Antarctica with and without Ice Sheet (IMAGE)

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Antarctica with and without Ice Sheet

Caption

Roughly 15 million years ago, when Earth's atmosphere was supercharged with carbon dioxide, oceans warmed and sea ice around Antarctica disappeared, causing a significant part of the Antarctic ice cap to melt and dramatically elevate global sea levels (left). New research warns that a warming world caused by increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and coupled with periodic changes in the geometry of Earth's orbit could warm oceans, leading to a loss of sea ice (right) and sparking a dramatic retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, and elevate sea levels worldwide.

Credit

Richard Levy

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