Sentences with phrase «ice shelves collapse into»

So when the northern part of the Larsen B ice shelf collapsed into the sea in March 2002, it was not a total surprise.

The 1,255 - square mile ice shelf collapsed into the Weddell Sea over a 35 - day period in early 2002.

Not exact matches

All told, as warm summers have reached farther down from the bottom of South America into the northernmost section of the Antarctic Peninsula, four ice shelves on the eastern side of the peninsula, including Larsen A, have collapsed in a striking pattern from the northern tip southward toward the Antarctic mainland.

Dr Gudmundsson said: «Although floating ice shelves have only a modest impact on of sea - level rise, ice from Antarctica's interior can discharge into the ocean when they collapse.

All told, if the eastern and western Antarctic ice shelves were to melt completely, they would raise sea levels by as much as 230 feet (70 meters); the collapse of smaller shelves like Larsen B has sped up the flow of glaciers behind them into the sea, contributing to the creeping up of high tide levels around the world.

That makes it vulnerable to collapse, because seawater can flow in underneath it and transform its edge into a floating ice shelf like Larsen B, which might then break up, freeing the ice behind it.

The collapse of several small ice shelves has caused glaciers to accelerate two - to ninefold and spill more ice into the ocean, raising the sea level.

After large icebergs broke away from nearby ice shelves in recent decades, they collapsed and the land ice they were buttressing tumbled into the sea.

One 2004 NASA - led study found that most of the glaciers they were studying «flow into floating ice shelves over bedrock up to hundreds of meters deeper than previous estimates, providing exit routes for ice from further inland if ice - sheet collapse is under way.»

When ice shelves get thinner or collapse all together, glaciers speed up and dump more water into the ocean, raising sea levels.

When these ice shelves suddenly splinter and weaken or even collapse entirely, as has been observed in Antarctica, the glaciers that feed them speed up, dumping more ice into the ocean and raising global sea levels.

But if the shelf collapses, then glacial ice could flow into the sea unabated and contribute to rising sea levels.

For example, some exciting work being done by David Pollard and Rob DeConto suggests that processes such as ice - cliff collapse and ice - shelf hydrofracturing may play important roles in future ice sheet behavior that have not been well incorporated into most ice sheet models.

However, if the remaining ice shelf collapses or starts losing mass more rapidly, it could effectively unplug the glaciers next to the shelf, sending land - based ice into Southern Ocean, and contributing to sea level rise.

With glaciers thinning, accelerating and receding in response to ice shelf collapse [20, 21], more ice is directly transported into the oceans, making a direct contribution to sea level rise.

They don't take into account the possibility that pulses of warm sea - water may become more frequent in triggering ice - shelf collapses - or that glaciers may speed up along their base due to penetrating melt - waters.

In the wake of an ice shelf collapse, however, the resulting glacier acceleration can raise sea level by introducing a new ice mass into the ocean.

Increased delivery of warm ocean water into the sub-ice shelf cavity may therefore cause not only thinning but also structural weakening of the ice shelf, perhaps, as a prelude to eventual collapse.»

These approaches, however, haven't taken into account some physical processes that can quickly increase ice sheet discharge, such as the collapse of terminal ice cliffs and the breakup of floating ice shelves caused by a process known as hydrofracturing.

1977: ROSS ICE SHELF, Antarctica - A huge portion of the Antarctic ice mass appears to be collapsing into the sea, a catastrophe that could raise the levels of the oceans by almost 20 feet.

But Trusel says he was surprised by the new study at how rapidly those ice shelf collapses could translate into sea level rise.

What UHI caused the 6000 year old Larsen B & Wilkins ice shelves to collapse into slush?