Why Worsening Antarctic Ice Problems Are Your Problem, Too

Two new reports paint a worrying picture of Antarctic
ice, which is a problem for the whole world. 

 The amount of sea ice surrounding Antarctica reached a new low for the end of winter, increasing worries that the South Pole and surroundings are now in an ice decline similar to the Arctic at the top of the world, the Washington Post reports.

Additionally, according to another article the Washington Post, 40 percent of Antarctica's ice shelves - which are separate and different from sea ice - have dwindled in the past quarter century, and that's allowing more land ice to flow into the oceans. The extent of ice shelf melting is more extensive than previously thought. 

Yes, this stuff is oh-so-distant away from us, so you'd think who cares?  Well, everyone should. What goes on in Antarctica doesn't stay in Antarctica.

The Antarctic ice problems will probably worsen sea level rises on every coastline around the world. If you don't live anywhere near the coast, the ice crisis in Antarctica might worsen the climate changed we're all already feeling. 

SEA ICE ISSUES

 The sea ice around Antarctica usually reaches its peak in September, when winter is ending in the Southern Hemisphere and spring is beginning.

This year, the maximum sea ice extent around Antarctica this September was the lowest on record. As the Washington Post reports, the season's maximum ice extent around Antarctica was reached on September 10 - much earlier than normal, The ice was remarkably lacking. Says the Post:

"At that time, the annual ice coverage was at a record low of 6.55 million square miles - a whopping 398,000 square miles lower than the previous low set in 1986."

That's still a lot of ice.  But any decline is worrying. A lack of sea ice won't directly increase sea levels.  Ice melting on an ocean is like an ice cube melting in your gin and tonic. It won't increase the amount of liquid in your glass.

But sea ice is white. Or at least white-ish. It's great at reflecting sunlight out to space. That, in turn, helps air condition all of Earth. Open ocean is darker and absorbs sunlight, helping to warm the world.  It's called a positive feedback.

Climate change is already boosting global temperatures.Then the effects of that warming, in this case a dark surface to absorb the sun't heat, accelerates the mess even more.  

ICE SHELVES LOSING

Also, the sea ice surrounding Antarctica stabilizes the ice sheets on the continent or near its shore. The new lack of sea ice, and that darker water absorbing the sun's heat, could allow warmth to further eat away at the ice sheet,  glaciers and ice shelves

Ice shelves are enormous floating pieces of ice extending out into the ocean from glaciers on land in Antarctica. They act like dams in a way, slowing the flow of ice on the land into the oceans. Ice shelves surround most of Antarctica's coastline. 

That study I mentioned at the beginning of this post about the ice shelf decline is probably more serious than this year's crappy sea ice extent around Antarctica. 

Damage the ice shelves and you damage the ability for Antarctica to hold onto its immense glaciers.  That glacial ice flows into the oceans, melts and helps accelerate sea level rise around the world. 

Says the Washington Post: 

"'The surprising result to me was just how many ice shelves are deteriorating that substantially and continuously,' said Benjamin Davison, lead author of the study. 'Lots of ice shelves not just the big ones, are steadily losing mass over time with no sign of recovery."

The study sounds like a lot of work, but I guess most scientists are used to this. The team analyzed more than 100,000 satellite images from 1997 to 2021.   During that time, 71 of 162 ice shelves lost mass, another 29 managed to get a little bigger and the rest didn't change much one way or the other. 

West Antarctica showed the biggest ice shelve diminishment, and the numbers are huge. The Getz Ice Shelf lost 1.9 trillion tons of ice over the 14 years analyzed. Another ice shelf lost 1.3 trillion tons. 

In West Antarctica, warming ocean water is undercutting the ice shelves, prompting them to melt. The ice shelves in East Antarctica are much more stable, because the water along the immediate coast there has still managed to stay almost as cold as it ever was.

The scientists said you don't need a complete collapse of most or all of the ice shelves to cause real problems. As long as many are weakening, more land-based ice can flow into the water to melt, and raise those global sea levels. 

This is all just one more thing to worry about in the age of climate change.