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Related: About this forumWhat will Antarctica look like in 2070? These researchers want to show us.
The Ice Sheet has lost 3 trillion tons in 25 years.Anthropogenic climate change is causing innumerable changes to our planet. It can be disorienting, as every day brings news of a new extinction or climate change-related threat, and if youre not a scientist it can be hard to know what to do about it. An interdisciplinary group of researchers has teamed up to try to change thatby helping people picture the future of Antarctica.
Their new paper, published today in Nature, compares two possible futures for Antarctica. In one, the continent is radically different and anthropogenic climate change is having massive, poorly-controlled impacts. In the other, climate change and overpopulation are still factors, but Antarctica itself is in much better shape, with positive consequences for the world. It relies on a combination of existing science and projections and the peer-reviewed expert knowledge of its authors, who are respected Antarctica scholars in disciplines ranging from environmental science to glaciology.
Currently, Antarctica is one of the most remote and tightly-regulated places on Earth, and has been since the late 1950s, when The Antarctic Treaty was signed. Theres a moratorium on natural resources exploration there, and while there is fishing in the Southern Ocean, it is regulated by a commission that meets annually to check on conservation goals. Tourism is also tightly controlled, as is scientific research.
All this regulation is important because, the study authors write, Antarctica and the waters that surround it have a profound influence on things like sea level, the Earths climate, and ocean ecosystems. Change in the region will have widespread consequences for the Earth and for humanity, they write. According to an analysis also published today in Nature, the Antarctic Ice Sheet lost more than 3 trillion tons of ice in the last 25 years.
More: https://www.popsci.com/antarctica-ice-sheet-future
Crevasses near the grounding line of Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica Ian Joughin, University of Washington
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What will Antarctica look like in 2070? These researchers want to show us. (Original Post)
Rhiannon12866
Jun 2018
OP
And the thing that's already happening that bothers me the most is the destruction of habitats
Rhiannon12866
Jun 2018
#2
DFW
(54,058 posts)1. My bidggest fear
My biggest fear is that all the dire predictions are STILL too optimistic, that Antarctica in 2070 will look like a colder version of Hawai'i, and that southern Florida will look like the Great Barrier Reef.
Rhiannon12866
(203,041 posts)2. And the thing that's already happening that bothers me the most is the destruction of habitats
It's happening all over and rather than taking action, whatever plans and progress we've made are now being rolled back. And even if we change course in a couple of years, it may be too late by then - it may be already too late now.