Ice sheet-Sea level interactions, in a media release.
While the damages caused by climate change have made rising sea levels inevitable, minimizing carbon outputs is expected to reduce damage faced in coastal communities.
Ice melts when its weight decreases. This causes the land under it to expand like a sponge, a phenomenon known as post-glacial uplift. On one hand, post-glacial uplift helps stop ice mass loss. The land expansion lifts the ice up, acting as nature’s break in the flow of ice from land to ocean. However, the current study found that the post-glacial uplift would not be enough to slow down the rapidly thawing ice if carbon emissions continue.
The study authors created a 3D model of Earth’s interior to study how Antarctica’s ice sheet interacts with the land and how carbon emissions influence that relationship. The model included geophysical field measurements from the U.S. ANET-POLENET project, which records any changes in land shifts across Antarctica.
“Our 3-D model peels back Earth’s layers like an onion, revealing dramatic variations in thickness and consistency of the mantle below. This knowledge helps us better predict how different areas will respond to melting,” says study co-author Maryam Yousefi, a geodesist at Natural Resources Canada.
According to the researchers, this is the first model to study in detail the dynamics between Antarctica’s ice sheet and the earth underneath.
The results show that post-glacial uplift decreases Antarctica’s contribution to sea levels by 40%. The study also found that if carbon emissions continue at their current pace, the post-glacial uplift effect would not be enough to slow down rising sea levels.
Source : https://studyfinds.org/antarctica-rising-as-it-melts/?nab=0