this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
294 points (98.4% liked)
World News
32297 readers
1286 users here now
News from around the world!
Rules:
-
Please only post links to actual news sources, no tabloid sites, etc
-
No NSFW content
-
No hate speech, bigotry, propaganda, etc
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
You know what's most depressing? Statistically people reading this comment (people who have access to computers/phones + the internet) will have little to mild effects of climate change, compared to the BILLIONS that will perish. Humans will survive all this, but at the cost of unimaginable suffering from the silent/silenced poor.
"The collapse of Thwaites would cause seawater levels to rise by around 2 feet (65 centimeters). This could, in turn, destabilize neighboring glaciers, potentially increasing future sea levels by almost an additional 10 feet (3 meters)."
Thwaites melting would raise water levels by 0.6 meters, not 60 meters. You're off by a factor of 100x
No, I don't just mean Thwaites. If the ice also runs off onto the mainland behind it, the sea level will rise by 60 meters. Thwaits is currently holding it back like a cork.
As covered by my quote, the neighboring mainland glaciers melting would raise water levels by 3 more meters (3.6m total). You're still off by a factor of 20x
I got my information from this article: https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/dieser-gletscher-determin-die-zukunft-der-menschheit-496385214213 It is Swiss, very long but well worth reading. Maybe you can find a way to translate it for yourself. It also says that the melting leads to a rise of 60cm in the short term, but to 60 meters in the long term (1000 years).
Per your own source: 60 meters is for the whole Antarctica. Thwaites and and the west Antarctica (which is the part "protected" by Thwaites) is 3.5 meters over a few hundred years (up to 1.000 years).