14 DAY TRIAL // If the Antarctic were to sign up for one really wacky edition of “Biggest Loser,” there is little doubt that it would pretty much smash its competition.
Thus, a recent investigation has revealed that, courtesy of changes in environmental conditions, the Antarctic ice sheet is now “shedding” several dozen billion metric tonnes of ice on yearly basis.
When compared to figures documented between 2005 and 2010, when specialists last researched ice loss patterns in this part of the world, measurements taken between 2010 and 2013 prove that the Antarctic is rapidly transforming.
Specifically, scientists with the UK Center for Polar Observation and Modeling maintain that annual ice loss in the Arctic has upped from an average of 100 billion metric tonnes to an impressive 159 billion metric tonnes per year, Click Green informs.
“We find that ice losses continue to be most pronounced along the fast-flowing ice streams of the Amundsen Sea sector, with thinning rates of between 4 and 8 meters [13.12 to 26.24 feet] per year near to the grounding lines of the Pine Island, Thwaites and Smith Glaciers,” details Dr. Malcolm McMillan.
Specialists at the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling estimate that this increase in annual ice loss in the Antarctic is enough to cause a yearly 0.45-millimeter increase in global sea levels, and they warn that the melting of this region is a threat to human society and especially coastal communities.