<
https://theconversation.com/ice-shelves-hold-back-antarcticas-glaciers-from-adding-to-sea-levels-but-theyre-crumbling-185509>
"As Antarctica’s slow rivers of ice hit the sea, they float, forming ice
shelves. These shelves extend the glaciers into the ocean until they calve into
icebergs.
But they also play a crucial role in maintaining the world as we know it, by
acting as a brake on how fast the glaciers can flow into the ocean. If they
weren’t there, the glaciers would flow faster into the sea and melt, causing
sea levels to rise. Unfortunately, Antarctica’s ice shelves are not what they
were. In research published today in
Nature, we show these ice shelves have
significantly reduced in area over the last 25 years due to more and more
icebergs breaking off. Overall, the net loss of ice is about 6,000 billion
tonnes since 1997.
Previous estimates of ice shelf loss come from satellite measurements, which
captured ice shelves gradually thinning in recent years. We tracked how much
extra ice had been lost as icebergs calve away from the retreating edge of the
continent. We found Antarctica’s ice shelves have lost twice as much mass as
previous studies suggested.
Ice shelves are now weaker than at any time since at least the 1990s. This has
led Antarctica’s glaciers to begin adding more water to the oceans, and more
quickly. To date, much of the concern about the cryosphere – the world’s frozen
parts – has focused on the fast-melting Arctic sea ice. But as climate change
intensifies, Antarctica will begin melting in earnest, contributing more to sea
level rise."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
