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Burning all fossil energy would eliminate all ice of Antarctica (in 10,000 years)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/pifc-baf090815.php
[font face=Serif]Public Release: 11-Sep-2015
[font size=5]Burning all fossil energy would eliminate all ice of Antarctica[/font]
[font size=4]Sea-level would be raised by more than 50 meters[/font]
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
[font size=3]Burning all of the world's available fossil-fuel resources would result in the complete melting of the Antarctic ice sheet, a new study to be published in Science Advances shows. The Antarctic ice masses store water equivalent to more than 50 meters of sea-level rise. The new calculations show that Antarctica's long-term contribution to sea-level rise could likely be restricted to a few meters that could still be manageable, if global warming did not exceed 2 degrees. Crossing this threshold, however, would in the long run destabilize both West and East Antarctica - causing sea-level rise that would reshape coastal regions around the globe for millennia to come.
"If we were to burn all attainable fossil fuel resources, this would eliminate the Antarctic ice sheet and cause long-term global sea-level rise unprecedented in human history," lead author Ricarda Winkelmann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research says. "This would not happen overnight, but the mind-boggling point is that our actions today are changing the face of planet Earth as we know it, and will continue to do so for tens of thousands of years to come. If we want to avoid Antarctica to become ice-free, we need to keep coal, gas and oil in the ground".
The long-term risk increases with every additional tenth of a degree of warming
"By using more and more fossil energy, we increase the risk of triggering changes that we may not be able to stop or reverse in the future," co-author Anders Levermann of the Potsdam Institute explains. "The West Antarctic ice sheet may already have tipped into a state of unstoppable ice loss, whether as a result of human activity or not. But if we want to pass on cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Calcutta, Hamburg or New York as our future heritage, we need to avoid a tipping in East Antarctica," he says.
…[/font][/font]
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/8/e1500589
[font size=5]Burning all fossil energy would eliminate all ice of Antarctica[/font]
[font size=4]Sea-level would be raised by more than 50 meters[/font]
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
[font size=3]Burning all of the world's available fossil-fuel resources would result in the complete melting of the Antarctic ice sheet, a new study to be published in Science Advances shows. The Antarctic ice masses store water equivalent to more than 50 meters of sea-level rise. The new calculations show that Antarctica's long-term contribution to sea-level rise could likely be restricted to a few meters that could still be manageable, if global warming did not exceed 2 degrees. Crossing this threshold, however, would in the long run destabilize both West and East Antarctica - causing sea-level rise that would reshape coastal regions around the globe for millennia to come.
"If we were to burn all attainable fossil fuel resources, this would eliminate the Antarctic ice sheet and cause long-term global sea-level rise unprecedented in human history," lead author Ricarda Winkelmann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research says. "This would not happen overnight, but the mind-boggling point is that our actions today are changing the face of planet Earth as we know it, and will continue to do so for tens of thousands of years to come. If we want to avoid Antarctica to become ice-free, we need to keep coal, gas and oil in the ground".
The long-term risk increases with every additional tenth of a degree of warming
"By using more and more fossil energy, we increase the risk of triggering changes that we may not be able to stop or reverse in the future," co-author Anders Levermann of the Potsdam Institute explains. "The West Antarctic ice sheet may already have tipped into a state of unstoppable ice loss, whether as a result of human activity or not. But if we want to pass on cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Calcutta, Hamburg or New York as our future heritage, we need to avoid a tipping in East Antarctica," he says.
…[/font][/font]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/09/11/scientists-confirm-theres-enough-fossil-fuel-on-earth-to-melt-all-of-antarctica/
[font face=Serif][font size=5]Scientists confirm there’s enough fossil fuel on Earth to entirely melt Antarctica[/font]
By Chelsea Harvey September 11 at 2:01 PM
[font size=3]The frozen continent at the bottom of the world has been the subject of increasing concern as rising temperatures cause more ice to melt every year. This is worrying because the massive amount of ice contained in the Antarctic ice sheet has the potential to cause global sea levels to rise catastrophically — nearly 200 feet, were it to melt entirely.
But what would it take to entirely melt Antarctica, a sheet of miles-thick ice that’s larger than the United States?
Now, a blockbuster new study has produced an answer: If we burned all the fossil fuel on Earth, we would, in fact, eliminate the Antarctic ice sheet. The process would likely take up to 10,000 years, but its consequences would cause nearly 200 feet of sea-level rise and irrevocably change the face of the Earth.
The Antarctica question — whether there’s actually enough fossil fuel in the world to raise global temperatures enough to melt the entire ice sheet — surfaced at least as far back as 1979, when The New York Times published an article about the possible consequences of an Antarctic ice sheet collapse. This was the article that got climate scientist Ken Caldeira, a researcher at Stanford University’s Carnegie Institute of Science and the new study’s senior author, interested in climate change in the first place, and in the Antarctica question in particular.
…[/font][/font]
By Chelsea Harvey September 11 at 2:01 PM
[font size=3]The frozen continent at the bottom of the world has been the subject of increasing concern as rising temperatures cause more ice to melt every year. This is worrying because the massive amount of ice contained in the Antarctic ice sheet has the potential to cause global sea levels to rise catastrophically — nearly 200 feet, were it to melt entirely.
But what would it take to entirely melt Antarctica, a sheet of miles-thick ice that’s larger than the United States?
Now, a blockbuster new study has produced an answer: If we burned all the fossil fuel on Earth, we would, in fact, eliminate the Antarctic ice sheet. The process would likely take up to 10,000 years, but its consequences would cause nearly 200 feet of sea-level rise and irrevocably change the face of the Earth.
The Antarctica question — whether there’s actually enough fossil fuel in the world to raise global temperatures enough to melt the entire ice sheet — surfaced at least as far back as 1979, when The New York Times published an article about the possible consequences of an Antarctic ice sheet collapse. This was the article that got climate scientist Ken Caldeira, a researcher at Stanford University’s Carnegie Institute of Science and the new study’s senior author, interested in climate change in the first place, and in the Antarctica question in particular.
…[/font][/font]