Ronne’s ice platform in the Western Antarctica
The Western Antarctic Ice Cloak can cause a meter climb at sea level if it collapses. However, more than 120,000 years ago, it may have survived an even warmer period than the current one – revealing that it is stronger than we thought.
A study this Wednesday in Nature indicates to Platormforma de Round – One of the most important ice platforms in Antarctica – survived a period of hot temperatures more than 120,000 years ago.
This indicates that, after all, the Western Antarctic Ice Cloak may not be as vulnerable as a total collapse caused by climate change was thought.
Still, the investigation leader Eric Wolfffrom the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, said that this “It’s good and bad news”.
“I can’t put my hand on my heart and ensure that this will not happen in the next century or two,” the researcher explained to.
The same magazine notes that climate change caused by man made the future of the Western Antarctic iceclaim uncertain. To continue at the current pace, some models project that the Ice cloak will completely disappear in the next centuries.
In the most extreme scenario, Sea level could increase up to 2 meters by 2100 – projected the intergovernmental panel for climate change in 2023.
The new study analyzed Ronne’s ice platform, a large section of the ice layer that extends to the ocean, to see how it behaved between 117,000 and 126,000 years ago. During this period, temperatures were higher than current.
The stability of ice in this hot period suggests that now the ice cloak has Less likelihood that the Western Antarctic Ice Cloak comes into full collapse As climate change increase global temperatures.
However, the investigators warned that the rising of sea level due to the merger of ice continues to pose a great risk.
In addition, the survival of the Ronne ice platform does not mean that other areas of ice, such as glaciers Thwaites ou Pine Islandhave not melted.
The dynamics of heating in the last interglat, which varied according to the region, is also different from current global warming, where temperatures are increasing throughout the planet. For example, the warmer oceanic waters that reach Antarctica can accelerate the thaw as they penetrate under the iceexplained Eric Wolff.
