Study Cautions of Rapid Ice Sheet Melting

(MENAFN) Recent scientific findings caution that uncontrolled melting of Earth's major ice masses—the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets—could result in substantial sea level increases and large-scale displacement from coastal zones, even if global temperature rise is contained within the widely accepted target of 1.5°C.

An international group of researchers set out to identify a “safe limit” for global temperature increases that would ensure the stability of the planet’s two largest ice sheets, as reported by several media outlets on Tuesday.

Their investigation drew on a wide range of data sources, including satellite measurements, climate simulations, and historical evidence such as ice cores, deep ocean sediments, and genetic material from octopuses.

Although many nations have pledged to restrict temperature increases to 1.5°C above levels recorded before industrialization, the report—published in Communications Earth and Environment—suggests that this threshold may still be too high to avoid the irreversible retreat of ice sheets.

Current projections indicate that, without more aggressive climate policies, global temperatures could climb by as much as 2.9°C by the end of the century.

Alarming research also indicates that even at the present rise of 1.2°C, the ice sheets could begin to recede rapidly, unleashing dramatic sea level escalation.

Together, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets hold enough frozen water to elevate global sea levels by roughly 213 feet.

Since the 1990s, the volume of ice being lost from these sheets has quadrupled, with approximately 370 billion tons melting annually.

Today, melting from these ice masses has become the primary contributor to rising seas, and the pace of yearly sea level increase has doubled in just 30 years.

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