Climate Change Accelerates Loss of Antarctic Meteorites

Nearly 9,000 meteorites disappear annually due to rising temperatures, threatening valuable scientific insights.

For every 0.1°C increase in global air temperature, nearly 9,000 Antarctic meteorites are lost.
By 2050, up to a quarter of the estimated 300,000—800,000 meteorites in Antarctica could be lost, with potential losses reaching three-quarters by century's end under high-warming scenarios.
Meteorites in Antarctica, which account for 60% of those found on Earth, are at risk of sinking into the ice and becoming unrecoverable due to warming.
Researchers call for intensified efforts to recover these meteorites to preserve their scientific value, likening their loss to that of data from vanishing glaciers.
The only long-term solution to preserve unrecovered meteorites is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.