Over the past few years, several reports indicate that glaciers in parts of Antarctica have been melting and retreating at an alarming rate, basically a warning bell. The glaciers in the region of West Antarctica have received very less attention till date.
Unfortunately, these areas have lost a significant amount of ice. This ice melt and retreat has been an ongoing process for decades now, longer than what was expected.
These findings suggest that rising levels of greenhouse gases could stimulate runaway Antarctic melting. This alone could push sea levels up by more than 3 feet by the end of the century. The constant thinning and melting of ice can easily be blamed on the notorious global warming.
If temperatures keep on rising, these glaciers will continue to melt, and some could even disappear. As these glaciers melt, they add more water to the ocean, which ultimately causes sea levels to rise.
However, Antarctica holds enough ice, and it would take thousands of years to melt this ice and raise sea levels by more than 200 feet. But this recent thinning of the ice shelves gives a warning that there has already been an increase in the rate of Antarctica’s contribution to sea level rise, and it’s speeding up.
West Antarctica has been in much more focus because of the evident signs of melt. Also, there are some striking ice shelf collapses in the recent decades. Some findings even state that some glaciers in West Antarctica have reached a point where their retreat and melt is now inevitable. If no efforts are made to put a stop on global warming/climate change, soon the ice melts will occur at an even faster pace.
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