"CAMBRIDGE, UK -- Warm ocean currents flowing beneath ice shelves are the main cause of recent ice loss from Antarctica, concludes a study by an international research team published today. The finding brings scientists closer to providing reliable projections of future sea level rise."
"Using measurements from NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite, ICESat, in combination with computer models, the researchers were able to distinguish between warm ocean currents thawing the ice sheets from below and warm air melting them from above.
'We can lose an awful lot of ice to the sea without ever having summers warm enough to make the snow on top of the glaciers melt,' said lead author Hamish Pritchard of the British Antarctic Survey based in Cambridge, UK. 'The oceans can do all the work from below.'
'What's really interesting is just how sensitive these glaciers seem to be,' said Pritchard. 'Some ice shelves are thinning by a few meters a year and, in response, the glaciers drain billions of tons of ice into the sea. This supports the idea that ice shelves are important in slowing down the glaciers that feed them, controlling the loss of ice from the Antarctic ice sheet.'"
Environment News Service had the story April 25, 2012.
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