Recent science has shown it is inevitable that the warming Southern Ocean will speed up the melting of parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) regardless of our future carbon dioxide emissions. The WAIS holds enough ice to raise the sea level by 5 meters if completely melted.
We’ve just opened the best present ever – our first sediment core, retrieved from under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet last season.
Analyses will help to reveal how far the West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated in the past — and what it might do in the future.