Unexpected Climate Threat From the South – Study Warns

Antarctica has been relatively unaffected by climate change. However, according to a recent study, the situation on the continent is beginning to resemble that of Greenland.

Researchers at DMI, the Danish version of SMHI, refer to this development as ‘Greenlandification,’ as melting around the South Pole is occurring at an increasingly rapid pace and more ice is being lost to the sea.

Compared to Greenland, the amount of ice in Antarctica is enormous. If the ice in Greenland melts, the world’s oceans will rise by seven metres. If the same thing happened in Antarctica, the sea level would rise by 50 metres.

‘Antarctica has long been considered more stable than the Arctic. But today, the picture has changed: sea ice is disappearing, temperatures are rising here too, ice flows are accelerating and meltwater is penetrating cracks in the glaciers, causing them to slide faster towards the sea,’ says lead author Ruth Mottram in a press release.

In the study, published in Nature Geoscience, the researchers used satellite measurements, radar and laser scans, as well as buoys, ship measurements and climate models.

The melting of Antarctic ice could be worse for us here in the north than the melting of Greenland ice. When the ice in the south melts, the water is distributed in such a way that it rises more at our latitudes and vice versa, according to researchers.

‘This is devastating, because the ice masses in the south have dramatic potential in the form of rising sea levels for us in the north.’