Category:Antarctica

2019

Antarctica is losing ice 6 times faster today than in 1980s

Antarctic melting study... 'reasons for concern'

Read this research data thread and Antarctic sea-level rise connection from @chriscmooney, environmental reporter from the Washington Post:

https://twitter.com/chriscmooney/status/1007281989609762816

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Scientists release the most accurate, high-resolution terrain map ever created (2018)

The new Antarctic map shows a resolution of 2 to 8 meters – compared to the previous standard of 1,000 meters.

Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica / Release 1

Accurate Antarctica / Phys.org

Large-format poster map of the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA), rendered with a hillshade. Does not include any cartographic elements.

http://maps.apps.pgc.umn.edu/id/2364

Large-format poster map of the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA), rendered with a hillshade. Includes cartographic elements such as place name labels, graticules...

http://maps.apps.pgc.umn.edu/id/2365

Use the links below to browse the directory for the entire REMA dataset. Refer to Documentation to see the directory structure, naming schemes, and download contents.

HTTP: http://data.pgc.umn.edu/elev/dem/setsm/REMA

FTP: ftp://ftp.data.pgc.umn.edu/elev/dem/setsm/REMA

"Considering that Antarctica is the highest, driest, and one of the most remote places on Earth, we now have an incredible topographic model to measure against in the future," said Paul Morin, a University of Minnesota earth sciences researcher and the director of the Polar Geospatial Center.

"Up until now, we've had a better map of Mars than we've had of Antarctica," said Ian Howat, professor of earth sciences and director of the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University. "Now it is the best-mapped continent on Earth."

"It is the highest-resolution terrain map by far of any continent,’ said Ian Howat, professor of Earth sciences and director of the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University.

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Antarctic Treaty System

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System

NASA IceBridge Antarctica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3yMHHzLTCc

Antarctica's Flowing Ice

https://eos.org/articles/new-maps-highlight-antarcticas-flowing-ice

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2018

Antarctic Melt Needs to be Monitored More Closely

What's Happening in Antarctica Won't Stay in Antarctica

East Antarctic Ice Sheet at Risk

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2017

Icebergs Breaking Off That Are Four Times the Size of Manhattan

How active are newly discovered Antarctic volcanoes?

https://www.ecowatch.com/scientists-discover-91-volcanoes-hidden-under-antarctic-ice-sheet-2472884037.html

A new volcanic province: an inventory of subglacial volcanoes in West Antarctica

http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/early/2017/05/26/SP461.7

...the biggest cluster of volcanoes in the world.

The study, published in the Geological Society Special Publications series, does not indicate whether the volcanoes are active but the team is trying to find out.

As Dr. Robert Bingham, a glacier expert and one of the paper's authors noted to the Guardian, "The big question is: how active are these volcanoes?"

"That is something we need to determine as quickly as possible," Bingham continued. "Anything that causes the melting of ice—which an eruption certainly would—is likely to speed up the flow of ice into the sea."

Ominously, other experts have warned that a reverse situation could also happen — volcanic activity can be triggered by thinning ice sheets from rising global temperatures.