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Massive Totten Glacier Melting Alarms Scientists: Antarctic Ocean Feared To Raise Sea Levels
The recent massive melting of the Totten glaciers is reported to have put the Eastern coastline into grave danger. Many scientists have concluded that the melting of glaciers into the Antarctic Ocean would slowly reach such a point that it would make irreversible changes in the near future.
ABC News reported that the drastic changes in the climate have caused the Totten glacier melting. The research carried out by the scientists' hints at the possibility that if the rate of climate change is not controlled, then it would raise the sea levels by nearly three meters.
"We confirm that collapse has happened in the past, and is likely to happen again if we pass a tipping point, which would occur if we had between 3 and 6 degrees of warming above present," said Dr. Alan Aitken from University of Western Australia, as reported by Daily Mail."The Totten Glacier could cross a point of no return within the next century. This would lead to it retreating inland by up to 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) releasing vast amounts of water."
Besides, the study report also suggested that it could take around several hundred years to make a full impact on the global water levels.
According to the co-director and professor of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, Martin Siegert, the melting of glaciers is actually a cause of concern and said that appropriate measures should be taken to control the increasing global warming.
"The evidence coming together is painting a picture of East Antarctica being much more vulnerable to a warming environment than we thought," said Martin, as reported by Washington Post. "This is something we should worry about. Totten Glacier is losing ice now, and the warm ocean water that is causing this loss has the potential to also push the glacier back to an unstable place. Totten Glacier is only one outlet for the ice of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, but it could have a huge impact."
According to the professor, even a small percentage of change in the East Antarctic ice sheet will have a big influence at the global level.
In addition to the above-mentioned facts about the Antarctic ice sheet, IB Times reported that it is spread over a 5.4 million square miles of the land area at the South Pole and contains around 61 percent of the fresh water on the Earth. The reports also claim that the ice sheet is divided into two sections namely, western and eastern sections by a range of mountains.
The East Antarctic Ice sheet was earlier considered as a relatively more stable region when compared to the Western ice sheet area. But, the recent Totten glaciers have challenged the trend, as it is losing extensive amounts of ice over the years. "The new study published in the journal Nature found that if the glacier withdraws another 100-150km (62-93 miles), its front will be sitting on an unstable bed," reported Time. "This could trigger a period of rapid retreat."
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