Scientists file quickest Antarctic glacier retreat in trendy historical past

A glacier on the japanese fringe of the Antarctic Peninsula has undergone the quickest recorded retreat in trendy historical past, shedding almost half its size in simply two months, in line with a landmark examine co-authored by Swansea University researchers.

The findings, printed in Nature Geoscience, reveal that Hektoria Glacier shed eight kilometres of ice at a tempo not seen because the finish of the final ice age.

The worldwide analysis staff, led by the University of Colorado Boulder, discovered that the glacier’s speedy retreat was pushed by the form of the land beneath it. Hektoria was resting on an “ice plain” — a flat mattress of rock mendacity beneath sea degree — which allowed massive sections of ice to break down as soon as the retreat started.

Although Hektoria covers solely 115 sq. miles, barely smaller than town of Swansea, scientists say its sudden collapse provides a stark warning. Similar circumstances exist beneath a lot bigger Antarctic glaciers, whose destabilisation might speed up international sea degree rise.

Professor Adrian Luckman, glaciologist at Swansea University and co-author of the examine, stated the observations have been unprecedented. “Glaciers don’t usually retreat this fast,” he stated. “The circumstances may be a little particular, but this scale of ice loss shows what may happen elsewhere in Antarctica, where glaciers are lightly grounded and sea ice loses its grip.”

He added that even the historic file provides few parallels. “Although the paleo record indicates some very rapid retreats in the past, the pace of retreat of Hektoria Glacier and its neighbours is unprecedented in the observational record. This is the latest chapter in a sequence of events which started with the collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf 23 years ago.”

Researchers used satellite tv for pc imagery and seismic devices to chart the glacier’s disintegration, figuring out a number of grounding traces — the factors the place ice transitions from resting on land to floating at sea. Their motion underscored the vulnerability of ice plains to warming oceans. Seismic sensors additionally picked up “glacier earthquakes”: tremors linked to sudden, large-scale ice motion, confirming that grounded ice was being misplaced and instantly contributing to rising seas.

Dr Ted Scambos, Senior Research Scientist at CU Boulder’s Earth Science and Observation Center, stated the findings widened the scope of potential threat. “This kind of lightning-fast retreat really changes what’s possible for other, larger glaciers on the continent,” he stated. “If the same conditions are set up in some of the other areas, it could greatly speed up sea level rise from the continent.”

You can read the full paper here.