Fast recession of a West Antarctic glacier
Satellite radar interferometry observations of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, reveal that the glacier hinge-line position retreated 1.2 ± 0.3 kilometers per year between 1992 and 1996, which in turn implies that the ice thinned by 3.5 ± 0.9 meters per year. The fast recession of Pine Island G...
Published in: | Science |
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Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
eScholarship, University of California
1998
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/2kp8m2q6 |
Summary: | Satellite radar interferometry observations of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, reveal that the glacier hinge-line position retreated 1.2 ± 0.3 kilometers per year between 1992 and 1996, which in turn implies that the ice thinned by 3.5 ± 0.9 meters per year. The fast recession of Pine Island Glacier, predicted to be a possible trigger for the disintegration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is attributed to enhanced basal melting of the glacier floating tongue by warm ocean waters. |
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