- Climate Overshoot Is Here - And Antarctica Is in Trouble

Episode 407

The latest UN climate report is out and we’ve blown past 1.5 degrees of warming. We’re now in “overshoot” - an acknowledgement that global temperatures will rise beyond 1.5 degrees, but can theoretically be brought back down again through cooling efforts.

But with the world on track fo r2.8 and even as much as 4.5 degrees of warming by 2100, is the challenge of keeping temperatures at a manageable level politically and technologically feasible?

As scientists argue whether “overshoot” is failure, conditions at Thwaites glacier in Antarctica are also worsening. The so-called “Doomsday” glacier is melting and an integral ice shelf is on the verge of collapse.

Now models show the melting is locked in - and can’t be stopped even if we keep global temperatures down. If it collapses, it could reshape the entire coastline of the world.

To discuss the news, Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet are joined by Madeleine Cuff and Alison George.

To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/
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