"[The Antarctic ice sheet] lost 2,720 billion tonnes [2.998 tons] of ice between 1992 and 2017, which corresponds to an increase in mean sea level of 7.6 millimeters," the report said.
Some 90 research scientists discovered that in the five year period beginning in 2012, Antarctica lost 219 billion tonnes of ice per year.
The amount of ice lost is almost three times more than in the 2002-2007 period, the report said.
The only period when the quantity of ice lost dropped was between 1997 and 2002, when Antarctica saw a loss of 38 billion tonnes per year compared to 49 billion per year for the five years prior to that period.
Scientists have acknowledged that these sad results surpassed their expectations.
"I think we should be worried. Things are happening faster than we expected," Isabella Velicogna of the University of California and one of the report’s authors said.
Knowledge of the quantities and rate at which Antarctica loses ice is key to understanding how climate change will affect the plant, according to published reports. The continent contains ice, which if lost, may raise sea levels close to 60 meters and submerge coastal cities around the world.
