A moment of Wow... -------------------------- Two teams of scientists say the long-feared collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has begun, kicking off what they say will be a centuries-long, unstoppable process that could raise sea levels by as much as 15 feet. Theres been a lot of speculation about the stability of marine ice sheets, and many scientists suspected that this kind of behavior is under way, Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in a news release about one of the studies. This study provides a more qualitative idea of the rates at which the collapse could take place. The findings from Joughin and his colleagues, to be published this week in the journal Science, indicate that in some places, Antarcticas Thwaites Glacier is losing tens of feet, or several meters, of ice elevation every year. They estimate that Thwaites Glacier would probably disappear entirely in somewhere between 200 and 1,000 years. That loss would raise global sea levels by nearly 2 feet (60 centimeters). The glacier serves as a linchpin for the rest of the West Antarctic Ice sheet, which has enough frozen mass to cause another 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) of sea level rise. A second study, published Monday in Geophysical Research Letters, reports the widespread retreat of Thwaites and other glaciers on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet — and says the retreat cant help but continue. It has passed the point of no return, the research teams leader, Eric Rignot of the University of California at Irvine, told reporters during a NASA teleconference on Monday. The second study projected that the glacial retreat in Antarcticas Amundsen Sea Embayment, which includes Thwaites Glacier, would result in 4 feet (1.2 meters) of sea level rise — and open the way to more widespread retreats.
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 22:57:39 +0000
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