'Warm water' from deep sea flowing towards one of Antarctica's largest ice shelves

By Patrick Pester published 19 hours ago

Antarctica's Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf may be under threat due to relatively warm water from the deep sea flowing towards the shelf. Is climate change to blame?

"Warm" water is flowing toward one of Antarctica's biggest ice shelves, which, if it melted, could dramatically raise sea levels.

The Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (FRIS) extends over the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Unlike some other Antarctic ice shelves, FRIS currently appears stable in our warming world. However, previous ocean modeling has shown that relatively warm water from the deep sea could threaten the integrity of this shelf.

In a study published Nov. 14, 2024 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, researchers found that warm water flows more rapidly toward the shelf during warmer years, which could be linked to reduced sea ice cover during these periods, Eos magazine reported. If that is the case, then a dramatic decline in sea ice could cause the shelf to melt.

"If the warm water reaches underneath the ice shelf, it would melt the base of the ice shelf," study first author Nadine Steiger, a physical oceanographer at Sorbonne University in France, told Live Science in an email.

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https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/antarctica/warm-water-from-deep-sea-flowing-towards-one-of-antarcticas-largest-ice-shelves