Faster Antarctic Melting

When a lead author calls the results "surprising", it's time to worry. A study published in Nature finds "that Antarctica has lost almost 3 trillion tons of ice since 1992. Of that loss, 40 percent took place from 2012 to 2017."

The planet’s largest ice sheet is now losing more than 240 billion tons of ice every year ― a threefold increase from less than a decade ago. The melting is happening so fast that it could cause sea levels to rise 6 inches by the end of the century.

Update (July 3):  Robert Hunziker describes three climatic "asteroids":

The three monsters are: (1) A State Shift in the biosphere; (2) Human-caused greenhouse gases –GHG- alter the planet, disrupting the Holocene Era of 10,000 years of Goldilocks’ climate, not too hot, not too cold, going away fast; (3) Collapsing ecosystems 100% due to human footprint, inclusive of excessive toxic chemicals galore, worldwide.

Also, a computer model using business-as-usual assumptions projects that by 2040 "global society essentially collapses as food production falls permanently short of consumption" according to Aled Jones, the Director of the Global Sustainability Institute.

Update (January 6, 2019):  Antarctic sea ice is at a record low for this time of year. The Ross Sea has become ice free at the earliest time on record.

Update (February 12, 2023):  Antarctic sea ice extent set a new low in January. Robert Hunziker also reports on the possibility of an ice-free Arctic.