Nature Climate Change; W. Antarctic Ice Shelves Weakest, Most Vulnerable
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The findings, published in Nature Climate Change on Monday, show that West Antarctica — long an area of scientific concern when it comes to sea level rise — has some of the weakest areas of defense protecting its ice. Researchers analyzed the tongues of ice — known as ice shelves — to see how much ground each ice shelf could lose before processes began to speed up, sending more inland ice to the sea.
“When they break-up, it is like pulling the plug in the bathtub for the adjacent tributary glaciers,” Johannes Fürst, an ice expert at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and leader of the new study, said. “For our article, we just wondered how far we can cut into the existing ice-shelf geometries before a notable and instant dynamic effect becomes apparent.”
The cause of the cutting could be any number of factors, according to Fürst, ranging from ice shelf shape to warming seas driven by climate change. This research didn’t focus on the specific causes of ice loss in the region, just how much ice could be lost until major changes occurred.
Map showing the percentage area of "passive" ice in all of Antarctica's ice shelves. Passive ice can be lost without dramatically changing glacier and ice sheet dynamics
Credit: Fürst et al., 2016
“We have known for a while now that ice shelves are important plugs for the glaciers that flow in from behind,” Martin Truffer, an ice shelf researcher at the University of Alaska, said. “(This research uses) an innovative method and it shows some interesting results.” The Amundsen and Bellingshausen sea sectors in West Antarctica are home to the most at-risk ice on the continent. Both regions’ ice shelves average less than 10 percent of their ice being “safe” to lose (in a relative sense anyways) before major ice sheet dynamics start to change.
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http://www.climatecentral.org/news/weakening-ice-shelves-sea-level-rise-20003
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