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Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Missing winter sea-ice signals changes in Antarctica that could be "absolute disaster for the world", scientists say.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, I don't just mean Thwaites. If the ice also runs off onto the mainland behind it, the sea level will rise by 60 meters. Thwaits is currently holding it back like a cork.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As covered by my quote, the neighboring mainland glaciers melting would raise water levels by 3 more meters (3.6m total). You're still off by a factor of 20x

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I got my information from this article: https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/dieser-gletscher-determin-die-zukunft-der-menschheit-496385214213 It is Swiss, very long but well worth reading. Maybe you can find a way to translate it for yourself. It also says that the melting leads to a rise of 60cm in the short term, but to 60 meters in the long term (1000 years).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Per your own source: 60 meters is for the whole Antarctica. Thwaites and and the west Antarctica (which is the part "protected" by Thwaites) is 3.5 meters over a few hundred years (up to 1.000 years).