{"id":25464,"date":"2022-09-15T11:34:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T10:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=25464"},"modified":"2022-09-15T11:34:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T10:34:24","slug":"measuring-basal-thaw-of-glaciers-is-crucial-for-understanding-rising-sea-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/measuring-basal-thaw-of-glaciers-is-crucial-for-understanding-rising-sea-levels\/25464\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring basal thaw of glaciers is crucial for understanding rising sea levels"},"content":{"rendered":"
The study observed areas across Antarctica which are not currently losing large amounts of mass but could become some of the biggest contributors to rising sea levels if they thawed.<\/p>\n
Dustin Schroeder, an associate professor of geophysics at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, explained the logic behind the research: \u201cYou can\u2019t necessarily assume that everywhere that\u2019s currently frozen will stay frozen. These regions may be under-appreciated potential contributors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scientists have never previously considered thawing at the bed of the ice as a potential cause for rising sea levels. Eliza Dawson, a PhD student in geophysics, said: \u201cThere really has been little to no continental-wide work that looks at the onset of thawing \u2013\u00a0that transition from frozen ice to ice at the melting point, where a little bit of water at the bed can cause the ice to slide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were interested in learning how big an effect thawing could have and what regions of the ice sheet were potentially most susceptible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers used numerical ice sheet models to test whether the onset of basal thaw could lead to significant ice loss over a 100-year period. Past research does not usually associate thawing and mass loss of ice with rising sea levels, but the researchers wanted to test the hypothesis.<\/p>\n
They identified the George V Land area in East Antarctica as most sensitive to thawing at the bed. Within the George V Land area, the Wilkes Basin was highlighted as a leading contributor to rising sea levels if thawing were to occur.<\/p>\n
The scientists are concerned that research is only focused on more unstable glaciers, such as the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. \u201cThe whole community is really focusing on Thwaites right now,\u201d said Schroeder.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut some of the regions that are the usual suspects for big, impactful changes aren\u2019t the most provocative and impactful areas in this study.\u201d<\/p>\n
Information about the base of glaciers is sparse due to Antarctica\u2019s location and extreme weather conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeasuring the bed is a massive effort in these remote places \u2013\u00a0we have the technology to do it, but you really need to pick the spot, and sometimes it takes years, and field camps, and special equipment to go do that,\u201d Schroeder said. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult and expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Researchers studied the physics of how ice slides to identify how changes in temperature affect the way glaciers flow and evolve at the base, but the research needs further development.<\/p>\n
The study shows that measuring, understanding and modelling the base temperature of glaciers is important in understanding the future of rising sea levels, but scientists are yet to develop a detailed understanding of how the processes that shift the behaviour of glaciers contribute to this.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollow-on work will be needed to take a closer look at these regions that this paper identified,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cShowing that thawing at the bed can result in mass loss from the ice sheet is a process that the community needs to understand and really start looking at \u2013 especially in these potentially vulnerable areas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Research by Stanford University has identified that measuring the base thawing of glaciers is important in understanding rising sea levels <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":25466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24433],"tags":[689],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n