Intensifying Winds Could Increase East Antarctica's Contribution to Sea Level Rise

November 1, 2017

National Science Foundation
Office of Polar Programs
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Image credit: Chad Greene, University of Texas Institute for Geophysics

A team of NSF-funded researchers, led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin, has published a paper arguing that the Totten Glacier, the largest glacier in East #Antarctica, is being melted from below by warm water that reaches the ice when winds over the ocean are strong — a cause for concern because the glacier holds more than 11 feet of sea level rise and acts as a plug that helps lock in the ice of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

The finding, which was published Nov. 1 in the journal Science Advances, helps answer the question of what causes Totten to speed up some years and slow down in others. Climate change is expected to increase the intensity of winds over the Southern Ocean throughout the next century, and the new findings show that Totten Glacier will probably respond to the changing winds.

"Totten has been called the sleeping giant because it's huge and has been seen as insensitive to changes in its environment," said lead author Chad Greene, a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics. "But we've shown that if Totten is asleep, it's certainly not in a coma — we're seeing signs of responsiveness, and it might just take the wind blowing to wake it up."

The research was supported by this award from the Office of Polar Programs: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1543452 / East Antarctic Grounding Line Experiment (EAGLE)

Read more in a university news release here.