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Probe Prompts Questions about Causes of Antarctic Glacier Melt The Pine Island Glacier, the melting of which is thought to be contributing to rising ocean levels, may not be melting due to climate change, said some scientists who recently surveyed the region underneath the ice sheet using a robot probe.
Data collected by the probe suggests that the cause of the increased melting may be the separation of the glacier from a previously unknown rocky underwater ridge that appears to have been holding it in place. Since that time, sea water has been able to get underneath the sheet, allowing it to move more freely and increasing the rate of melting.
Dr. Adrian Jenkins of the British Antarctic Survey told the U.K.’s Register that the discovery of the ridge raises questions about whether melting “is caused by recent climate change or is a continuation of a longer-term process that began when the glacier disconnected from the ridge.”
Researchers estimate that the ice began migrating down from the ridge crest prior to the 1970s. The accelerated melting of the Pine Island Glacier has been a source of confusion for many researchers, since recent years have actually seen the formation of hundreds of thousands of square miles of new sea ice around the Antarctic continent. |
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