In only 25 years, ocean melting has caused ice thinning to spread across West Antarctica so rapidly that a quarter of its glacier ice is now affected, according to a new study.
Scientists at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), based at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, have combined 25 years of European Space Agency satellite altimeter measurements and a model of Antarctica’s regional climate to track changes in snow and ice cover across the continent.
A new study in AGU’s journal Geophysical Research Letters finds Antarctica’s ice sheet has thinned by up to 122 meters in places, with the most rapid changes occurring in West Antarctica where ocean melting has triggered glacier imbalance.
Read more at American Geophysical Union
Image: An iceberg at Marguerite Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula. New research finds 24 percent of West Antarctic ice is now unstable. Credit: Andrew Shepherd.