Chinese-led study finds uneven melting of polar ice could lead to huge global disruption

Ice sheets and sea ice are melting faster in Northern Hemisphere than Southern Hemisphere, which could trigger another climate event: paper

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Scientists say the asynchronous melting of the polar ice caps - that is, they are melting at different times - could have a dramatic effect on the climate. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:00pm, 7 Aug 2024

Uneven melting of the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets could cause large-scale global disruption “in the near future”, according to research into a major climate transition event that occurred around a million years ago.

Ice sheets and sea ice are now melting faster in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere, which could trigger another climate event, an international team of scientists wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science on August 1.

“With the accelerated, asynchronous melting of modern bipolar ice sheets, enhanced perturbations within the climate system could be anticipated in the near future,” the researchers affiliated with institutes in China, Germany, Australia, the United States and Britain wrote.

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The research, led by geologists and climate scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Earth Environment, indicates that how the bipolar ice sheets formed – and how they are melting now – could have even wider climatic implications.