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Science In Action: Antarctic Ice Shelves Melting

Larsen Ice Shelf Collape

26/03/2015

Antarctic Ice Shelves Melting

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Antarctic Ice Shelves Melting

Satellite data reveal the large ice loss from the floating Antarctic Shelves

Satellite data reveal the large ice loss from the floating Antarctic Shelves. Plus, the threats to coral reefs and how selective breeding could mitigate the loss of reefs.

Eighteen years of satellite data reveal the big jump in ice loss from the floating shelves around Antarctica. In some areas of West Antarctica, the shelves have lost a fifth of their thickness in just two decades. The ice shelves act as buttresses to the rest of the ice on the continent. So if the shelves continue to disappear at current rates, we could be looking at a one to three metre rise in sea levels.

Coral Reefs
Coral reefs around the world are disappearing – some reports say we have lost up 40% of them over the last 30 years. And we are losing biodiversity in our oceans that we know very little about. The Catlin Seaview Survey is attempting to document and collect baseline data on the state and species in the world’s coral reefs using cameras that divers can use to capture 360 degree panoramas and GPS location data – gathering images that can later be run through image recognition software. Some of the images and more on the threats to reefs past and present are displayed in the new exhibition Coral Reefs: Secret Cities of the Sea - just opened at the Natural History Museum in London.

Assisted Evolution of Corals
One way to try and mitigate the loss of reefs due to rising sea temperatures which can cause coral bleaching, and raised carbon dioxide in the atmosphere making the ocean more acidic, is to breed corals which are more resistant to these harsh conditions. Dr Madeleine van Oppen at the Australian Institute for Marine Sciences is hoping to speed this selective breeding along using assisted evolutionary techniques. 

(Photo: Larsen Ice Shelf collapse © British Antarctic Survey)

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