Antarctic melting to double sea-level rise by 2100

Iceberg Antarctica

Worldwide sea levels could rise by more than double according to a new study of climate change in Antarctica. The evaluation made by climate scientists Robert DeConto from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and David Pollard from Pennsylvania State University is in the current issue of Nature. This new research concluded that Antarctic melting alone could contribute more than a metre to sea level until the end of this century.

Predictions are almost double than those recently published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a worst scenario if humanity doesn’t restrain emissions. It all suggests that these predictions could occur sooner. According to the study,  melting of Antarctica’s ice could contribute over 1 meter of sea-level rise by 2100 and more than 13 meters by 2500. Many of the world’s coastal cities could be affected if the new predictions will come true.

“We are not saying this is definitely going to happen, but I think we are pointing out that there’s a danger, and it should receive a lot more attention.”,  said David Pollard, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University and a co-author of the paper.

The new investigation, published by the journal Nature, is based on improvements in a computerized model of Antarctica and its complex landscape of rocks and glaciers, determined to capture factors newly recognized as compromising the stability of the ice. While other models have centralized on the impact of warmer waters melting the ice pieces from below, this new study also includes the effect of surface melt-water and rain trickling down and smashing supporting ice, driving its parts into the sea.

This scenario could be avoided only if the carbon emissions will be cut off in the near future. Hong Kong, New York and Sydney are among the cities vulnerable to this rising effect.

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