Humans have 'lost control,' no amount of emission cut will slow down melting of Antarctica ice shelves: Study

The coming decades will likely witness a substantial acceleration in the melting of West Antarctica's ice shelves, even if the world cuts down on planet-warming emissions, warns new research.

This, as per a study Monday, published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday, would drive rising sea levels.

'Lost control'

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The study, as per AFP, found that no matter the degree of warming this century, West Antarctica's Ice Sheet melting will speed up as warmer water in the Amundsen Sea erodes ice shelves bordering the ocean.

As per estimates, even under the best-case scenario, if humanity were to successfully limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, ice would still melt three times faster this century than it did last century.

Researchers, as per Reuters, warned that humans had "lost control" of the fate of thinning ice shelves.

"Reducing emissions can help to prevent the worst-case scenario of melting, but beyond that mitigation has a negligible impact," said Kaitlin Naughten, the study's lead author, and an ocean-ice modeller at the British Antarctic Survey.

"It appears that we may have lost control of the West Antarctic ice shelf melting over the 21st century."

How did researchers conclude this ominous future?

Researchers used computer modelling to determine that faster ice shelf melting is already inevitable in the coming decades as the ocean warms.

They ran simulations on Britain's national supercomputer. These simulations were based on a single model and were used to assess increases in ocean temperatures under different warming scenarios.

"Our simulation suggests that we are now committed to a rapid increase in the rate of ocean warming and ice shelf melting for the rest of the century," said Naughten while talking to reporters.

As per Tiago Segabinazzi Dotto, a senior research scientist at Britain's National Oceanography Centre, the results "need to be treated carefully since different models and even ensembles of the same model can give different responses". However, Dotto, who was not part of the study, acknowledged that the findings align with other research pointing to the imminent collapse of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea.

(With inputs from agencies)

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