An expedition to Antarctica will study the effects of global warming on the West Antarctic ice sheet. The expedition is part of an international research programme known as ‘Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to Two Degrees of Warming’ (SWAIS 2C), which aims to better understand the effects of varying degrees of warming on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) – Antarctica's largest current contributor to global sea-level rise.
Analyses will help to reveal how far the West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated in the past — and what it might do in the future.
Scientists have just got their hands on a 228-metre (748-foot) core sample from the muddy bedrock beneath West Antarctica’s chunky ice sheets. Inside the record-breaking sample, they discovered fossils of marine organisms that date from a time when this area was an open, ice-free ocean.