A study by the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) showed that Antarctic’s ice sheet is losing ground as it is eroded by warm ocean water circulating beneath its surface.
The study was published in Nature Geoscience, and showed that the Southern Ocean melted 1,463 km2 of Antarctic’s underwater ice between 2010 and 2016, an area the size of London.
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The team, led by Dr Hannes Konrad, found that the pace of deglaciation since the last ice age is roughly 25 metres per year. The retreat of the grounding line at these glaciers is more than five times that rate.
The biggest changes were spotted in West Antarctica, where more than a fifth of the ice sheet has retreated in the sea floor faster than the pace of deglaciation.
The researchers also found that despite the fact that the retreat of the Thwaites Glacier grounding line in West Antarctica increased, the neighbouring Pine Island Glacier has stopped. This may be a suggestion that the ocean melting at its base may have paused.
