Antarctica lost more ice than previously thought - The Mundo.es

New research published this Sunday the journal Nature reveals that Antarctica lost more ice by melting the bottom of the submerged ice shelves than previously thought, accounting for up to 90 % loss of ice in some areas . The results are crucial for understanding how ice interacts with the rest of the climate system and in particular, with the ocean.

Creating

melting icebergs and causes 2,800 cubic kilometers of ice out of the ice sheet of Antarctica each year. Most of it is replaced by snowfall but any imbalance contributes to a change in global sea level . For decades, experts have believed that the most important process responsible for this great loss was the fracture of the iceberg, the breaking of ice blocks on the edge of a glacier.

This study, led by academics from the University of Bristol, in the UK, with colleagues from the University of Utrecht, Netherlands, and the University of California, USA, has used satellite data and climate models to show that the merger of the sub-platform has a big impact as a fractured iceberg for Antarctica as a whole and even more important to some areas.

During the last decade, Antarctic ice sheet has decreased its volume increasing amounts , where annual ice loss equivalent to 700 times the four cubic kilometers per year constitute the entire domestic water supply for the UK.

satellites Facts

The researchers found that, for some platforms ice melting at the bottom could be responsible for up to 90% mass loss, while for other area was only 10%.

They detected that the ice shelves already were thinner which lost most of its mass of this merger , so they understand that they are a good indicator that platforms ice can be particularly vulnerable to changes in ocean warming in the future.

The scientists used data from a number of satellite missions and airborne to accurately measure the flow of ice, elevation and thickness, observations which were combined with the results of a climate model to snowfall over the ice . Thus, comparing the amount of snow that fell on the surface and accumulation with the amount of ice lost the continent, entering the ocean, so you were able to determine the proportion that was lost in each process.

Professor Jonathan Bamber, dde School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, said: “Understanding how the largest body of ice in the ice planet loses oceans is one of the most fundamental things we need to know about Antarctica . Until recently, it was assumed that most of the ice is lost through icebergs “.

“Now we realize that the melting under the ice shelves in the ocean is equally important and in some places, much more. This knowledge is crucial to understanding how ice sheets interact now and how they will do in the future with climate change, “he said.