The first ice shelf collapse occurred in the cold region of Antarctica, covering an area of ​​1,200 square kilometers. What happened?

1,200 square kilometers, how big is this area? It is larger than the urban built-up area of ​​Shenzhen.

Shenzhen covers an area of ​​1,997 square kilometers, and the built-up area is about 1,000 square kilometers. It can be seen that 1,200 square kilometers is still a large area. And such a large area disappeared in the blink of an eye. In fact, it is not accurate to say "place". This 1,200 square kilometers is actually a huge ice shelf, an ice shelf located in the "cold area" of Antarctica. Of course, the entire Antarctica is very cold, and it is even colder in East Antarctica, so scientists often refer to this area as the "cold area" of Antarctica. There is a glacier in East Antarctica that has existed for thousands of years. We named it the "Glenzekanger Glacier", and the 1,200 square kilometers of ice shelf that collapsed this time belongs to this glacier.

The collapse of ice shelves in Antarctica has long been nothing new since the earth began to warm up, but it is the first time that an ice shelf has collapsed in the "cold region" of eastern Antarctica. To be more precise, it is the first time in the history of meteorological records.

1,200 square kilometers is indeed a large piece of ice, but the size of the collapsed ice shelf is not important, but the location of the collapse is the most important. We often say: "Once there is a first time, there will be a second time." So does this ice shelf collapse mean that more ice shelf collapses will occur in the coldest part of Antarctica? Global warming caused by the greenhouse effect has always been an unquestionable environmental problem, and its main cause is the increase in carbon emissions caused by the use of fossil fuels, and all this can be traced back to 1900.

The more than 100 years since 1900 have been the period of the fastest development of human civilization. The faster the civilization develops, the greater the demand for energy. Therefore, the use of fossil fuels has increased significantly during this period. The direct consequence is the increase in carbon dioxide emissions, which has significantly worsened after 1970.

Fortunately, humans have gradually begun to realize the seriousness of this problem, and have introduced policies to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Although it is impossible to completely curb the trend of global warming from a macro perspective, human efforts have achieved certain results, especially in 2020, when global carbon dioxide emissions actually fell by 5.8%. Unfortunately, they rebounded again the year after that.

Since global warming is of a "global" nature, naturally every corner of the earth will be affected, and Antarctica is no exception.

However, in the past, the affected areas did not include the "cold areas" in the east of Antarctica, so scientists proudly called the glaciers in the east of Antarctica "the stabilizer of the earth's climate." In fact, the collapse of the East Antarctic ice shelf this time was not without warning. Before this, there was a rise in temperature in the east of Antarctica. For example, according to records at my country's Kunlun Research Station in Antarctica, the temperature rose by 38.1℃ in just four days. In the same period of previous years, the average temperature at the Kunlun Research Station in Antarctica was about minus 60℃, but this time it reached minus 26.3℃. Now it seems that the collapse of the ice shelf this time must be related to the previous abnormal rise in temperature.

For ordinary people, Antarctica is a remote and desolate area. The collapse of one or two ice shelves in this desolate area seems to have nothing to do with them, but this is not the case.

The reason why Antarctic glaciers are called "Earth climate stabilizers" is that they have good heat absorption and storage functions and can emit a large amount of solar radiation. Once the glaciers melt, the solar reflectivity in the Antarctic region will decrease accordingly, which will inevitably further push up global temperatures, thus falling into a vicious cycle. If the Antarctic glaciers collapse and melt on a large scale, the resulting sea level rise will bring immeasurable ecological problems. Of course, these are not meant to be sensational. The collapse and melting of Antarctic glaciers are not something that happens overnight. We should also prepare for a rainy day, start with ourselves, and save energy and reduce emissions.

We don't have the ability to change too many things, but we can start with ourselves and gradually influence the world.

Some people may doubt whether energy conservation and emission reduction in daily life are really useful? The answer is yes. According to carbon emission statistics, carbon emissions from electricity production and industrial production account for about half of the total emissions, while activities related to agricultural production account for about 10%. In other words, the remaining 40% of carbon emissions are generated in daily life. According to statistics, transportation accounts for 25%, and commercial housing accounts for 13%. Therefore, if everyone can start from themselves, save energy and reduce emissions, at least there will be no problem in reproducing the glory of 2020. In that year, global carbon dioxide emissions fell by 5.8%.

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