Scientific understanding is continually shifting as time moves on. For decades now, scientists have assumed that ancient high tide lines referred to higher sea levels. These assumptions have led scientists to believe that if the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets were to completely melt, they would cause such a high sea level again. New research,
There is nothing better in life than a good robot story, and what’s even better is when that robot is named GROVER. GROVER stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research — which must have just really made the NASA scientists day, when they realised — and is set to
A new study led by researchers from Durham University in the UK has found that the geometry of channels beneath an ice-sheet play a much stronger role in mitigating retreat than previously understood. The findings are part of a study which simulate ice-sheet retreat and collapse over a ten thousand year period in Antarctica,
Most years would see us waiting until early September before we received notification of any record of Greenlandic melting being broken or not, but this year we get the news early! Four weeks early, in fact, according to Marco Tedesco, assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at The City College of New York, who has
The Greenland Ice Sheet is of major concern to scientists the world over in a world that is warming rapidly and causing massive ice melt to occur. However, recent research has shown that the Greenland Ice Sheet may in fact be more robust and dynamic than previously thought. The research was conducted by the University of
Scientists have discovered the cause for rapid sea level rise in two specific historic events using climate and ice sheet models. The process, known as saddle-collapse, was at the heart of two specific sea level rise events: the Meltwater pulse 1a (MWP1a) around 14,600 years ago and the ‘8,200 year’ event. The research, published in the
A previously unknown sub-glacial basin that is almost the size of New Jersey residing beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet near the Weddell Sea has prompted scientists to reevaluate the ice sheet location most at risk of collapse. “If we were to invent a set of conditions conducive to retreat of the West Antarctic
According to a new study the Greenland ice sheet is possibly more vulnerable to the temperature increase of global warming than previously estimated. According to the study, conducted by scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the temperature
New research has provided evidence to suggest that massive melting of ice sheets like the Greenland ice sheet does not need corresponding record temperature highs, rather, just persistent warm weather over several years. Such results suggest that glaciers and ice sheets could undergo a self-amplifying cycle of melting and warming simply if there is persistently
A new method to determine the age of fossilised coral reef skeletons has provided evidence that the sea level may not remain as stable in a warming world as had been previously estimated.
Small amounts of subsurface warming of oceans can trigger a massive and rapid collapse of ice shelves, according to an analysis of prehistoric “Heinrich events.”
“If West Antarctica collapsed, that means it’s more unstable than we expected, which is quite scary,” said a scientist who set out to determine whether Greenland or Antarctica will introduce more melting water to rising sea levels.
A new study has shown that not only does melting ice contribute more to rising sea levels than thermal expansion, but that ocean levels are likely to continue rising well after the warming of the atmosphere stabilises.
“If you put an ice cube in a warm room, it will melt in several hours. But if you put an ice cube in a cup of warm water, it will disappear in just minutes.”
A group of scientists collected from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, have taken a look below the Aurora Subglacial Basin in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and found some of the largest fjords on Earth.
Focusing their attention on the collapse of the Barents ice sheet which took place some 140,000 years ago, scientists from Bangor University and the University of Sheffield have used a computer climate model to understand how different states of freshwater entering the oceans affect the circulation of the oceans.
More and more the history of our planet is being used to help us understand the future of our planet. Scientists from Boston University have recently published their findings of the mid-Pliocene climate optimum period 3 million years ago, and the similarities it could hold for the future centuries of our planet.
New evidence provided by researchers flying over East Antarctica’s Gamburtsev Mountain’s between November 2008 to January 2009 has shown that there is ice forming at the bottom of the massive ice sheets that cover Antarctica, as well as on the top.
In many climate models and scientists’ theories the West Antarctic ice sheet is expected to melt over the coming hundreds of years and raise the sea levels. Much of this is based on the theory that during the last interglacial period the ice sheet must have melted in order to raise the sea levels as much as they had been. However new research suggests that the West Antarctic ice sheet may be more stable than had been previously realised.
Cambridge University has released another film in their ‘Cambridge Ideas’ series entitled ‘This Icy World’ shown below. The small film looks at the contribution of Greenland to global sea level change and the mapping of previous unkown basins and mountains beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Video The film showcases the work of glaciologist Professor Julian
Scientists from the University of Sheffield in England have for the first time brought to life through illustrated maps the shrinkage of the last British ice sheet as it shrunk during the last Ice Age, some 20,000 years ago. Led by the University of Sheffield’s Professor Chris Clark from the Department of Geography, the team
Scientists from the University of Sheffield in England have for the first time brought to life through illustrated maps the shrinkage of the last British ice sheet as it shrunk during the last Ice Age, some 20,000 years ago. Led by the University of Sheffield’s Professor Chris Clark from the Department of Geography, the team
With warming temperatures worldwide much speculation has been focused on how the Antarctic and Greenland ice-sheets will react. Hotter temperatures, in theory, should be bad for ice, but according to new research published in a letter in the 27 January edition of the journal Nature, hotter summers may not be as catastrophic for the Greenland
New research from Victoria University in Australia has revealed new findings pointing to why the Antarctic ice sheets have melted in the past, and how they might be most affected in the future, and how their current-day degradation might affect the ocean levels. In a paper published in the latest edition of the journal Nature
According to a recently published paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (Khan et al), Greenland’s ice mass loss has been accelerating and is now spreading up along its northwest coast, with data indicating the start of this acceleration to be late 2005.
