By the year 2100, sea levels could rise three to six feet. That’s according to a study published in the scientific journal Nature just this month. One of the major contributors: ice melting in Antarctica.
Reuters reports the continent lost almost three trillion tons of ice between 1992 and 2017. And the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free during the summer by mid-century, according to the New York Times. The reason, say researchers, is that young ice is melting before it has the chance to grow and thicken over years.
The way researchers create climate models and integrate the melting ice from Antarctica, the Arctic, Greenland, and large icebergs is complicated.
And that’s where Till Wagner’s research comes in. As Assistant Professor of Physics and Physical Oceanography at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, he just received a National Science Foundation grant, shared with researchers at Princeton University and the University of California San Diego, to study the impact of icebergs on the climate.
Guest:
Till Wagner, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, University of North Carolina Wilmington