Burning all fossil fuel in world can melt South Pole ice sheet

Antarctica ice shslf

Burning the entire deposit of fossil fuels in the world — about 10,000 gigatons — would melt ice covering the South Pole entirely. And melting of this ice sheet can raise global sea levels to nearly 200 feet, which, in turn, would submerge large swathes.

This has been revealed in a recent study which has also found that the process is likely to take up to 10,000 years.

The team of researchers led by Ricarda Winkelmann, a professor of climate system analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, used a state-of-the-art ice sheet model to make the projections about what would happen if humans burned various amounts of fossil fuels in the coming centuries.

The researchers have projected that it would take humans about 500 years to burn through all fossil fuels.

The resulting carbon output would stay in the atmosphere and cause global temperatures to remain elevated for thousands of years, the researchers say.

Ajith Kumar S

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