There has been research published recently showing that the glaciers in Antarctica are unstable and destined to collapse and melt away. As always the timing is uncertain and it may be a long time in the future and also the potential seven metre contribution to sea level rise seems remote. The problem for people living today is that we only need one metre of sea level rise to totally disrupt the world economy and so it is in everyone’s interest to watch for sudden changes..
There are currently two major ice masses that are unstable, one is West Antarctica and the other is Greenland. Each of them has different problems but both suffer ice loss at the same time due to temperature increases and they can each contribute seven metre rises to sea levels.
There are currently two major ice masses that are unstable, one is West Antarctica and the other is Greenland. Each of them has different problems but both suffer ice loss at the same time due to temperature increases and they can each contribute seven metre rises to sea levels.
When the planet moved from the last ice age to the present warm period around fourteen thousand years ago there was a sudden increase in sea levels which amounted to twenty metres over four hundred years or, five metres a century or, one metre every twenty years.
The recent research on West Antarctica focuses on the Amundsen Sea and the six glaciers around Pine Island. Observation has shown that the ice in the ice shelf has been melting from the underside at the rate of 50 mm a day
. As the ice melts it allows more warm water to circulate underneath the ice where it rests on the sea bed and the ice then floats. This point is called the grounding line and it has been retreating towards the land at up to thirty five kilometres (twenty two miles) a year. As the ice shelf floats in the sea and thins it becomes subject to tides and storms and begins to crack and break away. The ice shelf is around five hundred meters thick and acts as a buttress to hold back the ice in the glaciers on the land and so, with no ice shelf, the glacier starts to slip towards the sea at a much increased rate. This has already been observed with the glaciers in both Greenland and West Antarctica.
The scientists who work in Greenland and Antarctica are extremely concerned about the speed of changes in these regions and with only one metre of sea level rise needed for disaster so we be worried also .
. As the ice melts it allows more warm water to circulate underneath the ice where it rests on the sea bed and the ice then floats. This point is called the grounding line and it has been retreating towards the land at up to thirty five kilometres (twenty two miles) a year. As the ice shelf floats in the sea and thins it becomes subject to tides and storms and begins to crack and break away. The ice shelf is around five hundred meters thick and acts as a buttress to hold back the ice in the glaciers on the land and so, with no ice shelf, the glacier starts to slip towards the sea at a much increased rate. This has already been observed with the glaciers in both Greenland and West Antarctica.
The scientists who work in Greenland and Antarctica are extremely concerned about the speed of changes in these regions and with only one metre of sea level rise needed for disaster so we be worried also .
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