Antarctica's Melting Point

Why should Filipinos be worried?

Schematic diagram of an Antarctic ice shelf showing the processes causing the volume changes measured by satellites. Ice is added to the ice shelf by glaciers flowing off the continent and by snowfall that compresses to form ice. Ice is lost when icebergs break off the ice front, and by melting in some regions as warm water flows into the ocean cavity under the ice shelf. Under some ice shelves, cold and fresh meltwater rises to a point where it refreezes onto the ice shelf. Credit: Helen Amanda Fricker, Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego

The south pole's frozen land is thinning inside and out due to the worsening climate conditions that has made the oceans warmer and the air hotter.

Antarctica is a frozen land mass surrounded by ocean while the Arctic is a frozen body of water surrounded by land. 

According to the United States Geological Survey, 68.7% of fresh water is locked in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow despite covering only 1.74% of Earth's total water. 96.5% of Earth's water comes from the oceans and seas

Similarly, their main purpose is to cool and balance the global climate. In a phenomenon called the "albedo effect," ice sheets reflect a certain amount of sunlight back into the atmosphere. 

This means the ice caps bounce radiation back into space to prevent Earth from warming too much. If there is low albedo, Earth will absorb more radiation and reflect only a little of it, which causes temperature to rise.

Albedo Effect infographic for the
Polar Seeds Project. Credits to "Vlad G." of the
New York Design Studio (newgstudio.com)

Earth's oceans, which absorb heat, are not only warming up naturally because of the sun, but also because of human activity. Greenhouse effect for example, traps gases in the atmosphere to heat up Earth's surface, which in turn prevents it from being too cold. Though it is a natural process, the concentration of gases in the atmosphere is increasing because of fossil fuels, coal, and forest depletion.

Both regions undergo a cycle of melting and freezing. On summer, ice caps melt and a large area, called perennial ice, remains frozen. On winter, the polar weather is cold enough to cover it again with sea ice. However, the thickness and quality of the ice that comes back is declining and the perennial ice that survives has plummeted. 

Beneath The Ice

Geophysical Research Letters published a study from Durham University on August 2016, where it claims that 7990 lakes have formed in East Antarctica between 2000 and 2013.

The research concludes lakes either "refreeze, drain vertically through the ice, or drain laterally via surface channels."

It points out melting intensifies due to the warmer climate. Therefore, the lakes last longer than it should since it naturally melts on summer.

This means lakes can possibly fracture ice to break it apart.

Chris Mooney of Washington Post wrote, "When glaciers lose large parts of their ice shelves, they become less stable and flow faster towards the ocean, contributing to an increased rate of global sea level rise."

An increase in sea level rise is a threat to coastal communities. These people live near the shoreline and have fishing as their primary source of income. Sea level rise reduces space for human settlement.

Warm Ocean

Science journal Nature published on May 2016 a study about Totten Glacier in East Antarctica, where glacier roughly the size of France is expected to erode underneath. 

If it melts, it could contribute at least two meters to sea level rise.

"I predict that before the end of the century, the great global cities of our planet near the sea will have two or three meter (6.5 - 10 feet) high sea defenses all around them," said Martin Siegert of the Imperial College London and one of the study's authors.

Infograph from an unknown artist. Photo taken from 
Paul Homewood (notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com)

Totten Glacier is being melted underneath by the warm ocean. Water penetrates the glacier from below and erodes the ice resting on the bedrock. Above it, the sea ice breaks away and the melting ice below will accumulate.

What causes the ocean to heat up? 

Global warming.

Co-author Alan Aitken of the University of Western Australia said that the glacier could account to nearly 15 percent of Antarctica's contribution to sea level rise.

"Satellite measurements from a previous study show that the glacier is thinning at a rate of about half a meter per year—a thinning that is most likely due to warm ocean water moving under and melting the glacier’s floating front." Tim Profeta of Duke University wrote in National Geographic.

Filipinos fit in

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on February 28 signed the 'Instrument of Accession' for the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The Paris Agreement seeks to limit global warming below 2 Celsius and contain it below 1.5 Celsius. As of December 2016, 117 parties out of 194 signatories have ratified the Paris Agreement.

Initially, the president did not support it as he claimed that the Philippines is a low carbon emitting country, and it needs industrialization if it wants to grow economically. 

But beyond industrialization, the country’s resiliency and adaptation to the worsening effects of climate change depends on its participation in this international treaty.

As a coastal country, Philippines is directly affected by climate change. Typhoons are getting stronger every year as the ocean gets hotter. Water evaporates when it is heated by the sun, thus forming clouds. These clouds become heavier as more water is evaporated, hence the severity of typhoons in the country.

If it so happens, sea level rises and we have not ratified the treaty, then people living in coastal areas will suffer inevitably without resiliency plans to help it bounce back from catastrophes. 

(Published by the LPU Independent Sentinel on February 7 for their their third (Nov-Feb) issue. Some pieces of information were personally updated for this blog. Photos were not included in the published article and were added in this blog post for additional graphic data.)

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