WASHINGTON: Ice in Antarctica is melting six times faster than in the 1980s. Warm ocean water is melting away freshwater ice sheets on the edges of the continent. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the United States of America on January 14, 2019, revealed the data. The study was led by Eric Rignot, an earth systems scientist at the University of California at Irvine and NASA.
As per the study, the annual rate at which snow melted rose to 278 billion tonnes between 2009 and 2017 from 44 billion tonnes between 1979 and 1990.
“In this century alone, a ten-foot rise in sea levels is possible,” Rignot told to USA Today. “As the Antarctic ice sheet continues to melt away, we expect multi-metre sea level rise in the coming centuries,” he added. Scientists have already predicted in 2013 that if carbon emissions are not reduced then global sea levels could rise by 100 centimeters by 2100. The rise in sea levels would sink island communities around the world and destroy wildlife habitats. Moreover, due to intrusion of sea water into fresh water bodies, the drinking water would become scarce.