ATM S 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Sea Level Rise, West Antarctica
6 Feb 2019
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Document Summary
Has two giant and many smaller ice shelves. Ice shelves float but are connected to the sheet. Acceleration of melt has occurred in w. antartctica recently. Antarctica has experienced relatively small warming to this point. This was forecast decades ago in climate models. Strong jet stream keeps warmer air out of high latitudes. Also ocean nearby takes up a lot of heat. No sea ice decrease has happened in antarctica either. Although nearly all antarctic sea ice melts each summer anyway. East antarctic is not warming significantly, west is warming. Ice shelves reduce calving (by buttressing the ice) Antarctica"s icy surfaces are very cold, but warming in the surrounding ocean is a. Ice shelf collapse can lead to acceleration of calving. Antarctica has the most land ice ( 61 meters of potential sea level rise) But east antarctica is thought to be safe (its really cold there) West antarctica is potentially dangerous: 5 m of sea level rise.
