Latest Ice sheets Stories
Two new reports published in the journal Nature illustrate possible flooding due to climate change and a meltdown of the massive West Antarctic ice sheet. In one study, researchers used soil cores below the Ross ice shelf to show that the massive melt took place between 3 million and 5 million years ago. That collapse amounted to an increase of more than 16 feet to global sea level, researchers noted. "What we're seeing in the past would lead us to believe that we are on track for losing...
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...
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...
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...
U.S. scientists say they've created a computer program to help predict when icebergs will calve from ice sheets. The models we have do not currently have any way to figure out where the big ice sheets end and where the ice calves off to form icebergs, said Penn State Professor Richard Alley. The problem, he said, is the great variability involved in iceberg calving. One important variable -- the one that accounts for the largest portion of when the iceberg breaks -- is the rate at which ice...
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...
A U.S. rocket scientist sent 90 rubber ducks into the ice of the fastest-moving Greenland glacier, hoping someone finds them if they emerge in Baffin Bay.Alberto Behar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said the common yellow plastic bath toys are one part of a sophisticated experiment to determine why glaciers speed up in the summer in their march to the sea.Researchers say the Jakobshavn Glacier is very likely the source of the iceberg that sank the Titanic in 1912 because...
By Richard Sadler New research by the Met Office has revealed that official predictions for sea level rise are out of date because they do not include the effects of melt water from the massive Greenland ice sheet.The situation is so serious that the Environment Agency is being forced to review its flood defence plans for London. Contingency plans for other major low-lying cities Hull, Newcastle, Glasgow and Norwich will also have to be re-evaluated.The extent of the problem was revealed...
