'Drastic' Antarctic melt could double global sea-level rise
'Drastic' Antarctic melt could double global sea-level rise
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent
30 March 2016
Global sea levels could rise by more than double the current best estimate, according to a new analysis of climate change in Antarctica. The modelling assessment says that Antarctic melting alone could contribute more than a metre to sea level by the end of this century. By 2500, according to the study, the same source could cause levels across the world to rise by 13m. The authors say that rapid cuts in carbon emissions could limit this risk.
In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that, without any restrictions on carbon emissions, the seas around the world likely rise by up to 98cm by 2100. However, the IPCC estimates contained a minimum contribution from Antarctica.
Other analyses since then have projected bigger increases, with a recent study suggesting that the oceans were rising faster than at any time in the past 2,800 years and by 2100 they could be up to 1.31m higher.
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But this new study argues that by 2100 the world could see 1.14m of sea-level rise from Antarctica alone.
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While other models have focussed on the impact of warmer waters melting the ice shelves from below, this new study also includes the effect of surface melt-water and rain trickling down from above and fracturing supporting ice, hastening its slide to the sea. The model also calculates the impact of the disintegration of floating ice shelves. If this happens, it will reveal walls of ice so tall that they cannot support their own weight. The scientists involved expect that these extra factors will kick in over the coming decades, as warming from the atmosphere (not just from warmer waters below) becomes the dominant driver of ice loss.
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The authors believe that they have demonstrated the accuracy of the new model by correctly replicating sea-level rise in warm periods, millions of years into the past. "Recently, we looked at the long-standing problem posed by geological evidence that suggests sea level rose dramatically in the past, possibly up to 10 to 20 metres around 3 million years ago, in the Pliocene," said Dr Pollard. "Existing models couldn't simulate enough ice-sheet melting to explain that."
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