Photo Source: NASA – Public Domain
The 21st century serves as a turning point of the acceleration of climate instability caused by greenhouse gases generated by humans, because the CO2 emissions are much higher than the previous century. It is also a defining timeline of an astonishing rate of 500% over the last decade of the last century. Throughout human history, this has never happened so fast.
The proof is found in the numbers. Greenland and Antarctica’s combined ice mass loss, for example, is a glance: ‘The assessment is supported by NASA and the European Space Agency … The team calculated that the two ice sheets together lost 81 billion tons per year in the 1990s compared to 475 billion tons of ice per year in the 2010s – a sixfold increase. ‘(Source: Greenland, Antarctica melts six times faster than in the 1990s, Global Climate Change, NASA, March 16, 2020)
In all honesty, this article should end here, because 475 billion tons of ice mass loss per year versus 81 billion tons per year in just two decades is so enthralling and frightening that nothing more needs to be said. But there is more …
This worrying signal is just a starting point of much bigger problems along the way. Recent research done in West Antarctica has uncovered a whole new ball game, the prospect of collapsing glaciers, huge glaciers and major collapses, incredible, yet clearly possible and yet largely ignored by every major country. If countries would otherwise switch fossil fuels to renewable energy and install mirror technology to reflect solar radiation to outer space, contact: Dr. Ye Tao at Harvard University:
https://www.meerreflection.com/ and / or paint roofs with ‘ultra-white’ paint known as ‘cool roofs’ that reflect 98% of sunlight: https://www.bbc.com/ news / science-environment -56749105. NYC and California are already promoting ‘cool roofs’.
The Thwaites Glacier of Antarctica (about 100 miles deep and 4,000 feet deep), also known as the Doomsday Glacier, referred to by researchers as a ‘climate bomb’, is an ice shelf in West Antarctica located along the equally infamous Pine. Island Glacier is located.
A new discovery at Thwaites is disturbing and almost impossible to fathom. Thwaites melts at key points anchoring it to land. The effects of the total release are likely to be earth-shattering as the ice cubes lose 74,000 square miles, but even more earth-shattering, it could take down the entire West Antarctic ice sheet. This is 10+ feet sea level rise!
How soon? Stay tuned for updates.
But seriously, how can anyone know for sure when it will completely collapse? There may be expectations. Will it be decades or less or more or much more? It is noteworthy that climate models were far too conservative. Many estimates by climate scientists have been proven for decades. Climate systems scientist Paul Beckwith, University of Ottawa, says global warming has progressed so unexpectedly, so fast that ‘2030 is the new 2100’. Its implications are simply too much to think about.
It is noteworthy that new research techniques used by Thwaites lead to far better scientific analyzes than ever before. The techniques have given scientists the best view of what ever happens under the ice sheet, and they offer new data that will take time and additional research to analyze properly.
A robotic submarine named Ran, after the Norwegian goddess of the sea, examines the bottom of the glacier and measures the strength, temperature, oxygen content and salinity of the ocean currents flowing beneath the glacier. At the same time, sonar from above from above enables high-resolution mapping of the ocean of the cavity. As a result, scientists have already noticed three main inflows of water warming the bottom of the glacier with land. The result is that, for the first time, scientists can contain more accurate data to model the dynamics of the glacier. It is important to clarify the uncertainty around the world about the prospects of global sea levels.
According to initial reports by the scientific team: “Our observations show that hot water from all sides at critical junctions is critical for ice shelf stability, a scenario that could lead to withdrawal and withdrawal,” according to the study released on April 9 in the journal Scientific Advances. In other words, the entire ice shelf can become detached and then flow to the ocean. (Source: Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Near Tilt Point, Unmanned Sub Revealed, LiveScience, April 14, 2021)
Thwaites are only half of a larger potential problem on a scale that people would rather not think about. Recently, researchers published an article about the neighboring Pine Island Glacier surpassing a tipping point due to the hot water, similar to the dilemma surrounding the surprisingly advanced stage of decline in Thwaites. (Source: The Tilt Points and Early Warning Indicators for Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, European Geosciences Union, The Cryosphere, March 25, 2021).
It is difficult, in fact almost impossible, to imagine the consequences of actual total collapse of the glaciers, especially since it has never happened on such a scale in human history. The reference article in Cryosphere gives a general view: ‘Mass loss of the Antarctic ice sheet is the main source of uncertainty in predictions of future sea level rise, with important consequences for coastal regions worldwide. Central to ongoing and future change is the instability of the marine ice sheet: once a critical threshold, or a tipping point, is crossed, ice-internal dynamics can drive a self-sustaining retreat that commits a glacier to irreversible, rapid, and significant ice loss. , ‘Ibid.
Thereupon it is not exactly rocket science to find out the meaning of ‘rapid and great ice loss’. As such, it is probably not too early for every major coastal city in the world to start formulating plans to build sea walls. Low-lying areas like Miami Beach elevate streets all 2 to 3 feet (a photo can be seen at: “Miami Beach is Raising Streets with 2 Feet to Combat Rising Seas”).
Meanwhile, CO2 emissions are still at record highs per year, and unfortunately, methane emissions, which increase global warming more than CO2, are higher than ever before, and therefore include more and more global warming, as these greenhouse gases cover the atmosphere and retain heat. More CO2 in the atmosphere equals more heat.
The current atmospheric CO2 scorecard is as follows in Mauna Loa, Hawaii: 417.64 ppm (March 2021) versus 414.74 ppm (March 2020) versus 368.13 ppm (2000).
Fossil CO2 emissions are now almost 40% higher at 36B tons per year compared to 26B tons at the beginning of the century. It is an abundance of an increase that continues to increase relentlessly. As such, the prospect of some semblance of a stable climate system is certainly negative. In time, the effects of an eradicated climate system will shock people beyond their darkest nightmares and unknowingly catch the world’s political leadership flat.
By that time, it’s too late, tipping points can not be reversed!
Postscript: “The last time atmospheric CO2 levels were so high was more than 3 million years ago, when temperatures were 2 ° C – 3 ° C (3.6 ° F – 5.4 ° F) higher than during the pre-industrial era. , and the sea level was 15–25 meters (50–80 feet) higher than today. ”(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Climate.gov 14 August 2020) Logical question: what about sea level 50-80 feet higher then with CO2 the same as today’s CO2? Answer: The normal time course between the increasing atmospheric CO2 and the increasing rate leading to rising sea levels is one or more decades.