Something Big Is Happening Under the Antarctic Ice Sheet
The study, “Observed rapid bedrock uplift in the Amundsen Sea Embayment promotes ice-sheet stability,” reveals new insights on the geology of the region and its interaction with the ice sheet and is published in the journal Science.
Researchers said the findings have important implications in understanding and predicting the stability of the ice sheet and Earth’s rising sea levels.
Antarctica, as seen using Google Earth, and a cut to show the interior of the earth, where the mantle (red and dark red) and the core (yellow) are visible. The Amundsen Sea Embayment is indicated by the red rectangle. On the right, a photo reveals one of the GPS sites in the study.
“We studied a surprising and important mechanism, glacial isostatic adjustment, that may slow the demise of the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet by lifting up the bedrock and sediments beneath the ice sheet,” explained CSU Professor Rick Aster, a co-author of the study and head of the Geosciences department at the university.
Scientists have been concerned that this ice sheet is particularly precarious in the face of a warming climate and ocean currents, because it is grounded hundreds to thousands of feet below sea level — unlike the ice sheets of East Antarctica or Greenland — and its base slopes inland. This bowl-like topography makes it susceptible to runaway destabilization and even complete collapse over centuries or even thousands of years.
The entirety of West Antarctica contains enough ice that, if it were to melt, would contribute more than 10 feet of average global sea level rise. In addition, the ice sheet is so massive that it attracts an ocean bulge, due to gravity. If this mass of water is released, it would lead to an additional increase of three feet or more to average sea level in parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is currently contributing approximately 25 percent of global melting land-based ice each year, and recent satellite-based studies have shown that this amount has increased in recent decades. This figure is equivalent to about 37 cubic miles or a cube of over three miles on each side.
Co-authors of the study based at The Ohio State University led the installation of sensitive GPS stations on rock outcrops around the remote region to measure the rise in response to thinning ice and to directly measure the uplift due to changes in the ice sheet. These measurements showed that the bedrock uplift rates were as high as 1.6 inches per year, one of the fastest rates ever recorded in glacial areas.
Credit: CSUi
Researchers also found in this study that the uplift is accelerating, and predicted that it will continue to do so into the next century.
“Our research indicates that recent and ongoing ice loss in the region has been underestimated by approximately 10 percent in past studies, because this bedrock uplift was inadequately accounted for in satellite measurements,” said Aster.
Lead author Valentina Barletta, a postdoctoral researcher at DTU SPACE, Technical University of Denmark, said that this uplift is occurring quite rapidly, when compared with other regions of the earth where glaciers are melting.
“Normally we would see this type of uplift happening slowly, over thousands of years after an ice age,” said Barletta. “What we found tells us that earth’s underlying viscous mantle is relatively fluid and moves quickly when the weight of the ice is taken off,” she added.
Terry Wilson, professor emeritus of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University, said the findings suggest that the geological conditions beneath the ice are very different from what scientists had previously believed.
“The rate of uplift we found is unusual and very surprising,” she said. “It’s a game changer.”
Aster, Barletta and the study co-authors have deployed a large network of sensitive seismographs across Antarctica to produce seismic tomographic images — analogous to a gigantic CAT scan — of the deep earth below Antarctica.
The work assisted in the interpretation and modeling of the GPS uplift data by delineating a vast region of the earth’s mantle, 40 to 400 miles below West Antarctica, that is relatively hot and fluid.
Previous and related studies conducted by the research team have also revealed that some hotter features below Antarctica extend still deeper, over 600 miles, into the earth.
“These warmer mantle features drive the previously enigmatic volcanic activity in West Antarctica, including Mount Erebus on Ross Island,” said Aster. “This geothermal heat at the base of the ice sheet helps to sustain subglacial lakes in some regions and lubricates the ice sheet as it slips towards the ocean,”he added.
Aster said while the research does provide room for a positive outcome, if future global warming is extreme, the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet will still melt.
“To keep global sea levels from rising more than a few feet during this century and beyond, we must still limit greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere through international cooperation and innovation,” he said.
Co-authors of this study also include researchers from DTU Compute at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Compute), University of Washington, University of Colorado-Boulder, TU Delft in the Netherlands, University of Texas, University of Memphis, Penn State University and Washington University in St. Louis.
The Department of Geosciences is part of the Warner College of Natural Resources.
Contacts and sources:
Colorado State University
Citation: Valentina R. Barletta, Michael Bevis, Benjamin E. Smith, Terry Wilson, Abel Brown, Andrea Bordoni, Michael Willis, Shfaqat Abbas Khan, Marc Rovira-Navarro, Ian Dalziel, Robert Smalley, Eric Kendrick, Stephanie Konfal, Dana J. Caccamise, Richard C. Aster, Andy Nyblade, Douglas A. Wiens. Observed rapid bedrock uplift in Amundsen Sea Embayment promotes ice-sheet stability. Science, 2018; 360 (6395): 1335 DOI: 10.1126/science.aao1447
Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2018/06/something-big-is-happening-under.html
Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.
"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.
Please Help Support BeforeitsNews by trying our Natural Health Products below!
Order by Phone at 888-809-8385 or online at https://mitocopper.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomic.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomics.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Humic & Fulvic Trace Minerals Complex - Nature's most important supplement! Vivid Dreams again!
HNEX HydroNano EXtracellular Water - Improve immune system health and reduce inflammation.
Ultimate Clinical Potency Curcumin - Natural pain relief, reduce inflammation and so much more.
MitoCopper - Bioavailable Copper destroys pathogens and gives you more energy. (See Blood Video)
Oxy Powder - Natural Colon Cleanser! Cleans out toxic buildup with oxygen!
Nascent Iodine - Promotes detoxification, mental focus and thyroid health.
Smart Meter Cover - Reduces Smart Meter radiation by 96%! (See Video).
I heard an inland freshwater lake had cracked through the ice and billions of litres of water AND BACTERIA FROZEN SINCE BEFORE JEBUS AND THE BIBLE
Whoops, ……… we’re flowing into our ocean.
It’s funny that they never mention the thermal vents, (around 1100) that are below the arctic and antarctic. Just like Iceland, they release hot water constantly, and have been doing it since everything was formed. Keeping facts from people is the way to control knowledge.
College is still one of the biggest ‘educational’ scams in modern history. Many corporations and especially smaller businesses are moving toward hiring those with certifications rather than degrees, as they are finally figuring out that their hardly worth the paper they’re printed on.
Research the history of colleges and fraternities. Enlightening. Their rapidly weakening grip on the minds of the public at large is testament to their long history of obfuscation, lies, and false indoctrination.
http://professorconfess.blogspot.com/
Of much greater concern regarding climate change, than the corrosive lies and cover-ups taking place in the ‘hallowed halls’ of “higher learning”, is the fact that volcanoes are waking up around the world, many on the sea floor, which are being ‘swept under the rug’ by the cwhoreporate ‘news’ media, the powers that be, and the country wide cadre of “edumacational” “professionals. Methane, sulfur dioxide, and other toxic gases are being released at a rate world wide, that is higher than ever measured before. New volcanoes, quakes and tsunami popping up around the globe, earth and moon orbits changed markedly…..and the liars in chief keep pumping out their profitable propaganda, missing every chance to come clean, preferring instead to defer an unavoidable reckoning to the worst possible of personal moments for the great many of them….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2734573/Mystery-glow-Pacific-Ocean-Pilots-left-baffled-strange-orange-red-lights-spotted-dead-night.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/08/15/another-climate-change-nightmare-dozens-of-volcanoes-beneath-antarcticas-thinning-ice/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2de12390581a
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/877579/yellowstone-volcano-antarctica-antarctic-nasa-global-warming-climate-change
So….what’s causing all the new tsunami, quakes, volcanoes, climate change etc…?
Quite simply, Earth’s orbit has changed, and with it, the orbit of our own moon.
/christian-news/2018/06/longest-day-as-seen-from-stone-henge-06212018-massive-earth-changes-2567448.html
Good Journeys