Antarctica today is warming due to climate change. Many are concerned about this, especially with the effects, it will have on the Earth. It has its precedent, however. As global warming continues, Antarctica has warmed much more than the Earth average before.
Climate change is a major concern today. Its effect on many people can be profound. It affects regions as well. Antarctica is especially most vulnerable to climate change. Scientists have studied the continent and found that Antarctica has warmed much more than most of the Earth earlier on.
Scientists believe that Antarctica has been much warmer than the rest of the Earth between 20,000 to 10,000 years ago .This was the time of the last Ice Age. Antarctica then was on average about rose to about 11 degrees Celsius warmer. The Earth then only had its temperature rise by 4 degrees Celsius.
This finding shows that Antarctica, as well as the Arctic, could amplify what the rest of the world is experiencing, according to Berkeley News. The growing global warming then could be much worse in the Poles, as they would experience it at a much faster rate than the rest of the Earth.
Lead author Kurt Cuffey, a glaciologist from the University of California Berkeley, said that global climate models have so far been accurate in showing the quick warming of Antarctica then. These models are also being used to predict how climate would be in the future, he noted. The models show that as climate change continues, Antarctica will be warming much faster, though its peak won't be coming soon yet.
World temperature will gradually rise to three degrees Celsius. Antarctica will be twice that, with a rise of six degrees Celsius. Another interesting result of the study is that Antarctica's temperature rose much faster than the Arctic, as Phys Org reports. Antarctica had its present temperature around 15,000 years ago. The Arctic's temperature rose 3,000-4,000 years later.
Antarctica was also susceptible to carbon dioxide, much as it is still so today. The findings show that with global warming, Antarctica has warmed much more than the Earth average before, and will experience the same today with climate change. Climate change also affected another region. The Sahara was once green and lush until its climate changed.
