Fiddling While Antarctica Melts? Debates about Antarctica's Role in Sea Level Rise and Implications for Policy Responses

• Main Author: Miles, Russell
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: University of Canterbury 2014
• Subjects: Amundsen Sea; Antarctic; The Antarctic; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/13867

Sea level is rising'�but, in spite of attention being drawn to this impact of climate change since the late 1970s, the sheer complexity of attempting to quantify and model potential rises mean that it remains unclear by how much sea levels will rise, at what rate, and where it will impact most. This uncertainty has meant that many policy makers have been unwilling to expend the political capital and resources to take action to counter potentially disastrous -but uncertain -affects. Uncertainty fuels inaction. The role of the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise is critically important because, out of all the contributions to sea-level rise, Antarctic melting has the capacity to greatly affect sea levels. It is already happening in a number of areas, and some models project that melting in Antarctica could accelerate over this century. Should this come to pass, many poorer countries may not have the funds or information to respond in time, as making decisions and finding resources can take decades. To some extent, further research, better data and sharing of knowledge about the contribution of Antarctic melting to sea level rise will help address uncertainties. But policy makers also need to appreciate that, owing to the nature of the system studied and the available sources of data, complete certainty or consensus within the scientific community may not be possible, and hard decisions will need to be made. This review considers the science of and the ongoing debates about Antarctica's contribution to sea-level rise -especially the idea of an acceleration of flow off the glaciers in the Amundsen Sea in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS)'�and how this information is conveyed to policy makers. It finds that even though much progress has been made by scientists, especially in the past five years, there would be great merit in increasing investments in Antarctic ice sheet research to feed into the next IPCC Assessment Report 6 in five years time. This research should aim to reduce the variance within the ...