Antarctic ice sheet melting 20 times faster than we thought

From a toot by Bread & Circuses

We do NOT want the Antarctic Ice Sheet to melt any faster than it already is. The risks of so much fresh water pouring into the ocean are massive — not only increased sea level rise, but also more greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere, plus the potential for serious disruption to the global food chain. (See https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/110174993496613175)

And now we get this terrible news...
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"Antarctic ice can melt 20 times faster than we thought"

Melting ice sheets in Antarctica can retreat much faster than scientists previously thought. A study published in the journal Nature found that at the end of the last Ice Age, parts of the Eurasian Ice Sheet retreated up to 2,000 feet per day. This rate is 20 times faster than previous measurements. These changes far outpace even the fastest-moving glaciers studied in Antarctica, which are estimated to retreat as quickly as 160 feet per day.

“Our research provides a warning from the past about the speeds that ice sheets are physically capable of retreating at,” Christine Batchelor, study co-author and physical geographer from Newcastle University, said in a statement. “Our results show that pulses of rapid retreat can be far quicker than anything we’ve seen so far.”
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FULL STORY -- https://www.popsci.com/environment/antarcti

Before boosting this post from 10 April, I added the chart below showing current Antarctic sea ice extent anomalies, which are shocking in their departure from the norm. Although sea ice is different from ice sheets on land, they do interact — as sea ice declines and weakens, it allows for faster collapse of glaciers when they reach the ocean.

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction #ClimateEmergency #Ocean