According to Marjolijn Haasnoot of Deltares, there are increasing indications of an accelerated sea level rise. “We therefore have to get to work faster. At thirty centimeters this century, that task is manageable. But if it becomes more, the task is very large. We should not start too late, because adaptation takes a lot of time.”
“Deltares thinks this is so urgent that we will focus even more on it. That is really special given the other current questions we are working on, such as drought, the floods in Limburg or subsidence of infrastructure.”
Inhabitable
The expedition of the Americans and British is indeed going to a very inhospitable area, says NOS weather forecaster Peter Kuipers Munneke. He has also been to Antarctica as a climate researcher. “Airplanes cannot land there, because the area is not flat enough for that. It is extremely friable ice, with many cracks and irregularities. Helicopters cannot reach the area either, because it is too far away for that.”
However, unmanned submarines can sail under the ice shelves and equipment has already been thrown from aircraft to perform autonomous measurements. Much climate research now focuses on Antarctica, says Kuipers Munneke. “Because there is a lot of ice stored there, more than anywhere else in the world, that ice sheet is of the utmost importance for future sea level rise.”
Although the uncertainty about the processes that play a role in Antarctica is still very great, according to climate scientists it underlines the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. The expectation is that melting can be kept within limits in this way.
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