Scientists in Chile question if Antarctica has hit a point of no return
Nearly 1,500 academics, researchers and scientists specialising in Antarctica gathered in southern Chile for the 11th Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research conference this week to share the most cutting-edge research from the vast white continent. With detailed weather station and satellite data dating back only about 40 years, scientists wondered whether these events meant Antarctica had reached a tipping point, or a point of accelerated and irreversible sea ice loss from the West Antarctic ice sheet. Mike Weber, a paleooceanographer from Germany's University of Bonn, who specialises in Antarctic ice sheet stability, says sediment records dating back 21,000 years show similar periods of accelerated ice melt. The ice sheet has experienced similar accelerated ice mass loss at least eight times, Weber said, with acceleration beginning over a few decades that kick off a phase of ice loss that can last centuries, leading to dramatically higher sea levels around the world. Casado said data from dozens of ice cores collected throughout the ice sheet has allowed him to reconstruct temperature patterns in Antarctica dating back 800,000 years.
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