Even with carbon emissions cuts, a crucial part of Antarctica is doomed to collapse, a study says. Antarctic sea ice recently reached a record wintertime low, scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced.
The amount of “missing” sea ice was some 386,000 square miles below the previous record low in 2022, more than the size of Egypt. Melting of the vast West Antarctic ice sheet has passed the point of no return and is “unavoidable,” a new study reports.
The West Antarctic ice sheet will continue to increase its rate of melting no matter how much we reduce fossil fuel use, according to the study, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change.
“It looks like we’ve lost control of melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet,” said an oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey. “If we wanted to preserve it in its historical state, we would have needed action on climate change decades ago,” she said.
The ice sheet collapse is a worrying climate tipping point, experts say, because it can potentially raise global sea level by up to 17 feet. Around the world, millions of people live near the coast, and these communities will be significantly affected by sea level rise.
The West Antarctic ice sheet is Antarctica’s most significant contributor to sea-level rise. The ice loss is driven by interactions with the Southern Ocean, particularly in the Amundsen Sea. Mountain glaciers that store vast amounts of freshwater are melting twice as fast as they did in the past two decades.
“Peak water” is when a glacier produces its maximum amount of water runoff due to melting, which has been reached or is expected to be reached within the next ten years across small glaciers in Central Europe, Western Canada, and South America.
“The 90,000+ glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush mountains are at risk, and so are the nearly 870 million people that rely on them,” the report said.
But aquifers are depleting faster than they can be naturally replenished: Saudi Arabia has already crossed the groundwater risk tipping point, while India isn’t far behind.
2 Chronicles 7:13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send diseases among my people;
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place
Luke 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and diseases; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Luke 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
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