Satellite observations of Antarctic ice shelves reveal a dramatic loss of ice, with 74 trillion tons of water released into the ocean since 1997 — evidence of climate change's impact on the region.
Antarctic ice shelves incurred significant ice loss between 1997 and 2001. Click to read more. Antarctica is a vast icy continent containing massive chunks of ice because of a prehistoric glaciation, which scientists predict to have taken place approximately 35 million years ago.
More than 40 percent of Antarctica's ice shelves lost volume in 25 years, increasing the risk of sea levels rising and with human-induced warming the likely cause, scientists said on Thursday.Almost all of western Antarctica's ice shelves lost volume as they were exposed to warmer water that eroded them from below.
Robots deployed from a mothership could manoeuvre beneath ice shelves to collect measurements about the extent of ice cavities and surrounding ocean properties.
‘Antarctica could transform from Earth's refrigerator to a radiator’ as Earth is losing sea-ice that helps maintain balance in the planet’s temperature.