East Antarctica glacier reaches tipping point, to increase sea level
Q. Rapidly melting glacier in which part of the world is on track to lift oceans at least two metres and could pass tipping point of no return?- Published on 20 May 16a. Antarctica
b. East Antarctica
c. Arctic
d. None of the above
ANSWER: East Antarctica
A rapidly melting glacier a top East Antarctica is on track to lift oceans at least two metres, and could soon pass a "tipping point" of no return, researchers said on 18th May
- To date, scientists have mostly worried about the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets as dangerous drivers of sea level rise.
- But the new study, following up on earlier work by the same team, has identified a third major threat to hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas around the world.
- From the air, the contours of Totten Glacier roughly the size of France are invisible because the entire Antarctic continent is covered by a seamless, kilometres-thick blanket of snow and ice.It’s underbelly is eroded with warm sea water and is rapidly melting.
- Sea levels during the Pliocene peaked at levels more than 20 metres (65 feet) higher than today. This could happen again.
