Sentences with phrase «glacier front»

In the paper Retreating Glacier Fronts on the Antarctic Peninsula over the Past Half - Century published this week in Science, we presented new data describing trends in 244 marine glacier fronts on the Antarctic Peninsula over the last 50 years.

They found glacial fjords hundreds of meters deeper than previously estimated; the full extent of the marine - based portions of the glaciers; deep troughs enabling Atlantic Ocean water to reach the glacier fronts and melt them from below; and few shallow sills that limit contact with this warmer water.

In addition, ice shelves are collapsing [6], glacier fronts are retreating [7].

This has been observed in the glaciers fronting the Amundsen Sea (Pine Island, etc.).

A broadband seismic array surrounding the glacier front provides information on glacier fracturing beneath the surface.

Temporarily, there appears to be a force imbalance at the glacier fronts.

An interferometric radar pointed at the glacier front provides measurements of the surface velocity of the glacier at very short intervals.

Each of the glaciers fronts did respond to tidal variations indicating they had become afloat, detached from their bed (Hamilton et al, 2006).

But once the ongoing effect of warming shocks to the glacier front were modeled for the next 90 years, a maximum realistic sea - level rise from Greenland's ice - loss was 2 inches.

As a deep - keeled glacier retreats, seawater extends inland into the emerging fjord, and can continue to melt the remaining ice at the retreating glacier front.

Warm ocean water plays a significant role in melting glacial ice from below, and a better mapping of Antarctica's and Greenland's landforms beneath the ice suggests that ocean melting of the glacier fronts may play a more significant role than previously thought as the ice sheets retreat (under a global warming scenario).

Each of the glaciers fronts did respond to tidal variations indicating they had started floating, detached from their bed (Hamilton et al, 2006).

Lines on this satellite image of Greenland's Helheim glacier show the positions of the glacier front between 2001 and 2005.

Surface ablation and basal ice ablation are determined by the climatic and oceanographic conditions at near the glacier front.

These areas of open water influence: (1) the land by allowing more ocean waves and more coastal erosion, (2) Greenland outlet glaciers by exposing the glacier fronts to warmer ocean waters, and (3) the atmosphere by providing a source of heat and moisture during autumn.

This causes reduced back pressure at the glacier front, letting up on the brakes; the resulting glacier thinning leads to less basal friction and further acceleration.

This demonstrated that the marine terminating glaciers were largely responding to a change in the balance of forces at the glacier front.

If the glacier front retreats into deeper water the process will continue and increase.

This means that as warm Atlantic waters hit the glacier fronts, the glaciers themselves become more vulnerable to global warming and increasingly likely to melt at a faster rate.