While the entire world is already facing the wrath of global warming, a giant West Antarctic ice sheet has been found to possess the power to submerge several parts of London in near future. Experts have found the ice sheet to contain enough water that can raise the sea water level up to nine metres.
Scientists fear that after reaching a certain temperature, the ice sheet will dissolve aggressively.
For quite some time, the researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have been working on the West Antarctic ice sheet. They have been trying to figure out what happened about 128,000 years ago during the natural warm period.
An interactive map has been developed by Alex Tingle, using the information by NASA. According to the map, if the sea level rises about nine metres, Netherlands might disappear, many parts of Yorkshire might be submerged and several places of central London might be underwater.
According to palaeoclimate modeller at the BAS, Dr Louise Sime, the ice core samples indicate that the people might get some more time to fight a major sea level rise. She has also stated that the result of the test indicates that it has taken more than 200 years for the ice sheet to melt. They have discovered that the sea ice has shrunk about 65% around Antarctica during that natural warm period.
Reports suggest that by the year 2100, the coastal cities like Shanghai and New York might get flooded as climate change could raise the sea water level between 26 cm and 82 cm.
