Effect of climatic warming on the West Antarctic ice sheet

Thomas, Robert H.; Sanderson, Timothy J.O.; Rose, Keith E.. 1979 Effect of climatic warming on the West Antarctic ice sheet. Nature, 277 (5695). 355-358. 10.1038/277355a0

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/277355a0

Abstract/Summary

Climatic warming could cause increased melting from Antarctic ice shelves. Continued weakening of the ice shelves in this way would result in the ultimate collapse of most of the West Antarctic ice sheet. For complete removal of the ice shelves collapse of the ice sheet and a 5 m rise in world sea level could occur in <100 yr. More realistically, ice-shelf deterioration is likely to be a rather slow process, and even for a major and sustained warming trend ice-sheet collapse would take several hundred years, with most of the associated rise in sea level occurring during the final century. However, little is known about the glaciers that drain the northern part of the ice sheet. These glaciers have little or no protective fringe of ice shelf and, unless they flow over sufficiently high bedrock sills, they may show a more rapid response to increased temperatures.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1038/277355a0
ISSN:	0028-0836
Date made live:	26 Sep 2019 08:53 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525219

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1038/277355a0

ISSN:

0028-0836

Date made live:

26 Sep 2019 08:53 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525219