The USAP Portal: Science and Support in Antarctica - Marine ice-cliff instability at West Antarctic Ice Sheet

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RESEARCH UPDATE: Marine ice-cliff instability at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

National Science Foundation
Office of Polar Programs
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

Posted May 26, 2021

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by about three meters. The ice sheet is also vulnerable to rapid retreat through a process called marine ice-cliff instability (MICI).

Researchers part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration have derived an equation that represents the rate of glacier retreat once MICI initiates. When incorporated into larger-scale ice sheet models, this information will help to improve the future projections of global sea level rise resulting from ice sheet mass loss.

Read the paper at www.nature.com.

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