The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the earth’s coldest continent, making it particularly vulnerable to a changing global climate.
The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the earth’s coldest continent, making it particularly vulnerable to a changing global climate. Surface melting of snow and ice initiated the breakup of the northernmost Larsen A ice shelf in 1995, followed in 2002 by a large chunk of the Larsen B ice shelf, to the south.
New research shows that the Larsen C ice shelf—the fourth largest ice shelf in Antarctica, located just south of the former Larsen B—experienced an unusual spike in late summer and early autumn of similar surface melting in the years 2015 to 2017. The study shows that much of the additional melting can be ascribed to warm, dry air currents called foehn winds that originate high in the peninsula’s central mountain range–events that can raise air temperatures by as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The study further shows that the foehn-induced late-season melting has begun to restructure the snowpack on the Larsen C. If this pattern continues, it could significantly alter the density and stability of the ice shelf, potentially putting it at risk of suffering the same fate as the others. The study appears in the April 11, 2019 edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Read more at The Earth Institute - Columbia University
Image: Study site near the end of the Antarctic Peninsula, the northernmost part of the continent. (Courtesy NASA)
