Antarctic ice shelf potentially stabilized by export of meltwater in surface river

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Bell R. E., Chu W., Kingslake J., Das I., Tedesco M., Tinto K. J., Zappa C. J., Frezzotti M., Boghosian A., Lee W. S.
• Other Authors: Bell, R. E., Chu, W., Kingslake, J., Das, I., Tedesco, M., Tinto, K. J., Zappa, C. J., Frezzotti, M., Boghosian, A., Lee, W. S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: cryosphere; hydrology; climate change; Antarctic; Greenland; Amery; Antarc*; Antarctica; glacier; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves; Petermann glacier
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11590/353562; https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22048; http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

Meltwater stored in ponds and crevasses can weaken and fracture ice shelves, triggering their rapid disintegration. This ice-shelf collapse results in an increased flux of ice from adjacent glaciers and ice streams, thereby raising sea level globally. However, surface rivers forming on ice shelves c...