What does the Wizard of Oz have to do with climate change?

Both Antarctica and the Wicked Witch of the West are wailing: “I’m melting, melting!” And once they're gone, there's no coming back.

That’s right, the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting at a pace that is deemed irreversible. What is scarier than that fact alone is what it means for us humans: a 4 foot rise in sea level is likely from just those few glaciers. That number doesn't account for the snowball effect (pun intended) that warmer temperatures will have on the rest of Antarctica and the ensuing ice loss, which puts the figure around 10 to 15 feet of global sea level rise in the coming centuries.

The New York Times points out that these jarring conclusions come from two scientific papers that were released independent of one another on Monday, May 12 by the journals Science and Geophysical Research Letters. The scientists point to warm ocean currents influenced by strong winds that encircle Antarctica as the main culprit of the melting ice sheet in the Amundsen Sea. Those warm currents are, in turn, largely influenced by climate change.

This shouldn’t come as a major shock. In fact, scientists—most notably Ohio State University geologist John Mercer— identified the trend in this area as irreversible as early as 1968. What makes this region in West Antarctica particularly unique is that it is the largest sheet of grounded ice left in the world and it is grounded below sea level, which makes it even more susceptible to the warmer ocean currents.

“Oh what a world, what a world!” cries the Wicked Witch of the West as she meets her demise. Perhaps we humans could go down a different path? 

Nicole Catino is PennFuture's 2014 Student Conservation Association Green Cities Sustainability Fellow and is based in our Pittsburgh office.