T200 Planetary Climate Disruption Demands Urgent Global Policy Action

Tuesday, 24 October 2017
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room 611

ANTARCTICA AND FUTURE SEA LEVEL RISE

Paper number: T200-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 8:15 AM

Authors

Abstract

The possibility of catastrophic sea level rise is one of the most frequently-used arguments that addressing anthropogenic climate change is urgent. Yet, the range of future sea-level rise projections over the next few centuries remains very large, primarily because of the insufficient knowledge about the fate of the Antarctic ice sheet. The long timescales involved, coupled with the relatively short observing period to date, means that detection of the response of the Antarctic ice sheet to anthropogenic change is challenging, and is likely to remain equivocal for many more decades. I will review the evidence for why the Antarctic ice sheet is changing now, how it is likely to change in the future, and discuss the implications for policy in the face of this kind of uncertainty.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 49, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2017AM-305262

© Copyright 2017 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.