"Using ice core samples and satellite observations, the team documented a worrying "regime shift" taking hold in Antarctica in which the extent of the region's sea ice - free-floating icebergs, as opposed to features like ice shelves, which are fixed to land - has dropped below a point lower than anything seen in past centuries. Even more worrying is the rapidity of the shift: this historic low is following a high peak of expansion."
"The ice melt directly contributes to rising sea levels, but that's only one part of the problem. Ice sheets reflect a significant amount of sunlight, and once they shrink or disappear, more solar radiation gets trapped in the ocean, contributing to warming (not to mention endangering marine life). That creates a deadly feedback loop: more warming means more melting, and the cycle goes on, threatening to snowball out of control."
Antarctic systems are experiencing rapid, abrupt disruptions marked by a regime shift in sea-ice extent that now sits below levels of past centuries. Ice-core records and satellite observations indicate sea ice has retreated roughly 75 miles on average from the continental shoreline since 2014. Ice loss contributes to rising sea levels and reduces surface reflectivity, causing oceans to absorb more solar radiation and amplify regional warming. That warming accelerates further melting via a self-perpetuating feedback loop, committing the region to long-term sea-ice decline and threatening marine ecosystems and major glaciers such as Thwaites ("Doomsday").
Read at Futurism
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]