Climate Threat Lurks Beneath East Antarctic Ice
An international team of researchers is calling for urgent exploration of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin in East Antarctica, which remains largely unmapped. The region contains enough ice to significantly raise global sea levels, making it a critical area for climate change research.
Why it matters
Understanding the stability of this basin is essential for accurate global sea-level rise projections and climate change mitigation strategies.
An international team called for an urgent need to study the least understood region of Antarctica, which contains enough ice to raise the global average sea levels by an estimated three to four metres. This is the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, one of the areas of East Antarctica most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, yet the least explored to date. To gauge the climate risk hidden beneath the ice in East Antarctica, the scientific community would need to be able to answer the most basic questions: is warm ocean water reaching the glaciers? What does the continental shelf look like beneath the ice? Are we approaching the threshold of warming that could trigger large-scale ice retreat?
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