In stunning research, scientists have observed that Antarctica has been losing weight and the continent is rising from the ocean.
The process is known as post-glacial uplift and as per the new research, this will massively impact the global sea level rise in the future.
This can reduce the contribution of Antarctica by up to 40 per cent or can make things worse depending on how much heat-trapping and ice-melting fossil fuels we are losing.
“With nearly 700 million people living in coastal areas and the potential cost of sea-level rise reaching trillions of dollars by the end of the century, understanding the domino effect of Antarctic ice melt is crucial,” said McGill University glaciologist Natalya Gomez, who carried out the study.
In the last few years, the ice in Antarctica has been very low. Gomez, along with their colleagues, examined the mantle of the Earth beneath the ice sheet of Antarctica and discovered that it was squishy in some areas.
According to the seismic data, this high level of viscosity is leading to an unexpected rise in the land.
“Our measurements show that the solid earth that forms the base of the Antarctic ice sheet is changing shape surprisingly quickly,” Ohio State University geologist Terry Wilson said.
“The land uplift from reduced ice on the surface is happening in decades, rather than over thousands of years,” he added.
Scientists use 3D models to simulate sea level rise
The team used 3D modelling to understand how the sea level is rising because of the changing landmass in Antarctica.
“This study marks a breakthrough in our ability to better predict the impacts of climate change on rising seas and to inform effective environmental policy,” University of Massachusetts glaciologist Rob DeConto said.
Since Earth does not have a smooth sphere, unique sea-level impacts will be seen in different parts of our planet because of gravitational, rotational, and geological quirks.
Watch: Antarctic faces melting ‘tipping point’ as oceans warm: Study
“Our results further support recent findings that low-latitude islands and coastal sites already being affected by sea level rise will experience higher than average sea level rise associated with Antarctic ice loss, regardless of the ice loss scenario,” explained Gomez and team.
“This finding highlights the climate injustice toward nations whose emissions are low, while their exposure and vulnerability to sea level rise is high,” they added.
According to researchers, there is a lot of uncertainty in the model, because of the lack of seismic data from West Antarctica.
“To document how fast our world is changing, it’s very important to continue advancing our ability to make predictions that are more certain, which is the only path that will allow us to tend to our future in a meaningful way,” Wilson said.
(With inputs from agencies)