Antarctica ramps up sea level rise

Ice losses from Antarctica have increased global sea levels by 7.6 mm since 1992, with two fifths of this rise (3.0 mm) coming in the last five years alone. The findings are from a major climate assessment known as the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE), and are published in Nature. It is the most complete picture of Antarctic ice sheet change to date - 84 scientists from 44 international organisations, including Durham University, combined 24 satellite surveys to produce the assessment. Ice loss The findings show that, prior to 2012, Antarctica lost ice at a steady rate of 76 billion tonnes per year - a 0.2 mm per year contribution to sea level rise. However, since then there has been a sharp, threefold increase. Between 2012 and 2017 the continent lost 219 billion tonnes of ice per year - a 0.6 mm per year sea level contribution. 360 billion tons of ice is roughly equivalent to 1 millimetre of global sea level rise.