Will the cities situated by the sea be drowned? Hot storm coming on the ice sheets of East Antarctica, know the whole matter

The earth is getting warmer and it is affecting our lives. A recent study has increased the concerns related to this. It states that warm ocean water is moving towards the ice sheets in East Antarctica. This is likely to further accelerate the rise in sea level around the world. According to experts, it will harm marine life and pose a threat to human settlements in coastal areas. Researchers knew about the melting of the ice sheets in the West Antarctic and the resulting sea level rise, but little was known about what was happening in the East Antarctic.

Researchers focused their study far away from the coast in the Indian Ocean. This place is known as the Aurora Subglacial Basin. Its area of ​​frozen sea is part of the East Antarctic ice sheet. It is the largest ice sheet in the world. The aurora subglacial basin is below sea level, which is more likely to melt due to warmer water.

Published in Nature Climate Change Study reported that the team analyzed 90 years of oceanographic data from the Aurora subglacial basin. They found that the ocean was warming at a rate of 2 to 3 °C before the 20th century. The rate has tripled since the 1990s and is increasing every decade.

Researchers linked this increase in temperature to a belt of strong westerly winds blowing over the Southern Ocean. These winds have been moving south of Antarctica since the 1960s. This is probably due to the increase in greenhouse gases, which are causing westerly winds to blow towards Antarctica in summer, bringing warm water with them.

Until now, researchers thought that the East Antarctic ice sheet was stable and not affected by warm water. But the study has shown that even here the effect of hot water is taking place. The rise in water temperature in this region poses a threat to the marine ecosystem.