Antarctica stares down the barrel of a gun, and people are the ones who hold it. Hundreds of concerned scientists recently met in Australia to discuss how to lay down the weapons in what is being called an “emergency summit.”
The summit’s conclusions were set out in a statement dated November 22, 2024, and it is full of dire warnings that, if history is any teacher, will be ignored.
“Nowhere on Earth is there a greater source of uncertainty in sea level rise forecasts than from East Antarctica, in Australia’s backyard,” the researchers wrote. “The East Antarctic Ice Sheet alone contains enough water to raise global sea levels by about 50 meters [164 feet] when it is completely melted. The consequences for our coastal cities and infrastructure are enormous.”
The Southern Ocean and Antarctica play an incredibly important role in our planet’s climate. They’re, like IFLScience it says, an “ocean carbon sink and planetary air conditioning,” and we take these services for granted. Temperature shifts in that particular part of the world are much more drastic than elsewhere, and recent research has shown that things are not getting any better. In fact, they are getting worse. Sea ice is at record lows, ice shelves are unstable, and temperatures are soaring, including heat waves reaching 72°F above average. Those are huge red flags, but they’re so far away and in areas we don’t often see that it’s easy to ignore the frantic waving of those flags.
“Researchers in their early years are calling for more attention to be paid to this region, which plays a crucial role in regulating Earth’s climate and is vital to our future, but is often overlooked in public discussion and policymaking” , the scientists wrote. “We believe that science in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean should be at the heart of climate policy.”
The summit, officially called the Australian Antarctic Research Conference 2024, was held in Hobart, Tasmania. Some 500 experts showed up to ponder the reports in question and try to come up with a better way to sound the alarm so the world would actually hear it.
According to the study, Antarctica is currently losing about 17 million tons of ice each o’clock average, and that percentage is increasing.
“Satellite images suggest Antarctica is losing ice more than six times faster than it did 30 years ago,” IFLScience wrote. “Even East Antarctica, once thought to be relatively stable and immune to change, is beginning to show signs of extreme unrest, such as heat waves and massive melts.”
It is a virtually impossible problem to tackle because the solution requires the world’s population to come together and make drastic systemic changes to the way we live our daily lives. We will certainly adapt, but adaptation alone will not be enough. The only real solution is a “deep, rapid and sustainable” reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, over which the average person obviously has little to no control in any meaningful way.
“Efforts to slow climate change through coordinated global action are critical to protecting the future of Australia, Antarctica and our planet,” the researchers wrote. “…Our societies must set and achieve goals to ‘bend’ the carbon curve as quickly as possible. If emissions are not reduced quickly – every year and every ton – current and future generations will face greater sea level rise. Every fraction of a degree counts.”
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