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Antarctica sees similar climate change effects as Greenland: Study

Antarctica
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The planet's warming climate is having effects in Antarctica that increasingly resemble those observed in the Arctic, meaning global sea levels could rise faster than previously predicted, Danish researchers warned on Friday.

"Antarctica has long been considered more stable than the Arctic. But today, the picture has changed," Ruth Mottram of the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) said in a statement.

"Sea ice is disappearing. Temperatures are rising here too. Ice streams are accelerating and meltwater is penetrating the crevasses in the glaciers, causing them to slide faster toward the sea," she continued.

Mottram warned that the development was "alarming, because the ice masses in the south have a dramatic potential in terms of rising sea levels here in the north."

The Danish researcher, together with six colleagues, published an article in the journal Nature Geoscience on the "Greenlandification of Antarctica."

The scientists, whose conclusions are based on and , use the term "Greenlandification" as a way to understand and "predict changes in the Antarctic environment through the lens of well-observed and understood changes in Greenland."

"We use the experiences from Greenland as a kind of 'laboratory' to understand the same processes in Antarctica," Mottram explained.

"Unfortunately, it appears that our experiences from home are becoming increasingly relevant."

"The Antarctic cryosphere reflects a dynamic environment strongly influenced by regional atmosphere and ocean changes, more similar to Greenland than previously recognized," the researchers say in the article.

If Greenland's ice sheet were to melt entirely, would rise by about seven meters (23 feet).

If this were to occur in Antarctica, the could exceed 50 meters, DMI said.

Journal information: Nature Geoscience

© 2025 AFP

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