A new research report published in the journal 'Nature,' has revealed that the ice melting in Antarctica has tripled over the past five years. The joint study conducted by a team of 84 scientists, 24 satellite surveys and 44 international organizations have found that Antarctica has lost more than 241 billion tonnes of ice in a year between 2012 and 2017.
It should be noted that the global sea levels have increased by 7.6mm since 1992 and out of this, 3mm rise came in the last five years alone which is undoubtedly alarming.
Sea level rise likely to continue in the future
During the research, scientists used an advanced climate assessment technique called 'Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise' (IMBIE) to find the results about melting Antarctica ice sheets. The findings showed that West Antarctica is most affected by the ice loss, especially its Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers.
As reported by BBC, the study's co-leader, Professor Andrew Shepherd, who is also the director of Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling said that "A three-fold increase now puts Antarctica in the frame as one of the largest contributors to sea-level rise. The last time we looked at the polar ice sheets, Greenland was the dominant contributor. That's no longer the case."
Shepherd also added that the team of scientists have no idea about when the drastic rise in ice melting started, as they have not collected the sea measurements earlier. However, he made it clear that Antarctica is half a degree Celsius warmer than the continent can withstand and due to this, five meters of ice from its base is melting each year.
The fate of humanity if Antarctica's ice vanishes
As Antarctica's ice melting is largely contributing to sea level rise in the planet, several experts believe that this drastic rise in water will create devastations all across the globe. In the initial phase of the drastic melting, many coastal cities all around the world will be drowned under water.
The two main ice sheets, Greenland and Antarctica constitute 99 percent of the freshwater ice in the planet. As per a study published in the journal Climate Dynamics, the complete melt of Greenland ice sheet will increase the sea level by 24 feet. If all the ice sheet in Antarctica melts, the sea level will rise by 200 feet, which will pull the entire Eastern Seaboard of the US under water. The drastic rise of water will erase entire Florida from the map and will cause millions of death.
As alarm rises, climatic experts all across the world are urging to implement necessary measures to control the rise of temperature in the earth. However, if strict measures are taken this decade, Antarctica will contribute only six centimetres to the global sea level rise.
But it is important to take required steps as soon as possible to control the changing climate, as humans don't want another real-life Noah incident to witness.
