Nasa - Antarctica Iceberg Calving
- james1484
- Sep 24, 2022
- 1 min read
Updated: Apr 25, 2024
Two studies reveal unexpected new data about the Antarctic Ice Sheet, doubling previous estimates of loss from ice shelves.
The first study maps how iceberg calving – the breaking off of ice from a glacier front – has changed the Antarctic coastline over the last 25 years. The researchers found that the edge of the ice sheet has been shedding icebergs faster than the ice can be replaced. In recent decades, the warming ocean has been destabilizing Antarctica’s ice shelves by melting them from below, making them thinner and weaker.
In the second study, scientists have combined almost 3 billion data points from altimetry instruments to produce the longest continuous record on the changing height of the ice sheet – an indicator of ice loss – from as early as 1985.
Together, these two studies give the most complete view yet of how the frozen continent is changing.
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IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The 200-foot-tall (60-meter-tall) front of the Getz Ice Shelf in Antarctica, white and scored with cracks where icebergs are likely to break off, or calve. The water next to it is dark blue and lightens as it gets closer to the ice.