Antarctica is staring down the barrel of a gun, and humans are the ones holding it. Hundreds of concerned scientists came together in Australia recently to discuss how we can put the gun down in what’s being called an “emergency summit.”
The conclusions of the summit were put to paper in a statement released on November 22, 2024, and it’s full of dire warnings that, if history is any teacher, will be ignored.
“Nowhere on Earth is there a greater cause of uncertainty in sea-level rise projections than from East Antarctica, in Australia’s backyard,” the researchers wrote. “The East Antarctic Ice Sheet alone holds enough water to raise global sea levels by approximately 50 meters [164 feet] if completely melted. Implications for our coastal cities and infrastructure are immense.”
The Southern Ocean and Antarctica play incredibly important roles in the planet’s climate. They are, as IFLScience puts it, an “oceanic carbon sink and planetary air-conditioner,” and we’re taking those services for granted. Temperature shifts in that particular part of the world are far more drastic than elsewhere, and recent research found that things are not getting better. They’re getting worse, in fact. Sea ice is at record lows, the ice shelves are unstable, and temperatures are soaring including heatwaves hitting 72°F above average. Those are enormous red flags, but they are so far away and in areas we don’t often see that it’s easy to ignore the frantic flapping of those flags.
“Early-career researchers are urging greater attention to this region, which plays a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate and is vital to our future, yet often overlooked in public discussion and policy making,” the scientists wrote. “We believe that Antarctic and Southern Ocean science should be central to informing climate policy.”
The summit, officially called the 2024 Australian Antarctic Research Conference, was held in Hobart, Tasmania. Some 500 experts showed up to mull over the concerning reports and try and figure out a better way to sound the alarm so that the world really hears.
According to the research, Antarctica currently loses around 17 million tonnes of ice every hour on average, and that rate is increasing.
“Satellite imagery suggests that Antarctica is losing ice more than six times faster than it was 30 years ago,” IFLScience wrote. “Even East Antarctica, once thought to be relatively stable and immune to change, is starting to show signs of extreme upset, such as heatwaves and huge melting events.”
It’s a nearly impossible problem to tackle, because the solution requires the world’s population to come together and make drastic systemic changes in the way we live our day-to-day lives. We surely will adapt, but adaption alone won’t be enough. The only real solution is “deep, rapid, and sustained” slashes to greenhouse gas emissions, which, of course, the Average Joe has little to no control over in any meaningful way.
“Efforts to slow down climate change through coordinated global action are paramount to protect the future of Australia, Antarctica, and our planet,” the researchers wrote. “…Our societies must set and meet targets to ‘bend the carbon curve’ as quickly as possible. Failure to rapidly reduce emissions – every year and every tonne – commits actual and future generations to greater sea-level rise. Every fraction of a degree matters.”
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