In just 200 years, the thickness of the ice in Antarctica has decreased by 450 meters.
According to the results of the study published in The Nature Geoscience journal, the thinning of the ice occurred due to the penetration of warm water under it.
This water was heated, thinning the ice sheet, as a result of global warming that ended the last ice age about 9,700 years ago.
The ice sheet, which covers 98% of the area of Antarctica, is considered the most vulnerable to global warming. It contains a large amount of fresh water, enough to raise the level of the world's oceans by 57 meters.
Computer models predict that more than half of the area of the West Antarctic ice sheet may disappear in the next few centuries.
The need for a deeper study of the dynamics of changes in the Antarctic ice sheet is due to its critical role in regulating the level of the world's oceans and climatic processes on Earth.
Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished
