Earth's Orbit May Impact the Stability of Antarctica's Eastern Ice Cap

There may be a link between changes in Earth's orbit and the stability of the Eastern ice cap of Antarctica. Scientists have found that there is a direct relation between the two and that minor alterations in orbit could cause a climate shift.

In this case, an international team of researchers analyzed seabed sediments which were transported by icebergs around 2.2 to 4.3 million years ago. These sediments were collected during an expedition by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.

The scientists found that natural climatic processes can increase the response of polar ice caps to minor changes in energy caused by modifications in the Earth's orbit. In fact, the sea level can either decrease or increase by as much as dozens of meters.

While the orbit contributes to the stability of the ice caps, the researchers also found that greenhouse gases play an important role. The researchers point out that the effect that greenhouse gases have is a much larger energy impact that that provided by changes in the Earth's orbit.

After analyzing the sediments, the researchers found that the stability of the largest ice cap on Earth is influenced by the presence of sea ice in the oceans that surround Antarctica. This sea ice is a layer of frozen seawater that creates a protective shield around the Antarctic ice caps, and is sensitive to the warming up of the oceans that are caused by greenhouse gases.

Millions of years ago, under conditions of high concentrations of carbon dioxide, the ocean temperatures were slightly higher than those currently registered. This caused the ocean surrounding Antarctica to no longer sustain sea ice.

The findings reveal a bit more about what impacts affect the stability of Antarctica's Eastern ice cap, which could have important implications for monitoring the area in the future.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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