Post #1533375

Recent results indicate that its too late to save Thwaites Glacier, the Antarctic glacier that's losing ice most quickly. Its fate is now baked in, although further research is still needed to establish the timeframe over which it will be lost. Technofixes ("geoengineering") intended to slow its ice loss are not a viable option to combat sea-level rise though. They would be phenomenally expensive (of the order of the GDP of a medium-sized country), might have limited effect in slowing ice loss, would be impractical to implement at scale and maintain in this very remote and hostile setting, and would have adverse environmental consequences. For these reasons there is zero chance their implementation would receive the consensus required for approval under the Antarctic Treaty. Moreover, even if implementation of such ludicrously expensive and risky schemes was attempted and succeeded to some extent in reducing ice loss, global sea-level rise will continue. Ice loss from Greenland and from mountain glaciers and icecaps elsewhere will continue, and thermal expansion of the oceans will continue for as long as the world keeps getting warmer. There is no alternative to adaptation to committed sea-level rise and the only genuine solution to stop the committed rise growing even larger, which will simultaneously limit a range of other climate harms, is rapid decarbonisation. https://www.theenergymix.com/geoengineering-on-the-table-and-under-fire-as-scientists-race-to-save-melting-thwaites-glacier/