Australian research finds warm waters threatening east Antarctica

CANBERRA: Researchers from Australia’s national science agency have warned warm waters are posing a major threat to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS).

In a study published on Wednesday, the team from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) worked with the University of Southampton in Britain to reveal how changes in Southern Ocean circulation are affecting the ice sheet.

They found that a change in westerly winds over the Southern Ocean over the course of decades has driven a poleward shift of the southern part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, meaning warmer water is flowing towards Antarctica.

As a result, temperatures in the Indian Ocean offshore from the Aurora Subglacial Basin sector of East Antarctica have increased by between two and three degrees Celsius since the earlier half of the 20th century.

Laura Herraiz-Borreguero, a CSIRO scientist and lead author of the study, said the findings would help fill a critical gap in knowledge about the mechanisms driving EAIS melt.

“The Earth’s ice sheets, which are formed from snow accumulation over land and time play a crucial role in our global climate system,” Herraiz-Borreguero said in a media release.

“This basin holds a 5.1-meter sea level rise potential and ice mass loss here is driving most of the East Antarctic contribution to sea level rise.”

According to her, limiting warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius is the best way to keep the Antarctic Ice Sheet stable and slow the pace at which sea level will rise.

“This enables greater opportunities for adaptation in the human and ecological systems of small islands, low-lying coastal areas and deltas,” she said.

-Xinhua