The End of the Beginning

“The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is in an unstoppable retreat,” Dr. Olin stated. “This will lead to its eventual collapse. There is nothing we can do. UNIRO is working with various Antarctic science stations to monitor and try and slow this retreat with one of our geoengineering projects. As basic as it sounds, we are attempting to cover large areas of glaciers in white protective thermal coverings that will slow surface melting by reflecting sunlight back into space. Thousands of square miles are already covered, with thousands more to come. It is a method well tested in Greenland and the Alps but those are not continents and they can do nothing to protect the glaciers underside that are being melted away from warming seas.” Dr. Olin put up a satellite image of the icy land. It was so unlike any other piece of land on the planet, alien and remote. It was the last place with virgin habitats, filled with landscapes most had never seen. Protected by a series of international treaties collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System signed in 1961, it was a relic, a treasure that could not be used for anything but scientific research and tourism.

It was a one of a kind continental laboratory. Resources could not be taken from under it, for which there are many, and no militaries could claim or test weapons on it. But from beyond its gray and white horizons was the encroachment of humans, their reach to big. Ice shelves that had held on for decades longer than the Arctic’s were finally feeling this reach, even in a place that had seen Earth’s coldest recorded temperature, -136 degrees Fahrenheit.

In an ironic twist of cause and effect, the place that saw the lowest human population would have the greatest effect on those that had the highest, thousands of miles away in places that probably forgot there was even a continent down there. From its elephant trunk peninsula in the northernmost part of the continent to the smooth South Pole, to even the atmosphere above it, the area was changing. It was evident on the satellite image on the whiteboard.

Prevailing over the white ice were color enhanced areas of red and blue, red showing areas of melting and blue showing of gain. Large expanses of the continents western shoreline were black in color, like lesions from a plague, surrounded by areas of dark reds and rusty whites that translated to tens of thousands of square miles of melting. In the east were patches of red at the coast, with dustings of blue inland. Antarctica was still fighting climate change in its heartland but the west was enough. Dr. Olin rubbed his forehead as he explained.

“The ESA’s Cryostat-2 satellite shows us with these maps that Antarctic ice loss is exponential now, losing over 160 billion tons of ice each year. The discovery of this massive ice loss in the last decade, primarily in the west, has forced scientist to revise their sea level predictions and it’s not looking good. Ice melt from this alone will raise sea levels over ten feet, putting millions of hectares of land at risk in Asia, the Middle East, and North America, most of that land being precious farmland that will become unusable either because of saltwater contamination or direct inundation. Whole population centers will have to be moved inland and a new refugee crisis will emerge for those countries that are not prepared.” “Crap,” William mumbled, rubbing his left cheek.

“In Alaska, we find an example of this already in the form of Kivalina, a small village of just over 400 people that was located on a barrier island on the west cost of Alaska. The US Army Corp of Engineers built a temporary seawall around the village in an effort to save it. This wall failed two years ago. The village lays abandoned now, its buildings falling into the sea with every new storm that passes.” Pictures of major cities started appearing as Dr. Olin started pacing back and forth.

“Miami. London. Bangkok. Boston. Rio. New York. Shanghai. All of them face the fate of Kivalina in the decades to come. You see, because of warming ocean waters these glaciers that exit into the sea are literally being thinned from the bottom up and becoming lighter in weight. The lighter something is the higher it floats, like a grounded boat being refloated. Water is going further and further inland under the glaciers where they meet the sea as they lighten and their grounding line, the place where they naturally melt, is being moved inland with it. This makes the glaciers smaller and melt faster. NASA’s Operation IceBridge is an ongoing project that monitors this loss from the air and UNIRO will be joining that operation for the first time this year. I cannot stress enough to you all how serious of a problem this is. Unchecked, we will lose our current geographic coastline by the end of the century. UNIRO must slow this melting or this very base could be unusable. And, within a few centuries the entire…” “Captain, sir,” Seong whispered, sitting next to William.

“Yeah?” William whispered back, keeping his eyes forward.

“I-I-I was wondering if you had your-your investigation interview yet?”

“No. Have you?”

“Yes. This mor-morning.”

“How did it go? You acted like I didn’t tell you guys anything like I said to right?”

“Ye-Yes, sir. Hernandez was ver-ver-very nice. He told me they found drugs in Samir’s body that they assumed cau-cau-caused him to jump.”

William looked directly at Seong and loudly said, “Drugs?”

“You, Emerson,” called Dr. Olin, hearing William’s outburst. “Something more important than the flooding of world?” he asked.

“No, sir. Sorry, sir.”

Dr. Olin mumbled something to himself and then kept lecturing.

William smacked Seong in the side. “That was your fault.”