“Science is a team sport,” said Roger Creel, a postdoctoral scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, speaking to the importance of the 31st annual West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Workshop he recently attended in Gainesville, Florida. 

When the playing field is a melting ice sheet, and the stakes involve coastal cities worldwide staying above water, collaboration is the key to changing the game. 

Approximately 80 experts from many disciplines including early-career scientists and doctoral students gathered Nov.11-14 at the retreat-style conference sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Attendees came from all over to discuss the multifaceted challenges posed by Antarctica’s rapidly changing ice sheets. Group discussions between individual presentations allowed participants to draw from diverse expertise and generate ideas that no single discipline could have uncovered alone.

One tangible objective of the WAIS Workshop was to build off prior workshops by finalizing a concise white paper highlighting the most pressing topics in polar research. This document will help shape priorities for the 2032 International Polar Year (IPY) and other research, such as the upcoming NASA Decadal Survey, ensuring future funding and focus is directed toward the most critical research areas.

This year marked the first time this conference was hosted in the Southeast, a region with a lot at stake as it is home to nearly 70% of the projected at-risk populations for sea level rise in the United States.

Understanding the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) acts like a frozen freshwater reservoir, helping regulate sea levels and protect coastlines. Combined, the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets hold approximately 70% of the planet’s freshwater.

The WAIS is Antarctica’s largest contributor to sea level rise and is the world’s only remaining “marine-based” ice sheet, meaning its base lies below sea level. This position makes it particularly susceptible to melting from warming air above it and warming ocean waters below it, a characteristic that makes it inherently unstable.

This region’s instability causes it to lose mass at a significantly faster rate than other parts of Antarctica. A total collapse has the potential to raise global sea levels by over 10 feet.

While full melting would likely take centuries, scientists estimate the WAIS has been losing ice at an unprecedented pace of 150 billion tons annually since 2005, raising concerns about a “tipping point” where melting could accelerate significantly. 

When Antarctic sea ice melts, it exposes darker ocean water underneath which absorbs more sunlight than the lighter colored ice. This causes more heat to be trapped in Earth’s system, creating a feedback loop that speeds up global warming.

As the ice melts, we not only face rising sea levels but also the loss of atmospheric records trapped in air bubbles within the ice layers which hold vital records of past climates and atmospheric compositions. Losing ice also means losing critical data about Earth’s history, making it more difficult to predict and mitigate future climate changes.

This combination of factors makes understanding the WAIS a critical focus for scientists monitoring climate change and modeling future sea level scenarios.

Researchers project that a possible sea level rise of 1.8-meter (5.9 feet) by 2100 could displace hundreds of millions of people worldwide. More than 13 million of those would be in the U.S., which is roughly the population of all of Pennsylvania. 

Today, almost half of the U.S. population living in coastal counties has already experienced how rising sea levels are threatening homes, infrastructure, and entire communities.

A Balance of Urgency and Optimism

A balance of urgency and optimism was a driving force behind the workshop’s collaborative energy, turning the fear of catastrophe into fuel for action.  

Ice loss in Antarctica has surged dramatically, tripling during the past 25 years as it responds to human-driven climate change far faster than researchers had previously anticipated.

Reed Scherer, a professor at Northern Illinois University, presented this seemingly gloomy fact as a silver lining during a discussion session at the WAIS Workshop.

“Since the WAIS responds to human-driven climate change much faster than we thought in a negative direction, then the worst-case scenarios have greater potential to be significantly delayed if we start moving in a positive direction,” Scherer said. 

 

Scherer’s idea underscores the importance of upholding policies that limit a global temperature increase to no more than 1.5°C, as outlined in the Paris Agreement. Reducing carbon emissions is one clear way humanity can gain crucial time to adapt and mitigate risks.

Using Data to Drive Action

One of the WAIS Workshop’s overarching messages was the fact that scientific discovery is only as powerful as its communication. Presenters showed how the key to driving meaningful change is making it relevant to the masses – especially when it comes to a mysterious icy continent that feels very far away from many.  

“What happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica,” said Marlo Garnsworthy, Education & Outreach Coordinator for SWAIS2C.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garnsworthy’s presentation titled, Animating Antarctica, Motivating the World, harnessed the power of data-driven animations to bring the reality of sea level rise to life for the average person. The room fell silent after she played a short-form video depicting the areas of major global cities that would be underwater based on current projections of sea level rise.

 “Whether we know it or not, we are all connected to this continent,” Garnsworthy said. 

 

Her work demonstrates how visual storytelling can translate complex research into something more comprehensible to non-scientists, informing broader audiences to take action. During the discussion period following her presentation, attendees showed interest in collaborating and questioned how storytellers, like Garnsworthy, could be written into the framework of future research grant proposals.

Diversity Fueling Connections

What sets the WAIS Workshop apart isn’t just its wide range of experts from varied fields but its unique community environment. With less than 100 participants and three meals shared each day, it created space for real connections.These connections often extend beyond the workshop to form mentorships, professional networks, research partnerships and friendships. 

“It’s not just the science that happens, it’s also the friends you make along the way,”  Creel said, reflecting on all the people that he has already made plans to connect with after the WAIS Workshop.

When asked to describe the energy of this conference, attendees used words such as connection, generosity, collaboration and even summer camp. 

As this community grows, the brightest minds of early-career researchers are brought into the fold to blend with veteran experts, creating a vibrant idea exchange as well as a foundational support system that helps advance polar research at a faster pace. 

Changing the Future through Present Connections

Although underdogs in the fight against climate change, the WAIS conference gave this team of knowledge-seekers a leg up.

The issue of ice sheet loss and climate change is complex and can feel overwhelming which is why it will take equally complex, multifaceted solutions – solutions that can only emerge when diverse minds come together.

Just like in any sport, it’s not always the strongest or fastest team that wins, but rather the team with the best synergy that can turn the tide. While the fight against climate change is heating up—literally—conferences like the WAIS Workshop show how even in the face of uncertainty, real hope and progress can come from collaborative efforts. 

For information on how to get involved or to view agendas from this year and previous years, visit the WAIS Workshop website.

Information linked in article sourced from: The University of Copenhagen, GNS Science, The American Geophysical Union, Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition , Center for Science Education , Nature Climate Change, National Geographic , NOAA and Scientific American. Images from Canva Pro and NASA/GSFC/OIB.