Research suggests Antarctica may be melting twice as fast as estimated

The Laboratoire des Science du Climat et de l’Environnement in France conducted a study that analysed 78 ice cores in Antarctica in order to  retrace the temperatures of the region 1000 years back. The study has speculated that the rate at which the melting process is taking place in the region may be twice as fast as what the predictions have estimated. The scientists have suggested that there is mounting evidence to testify that the region is undergoing polar amplification, a phenomenon through which the warming process takes place at a faster pace in the polar regions in comparison to other regions. 

“The implications of this study are of particular importance for considering future changes in Antarctic sea ice, terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and potentially even sea level rise,” Dr Kyle Clem, a scientist at Victoria University of Wellington said in an interaction with The Guardian. 

“If anthropogenic polar amplification is already occurring in the Antarctic that exceeds that simulated by climate models, then future warming will likely be greater than that currently projected by climate models,” he added. 

“As far as sea level rise, ocean warming is already melting protective ice shelves in West Antarctica and causing the West Antarctic ice sheet to retreat,” he stated. 

“This has already been seen on the Antarctic peninsula in recent decades, and it could become a more widespread occurrence around Antarctica sooner than anticipated in a more strongly warming Antarctic climate,” he mentioned.