Scientists are concerned because an ice shelf the size of New York City collapsed in East Antarctica, an area that had long been thought to be stable. If all of the ice in the east was to melt, scientists say, sea levels would rise by more than 160 feet. The eastern portion of Antarctica contains more than five times the ice that is found in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the AP reported. While most scientists have been focused on the western section of Antarctica, where the Thwaites Glacier, which is the size of Florida, is in danger of collapse, the revelation that ice in the eastern section of the continent is also at risk of collapse due to climate change is worrisome. "It has now been established that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is warming more rapidly than the global ocean as a whole." "Upper ocean temperatures to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula have increased over 1☌ since 1955," according to the British Antarctic Survey. As human beings continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, global air and water temperatures continue to rise. Ice shelves, which extend over water, help keep ice further inland from flowing into the ocean. “The Glenzer-Conger ice shelf presumably had been there for thousands of years, and it’s not ever going to be there again,” University of Minnesota ice scientist Peter Neff told the AP. The extreme heat and the collapse of the ice sheet, which helped keep the Conger and Glenzer glaciers from hitting warming water, is causing alarm among scientists who had considered the area to be stable - unlike other regions, where fears of the collapse of glaciers could lead to massive sea level rise worldwide. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
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