Observed rapid bedrock uplift in Amundsen Sea Embayment promotes ice-sheet stability

A quick rebound for Antarctic crust Earth's crust deforms under the load of glaciers and ice sheets. When these masses are removed, the crust rebounds at a time scale determined by the viscosity of the upper mantle. Using GPS, Barletta et al. found that the viscosity of the mantle under the Wes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Barletta, Valentina R., Bevis, Michael, Smith, Benjamin E., Wilson, Terry, Brown, Abel, Bordoni, Andrea, Willis, Michael, Khan, Shfaqat Abbas, Rovira-Navarro, Marc, Dalziel, Ian, Smalley, Robert, Kendrick, Eric, Konfal, Stephanie, Caccamise, Dana J., Aster, Richard C., Nyblade, Andy, Wiens, Douglas A.
Other Authors: National Science Foundation
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2018
Subjects:
Amundsen Sea
Antarctic
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Antarc*
Ice Sheet
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aao1447
https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1126/science.aao1447
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.aao1447
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Summary:A quick rebound for Antarctic crust Earth's crust deforms under the load of glaciers and ice sheets. When these masses are removed, the crust rebounds at a time scale determined by the viscosity of the upper mantle. Using GPS, Barletta et al. found that the viscosity of the mantle under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is much lower than expected. This means that as ice is lost, the crust rebounds much faster than previously expected. Although estimates of total ice loss have to be revised upward, the surprising finding indicates that the ice sheet may stabilize against catastrophic collapse. Science , this issue p. 1335

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