Washington D.C [US], Feb 12 (ANI): A study of the Antarctic ice sheet in a 2@C warmer world demonstrates the importance of meeting the Paris climate agreement.Researchers have long speculated that melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) may have contributed substantially to global sea-level rise during the Last Interglacial (LIG) period, 129,000-116,000 years ago. However, no direct physical evidence of such melting has yet been identified.Chris Turney and colleagues report a high-resolution record of environmental and ice-sheet changes from the Patriot Hills Blue Ice Area at the periphery of the WAIS. Deuterium isotope measurements revealed a hiatus in the ice record beginning approximately 130,000 years ago, immediately prior to the LIG.This hiatus suggests a substantial loss of ice mass during the LIG that coincides with a well-documented peak in ocean temperatures, suggesting that ocean warming drove ice sheet loss.The DNA analysis of ancient microbes preserved in the ice revealed a high proportion of methane-utilizing bacteria immediately prior to the ice sheet loss, consistent with elevated methane levels due to methane release from marine sediments. Ice-sheet modelling based on the ocean and atmospheric temperatures consistent with those during the LIG predicted an Antarctic contribution to global mean sea level of around 2-6 meters in the first 1,000 years.The results suggest that the WAIS may be highly sensitive to future warming, according to the authors. (ANI)

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