Report: Antarctic is changing dramatically, with global consequences

A new report from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) shows how climate change is impactingAntarctica's ice sheets.

The report shows that the ice sheets are melting, the climate is changing, and the Southern Ocean is getting warmer. The whales, seals, penguins, and the krill they rely on for food are already being affected by changing climates. Unless urgent action is taken, emperor penguins may be gone by the end of the century.

While isolated from the rest of the world, Antarctica's changes have an impact on all other continents.

According to the assistant professor of environmental studies and contributor to the report, what happens inAntarctica does not stay in the region.

Nearly a billion people will be at risk from coastal flooding by the end of the century because of global average sea level rise. The world's climate is regulated by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide emissions from humans.

Extreme climate and weather events, droughts, wildfires and floods, and ocean acidification are some of the global impacts that are influenced by the change in theAntarctica.

For example, current levels of global warming have already committed the planet to about 16 inches (40 cm) of global sea level rise, which equates to a one in 100 year coastal flood event.

"Antarctica's changes have profound consequences for all of us," said Professor Steven Chown, who led the report. The Director of Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future is also the Director of the University of Colorado Boulder.

According to the report, adhering to and exceeding the Paris Climate Agreement greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets will greatly diminish changes to theAntarctica.

The Parties to the Antarctic Treaty met in Berlin for their 44th Annual Meeting. The United States is one of the countries responsible for the environmental management of theAntarctica. The parties had a chance to strengthen their responses to climate change at this meeting.

In October, governments will meet to discuss management of the Southern Ocean.

Governments are discussing ways to protect large areas of the Southern Ocean. The National Science Foundation gave a Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award to the person who studied the toothfish, the Southern Ocean's top fish predator.

It is still a global responsibility to reduce emissions to protect our own futures.