Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet
The Antarctic Ice Sheet stores water equivalent to 58 m in global sea-level rise. We show in simulations using the Parallel Ice Sheet Model that burning the currently attainable fossil fuel resources is sufficient to eliminate the ice sheet. With cumulative fossil fuel emissions of 10,000 gigatonnes...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt3864c7bn 2023-09-05T13:13:13+02:00 Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet Winkelmann, Ricarda Levermann, Anders Ridgwell, Andy Caldeira, Ken e1500589 2015-09-04 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3864c7bn unknown eScholarship, University of California qt3864c7bn https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3864c7bn public Science Advances, vol 1, iss 8 Climate Action Antarctica Carbon emissions Climate change Sea-level rise article 2015 ftcdlib 2023-08-21T18:06:05Z The Antarctic Ice Sheet stores water equivalent to 58 m in global sea-level rise. We show in simulations using the Parallel Ice Sheet Model that burning the currently attainable fossil fuel resources is sufficient to eliminate the ice sheet. With cumulative fossil fuel emissions of 10,000 gigatonnes of carbon (GtC), Antarctica is projected to become almost ice-free with an average contribution to sea-level rise exceeding 3 m per century during the first millennium. Consistent with recent observations and simulations, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet becomes unstable with 600 to 800 GtC of additional carbon emissions. Beyond this additional carbon release, the destabilization of ice basins in both West and East Antarctica results in a threshold increase in global sea level. Unabated carbon emissions thus threaten the Antarctic Ice Sheet in its entirety with associated sea-level rise that far exceeds that of all other possible sources. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet University of California: eScholarship Antarctic East Antarctica The Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Climate Action Antarctica Carbon emissions Climate change Sea-level rise |
spellingShingle |
Climate Action Antarctica Carbon emissions Climate change Sea-level rise Winkelmann, Ricarda Levermann, Anders Ridgwell, Andy Caldeira, Ken Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet |
topic_facet |
Climate Action Antarctica Carbon emissions Climate change Sea-level rise |
description |
The Antarctic Ice Sheet stores water equivalent to 58 m in global sea-level rise. We show in simulations using the Parallel Ice Sheet Model that burning the currently attainable fossil fuel resources is sufficient to eliminate the ice sheet. With cumulative fossil fuel emissions of 10,000 gigatonnes of carbon (GtC), Antarctica is projected to become almost ice-free with an average contribution to sea-level rise exceeding 3 m per century during the first millennium. Consistent with recent observations and simulations, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet becomes unstable with 600 to 800 GtC of additional carbon emissions. Beyond this additional carbon release, the destabilization of ice basins in both West and East Antarctica results in a threshold increase in global sea level. Unabated carbon emissions thus threaten the Antarctic Ice Sheet in its entirety with associated sea-level rise that far exceeds that of all other possible sources. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Winkelmann, Ricarda Levermann, Anders Ridgwell, Andy Caldeira, Ken |
author_facet |
Winkelmann, Ricarda Levermann, Anders Ridgwell, Andy Caldeira, Ken |
author_sort |
Winkelmann, Ricarda |
title |
Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_short |
Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_full |
Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_fullStr |
Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet |
title_sort |
combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the antarctic ice sheet |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3864c7bn |
op_coverage |
e1500589 |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica The Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica The Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Science Advances, vol 1, iss 8 |
op_relation |
qt3864c7bn https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3864c7bn |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1776204123946876928 |