Wilkins Ice Shelf under threat

Originally posted by ArMaP
One thing for which I never saw any study is how much the land would rise if the ice covering it is removed.

If Antarctica's ice melts we all know that all that ice converted in water will make the oceans rise, but removing the weight of the ice from the land will make the land itself rise, so my doubt is if that rise would make a smaller ocean bed, and how much that would affect the oceans' levels.

Can anyone enlightened me about this? Thanks.

Even I didnt think of this, in my opinion, either the land will rise and occupy the region which was occupied by the ice or else, the land will remain under water and the melted water will flow over the submerged land, and in the process reducing the sea level rise, but I think only the first one I mentioned is happening as of now.

There's an Excellent debate on the issue at the other side of the world, north in Greenland that I am sure many would find interesting too:

Two degree rise could spark Greenland ice sheet meltdown: WWF

Melatonin especially has contributed a lot there, excellent.
Redneck too but from his side of things that I disagree with but he debates very well.

This shows the all pervasive reality of the rise in sea temp and GW is happening as linked in my previous post happening at Both Poles and also the highest glaciers on earth.

These are traditionally the coldest places on earth and the Ice is melting at all these points and fast it seems.

Kind Regards,

Elf.

reply to post by MischeviousElf


Yes, elf, that is also a serious concern, but I think it is too late for the arctic, because, as you know the ice sheets melted enough to allow ships to pass through to the other side.

The Wilkins Ice Sheet is an ice shelf when it reaches the sea. Evenetually all Ice Sheets, which are on land, will travel down to the sea and when they reach the sea the ice will reach a balance, hydrostatic if you wanted to know, with the sea water and float on it. At this point, which is pretty close to the grounding line of the ice sheet, it has no further affect on sea level rises. The nice video and pictures shown reveal that it is indeed an ice shelf and so the breakup will not affect the sea level directly.

However, the loss of ice shelves will have an impact on the ice sheet behind it. The ice shelf provides a barrier to the sheet that drives the shelf from the ocean. Without the shelf the ocean waves can impact on the ice sheet and may result in an acceleration in the flux of ice into the sea from the ice sheet. This would results in increases to sea level. It is interesting to note that some recent studies on ice sheets have noted that the west antarctic ice sheet may be unstable. If the sheet was to collapse the result to the sea level would be dramatic with an increase of upto 6m. This is of course just a hypothesis and is not proven.

Just as a point of (non)interest the amount of sea level rise due to the loss of all the ice locked up on land, apart from Greenland and Antartica, would results in about 60cm, although there is still arguments over the exact amount. If the Greenland Ice Sheet were to melt into the water the sea level would rise by about 6m, and if the whole of the Antarctic Ice Sheets were to disappear then the sea level woudl rise by about 60m. This is not of course a likely occurence, but they provide an insight into the amount of ice present in each location.

On a side note, having recently listened to a prominent ice sheet scientist give a seminar, the break up of ice shelves should not be used in and of itself as a proof of global warming. Ice shelves may break up due to the presence of warm water, which in itself may have been pushed there due to a weather pattern. This has been seen in Greenland recently and is detailed in a paper by Holland et al. Personally I think that climate change is forced by human actions but Ice Shelves do not provide proof in themselves.

And another side note, in another recent seminar with a scientist studying the ocean off the coast of Hawiai (?), he stated that the ocean is not only warming but that it is rapidly moving into CO2 equalibrium with the atmosphere. This means that the ocean will soon no longer be a net CO2 sink, as it has been for a very long time.

Hopefully not too dull

reply to post by Iggus

However, the loss of ice shelves will have an impact on the ice sheet behind it. The ice shelf provides a barrier to the sheet that drives the shelf from the ocean. Without the shelf the ocean waves can impact on the ice sheet and may result in an acceleration in the flux of ice into the sea from the ice sheet. This would results in increases to sea level. It is interesting to note that some recent studies on ice sheets have noted that the west antarctic ice sheet may be unstable. If the sheet was to collapse the result to the sea level would be dramatic with an increase of upto 6m. This is of course just a hypothesis and is not proven.

Thats what, I am trying to say, this is accelerating the ice melt, and as you mentioned, the ice sheet is becoming unstable, and as regards to the arctic, there is no use debating it now, as I said in a earlier post, the damage has already been done, at least lets, save the antarctic ice sheet.