However, it is often overlooked that the major ice shelves in the Ross and Weddell Seas and the many smaller shelves and
ice tongues buttressing outlet glaciers are also vulnerable to atmospheric warming.»
Not exact matches
Its floating front edge, the Totten
ice shelf, sticks out like a
tongue over the water and acts as a
buttress for the giant glacier, slowing its movement toward the ocean.
Interactions between the ocean and
ice sheets are particularly important in determining
ice sheet changes, as a warming ocean can melt the
ice shelves, the
tongues of
ice that extend from the
ice sheets into the ocean and
buttress the large land - based
ice sheets [92], [202]--[203].
Numerous processes contribute to this, including the removal of
buttressing ice shelves (i.e.,
ice tongues floating on water but in places anchored on islands or underwater rocks) or the lubrication of the
ice sheet base by meltwater trickling down from the surface through cracks.
Interactions between the ocean and
ice sheets are particularly important in determining
ice sheet changes, as a warming ocean can melt the
ice shelves, the
tongues of
ice that extend from the
ice sheets into the ocean and
buttress the large land - based
ice sheets [92], [202]--[203].