Photo source: NASA – Public domain
The 21st century serves as a turning point in accelerating climate instability caused by man-made greenhouse gases, as CO2 emissions rise well beyond the rate of the previous century. It is also a defining chronology of an astonishing rate of ice mass loss 500% higher than in the last decade of the previous century. Throughout human history, this has never happened on such a rapid scale.
The proof is in the numbers. For example, Greenland and Antarctica, the combined loss of ice mass is truly an eye-opener: “The assessment is supported by NASA and the European Space Agency … The team estimated that the two layers of ice together lost 81 billion tons per year in the 1990s, compared to 475 billion tons of ice per year in 2010 – a sixfold increase ”. (Source: Greenland, Antarctica melting six times faster than in the 1990s, Global Climate Change, NASA, March 16, 2020)
In all honesty, this article should end right here, as 475 billion tonnes of ice loss per year compared to 81 billion tonnes per year in just two decades is so captivating and daunting that it is no longer possible. nothing needs to be said. But, there are more …
This disturbing signal is just a starting point for much bigger problems along the way. Recent research in West Antarctica has revealed a whole new game, the prospect of glacier collapse, in toto, large glaciers and large falls, incredible, but still clearly possible and yet largely ignored by all major countries. If countries otherwise turned fossil fuels into renewable sources and installed mirrored technology to reflect solar radiation back into space, for example, contact: Dr. Ye Tao of Harvard University:
https://www.meerreflection.com/ and / or roof paint with “ultra-white” paint known as “cold roofs” that reflect 98% of sunlight: https://www.bbc.com/news / science-environment -56749105. New York and California are already promoting “cold roofs.”
The Antarctic Thwaites Glacier (100 miles wide by 4,000 meters deep), aka: The Doomsday Glacier, labeled “A Time Bomb” by scientists, is an ice shelf in western Antarctica that is just as close to the door. known as the Pine Island Glacier.
A new discovery at Thwaites is awful and almost impossible to analyze. Thwaites melts in the key points that anchor it on land. The consequences of total release will / will likely be crushing the earth as, and when, the 74,000-square-mile block of ice is lost, but even more ground-breaking, it could knock down the entire sheet of ice in western Antarctica. . This means a sea level rise of over 10 meters!
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But seriously, how could anyone know for sure when it will completely collapse? Guesstimates may appear. Will it be decades or less or more or much more? It is worth noting that climate models have been far too conservative, many estimates by climate scientists have already proven to be decades away. Climate system scientist Paul Beckwith of the University of Ottawa says global warming has advanced so unexpectedly, so fast that “2030 is the new 2100.” The implications of this are simply too great to contemplate.
Significantly, the new research techniques used at Thwaites lead to much better scientific analysis than ever before. The techniques gave scientists the best insight into what is happening under the massive ice sheet, providing new data beams that will require time and additional research to properly analyze.
A robotic submarine named Ran, after the northern goddess of the sea, explores the lower part of the glacier, measuring the strength, temperature, oxygen content and salinity of ocean currents flowing under the glacier. At the same time, the sonar of the ship above allows the high-resolution ocean mapping of the bottom of the cavity. As a result, scientists have already observed three main streams of water that heat the connections under the glacier with the earth. The result is, for the first time, scientists have the ability to more accurate data to model the dynamics of the glacier. This is important to help clarify the uncertainty around the world about global sea level prospects.
According to initial reports from the scientific team: “Our observations show that hot water influences from all sides the critical fixing points for the stability of the ice shelf, a scenario that can lead to retreat and retreat,” according to the study published on April 9 in the journal Scientific Advances. In other words, the entire ice shelf could detach and then flow into the ocean. (Source: Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” Near Peak, Unmanned Sub Reveals, LiveScience, April 14, 2021)
Thwaites are only half of a potentially larger problem on a scale that people would rather not think about. Recently, researchers published an article about the neighboring Pine Island Glacier, which exceeds a tipping point due to water heating, similar to the dilemma surrounding the surprisingly advanced stage of deterioration found at Thwaites. (Source: The Tipping Points and Early Warning Indicators for Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, European Geosciences Union, The Cryosphere, March 25, 2021).
It is difficult, in fact almost impossible, to imagine the consequences of the actual complete collapse of glaciers, especially since it has never happened on such a scale in human history. The Cryosphere reference article provides a general view: “Antarctic ice sheet loss is the main source of uncertainty in projections of future sea level rise, with important implications for coastal regions around the world. The central situation of current and future changes is the instability of the sea ice layer: once a critical threshold, or peak point, is passed, the internal dynamics of the ice can lead to a self-sustaining retreat, which commits a glacier to irreversible, rapid and substantial ice ”, Ibid.
Therefore, it is not exactly the science of rockets to find out the meaning of “rapid and substantial ice loss”. As such, it is probably not too early for every major coastal city in the world to start formulating plans for building sea walls. Already, low-lying areas, such as Miami Beach, are raising streets by 2 to 3 feet (a photo can be seen at: “Miami Beach is Raising Streets by 2 Feet to Combat Rising Seas”).
Meanwhile, CO2 emissions continue to set new records year-on-year and, unfortunately, methane emissions, which amplify global warming more than CO2, are rising like never before, thus stalling in global warming. increasing, as these greenhouse gases cover the atmosphere and retain heat. More CO2 in the atmosphere equals more heat.
The current dashboard for atmospheric CO2 has the following content in Mauna Loa, Hawaii: 417.64 ppm (March 2021) compared to 414.74 ppm (March 2020) compared to 368.13 ppm (2000).
Fossil CO2 emissions have increased by almost 40%, to 36 billion tons per year, now, compared to 26 billion tons at the beginning of the century. This is a growth that is constantly growing. As such, the prospects for the appearance of a stable climate system are decidedly negative. In due course, the repercussions of a corrupt climate system will shock people beyond their darkest nightmares and will unknowingly surprise the world’s political leadership.
Until it is too late, the return points can not be reversed!
Postscript: “The last time the amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere were so high were more than 3 million years ago, when the temperature was 2 ° C – 3 ° C (3.6 ° F – 5.4 ° F). higher than in the pre-industrial period and sea level was 15-25 meters (50-80 feet) higher than today. ”(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Climate.gov, August 14, 2020) Logical question: How about 50-80 feet higher then sea level with CO2 than today’s CO2? Answer: The normal time between rising atmospheric CO2 and rising temperatures that lead to rising sea levels is a decade or more.