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Glaciology

Vulnerable Antarctic ice shelves

The decay of floating ice shelves around Antarctica speeds up ice flow from the continent and contributes to increased sea-level rise. Now, meltwater attributed to warm winds has been discovered on an East Antarctic ice shelf, suggesting greater vulnerability than previously thought.

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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of how katabatic winds emanating from the ice-sheet interior are funnelled by topography along the flow of outlet glaciers, causing exposure of dense (blue) ice at the surface and mixing of air.

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Correspondence to Martin Siegert.

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Siegert, M. Vulnerable Antarctic ice shelves. Nature Clim Change 7, 11–12 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3189

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3189

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