Latest Antarctic ice sheet Stories

Scientists said on Tuesday that Antarctica's ice is covering up jagged mountains the size of the Alps, providing new clues about the vast ice sheet that will raise world sea levels if even a fraction of it melts, Reuters reported.First detected by Russian scientists 50 years ago at the heart of the East Antarctic ice sheet using radar and gravity sensors, the experts made the first detailed maps of the Gamburtsev subglacial mountains.Fausto Ferraccioli, a geophysicist at the British Antarctic...

A group of environment ministers landed on a remote corner of Antarctica on Monday to learn more about how the melting continent may threaten the Earth.The parka-clad representatives from more than twelve nations, including the U.S., China, Britain and Russia, were to meet scientists from the U.S. and Norway who were arriving after the last leg of a two-month, 1,400-mile trip over the ice from the South Pole.The group will gain "hands-on experience of the colossal magnitude of the...

The Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are melting, but the amounts that will melt and the time it will take are still unknown, according to Richard Alley, Evan Pugh professor of geosciences, Penn State.In the past, the Greenland ice sheet has grown when its surroundings cooled, shrunk when its surroundings warmed and even disappeared completely when the temperatures became warm enough. If the ice sheet on Greenland melts, sea level will rise about 23 feet, which will inundate portions of...

Sea levels could rise up to 21 feet in certain regions, according to a new report that takes into account new previously unconsidered factors. Geophysicists from the University of Toronto have previously reported that coastlines of North America and of nations in the southern Indian Ocean could face the greatest threats from a West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse.But in a new report, scientists found that some estimates failed to take certain factors into account. "We aren't suggesting that...

The Antarctic Peninsula juts into the Southern Ocean, reaching farther north than any other part of the continent. The southernmost reach of global warming was believed to be limited to this narrow strip of land, while the rest of the continent was presumed to be cooling or stable.Not so, according to a new analysis involving NASA data. In fact, the study has confirmed a trend suspected by some climate scientists."Everyone knows it has been warming on the Antarctic Peninsula, where there...

In an effort to seek clues to world ocean level rises in one of the most inaccessible places on earth, scientists are sending a yellow robot submarine to dive under an ice shelf in Antarctica.A U.S. research vessel will launch the 22 ft submarine to probe the underside of the ice at the end of the Pine Island glacier, which is moving faster than any other in Antarctica and already brings more water to the oceans than Europe's Rhine River.Large icebergs have been breaking off Antarctica's ice...

As ice melts away from Antarctica, parts of the continental bedrock are rising in response -- and other parts are sinking, scientists have discovered.The finding will give much needed perspective to satellite instruments that measure ice loss on the continent, and help improve estimates of future sea level rise."Our preliminary results show that we can dramatically improve our estimates of whether Antarctica is gaining or losing ice," said Terry Wilson, associate professor of earth...

Scientists say that enormous floods beneath the Antarctic ice sheet can now be linked directly to the speed at which that ice moves towards the ocean.The giant Byrd Glacier in east Antarctica sped up just as two lakes under the ice overflowed, according to Leigh Stearns and colleagues. They say the floodwater acts as a lubricant, easing the ice over the bedrock.Experts believe the more ice the Polar Regions dump in the ocean, the higher the waters will rise.Ice behavior in response to a...

The Greenland ice cap has been a focal point of recent climate change research because it is much more exposed to immediate global warming than the larger Antarctic ice sheet. Yet while the southern Greenland ice cap has been melting, it is still not clear how much this is contributing to rising sea levels, and much further research is needed. A framework for such research was defined at a recent workshop organized by the European Science Foundation (ESF)."The main objectives were to...

Scientists from the U.S., U.K. and Australia have teamed up to explore two of the last uncharted regions of Earth, the Aurora and Wilkes Subglacial Basins, immense ice-buried lowlands in Antarctica with a combined area the size of Mexico. The research could show how Earth's climate changed in the past and how future climate change will affect global sea level.Scientists believe the barely observed Aurora Subglacial Basin, which lies in East Antarctica, could represent the weak underbelly of...