Scientists Watch 500,809-km2 Ross Ice Shelf as Collapse Could Lift Seas by 5 Meters
Updated
Updated · BBC Discover Wildlife · Aug 8
Scientists Watch 500,809-km2 Ross Ice Shelf as Collapse Could Lift Seas by 5 Meters
3 articles · Updated · BBC Discover Wildlife · Aug 8
Summary
Roughly 500,809 square kilometers of floating ice in Antarctica’s Ross Sea is under close watch because the Ross Ice Shelf helps hold back glaciers feeding both the West and East Antarctic ice sheets.
Up to 5 meters of global sea-level rise could eventually follow a collapse, NASA says, not because the shelf itself floats, but because losing that buttress would let inland glaciers accelerate into the ocean.
300 to 1,000 meters a year of ice flow keeps the shelf moving, and shifts in that speed or stability are treated as early warning signs; it also periodically calves giant icebergs, including 2000’s B-15.
Basal melting is already occurring beneath the shelf, driven mainly by warm deep ocean water, while near Ross Island solar-heated surface water can nearly triple summer melt rates in parts of the cavity below.
Larsen B’s 2002 collapse showed the wider risk: nearby glaciers rapidly thinned afterward, reinforcing why the still-relatively-stable Ross shelf is a key climate indicator.