Sea level rise

What does COP26 mean for global glacier and ice sheet change?

Earth’s glaciers are shrinking at an alarming rate. Each year they are losing more mass than is being replenished in each accumulation season.28 trillion tonnes of ice was lost from 1994 to 2017, and rates have risen by 57% since the 1990s. At present, global ice volume is shrinking at a rate of 267±16 Gt/year, …

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Antarctica and Climate Change

Since the early 20th Century, global air temperatures have shown an increasing trend. This pattern has coincided with the continuous release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. The rising temperatures are already having negative effects on many of our natural environments including, oceans, deserts, and glacial landscapes, including Antarctica. The warming stripes below show annual …

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Changing Antarctica

Antarctica is a vast ice sheet. The continent is larger than the United States of America, and has enough ice to raise global sea levels by ~58 m if it all melted. It is extremely cold, with very little surface melt. However, it is changing rapidly. Parts of West Antarctica are grounded well below sea …

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Choosing the future of Antarctica

In a new article in the journal Nature, Stephen Rintoul and colleagues present two very different visions of Antarctica’s future, from the perspective of an observer looking back from 2070. In one vision, humanity continues to exploit Earth’s natural resources (such as fossils fuels) and does little to protect the environment, and in the other, …

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Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance

How does mass balance vary over Antarctica? | Surface mass balance in the past | Surface mass balance in the future | References | Comments | How does mass balance vary over Antarctica? Is Antarctica currently losing or gaining mass? Will this massive ice sheet grow or shrink in the future? And what effect will …

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Sea level rise

Sea level rise is probably one of the biggest threats imposed on us by climate change. Sea level rise is the reason why we study glacier recession. Our current best estimates suggest that we should expect around 60 cm of sea level rise by 2100 AD. Just a small increase in sea level is enough …

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