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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Damian Carrington Environment editor

Fate of ‘sleeping giant’ East Antarctic ice sheet ‘in our hands’ – study

East Antarctic Andrew Mackintosh Chris Stokes East Antarctica
Ice shelf in East Antarctica fed by the Glenzer and Conger glaciers at the end of March 2022
Ice shelf in East Antarctica at the end of March 2022. Photograph: Nasa Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the US Geological Survey and Modis data from Nasa's EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview

The fate of the world’s biggest ice sheet rests in the hands of humanity, a new analysis has shown. If global heating is limited to 2C, the vast East Antarctic ice sheet should remain stable, but if the climate crisis drives temperatures higher, melting could drive up sea level by many metres.

The East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) holds the vast majority of Earth’s glacier ice. Sea levels would rise by 52 metres if it all melted. It was thought to be stable, but is now showing signs of vulnerability, the scientists said.

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