Antarctica

Question 1

What is the potential sea level rise?

Answer 1

58 meters

Question 2

How does WAIS vary in elevation?

Why is WAIS more unstable than EAIS?

Answer 2

Parts of it 2,500 meters under sea.

Marine based = higher erosional rates.

Question 3

WAIS - Case Study for ice stream and

Answer 3

WAIS has warmer ocean waters and therefore generates more melt.
Some stationary ice streams (Cam Ice) stationary = gaining mass = thickening = potential to surge due to pinch point being created.
Cam ice = soft bed mechanism

Question 4

Marine sheet instability - Pine Island and Thwaites, weak underbelly of WAIS ?

Answer 4

Steady state = no thinning, balance of outputs and inputs. Accumulation upstream = discharge in ocean.

Forward sloping bed = Retreat caused from meltwater plooms. Warm water undercuts grounding line. More stable, as retreat causes thinning of ice sheet therefore less discharge.

Backwards sloping bed = glacier retreats down slope, ice gets thicker, more pressure, basal melt, continues to melt. Negative feedback.

Question 5

Larsen A ice shelf:

Answer 5

Huge collapse in 2002.
Melt ponds cause added weight, ice shelf depresses and sags then fractures appear.
Water drains through fractures, surface rebounds, more surface melt, fills fractures.

Tidal cause:
Tide causes ice shelf to bend and fracture.

Caused spike in velocity.

Question 6

What condition is needed for ice shelves to form?

Answer 6

Conditions below -9 degrees.

East Antarctica is stable