TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Half of glacier the world will melt and disappear before the start of the next century, according to to study new that predicts a greater impact than global warmingdespite attempts in recent years to address environmental concerns.

The study, published Thursday, Jan. 4, 2023, in the journal Science, predicts nearly 50% of Earth’s natural ice will dissolve by 2100, much faster than scientists previously calculated if the planet melts. warmed by 1.5°C – a benchmark set by hundreds of countries to cut emissions and protect more land for nature and the environment.

However, at the current warming rate of 2.7C, melting will become even more dangerous, with 68% of the world’s glaciers melting, according to the study, adding that ice would almost completely disappear from central Europe, western Canada and the United States within 200 -year period.

The world’s oceans would rise dramatically under such a scenario and cause flooding and other major disasters around the world, according to the study, which analyzed glacial land ice but excluded the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. .

Mean sea level will rise more than 3 inches over the next 75 years if warming rates are held to 1.5°C; but has the potential to reach nearly 5 inches if heating continues at its current rate of 2.7C.

Both calculations surprised scientists as they were about 23% higher than their previous projections.

Melting glaciers are responsible for more than a third of sea level rise, scientists say. The melting is occurring naturally, but the climate crisis and rising temperatures have accelerated the decline.

“The increasing loss of glacier mass as global temperatures exceed 1.5°C underscores the urgency of making more ambitious climate pledges to preserve glaciers in these mountainous regions,” said the study researchers, who used 20 years of satellite data and the latest methods. Others to define and track 200,000 glaciers worldwide, as quoted by UPI.

“This is the first time we have isolated the amount of glaciers that will be lost – before total mass loss,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. David Rounce, a civil and environmental engineer at the ‘Carnegie Mellon University and University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The most vulnerable glaciers are relatively small, but provide a vital freshwater resource for millions of people around the world.

“When we think of places where most people see and visit glaciers, it’s really in places where glaciers are accessible, such as in central Europe or in the high mountains of Asia. In these regions, there are lots of smaller glaciers. They really are the heart of the community and the economy of the location,” Rounce said.

The impact of melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica on the world’s oceans is well documented. But the biggest contributor to sea level rise in the 20th century has been the melting of ice caps and glaciers located in seven other regions: Alaska, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Southern Andes, the High Asian lands, the Russian Arctic, Iceland and the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. The five Arctic regions have accounted for the lion’s share of ice loss in recent years.

The latest study into melting glaciers comes amid growing efforts to alleviate climate problems, but progress has been slow as no regulator has real power to enforce the Paris Climate Agreement – an agreement adopted by the international community in 2015.

IPU

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