The worst effects of global warming on the world's largest ice sheet could be avoided if nations around the world succeed in meeting climate targets outlined in the Paris Agreement.
The worst effects of global warming on the world's largest ice sheet could be avoided if nations around the world succeed in meeting climate targets outlined in the Paris Agreement.
That's the call from an international team of climate scientists, including experts from The Australian National University (ANU) and the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS), who have examined how much sea levels could rise if climate change melts the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS).
The team's research, published in Nature, suggests by limiting global temperatures to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the EAIS is predicted to add less than half a metre to sea-level rise by the year 2500. If the targets aren't met, sea-level rise from the EAIS alone could climb up to five metres in the same time period.
If greenhouse gas emissions are drastically scaled back and only a marginal rise in global warming is recorded, the research team predicts the EAIS - which holds the vast majority of Earth's glacier ice - will likely not add to sea-level rise this century. But the researchers say sea levels will still rise due to unstoppable ice losses from Greenland or West Antarctica.
Read more at Australian National University
Image: A field camp on the surface of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, Princess Elizabeth Land. (Photo credit: Nerilie Abram/ANU)
