The Oldest Layers of Ice in Antarctica Will Melt by 2020

According to findings from a new NASA report, the last untouched sections of one of the oldest layers of ice in Antarctica are rapidly destabilizing and may melt by 2020. This change will lead to a further increase in global sea levels. On May 17, Reuters reported that NASA's research focused on sections of the Antarctic ice layers known as the 'Larsen B' shelves, which are estimated to be around 10,000 years old. Parts of this ice mass have collapsed since 2002, and what remains is approximately 1,600 square kilometers. Antarctica has dozens of large ice shelves, each formed from many layers of compressed ice, covering the surrounding seas and parts of the coastline. The largest ice shelf in Antarctica is about the size of France. The 'Larsen B' ice shelf is located in the Antarctic Peninsula, near the southern tip of the Americas, and is one of two significant sections of the Antarctic ice layers that scientists have studied and documented for melting and thinning. Eric Rignot, an ice sheet expert at NASA's research center in California and one of the report's authors, states, 'This research on Larsen B shows us how ice masses located in the southern regions of Antarctica have been affected by global warming.' The report reminds that 200 countries agreed to sign the United Nations treaty to combat the consequences of global warming by 2015. The scientific community believes that the ongoing trend of global warming will lead to rising sea levels, severe flooding, and droughts. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that there is a 95% probability that human activities, particularly the consumption of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions, are the main causes of global warming. The results of NASA's new research were published in the online journal 'Geological and Planetary Sciences,' and the authors indicate that the expansion of cracks in the 'Larsen B' ice layers will likely lead to its complete melting by 2020. After that, the fragmented sections of this massive ice mass will float in the sea, resulting in rising sea levels worldwide. The research also found that two other large ice masses, which have lost about 20 to 22 meters in thickness in recent years, may be at risk after 2020 due to the disintegration of the 'Larsen B' ice shelf and could rapidly head towards collapse.