ICE sheet retreat can stop temporarily during long phases of climate warming, North-East scientists claim today.
A Durham University-led team has found that the geometry of channels beneath the ice can strongly influence its behaviour, temporarily hiding the signals of retreat, despite climate warming.
The findings, which provide the first simulation of past ice sheet retreat and collapse over a 10,000-year period in Antarctica, shed new light on what makes ice stable or unstable and will help refine predictions of future ice extent and global sea level rise, the researchers say.
Glaciologist Dr Stewart Jamieson said: “Our results suggest that during an overall phase of retreat an ice stream can appear almost stable when in fact, in the longer-term, the opposite may be the case.
“Getting a clearer picture of the landscape beneath the ice is crucial if future predictions of change in the ice sheets and sea level are to be improved.”
The research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council UK and is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
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