Scientists from the UK and a team of international climate scientists analyzed how climate change will affect the Antarctic Peninsula in the coming decades and into the late 21st century under different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. Their assessment was published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science and is based on future climate models according to three levels of global warming: low, moderate and high.
The region is already markedly warmer, and these changes will accelerate depending on the extent of global emissions reductions. Even if emissions were low (limiting temperature rise to about 1.8°C above pre-industrial levels), temperatures on the peninsula would increase relative to today. At higher emissions levels, the average climate in the region could be several degrees warmer and the number of days with temperatures above 0°C could increase significantly, especially in summer.
Such changes will lead to rapid melting of glaciers, loss of sea ice and more frequent extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and accelerated thinning of sea ice shelves. Under high emissions scenarios, some ice shelves on the peninsula, such as Larsen C and Wilkins, could significantly weaken or partially collapse by the end of the century, increasing the region's contribution to global sea level rise. Scientists say the next 10 years will be crucial in preventing the worst impacts of climate change. During this time, processes take place that will determine how much ice and ecosystems on the peninsula can survive for many years.
Scientists are confused by the mysterious “gravity hole” deep under the Antarctic ice
Before scientists from the University of Western Australia recorded by a camera off the coast of the South Shetland Islands a large shark 3-4 meters long at a depth of 490 meters at a water temperature of just +1.27 ° C – defying the widely accepted theory about the absence of sharks in Antarctic waters. This is the first recorded sighting of the predator in this southernmost region and may indicate that the shark is migrating to colder waters in the Southern Hemisphere due to climate change.
