Sea-level rise: West Antarctic ice shelf melt 'unavoidable'
BBC
Increased melting of West Antarctica's ice shelves is "unavoidable" in the coming decades, a new study has warned.
These floating tongues of ice extend from the main ice sheet into the ocean, and play a key role in holding back the glaciers behind.
But as ice shelves melt, it can mean that the ice behind speeds up, releasing more into the oceans.
The study's findings suggest that future sea-level rise may be greater than previously assumed.
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New research: accelerated melting in West Antarctica inevitable no matter how much emissions are cut
Meteor Blades for Daily Kos.
In a new study published Monday in Nature Climate Change, the title just about says it all—Unavoidable future increase in West Antarctic ice-sheet melting over the twenty-first century. The researchers assessment is that the melting is locked in and chances are “dire” that this will produce colossal sea-level rise. If all the West Atlantic ice sheet completely melted, scientists calculate it would raise global sea levels by 5.3 meters (17.4 feet).
The study indicates that, even if the world were to meet its 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) goal for global warming, the melting rate of the floating ice shelves of the Amundsen Sea will be three times what it was in the 20th Century. But there is still huge uncertainty about how fast sea level will rise as a consequence of those floating shelves breaking away from the ice sheet, thus allowing the land-based glaciers to flow into the sea faster.