Ocean warming primary cause of Antarctic Peninsula glacier retreat

Ocean warming primary cause of Antarctic Peninsula glacier retreat
Icebergs calved off from the glaciers in Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula. Credit: Alison Cook


The research, by scientists at Swansea University and British Antarctic Survey, is published in the journal Science today. The study reports that glaciers flowing to the coast on the western side of the Peninsula show a distinct spatial correlation with patterns, with those in the south retreating rapidly but those in the north showing little change. Some 90% of the 674 glaciers in this region have retreated since records began in the 1940s.


"Scientists know that is affecting large glaciers elsewhere on the continent, but thought that atmospheric temperatures were the primary cause of all glacier changes on the Peninsula. We now know that's not the case.

"The numerous glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula give a key insight as to how environmental factors control ice behaviour on a wide scale. Almost all glaciers on the western side end in the sea, and we've been able to monitor changes in their ice fronts using images as far back as the 1940s. Glaciers here are extremely diverse and yet the changes in their frontal positions showed a strong regional pattern.



Ocean warming primary cause of Antarctic Peninsula glacier retreat
Ocean samples were collected by the RRS James Clark Ross around the Antarctic Peninsula. Credit: Mike Meredith


Co-author Professor Mike Meredith at British Antarctic Survey says:

"These new findings demonstrate for the first time that the ocean plays a major role in controlling the stability of glaciers on the western Antarctic Peninsula.

"Where mid-depth waters from the deep ocean intrude onto the continental shelf and spread towards the coast, they bring heat that causes the glaciers to break up and melt. These waters have become warmer and moved to shallower depths in recent decades, causing glacier retreat to accelerate."


"The glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula are changing rapidly - almost all of the Peninsula's glaciers have retreated since the 1940s. We have known the region is a climate warming hotspot for a while, but we couldn't explain what was causing the pattern of glacier change.

"This new study shows that a warmer is the key to understanding the behaviour of on the Antarctic Peninsula. Currently the Peninsula makes one of the largest contributions to sea-level rise, which means understanding this link will improve predications of ."

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More information: "Ocean forcing of glacier retreat in the western Antarctic Peninsula," Science, science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.aae0017
Journal information: Science

Citation: Ocean warming primary cause of Antarctic Peninsula glacier retreat (2016, July 14) retrieved 1 August 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2016-07-ocean-primary-antarctic-peninsula-glacier.html

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