Text / Sina Finance Ding Rui

During the Expedition to Antarctica of the Antarctic Forum 2013 recently, all the participants had an international video conference with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in the City of New York. There were communications focusing on topics such as the importance of Antarctica, the accelerated melting of glaciers in Antarctica and global warming. Some information transferred in the conference was worrying.

‘The satellite map taken on November 13 shows that the ice shelf covering an area as large as 8 Manhattans has melted in the west of the Pacific Ocean’，Professor Xiaojun Yuan of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University who was the first to present showed the situation on her PPT slides.

It is noteworthy that the sliding speed of the ice shelf increased by 73% from 1974 to 2007. Currently it slides down 9.3 meters every day. This is the fastest melting place of all ice shelves throughout Antarctica.

Ice shelf is the part that the glaciers in Antarctica extend to the sea. It is like a wall to keep out the warmer sea water due to the existence of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.  But deep water which is 4 to 5 degrees higher than freezing point can flow to the continental shelf. The existence of the warm water makes the ice shelf melt. It is necessary to be on the alert that the deep water has kept warming up in the past 5 decades.

Data from Prof. Margie Turrin who has been dedicated to the study of glaciers for long time show that all the glaciers around the world are less than the ones in Antarctica. 97% of the land in Antarctica is covered by glaciers. Most of them are 14 million years old and some are even 35 million years old. The glaciers are about 4 kilometers thick in the inland of Antarctica.

The importance of the glaciers in Antarctica is that ice plays an important role in the energy balance of the earth.

The sun is the source of the earth energy. The equator is the place that receives most of the energy from the sun. The two poles can reflect the sun light out. The polar regions are the places where the earth loses energy. Ocean circulation leads to dynamic balance so that the temperature in the equator will not always increase. The polar regions will not be cold forever. The glaciers in Antarctica are a major part of the circulation power.

Professor Margie Turrin stated in a presentation entitled ‘The Antarctic Ice Sheet: a Sleeping Giant Begins to Awaken’ as follows:

Data from three aspects can prove that currently the glaciers in Antarctica are reducing.

Firstly, ice declines at a faster speed. It declines by 30 meters annually in some Antarctic areas . Secondly, the thickness of the glaciers, especially those beside the sea is shrinking. Thirdly, the size of the entire glacier is becoming smaller.

If snow falls down more than glaciers melt in Antarctica, glaciers grow, otherwise glaciers shrink. Just like bank accounts, it is necessary to make both ends meet.

Professor Margie Turrin said, 'If we make an analogy between this and a bank account, we should be very worried because the volume of the glaciers in Antarctic is decreasing.'

Research data show that the ice shelf in the west of the Pacific Ocean as large as 8 Manhattan Islands mentioned above by Professor Xiaojun Yuan is not only falling but also reducing its thickness. The glacier lost 20 meters in thickness in four years from 2003 to 2007, while the snow only increased by one meter here annually.

These glaciers drain quickly below sea level. The rising warm sea water touches the bottom of the glaciers and makes them melt.

Professor Margie Turrin concluded that although it has not yet been observed that there’s a lot of melting on the surface of Antarctica, the surface of Greenland glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere are melting very quickly. It is expected that in the near future, the glaciers on the surface of the Antarctic continent will also melt.

Global warming is the fatal 'killer’ that causes the crisis.

Climate expert Professor Jiang Dongmei said that the past century was warmest of the past millennium and the last three decades we live in has been hottest of this century. In this context, the temperatures of the ocean and the atmosphere across the globe are rising, the scope of the melting snow and ice are expanding and sea levels are ascending accordingly.

She cited the IPCC fourth report that the average global temperature increased by 0.74 degree, temperature increases by1.4 degrees in the Arctic and by 1.2 degrees in Antarctica, more than twice of the temperature in the low latitudes in the equator.

'In the last warm period in history, sea level rose by six meters but the global temperature increased by only 5 degrees. The difference of several degrees of temperature will result in big difference' , says Professor Margie Turrin.

Climate warming has accelerated the melting of Antarctic glaciers. In an extreme case that all the Antarctic glaciers melt, the global sea level would rise by 59 meters. For human beings, this would be a disaster.

The ongoing melting of the ice shelf is a prelude to this terrible crisis.

Professor Jiang Dongmei cited the conclusions of the IPCC Commission that there’s 97% possibility that global warming is caused by human activities. Human activities since the year 1750 resulting in the increase of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and so on are the main cause.

If human behavior and development model in the next century are not adjusted, the possibility that scientists’ prediction becomes true will increase. If such a thing happens, then the last drop of water to melt is human tear.