While the world’s attention was focused on containing the new coronavirus pandemic, Harvard University researchers discovered that seawater levels are rising faster than previously thought as a result of climate change. According to a study published in Science Advances, the global rise in sea level caused by the possible collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have been greatly underestimated. According to the study, if the West Antarctica Ice Sheet collapsed, the global sea level would rise by about 3.2 meters (over 10 feet).
According to the scientists, the study employs new calculations for the mechanism of water expulsion. When the solid base – on which the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is located – rebounds upwards after ice melts, the total weight of the ice sheet decreases. If the ice sheet completely collapses, global sea-level rise estimates would be extended by an additional meter in 1000 years.
The magnitude of the impact was revealed in a statement. Linda Pan (PhD in Earth and Planetary Science at GSAS), who co-led the study with graduate student Evelyn Powell, added that previous research had deemed the mechanism “inconsequential.”
“The most widely cited estimate is a 3.2-meter increase in average sea level if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses,” Powell said. “We’ve demonstrated that the mechanism of water expulsion adds an additional meter, or 30%, to the total.”
According to Pan and Powell’s simulation, by the end of the century, the global sea-level rise caused by the melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would be 20 percent higher due to the mechanism for water expulsion.
Rising sea levels are endangering island nations and coastal cities, which are home to over two billion people worldwide.
According to Jerry X. Mitrovica, professor Frank B. Baird Jr., Earth and Planetary Science Departments, and lead author of the paper, all published estimates of sea-level rise based on climate modeling should be updated to reflect Pan and Powell’s latest study.”Each one of them.”
Both researchers worked on a different project to raise sea levels, but they shifted their focus after seeing more water expelled from West Antarctic ice sheets than they expected.
Whatever scenario they used to collapse the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Pan always discovered an extra metre of global sea level rise.
“When the ice melts, the rise in sea level does not stop,” Pan explained. “The damage we cause to our shores will last hundreds of years.”A
