East Antarctic Ice Sheet More Vulnerable to Climate Change Than First Thought

How vulnerable the Antarctic ice sheet is to climate change may depend on the location. Scientists have discovered that the eastern portion of the world's largest ice sheet could be more at risk than other areas, which could mean more melting in the future.

In order to examine the rate of melting on the ice sheet, the researchers first used declassified spy satellite imagery to create a long-term record of changes in outlet glaciers along about 3,300 miles of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet's coastline. This allowed them to see the changes that occurred from 1963 all the way to 2012 in the area.

The scientists weren't done yet, though. They also used measurements from 175 glaciers in order to show that the glaciers underwent rapid and synchronized periods of advance and retreat. These changes corresponded with periods of cooling and warming.

"We know that these large glaciers undergo cycles of advance and retreat that are triggered by large icebergs breaking off at the terminus, but this can happen independently from climate change," said Chris Stokes, one of the researchers, in a news release. "It was a big surprise therefore to see rapid and synchronous changes in advance and retreat, but it made perfect sense when we looked at the climate and sea-ice data."

In fact, while previous research suggested that glaciers in East Antarctica are at less risk from climate change, it seems that they may be just as vulnerable. Since the area holds the vast majority of the world's ice, it's more important than ever to understand how warming could affect the area.

"In many ways, these measurements of terminus change are like canaries in a mine--they don't give us all the information we would like, but they are worth taking notice of," said Stokes.

Further research is needed in order to better understand the changes observed in glaciers in East Antarctica. Yet the current findings suggest that this area is vulnerable to the kinds of changes that are currently worrying scientists in Greenland and West Antarctica. Understanding this behavior will be crucial to predicting what might happen in the future.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.