Increasing Decline of Antarctica's Sea Ice Raised Concerns Among Scientists As Climate Change Worsens

The increasing decline of ice in the Antarctic Sea raised concerns among scientists due to potential impacts on cities and wildlife. Climate change and global warming are two pressing concerns that could cause the ice decline in the region.

The rapid warming and greenhouse gas emissions could affect the formation of sea ice in the Antarctic. Mitigation of climate change effects is crucial to help species against the growing concerns of climate change and sea level rise.

Animals who are dependent on sea ice could suffer more. Recently, NWN reported that polar bears can find it more challenging to adapt and look for potential food due to ice-free conditions. The absence or disappearance of ice could cause animals to starve.

The melting of ice can lead to rising ocean temperatures, making low-lying areas vulnerable to rising temperatures. In addition, the disappearance of ice in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets could become more concerning.

In a report, rapid glacier melting could lead to rising coastal erosion and extreme weather events.

Increasing Decline of Antarctic's Sea Ice: Why Is it Important to Tackle?

As a result, researchers raised concerns about the rapid melting of ice in Antarctica. Understanding the decline of ice is important to slow down or mitigate the ice decline in the region due to climate change.

"Even though we are far from any inhabited part of the planet, in reality, what happens in Antarctica affects everything" in the rest of the world," Miguel Angel de Pablo, a scientist, said, as quoted in an AFP report.

According to the recent, the ice in the Antarctic is crucial for the global climate. Some of the ice sheets have been existing for thousands of years. The formation could be seasonal or during winter conditions. The ice sheet in the region can be divided into three:

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet
The Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet

"We have to ask ourselves whether the manner in which we live our daily lives is truly worth it because in the end we will lose our planet," said De Pablo added, as quoted in the same report.

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Sea Level Ice Impact on Emperor Penguins

As a result, the decline of the loss of massive ice shelves can have large-scale effects on keeping the environment cool. In addition, the ice is essential to many animals, especially the emperor penguins.

In an NWN report, the population of emperor penguins could suffer from a decline due to climate change. Rising temperatures can impact the animals' breeding success and adaptation to challenging weather conditions. The research report was published in the Communications Earth and Environment.

Researchers discovered that two-thirds of species in Antarctica could face the threat of extinction as over 80% of emperor penguins could become more vulnerable to threats by 2100.

The reduction of emissions is important to mitigate the rapid global heating, impacting the ice sheets.