The researchers say that the collapse of the ice sheet is not inevitable

In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers conclude that the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet — which could cause catastrophic sea level rise — is not “inevitable.”

Since the early 1990s, scientists have observed an acceleration of ice melt in this region of Antarctica, under the influence of human-induced climate change. Some fear an irreversible collapse of the ice sheet, which will continue regardless of future climate change.

It would thus be one of the climatic “tipping points” that generates a catastrophic chain reaction – in this case a significant rise in ocean level. But a team of researchers in the United States and United kingdom Just published a study showing that all is not settled.

Slower

They observed the development of West Antarctica, which is home to giant glaciers that are extremely unstable and contain enough ice to raise sea levels by 3.3 metres. Using observations and satellite data, they determined that the rate and extent of ice disturbances along the coast varies with local climate variations.

The rate of ice sheet retreat in a vulnerable area of ​​the coast slowed between 2003 and 2015. This slowdown was caused by changes in ocean temperatures, which were caused by changes in offshore winds.

“The collapse of the ice sheet is not inevitable,” concluded Eric Steig, a professor at the University of California Washington to me Seattle. “It depends on how the climate will change in the coming decades, a change that we can positively influence by reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he stressed.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions

In these areas, winds usually blow from the west and bring warmer, saltier waters, which increase ice melt. But the intensity of these winds was weaker off the Edmonton Sea during the period under review, sparing the iceberg some of these waters attacking it.

Fraser Christie of the Scott Polar Research Institute said Cambridge. “We have the opportunity to mitigate ice loss in West Antarctica – if we reduce our emissions Carbon Dioxide He finished.

Anders Levermann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change Impacts Research, a scientist who was not involved in the study published on Monday, praised the method used while stressing that the period studied corresponds to a “blink of an eye” from this point on. From a mirror point of view. According to him, it is necessary to continue to predict ocean level rise “with a destabilizing hypothesisSouth Pole western”.