Humans are impacting Antarctica, but it's coming back to bite us- Global News Sep 29 video n transcript at Heating Planet blog

The Southern Ocean sucks down a great deal of heat from the atmosphere, including heat from global warming. If you put 20 liters of fuel in your car, when you burn it, the heat will go into the ocean around Antarctica. And that matters for the ice, it matters for the wildlife, it matters for sea level, for all sorts of reasons. We humans are impacting Antarctica, but it's coming back to bite us. WATCH: Rapid climate shifts in Antarctica could have major global impacts, expert warns

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Drastic shifts in Antarctica’s climate could be the result of major global impacts across the world, Professor Michael Meredith of the British Antarctic Survey says. The dire warning comes as eminent climate scientists gathered at the Royal Society in London to hear how collapsing ice shelves, record‑low sea ice and powerful storms are unfolding faster than expected, and could trigger knock on effects around the world. Although distant from most nations, Meredith warns that the Southern Ocean “sucks down a great deal of heat from the atmosphere, including the heat that we've put there from global warming.”

TRANSCRIPT

People think of Antarctica as being 0:05 remote, very distant, you know, a little 0:07 bit different from the rest of the 0:08 world, and it is in many ways, but in 0:11 reality, the things that we're doing are 0:12 impacting Antarctica strongly and 0:15 increasingly so. We know that the ocean 0:17 around Antarctica, the Southern Ocean, 0:19 it sucks down a great deal of heat from 0:21 the atmosphere, including the heat that 0:23 we've put there from global warming. Uh 0:26 and we know for example that um if you 0:28 put 20 lers of fuel in your car, you 0:31 know, a liter of that when you burn it, 0:32 the heat from that will go into the 0:34 ocean around Antarctica. And that 0:36 matters for the ice, it matters for the 0:37 wildlife, it matters for sea level, it 0:39 matters for all sorts of reasons. It's 0:41 undoubtedly the case that we're humans 0:44 are impacting Antarctica, but it's 0:45 coming back to bite us. And we really 0:47 know need to know how and when that's 0:49 going to happen and how that's going to 0:51 evolve into the future. So we're seeing 0:53 shifts in the ocean. We're seeing shifts 0:55 in the ice sheet. We're seeing shifts in 0:57 the ecosystem there. Um, but there's a 0:59 great deal that we don't know. We're 1:01 still trying to get our head around why 1:02 it's changing the way it is, how it's 1:04 going to change in the future. Um, and 1:06 what the impacts will be on global 1:08 climate, global biodiversity. We know 1:10 it's going to be profound. We're already 1:12 seeing signs of these. We know that 1:13 things like sea level rise are being um, 1:16 accelerated because of the changes 1:17 happening in Antarctica. But what we 1:19 really need to do is enhance the 1:21 science. So, can we narrow down these 1:23 things going forward to get better 1:24 understanding of what it means for the 1:25 rest of the planet? What we're seeing is 1:28 things like um extreme heat waves, you 1:30 know, levels of temperature change in 1:32 Antarctica we've never seen before and 1:34 didn't expect to see. We're seeing the 1:36 ice retreating at a rate we would never 1:38 have guessed 20 years ago. And all of a 1:41 sudden, we're seeing this happening in 1:42 front of our eyes. We need to figure out 1:44 why. We need to figure out what it means 1:46 for the rest of the planet. But it's 1:47 very concerning because it means that we 1:49 don't have yet the knowledge base that 1:51 we need on which to make future 1:53 projections that are relevant for all of 1:55 society. What we need to do ultimately 1:57 is convince as many world leaders as we 1:59 can, as many people in positions of 2:01 influence as we can, that what we're 2:02 saying is real and that if we're going 2:04 to protect our societies over the next 2:06 decades into the next century, we need 2:08 to take it seriously and we need to 2:10 start now.