First evidence that Antarctica’s thinning ice shelves are causing more ice to move from the land into the sea

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by Northumbria University

https://phys.org/news/2019-12-evidence-antarctica-thinning-ice-shelves.html

First evidence that Antarctica's thinning ice shelves are causing more ice to move from the land into the sea
A detailed view of changes in ice flow around the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, due to thinning ice shelves. Pine Island Glacier is at the top right, with changes seen almost 100 miles inland. Credit: Northumbria University

Researchers have produced the first physics-based quantifiable evidence that thinning ice shelves in Antarctica are causing more ice to flow from the land into the ocean.

Their findings have been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Satellite measurements taken between 1994 and 2017 have detected significant changes in the thickness of the floating ice shelves that surround the Antarctic Ice Sheet. These shelves buttress against the land-based ice, holding them in place like a safety band.

While it has been suggested that the thinning ice shelves were responsible for a direct loss of ice from the land-based ice sheet into the ocean, there was no actual evidence…

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