Warm ocean water melting Antarctic ice from below

Washington: A new study has found that ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent`s ice shelf mass loss.

NASA scientists have studied the rates of basal melt, or the melting of the ice shelves from underneath, of individual ice shelves, the floating extensions of glaciers that empty into the sea.

But this is the first comprehensive survey of all Antarctic ice shelves.

The study found basal melt accounted for 55 percent of all Antarctic ice shelf mass loss from 2003 to 2008, an amount much higher than previously thought.

Antarctica holds about 60 percent of the planet`s fresh water locked into its massive ice sheet.

Ice shelves buttress the glaciers behind them, modulating the speed at which these rivers of ice flow into the ocean. Determining how ice shelves melt will help scientists improve projections of how the Antarctic ice sheet will respond to a warming ocean and contribute to sea level rise.

It also will improve global models of ocean circulation by providing a better estimate of the amount of fresh water ice shelf melting adds to Antarctic coastal waters. The study is published in the journal Science. ANI