Source: Durham University
Our geographers are part of international team looking at the possible fate of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in our warming world.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is vast and holds enough ice to raise global sea level by 4-5 metres if it melts completely.
The ice sheet is protected on one side by the Ross Ice Shelf, the world’s largest floating ice mass.
This serves as a buttress slowing the flow of glaciers and ice streams towards the sea.
As our climate warms, the Ross Ice Shelf is becoming increasingly vulnerable.
Scientists want to know what global temperature increase would trigger unsustainable melting of the shelf, and the subsequent loss of the ice sheet.
