Antarctic Ice & Australian Antarctic Science are They Collapsing?
A major glaciological event is underway in Antarctica. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is collapsing into the sea by the progressive inland movement of the boundary between the slow flowing continental sheet-ice and the fast flowing stream-ice of the major ice streams. The massive changes to ice stream...
| Published in: | Energy & Environment |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publications
2006
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1260/095830506776318714 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1260/095830506776318714 |
| Summary: | A major glaciological event is underway in Antarctica. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is collapsing into the sea by the progressive inland movement of the boundary between the slow flowing continental sheet-ice and the fast flowing stream-ice of the major ice streams. The massive changes to ice streams flowing into the Amundsen Sea observed in the last decade include flow-rates that now exceed 1,000 metres per annum. These are internal dynamic flow regime-changes. Surging of the ice sheet is not the result of anthropic (human-caused) global warming but the result of a combination of internal changes combined with the destabilizing effect of past sea level rise on an ice sheet founded on a submerged continental shelf. Antarctic ice-surging will have climatic influences via sea level rise and impacts on oceanic circulation irrespective of mitigation measures proposed. Australian Antarctic science is condemned to irrelevance in the global warming debate. It will be unable to provide objective (disinterested) scientific advice about events in Antarctica until operations are removed from the Department of Environment and Heritage.: |
|---|