Antarctica has long been our prime example of the effects of global warming. The cold land mass helps us to visualize the potential disasters that a warming planet could bring us through its melting ice caps and dying biodiversity. And even greater, watching the heating of Antarctica today is a dramatic reminder of what could be tomorrow. We see that some effects of global warming are present today, warning us that more can hit the rest of the world sooner than expected.
Over the past year, scientists from the ‘French National Centre for Scientific Research’, conducted a study to show us that temperatures around the polar ice cap are increasing by 0.04°C per decade. Warm water is also rising rapidly to the surface, at a rate of 39 metres per decade, which is between three to ten times more than previously estimated. As part of our climate change problem, researchers note that these changes could have serious consequences for the Antarctic ice, contributing to the extinction of species that rely on its temperature and biome.
While the word, reasonably, has been so focused on a pandemic, the climate crisis has not abated. According to the World Meteorological Association, carbon dioxide levels remain high even after greenhouse gas emissions dipped earlier this year during widespread lockdowns.
In Antartica, PBS reports, researchers are facing pandemic restrictions such as travel limitations and redirected funding. This has resulted in “gaps in critical data that tracks how the planet works, especially data regarding climate change” (PBS). One of the largest polar expeditions in history even got stuck on pause when its data-collecting ship had to unstick itself from the ice as the coronavirus researchers from coming on and off board.
Along with such disruptions in data, the coronavirus pandemic will continue to shape the fight against climate change around the world, which provides some hope for the Antarctic landscape. US President Biden has pledged to make this issue at the forefront of his focus. In November 2021, world leaders will be meeting in Glasgow for the successor to the landmark Paris meeting of 2015 which brought us the Paris Climate Accords. Countries are already signing up to take deep carbon cuts, such as Chinese President, Xi Jinping, who announced that China aims to go carbon neutral by 2060. Finally, renewable resources are cheaper today than ever before, giving businesses an incentive to go green.
It is unclear what the path to a safer climate will look like in upcoming years, especially as our COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up the world’s landscape. However, as we inevitably continue to hear about the disasters in Antarctica, we can also keep in mind that there is hope for change. From research laboratories in Antarctica to political decisions around the world, steps can be taken to reduce the negative impacts of climate change.
Author: Tamer Bsoul LHS Senior
Works Cited
“Antarctica: The Ocean Cools at the Surface but Warms up at Depth.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 21 Jan. 2021, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210121131818.htm.
Kossakovski, Fedor. “From North to South Pole, Climate Scientists Grapple with Pandemic Disruptions.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 4 Dec. 2020, www.pbs.org/newshour/science/from-north-to-south-pole-climate-scientists-grapple-with-pandemic-disruptions.
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