Sea ice in Antarctica has fallen to a record low this year due to rising global temperatures, and there is no quick fix to repair the damage, scientists said Tuesday in a new study on the effects of climate change on the continent.
The continent's minimum summer ice cover last year fell below 2 million square kilometers (772,000 square miles) for the first time since satellite monitoring began in 1978, according to a study published in the journal Frontiers in February. . in environmental science.
"These things will take decades if not centuries to recover. There is no quick fix to replace this ice," said Caroline Holmes, a polar climate scientist at the British Antarctic Survey and one of the study's authors.
"It will certainly continue, even if it is possible," he told reporters at a press conference. This year's sea ice minimum is 20 percent less than the past 40-year average, equivalent to a loss of sea ice nearly 10 times the size of New Zealand, said Tim Naish, director of the Antarctic Research Center at the University of Victoria in New - Zealand. Wellington. , who did not participate in the study.
"In some cases, we are approaching tipping points that, if crossed, will lead to irreversible changes with unstoppable consequences for future generations," Naish said.
Global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels has made Antarctica more vulnerable to extreme events and its effects are "almost certain to worsen", a study finds.