Latest Ross Ice Shelf Stories
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The melting rate of certain glaciers in Antarctica is unmistakably accelerating and the most direct link to global warming is in the unknown adjustment of the surrounding Southern Ocean. That leads to not only an uncertain future stability of the icy continent but also raises questions about the pace of sea level rise around the world, according to work by a Texas A&M University researcher. (Logo:...
Climate change effects to be monitored with new fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing Half-mile long thermometers have been dropped through the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica that will give the world relevant data on sea and ice temperatures for tracking climate change and its effect on the glacial ice surrounding the continent. The study based at the University of Nevada, Reno is funded by the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs and other NSF grants. "This...
[ Watch the Video ] An international team of researchers funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) will travel next month to one of Antarctica's most active, remote and harsh spots to determine how changes in the waters circulating under an active ice sheet are causing a glacier to accelerate and drain into the sea. The science expedition will be the most extensive ever deployed to Pine Island Glacier. It is the area of the ice-covered continent that concerns scientists...
Extremely long waves could have initiated 2008 collapse eventsDepicting a cause-and-effect scenario that spans thousands of miles, a scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and his collaborators discovered that ocean waves originating along the Pacific coasts of North and South America impact Antarctic ice shelves and could play a role in their catastrophic collapse.Peter Bromirski of Scripps Oceanography is the lead scientist in a new study published in the journal...
Scientists have reported a giant iceberg over twice the size of Sydney Harbor is on a slow but steady collision course with Australia, according to the Telegraph UK.Researchers at the Australian Antarctic Division (ADD) spotted the 12 mile-long and 5-mile wide chunk of ice floating close to the mainland.The iceberg, known as B17B, is currently drifting 1,000 miles from Australia's west coast and is gradually moving north with the ocean current and prevailing wind.Should the iceberg...
A huge iceberg was identified near an island between Antarctica and Australia, an usual display in northern waters, Australian scientists announced on Thursday. Australian Antarctic Division researchers employed at Macquarie Island caught a glimpse of the iceberg last Thursday 5 miles away from the coast.The iceberg, which is 160 feet tall and 1,640 feet wide, is most likely a chunk that split from a bigger iceberg. The origin of the iceberg is guessed to be from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf,...
U.S. scientists say a 24-foot-long robotic submarine will be used in a multimillion-dollar, five-year study of melting on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Northern Illinois University said its robotic submarine will be lowered through more than a half mile of ice into ocean water in the study that involves nine U.S. institutions. Researchers said the submarine will collapse to a width of only two feet, allowing it to be lowered through a drill hole melted in the ice. The sub is designed to...
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...
Cooperative agreements signed with teams from the University of Wisconsin, Dartmouth College, University of New Hampshire are vital to climate studiesThe National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Office of Polar Programs (OPP) announced today the signing of cooperative agreements, one with a university collaboration comprising Dartmouth College, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the other with the University of Wisconsin-Madison alone, that together...
On the world's coldest continent of Antarctica, the landscape is so vast and varied that only satellites can fully capture the extent of changes in the snow melting across its valleys, mountains, glaciers and ice shelves. In a new NASA study, researchers using 20 years of data from space-based sensors have confirmed that Antarctic snow is melting farther inland from the coast over time, melting at higher altitudes than ever and increasingly melting on Antarctica's largest ice shelf. With a...
