Part of the world's largest pack ice melts 10 times faster than expected due to global warming

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The world's largest ice shelf melts 10 times faster than expected, while the ocean absorbs the heat of the sun

  • The Ross ice floe is a floating ice sheet that is advancing in the Antarctic Ocean
  • The loss of ice patches causes the acceleration of glaciers as it removes a barrier
  • In 4 years, researchers measured temperature, salinity, melting rate and currents
  • The instruments showed that the surface water heated by the sun flowed into the cavity under the pack ice, which almost tripled the melting rates in summer.

By Victoria Bell for Mailonline

Published on: 11:06 EDT, April 29, 2019 | Update: 11:53 am EDT, April 29, 2019

A study shows that some of the world's largest pack ice melts 10 times faster than expected due to the warming of the sea that surrounds it.

The Ross ice floe, a floating Antarctic ice sheet the size of France moving forward in the ocean, is more vulnerable to global warming than previously thought.

The results suggest that surface water heated by the sun also plays a crucial role in ice melting, as well as in their exposure to the warm waters of deep oceans, as is often thought.

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A study shows that some of the world's largest pack ice melts 10 times faster than expected due to the warming of the sea that surrounds it. The discovery suggests that Ross ice floes are more vulnerable to global warming than previously thought.

A study shows that some of the world's largest pack ice melts 10 times faster than expected due to the warming of the sea that surrounds it. The discovery suggests that Ross ice floes are more vulnerable to global warming than previously thought.

After reviewing the data collected over the last four years, the researchers found that the water was flowing under the pack ice, which almost tripled summer melting rates.

Loss of pack ice removes barriers to glaciers that carry water to the ocean, allowing sea level rise.

The team from Cambridge University spent several years studying the interactions between the northwestern Ross Sea ice and the ocean below.

Dr. Craig Stewart, a former Cambridge scientist, currently at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), said: "It is generally thought that the stability of ice platforms is related to their exposure to the deep warm waters of the ocean.

However, he and his team have found that surface water heated by the sun also plays a "crucial role" in melting ice.

The team measured temperature, salinity, melting rate and ocean currents using instruments drilled through a 260-meter borehole.

Four years of data were also collected in an oceanographic mooring under the pack ice.

In addition, a custom radar system was used to monitor changes in ice thickness.

The instruments showed that the surface water heated by the sun flowed into the cavity under the pack ice, which almost tripled the melting rates in summer.

The results suggest that surface water heated by the sun also plays a crucial role in ice melting, as well as in their exposure to the warm waters of deep oceans, as is often thought. By looking at the four-year data, the researchers found that this water was flowing under the ice.

The results suggest that surface water heated by the sun also plays a crucial role in ice melting, as well as in their exposure to the warm waters of deep oceans, as is often thought. By looking at the four-year data, the researchers found that this water was flowing under the ice.

Dr. Stewart added, "Climate change is likely to result in a decrease in sea ice and an increase in sea surface temperature in the Ross Sea, suggesting that melting rates in this region will increase at sea level. # 39; future. "

Dr. Poul Christoffersen, of Cambridge University, pointed out that the collapse of ice platforms can double or triple the rate at which glaciers flow into the ocean.

"The difference here is the sheer size of Ross's pack ice, which is more than 100 times larger than the pack ice that we've already seen disappear," he said.

"The observations we made at the front of the ice floe have direct consequences for many large glaciers flowing into the pack ice, some up to 900 km."

The results are published in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience.

HOW MANY LEVELS OF SEA WILL IT INCREASE IN THE NEXT CENTURIES?

Scientists have warned that the global level of the seas could rise up to 1.2 meters by 23 hours, even though we are meeting the Paris climate targets for 2015.

The long-term change will be motivated by the thawing of ice from Greenland to Antarctica, which is expected to redraw the world's coastline.

The rising sea level threatens cities from Shanghai to London, low reaches of Florida or Bangladesh, as well as entire nations such as the Maldives.

It is essential to reduce emissions as quickly as possible to avoid an even greater increase, said a team of researchers led by Germany in a new report.

According to the report, sea levels are expected to rise by 0.7 to 1.2 meters by 2300, although nearly 200 countries are fully meeting the targets set under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The goals set by the agreements include zeroing greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of the century.

The ocean levels will go up inexorably because the retained industrial gases that retain the heat will remain in the atmosphere and melt more ice, he added.

In addition, the water expands naturally as it heats above four degrees Celsius (39.2 ° F).

The report also revealed that, every five years, if global emissions peaked after 2020, this would mean an additional 20 centimeters (8 inches) increase in sea level by 2300.

"The sea level is often presented as a very slow process on which we can not do much … but the next thirty years really matter", senior author, Dr. Matthias Mengel, of the Research Institute on the impact of the climate of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany, told Reuters.

None of the nearly 200 signatory governments of the Paris Accords is in the process of meeting its commitments.

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