East Antarctica’s stable ice sheet may be much closer to melting than anyone thinks. American scientists from Stanford University came to this conclusion. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Geophysical Research Letters (GRL).
Observations have shown that the subglacial Wilkes Basin in East Antarctica is sensitive to even small changes in temperature. But this region, the size of California, has enough ice to melt sea levels by more than three meters if it melted.
The researchers collected data from existing radar surveys conducted by planes flying over the glacier. The planes pick up electromagnetic signals passing through the ice sheet and reflecting off the ground below. Scientists have developed a new technique to convert data on the cross-section of ice and bedrock into information about temperature conditions at the base of the ice sheet.
Experts discovered large areas of frozen and thawed land scattered throughout the region, but most of the areas could not be clearly classified into one category or another. In some cases, this may be due to changes in ice sheet geometry or other complications in the data. But this could also mean that areas beneath the ice sheet are either close to melting or consist of frozen layers and thawed chunks mixed together.
If the latter is true, glaciers in the Wilkes Subglacial Basin could reach a tipping point with only a small increase in temperature at the base of the ice sheet. This means that glaciers will begin to melt in the near future.
The team hopes their work will highlight the importance of studying this region and other parts of East Antarctica that until recently appeared stable.
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