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Doug Wiens, the Robert S. Brookings Distinguished Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Washington University, stated, "The whole shelf suddenly moves about 6 to 8 centimeters once or twice a day, triggered by a slip on an ice stream that flows into the ice shelf." This discovery is critical, considering the scale of the Ross Ice Shelf and its crucial role in regulating glacier flow into the ocean.
Ice shelves like the Ross act as barriers, moderating the flow of glaciers and ice streams into the sea. Their collapse could accelerate glacier movement, increasing sea level rise. This study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, centers on movements induced by the Whillans Ice Stream, emphasizing the intricate balance between ice shelves and the streams that feed them.
Unperceived by human senses and undetected until now, this motion reflects a stick-slip dynamic, akin to seismic fault activities before an earthquake. "The movement occurs over a time period of several minutes, so it is not perceptible without instrumentation," Wiens explained. This phenomenon has been unobserved directly despite over a century of human presence on the ice shelf.
The research team, which deployed seismographs in Antarctica in 2014, notes that these movements are not directly linked to climate change but may relate to changes in water beneath the Whillans Ice Stream. Such slip events and the resultant stress could trigger icequakes, suggesting a complex interplay of factors governing ice shelf stability.
Concerns exist regarding the potential disintegration of the Ross Ice Shelf, reminiscent of its collapse during the last interglacial period, which would have profound implications for global sea levels and Antarctic ice dynamics.
Research Report:Ross Ice Shelf Displacement and Elastic Plate Waves Induced by Whillans Ice Stream Slip Events
Related Links
Washington University in St. Louis
Beyond the Ice Age
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