New Ice Growth On Antarctica's Criminally Descending Ice Sheet: What Does That Imply for Our World?

New Ice Growth On Antarctica's Criminally Descending Ice Sheet: What Does That Imply for Our World?

Antarctica and its Ice Sheet Grow — for the First Time in Decades What Does This Mean for Planet Earth?

Antarctica has long been a major player in the global sea-level rise game, with the West Antarctic and parts of East Antarctica losing mass for years. This is particularly true in the last decade, when ice melt accelerated particularly in West Antarctica and large parts of East Antarctica.

But in a jump turn between the years of 2021-2023, the AIS surprisingly and enormously started to gain mass ~10% of previous years — via an atypical rainy period.

Mass Changes in the AIS:

The first data from GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and its follow-on mission, GRACE-FO has provided essential information about the mass changes in the AIS. Over the years, the broad trend seemingly showed continued sea level rise caused by mass loss from ice. During the time 2002–2010 the AIS shed mass at a rate of around 73.79 Gt/year, which took a value three times larger (142.06 Gt/year) in the subsequent shorter period.

This quadruple badness was especially evident in West Antarctica and the Wilkes Land-Queen Maud Land (WL-QML) portion of Eastern Ice Sheet. However, in 2021–2023 the ice sheet gained total mass at a rate of 107.79 Gt/year.

East Antarctica reversing trends

East Antarctica exhibited glacial changes in key basin for this period. WL-QML: Four of the four glaciers (Totten, Moscow, Denman and Vincennes Bay) showed accelerated mass loss in the meridional wield between 2011 to 2020.

Contributions to this, however contributed a massive surface mass decrease and a sharp uptick of ice erosion. In contrast, this study aimed to investigate that some glaciers in between 2021–23 and this is the time when they switched their mass loss to significant mass gains. This is part of a larger trend that has difficulties the self-perpetuating trend of axiomatic mass loss in the region.

Influence on Global Sea-Level Rise

The change in mass of AIS has critical influences on global sea level. Since 2002 to 2010, the AIS added a little over 0.0002 mm/year^−1 to global sea-level rise(2).Increase nearly doubled between the 2011 — 2020 period to 0.39 mm/year 2021–23: AIS contributes 0.30 m/year less SLR for the entire world (negative contribution).

So much of this unusual behavior is in fact its greater than average snowfall that increased the mass of the ice sheet over years.

Glacier Instability Threats

The AIS, however has concerns for its future stability despite this recovery in mass. Antarctica’s most vulnerable four key glacier basins (Totten, Moscow, Denman and Vincennes Bay) are included among the regional WL-QML. Complete disintegration of these glaciers would add more than 7 meters to global sea levels.

The rate of mass loss in these regions is already a warning signal — their collapse would spell doom for numerous coastal communities worldwide. Scientists are paying very close attention to these regions for more signs of instability.

New GRACE Mission Data (2002 to 2023) for the AIS Highlight the Treacherous History of Mass Loss and Recent Gains. The sudden change in direction from mass loss to mass gain has added an entirely new layer to our comprehension of how the Antarctic really works.

Significance of the demise of Humboldt Glacier:

In the last couple of months, a team from the Cryosphere Climate Initiative announced the death of Humboldt Glacier, which had previously stretched a considerable distance. It now covers only two hectares — too small to be a glacier. The demise of this glacier landmark reminds us very painfully how the global environmental changes are handing punches faster and quicker than ever.

Humboldt Glacier (after Alexander von Humboldt, forward-looking explorer and scientist) was for such latitudes once the biggest glacier on its last tip. Humboldt, the century-19 forefather environmental scientist warned of “incalculable” man-made deleterious effects on the environment.

And while his insightful observations ring so many bells now the real world is feeling the impact of climate change live. Humboldt predicted increased irritation of nature would with sources lead to devastating results. The passage of this glacier changing patently indicates more profound environmental shift, the extinction of this one is loss of a natural wonder. Glaciers are retreating around the world at a rate never before seen with increasing melting as Earth gets warmer.

It is not unknown that scientists are concerned, as more countries besides Venezuela and Slovenia will have their glaciers vanish very soon.

_Jr.Majah