Overview

• 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.