. Earth Science News .
Floods under Antarctic ice speed glaciers into sea: study

"Water acts as a lubricant, reducing friction at the base of the ice and making ice flow faster," explained Helen Fricker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of California in a commentary, also in Nature Geoscience. Image courtesy of Zina Deretsky NSF.
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Nov 17, 2008
Scientists unveiled Sunday the first direct evidence that massive floods deep below Antarctica's ice cover are accelerating the flow of glaciers into the sea.

How quickly these huge bodies of ice slide off the Antarctic and Greenland land masses into the ocean help determine the speed at which sea levels rise.

The stakes are enormous: an increase measured in tens of centimetres (inches) could wreak havoc for hundreds of millions of people living in low-lying deltas and island nations around the world.

Researchers discovered only recently that inaccessible subglacial lakes in Antarctica periodically shed huge quantities of water.

Data collected by a satellite launched in 2003 -- the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat -- revealed a complex network of subglacial plumbing in which water periodically cascades from one hidden reservoir to another.

But the new study, published online in the journal Nature Geoscience, is the first to measure the potential impact of this invisible flooding on sea-bound glaciers.

A trio of scientists led by Leigh Stearns of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine matched ICESat data against a nearly 50-year record of how fast the Byrd Glacier in East Antarctica has moved toward the sea.

They discovered that during the same 14-month period that 1.7 cubic kilometres (0.4 cubic miles) of water cascaded through subglacial waterways, the 75-kilometre (45-mile) long glacier downstream pick up speed, moving about 10 percent faster.

"Our findings provide direct evidence that an active lake drainage system can cause large and rapid changes in glacier dynamics," the researchers concluded.

"Water acts as a lubricant, reducing friction at the base of the ice and making ice flow faster," explained Helen Fricker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of California in a commentary, also in Nature Geoscience.

"The timing of the onset of speed up matched that of the lake drainage, and the slow-down coincided with the flood cessation," she noted.

The study adds to growing scientific concern about the pace at which glaciers are melting into the seas.

Two forces -- both driven by global warming -- cause sea levels to rise. One is thermal expansion of sea water.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned last year that thermal expansion will push sea levels up 18 to 59 centimetres (7.2 to 23.2 inches) by 2100, enough to wipe out several small island nations and severely disrupt low-lying mega deltas in Asia and Africa.

But the report failed to take into account the impact of the second force: additional water from melting sources of ice.

The ice sheet that sits atop Greenland, for example, contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven metres (23 feet).

Even the gloomiest global warming predictions do not include such a scenario.

But recent studies suggest that runoff from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets could drive sea levels higher than once thought, one reason the IPCC decided to remove the upward bracket from its forecast.

Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Beyond the Ice Age



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Earth would be heading to a freeze without CO2 emissions
Paris (AFP) Nov 12, 2008
Scheduled shifts in Earth's orbit should plunge the planet into an enduring Ice Age thousands of years from now but the event will probably be averted because of man-made greenhouse gases, scientists said Wednesday.







  • Quake threat to Karachi exposes cracks in system
  • Death toll from China subway collapse rises to seven: state press
  • California gets glimpse of 'Big One'
  • Five dead, 14 missing in Indonesia landslide: official

  • Somalians face famine on massive scale: Red Cross
  • Carbon Dioxide Levels Already In Danger Zone
  • World Needs Climate Emergency Backup Plan
  • Global Warming Predicted To Hasten Carbon Release From Peat Bogs

  • Firefly CubeSat To Study Link Between Lightning And Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes
  • Measuring Water From Space
  • Orbital Ships NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory Satellite To Launch Site
  • Arctic Sea Ice Decline Shakes Up Ocean Ecosystems

  • China's oil demand falls sharply amid global crisis: top producer
  • Mariah Power's Windspire: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
  • PSE Orders Turbines For Wild Horse Expansion
  • Analysis: Cameroon oil violence on rise

  • TB strains more drug-resistant, WHO says
  • Purdue Researcher Invents Molecule That Stops SARS
  • Airport Malaria Causing Concern In The US
  • AIDS vaccines: New hope for problem-plagued path

  • Africa in biggest ever crackdown on wildlife crime
  • Botswana wildlife threatened by human encroachment
  • Fiddler Crabs Reveal Honesty Is Not Always The Best Policy
  • Giant clams make come back in Philippines thanks to science

  • Italian police find massive illegal waste dump near Naples
  • Smelly effluent mars affluent Dubai's beaches
  • White House defends last-minute deregulation push
  • China struggling to meet environment goals: official

  • Parents clasp hands of children in ancient graves
  • Firms scan brain waves to improve ads in Japan
  • Surprising Effects Of Climate Patterns In Ancient China
  • China's media workers not in good physical shape: report

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement