Antarctic meteorites threatened by climate warming

• Published in: Nature Climate Change
• Main Authors: Tollenaar, Veronica, Zekollari, Harry, Kittel, Christoph, Farinotti, Daniel, Lhermitte, Stef, Debaille, Vinciane, Goderis, Steven, Claeys, Philippe, Joy, Katherine, Helen, Pattyn, Frank
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de Glaciologie Bruxelles, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Institut Fédéral de Recherches sur la Forêt, la Neige et le Paysage (WSL), Institut Fédéral de Recherches, Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing Delft, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Université de Liège, Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Catholic University of Leuven = Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Vrije Universiteit Brussel Bruxelles (VUB), University of Manchester Manchester, European Project: 869304,PROTECT
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; [SDU.STU.PL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Planetology; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04670430; https://hal.science/hal-04670430/document; https://hal.science/hal-04670430/file/s41558-024-01954-y.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-01954-y

International audience More than 60% of meteorite finds on Earth originate from Antarctica. Using a data-driven analysis that identifies meteorite-rich sites in Antarctica, we show climate warming causes many extraterrestrial rocks to be lost from the surface by melting into the ice sheet. At present, approximately 5,000 meteorites become inaccessible per year (versus ~1,000 finds per year) and, independent of the emissions scenario, ~24% will be lost by 2050, potentially rising to ∼76% by 2100 under a high-emissions scenario.