Consider this a global warming wakeup call: If completely melted, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet holds enough ice to raise sea levels by 5 meters. And at least some of that melting is inevitable, due to the warming Southern Ocean.
Consider this a global warming wakeup call: If completely melted, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet holds enough ice to raise sea levels by 5 meters. And at least some of that melting is inevitable, due to the warming Southern Ocean.
Analyses will help to reveal how far the West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated in the past — and what it might do in the future.
Scientists have just got their hands on a 228-metre (748-foot) core sample from the muddy bedrock beneath West Antarctica’s chunky ice sheets. Inside the record-breaking sample, they discovered fossils of marine organisms that date from a time when this area was an open, ice-free ocean.