September 26, 2024
Have you ever wondered about the long-term effects of climate change on the planet? A study led by scientists at nearby Dartmouth College evaluated the effects that climate change may have on the Antarctica’s ice sheet over the next 300 years. The results are not pretty.
According to the study, which combined the efforts of 50 climate scientists throughout the world, if current emissions rates hold, after the year 2100, the ice in most of Antarctica’s western basins will begin to retreat rapidly. By 2200, the melting glaciers could increase global sea levels by as much as 5.5 feet. Some of the team’s numerical experiments projected a near-total collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet by 2300.
While the various models that were developed vary in some particulars, they all agree on one thing: once these large changes are initiated, nothing can stop them, or even slow them down.