Earth  ID: 10970

Currents Of Change

Story by Kathryn Hansen Released on May 3, 2012
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When it comes to ice in Antarctica, out of sight is not out of mind.
Warm ocean currents circulating off the coast of Antarctica are indirectly contributing to rising global sea levels. As these twisting flows meander around the continent's frozen edges and beneath the underside of floating ice shelves, they're slowly melting the ice from below. Using surface elevation measurements collected during NASA's ICESat mission, scientists have found that this melting is driving most of Antarctica's recent ice losses—particularly in West Antarctica, where inland glaciers that feed into the ice shelves are draining ice into the ocean at an accelerated rate. The visualization below shows the interaction of modeled ocean currents and Antarctic ice shelves, where red areas represent ice thicker than about 1,800 feet and blue areas represent ice thinner than about 650 feet. Notice how the ice shelves generally become thinner—a rainbow of colors indicates intermediate thicknesses—as they extend farther from land.
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Terrain is exaggerated by a factor of 50 to better differentiate the relatively flat ice shelves from the rest of the ice sheet.
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The massive Ross Ice Shelf is relatively stable compared to other ice shelves in West Antarctica.
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Warm ocean currents have spurred the rapid thinning of the Pine Island Glacier and Getz ice shelves.
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The Getz Ice Shelf stands 200 feet above the ocean surface and, in places, lies more than 1,000 feet below.
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Warm air, not ocean currents, drives the melting of ice shelves located along the Antarctic Peninsula.
 

Related Story

Circulation of Ocean Currents Around the Western Antarctic Ice Shelves

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Visualizers/Animators:
Trent L. Schindler (USRA)
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)

Producer:
Patrick Lynch (Wyle Information Systems)

Lead Writer:
Kathryn Hansen (Wyle Information Systems)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10970

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Earth