Socked Ukrainian University’s scientists revealed that about 15 thousand years ago the sea level quickly rose around the world by 18 meters. The reason was the catastrophically fast melting of glaciers, which is possible in the future. This is reported in the article published in the journal Nature Communications.
According to geological data, at the end of the last glacial period, about 14,600 years ago, the sea level rose ten times faster than the current pace, in just 500 years, which led to the flooding of huge land areas. Until now, it was not clear which glaciers are responsible for this global event denoted in the scientific literature as MWP-1A (Meltwater Pulse 1a), but some evidence indicate the glacial shields in the northern hemisphere.
Researchers came to the conclusion that most of the melt of water fell on the glacial shields of North America and Eurasia, while the total amount of Ice had exceeded the volume of Greenland glaciers twice. The contribution of Antarctica was to surprise specialists, small.
It is assumed that the reset of huge amounts of fresh water violated the global circulation of the ocean. However, it is not yet clear what caused such fast melting. According to scientists, such a scenario can be implemented in the future due to anthropogenic climate change, but future research will help determine the risk.