Relevance of geothermal sources and ocean circulation in the reduction of the West Antarctica sea ice sheet

A recent article by Schroeder et al. [1] suggests that geothermal heat may be the trigger of the reducing West Antarctica mostly marine ice sheet. I propose that the geothermal contribution is only a small part of a complex situation that also involves effects of ocean and air temperatures, glacial...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Parker, A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: American Institute of Science 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/42829/1/Relevance%20of%20Geothermal%20Sources%20and%20Ocean.pdf
Description
Summary:A recent article by Schroeder et al. [1] suggests that geothermal heat may be the trigger of the reducing West Antarctica mostly marine ice sheet. I propose that the geothermal contribution is only a small part of a complex situation that also involves effects of ocean and air temperatures, glacial history, ice thickness, mass balance and sub-glacial elevations that unfortunately are not monitored as they should. Consideration of the simultaneous influences of all these factors are required to come to a meaningful conclusion about the West Antarctic (or the Arctic) ice sheet. A complex puzzle is not solved by a single piece, in this case a geothermal source, in the case of the IPCC [2] proxy data of surface air temperature.