Glaciers on the coast of the Amundsen Sea have lost 3,000 billion tons of ice in the last 25 years. Reported by the University of Leeds.
Dr. A study led by Benjamin Davison made it possible to predict the “mass balance” of the bay of the Amundsen Sea in the western part of the continent. That’s why climatologists call the ratio of the mass of snow and ice that grows due to snowfall and the mass lost as a result of the icebergs leaving the glacier. When icebergs form faster than ice can flow from snowfall, the ice sheet shrinks and sea levels rise.
Between 1996 and 2021, ice mass in West Antarctica was found to have decreased by 3.331 billion tons, equivalent to a global sea level rise of more than nine millimeters. For comparison, if all the lost ice spilled over London, it would exceed 2 km in height. Changes in ocean temperature and currents are believed to be the most important factors in causing ice loss.
At the same time, the absence of heavy snowfall in certain periods plays a key role in the disappearance of the ice mass. For example, the period from 2009 to 2013 was defined by scientists as a “snow drought”. The absence of heavy snowfall has depleted the Amundsen Sea coast ice sheet, resulting in 25% more ice loss than the average snowfall for years. On the contrary, there was very heavy snowfall in the winter of 2019 and 2020. The scientists therefore calculated that this year’s ice loss has been cut in half compared to the average year.
At the same time, scientists do not see any signs that the trend of ice loss will change in the future.
previous work showedthat coffee plantations deprive forest birds of their favorite caterpillars.