Climate Change Could Be Catastrophic to Antarctica’s Major Ice Sheets – But the Ice Has Melted Before

Collecting stones on Månesigden mountain, in Heimefrontfjella, Queen Maud Land. The polished surface of the stone shows that is has been covered by an ice layer. The researchers analyzed the stone for cosmogenic isotopes that can tell them how long it has been since the stone was covered by ice. Carl Lundberg is taking notes while Ph.D. student Jenny Newall collects samples.

This was also likely the cause of larger ice loss during warmer periods of the past. In Greenland, these two processes contribute about 65% of all ice loss. But not all the ice needs to melt before it can have major consequences. “From the evidence we presented in our study, we concluded that the East Antarctic ice sheet in Queen Maud Land also melted rapidly along its margins between 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, in a period we call the mid-Holocene. At this time, many parts of the world experienced warmer-than-present summers,” Rogozhina said.

The researchers examine different isotopes, or variants, of elements such as chlorine, aluminum, beryllium, and neon in rocks from the nunataks. With the help of cosmogenic isotopes, they can figure out how high the ice was over geological time in Queen Maud Land. Fredin compares this to using a dipstick to measure the level of engine oil in your car.

In short, the less stable, rapidly flowing parts of the ice sheet in East Antarctica, which are called ice shelves and float on the ocean, were broken up more easily, which in turn led to the ice sheet becoming much thinner within a relatively short time, geologically speaking, or a few hundred to thousands of years.Cosmic radiation can also help researchers figure out how common it is for ice to cover an area. The researchers have also investigated this.

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