Global warming worries scientists a lot, because not only does it affect the heat or cold that humans suffer, but its consequences can be truly catastrophic. An international investigation with the participation of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) has found that the sea level could rise 20 meters by the end of the century due to the thaw.
Between 5.33 and 2.58 million years ago the Earth had a temperature between 2ºC and 3ºC higher than today , the same temperature that we will reach at the end of the century according to predictive models. For its part, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 was similar to the current one. Both factors led to the melting of the icy areas of the planet, which raised the sea level more than was believed.
Until now it was thought that the melting of Greenland and the western part of the Antarctic had increased the sea level by about 10 meters. However, researchers have certified that the melting of the eastern Antarctic area had added another 10 meters to sea level. This data, obtained after studying mud samples from this area of Antarctica during the Pliocene, shows that the ice sheet of the sixth continent would not be as stable in the face of a warming of this type.
For Carlota Escutia, a CSIC scientist who has participated in the research of the work that has been published in the journal Nature Geoscienc, it is “very important to understand what the possible consequences may be ” of global warming. Now, the researchers’ work will be aimed at knowing the speed of this thaw and predicting what will happen on Earth if we do not stop climate change.
