Study finds the result of burning all the fossil fuel on Earth

In a report related to the environment, a group of researchers have found out that burning all the Earth’s remaining coal, oil and natural gas would trigger enough warming to melt the entire Antarctic shelf, eventually obliterating the coastal regions around the world. According to the computer simulations that were posted by the journal Science Advances, this worst-case scenario would be a long way off, probably around a thousand years. The results obtained from the simulations were an eye opener but still not that shocking as global warming has always been related to worsening of the environment. Still, these results are a reminder of the potentially cataclysmic impacts of an Antarctic meltdown, according to the German, US and UK researchers. The researchers also revealed that the 1 billion people that live in the coastal areas would be swamped if the entire ice sheet was lost. The rising water levels would then take over the land mass.

Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said,” The west Antarctic ice sheet may already have tipped into a state of unstoppable ice loss, whether as a result of human activity or not. If we want to pass on cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Calcutta, New York and Hamburg as our future heritage, we need to avoid a tipping in the east Antarctic as well.” According to the report, by limiting the use of fossil fuels enough to keep the global warming below the United Nations goal of 2 degrees Celsius would keep the global sea level rise to manageable levels.

A January study in the journal Nature estimated that a third of global oil reserves, half gas reserves and more than 805 of coal deposits would have to stay in the ground to meet the 2 degree goal. The UN is trying to engineer an agreement with the oil, gas and coal companies worldwide which will allow the nations to commit to rein in greenhouse gases.

This study which was funded by Carnegie Institution for Science and the Bill-Gates backed Fund for Innovative Climate & Energy Research, is the first to model the effects of unrestrained fossil fuel consumption on not just western Antarctica but also on the East Antarctic. It also found that although the rate of melting of the ice sheets is not determined, the sea levels would likely rise 30 meters by the end of this millennium and about twice that over several thousand years.

Image Source: NZherald