Warm currents melt ice shelf underbelly

摘要

The air might not be warm enough to melt snow on top of glaciers, but warm ocean currents are thawing the underbellies of floating ice sheets in Antarctica say NASA and BAS researchers. Using a combination of satellite measurements and models to differentiate between the two known causes of melting ice shelves, researchers from NASA and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) concluded that 20 of the 54 ice sheets are melted by warm ocean currents.