SUMMARY
One of the biggest causes of global warming is excess carbon dioxide. Well a
five-nation scientific team has said that a slight increase in carbon dioxide could lead
to the decrease in stability for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (also known as WAIS).
This enormous sheet of ice covers the pacific side near the Transantarctic Mountains.
If this massive piece of ice fell into the ocean it would cause a rise in global sea levels.
The research on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is being based on a 4,100 foot long
sample of sedimentary rock that was taken beneath the sea floor. This sample is/will help scientist to see how WAIS will respond and stand up to future global warming over the next few centuries. So far what scientist have found is that, under projected global warming conditions, ice shelves could possibly shrink or disappear making WAIS vulnerable to melting. In which case, the rise of global sea levels would occur. The sample also shows that a few million years ago the ice shelves started to disappear, causing melting deep under water.
IMPACT
This would impact the world definitely by the rising the sea levels, reducing our
size of landmasses. People who live along the coast would have a problem with water
coming to close to their house. New Orleans has levy's and needs storm-surge
defenses and would need more if the water rose. If the sea rose just a small 20
centimeters, it would cost a estimated 740,000 people to become homeless.
Also another problem would be that Antarctica would slowly start to shrink if parts
of it just fell off and melted adding to the amount of water in the oceans.
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