Antarctic Peninsula. Research suggests that accelerated melting of ice shelves over the Amundsen Sea in west Antarctica is locked in and beyond human control for the rest of this century, even if emissions are significantly reduced. For any form of publication, please include the link to this page: www.grida.no/resources/3206 This photo has been graciously provided to be used in the GRID-Arendal resources library by: Peter Prokosch
Study after study shows the breakdown of climate systems taking place much earlier than foreseen, with potentially catastrophic results
Adam Morton and Graham Readfearn -- The Guardian
Dec. 30, 2023
Morning is a construct in the Antarctic summer.
It’s 7.30 a.m. and Nerilie Abram, a climate science professor at the Australian National University, is having breakfast at Casey station when she takes Guardian Australia’s call in late November. The sun barely kissed the horizon the night before, and won’t fall below it for weeks.
Constant daylight can be famously discombobulating for first-time visitors to Antarctica, but for experienced researchers such as Abram, it is just the backdrop to life at the end of the Earth. This year, though, something else is deeply strange.
When Abram was here a decade ago there was a mass of ice floating off the coast. It’s a vastly altered scene when she looks out the window now. “There’s no sea ice at all,” she says. “It’s a magnificent landscape. To think about what we’re doing to it and the changes that are happening here, it’s a punch in the guts.”
That punch has winded scientists and policymakers across the planet this year. As the hottest year on record crawls to its finish line, they have been asking: is 2023 the year humanity put its stamp on Antarctica in ways that will be felt for centuries to come?
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READ MORE: The Guardian