A research team made a startling discovery about a massive ice sheet in the Antarctic that could cause global sea levels to rise by as much as 20 feet.
Their findings, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, pinpoint an unexpected culprit potentially driving ice loss — and could provide a clearer roadmap to combatting the problem.Â
What’s happening?
As The National Tribune detailed, the West Antarctic ice sheet spans an area larger than the United States and Mexico, and it has been melting steadily since the 1940s. To understand this pattern, researchers dug into the theory that westerly winds were fueling this ice melt.
They used historical data from ice samples, tree rings, and corals to conduct a series of ice-ocean simulations, measuring ice loss after feeding their climate model wind patterns. They repeated the process 29 times with different wind patterns in five-year intervals.
Surprisingly, their study suggests that northerly winds, rather than westerly winds, consistently resulted in ice loss because they rearranged polynyas — essentially the pores of the ice sheet.
“When northerly winds close the polynyas, it reduces ocean heat loss, which means warmer waters and more melting of ice shelves below the surface,” said Kyle Armour, a professor of oceanography and of atmospheric and climate science at the University of Washington.
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“We had all sorts of theories about the winds that blow from west to east, but the northerly winds weren’t even on our radar. We were off by 90 degrees,” Armour added.Â
Why is this important?
Understanding how critical climate issues are shaping the world provides insight into how to prepare for the future — and limit the adverse effects of rising global temperatures.
As for the northerly winds, the researchers believe heat-trapping gases generated by human activities may be fueling them. They pointed to other studies indicating human-induced climate change is altering a low-pressure center that influences many Antarctic weather patterns, per The National Tribune.
While ice loss in the Antarctic may not seem like a pressing concern given the remote location of the region, it is threatening coastal communities around the world. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sea levels have risen by as much as 9.4 inches since 1880. This has exacerbated flooding and shoreline erosion.
Rising sea levels have also made storm surges more deadly and dangerous. Moreover, while storms have always occurred throughout history and would happen even without global temperatures inching higher, the warming climate is intensifying extreme weather events such as hurricanes, essentially providing them more fuel to wreak havoc in their paths of destruction.  Â
What’s being done about this?Â
Armour told The National Tribune that the research, led by UW postdoctoral oceanographer Gemma O’Connor, could “lead to a complete revolution in the understanding of what drives Antarctic ice loss.” If heat-trapping pollution is indeed contributing to ice loss, curbing it could help keep this in check.
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