There is a danger Antarctica 'stops acting as a refrigerant for the planet, and it starts acting as a radiator', one of the scientists involved warned.
"There's a real danger, I think, in the years coming ahead that Antarctica starts to behave in a way that looks a lot more like the Arctic... that it stops acting as a refrigerant for the planet, and it starts acting as a radiator."Glacier in 2019 in Cuverville Island, Antarctica. The most extreme heatwave ever recorded globally struck East Antarctica in March 2022, sending surface temperatures soaring 38.5°C hotter than they should be.
As sea ice, which floats on the ocean surface, melts, it stops reflecting heat and light from the sun and reveals more of the dark sea surface, which absorbs heat.Antarctica sea ice cover fell dramatically in 2023 Source: National Snow and Ice Data Centre, Colorado University Pic: Zachary LabeSea ice cover at the start of 2023, in Antarctic summer, was at"record low already, but then it has dropped really a long way from anything that we've previously expected".
The melt"impacts populations that live around coastlines all around the world" via coastal flooding erosion and storm surges, she said.Images from 2002 show ponds forming on the surface of the Larsen B ice shelf followed by its rapid collapse If these rates continue, the ice sheets are expected to raise sea levels by a further 17cm and expose an additional 16 million people to annual coastal flooding by the end of the century.Because of Antarctica's harsh environment and remote location, there is less data available to unequivocally link events such as these with human-induced climate change.
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