NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Wednesday, Dec 15, 12pm EST (9am PST)


› View larger
West Antarctica is seeing dramatic ice loss particularly the Antarctic Peninsula and Pine Island regions. Ice loss culprits include the loss off buttressing ice shelves, wind, and a sub-shelf channel that allows warm water to intrude below the ice. Credit: NASA/NSIDC

› View larger
Location of the edges of ice shelves and glaciers in and around the Larsen B Embayment of Antarctica, in Spring 2006. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Scientific Visualization Studio UNSTABLE ANTARCTICA: WHAT'S DRIVING ICE LOSS?

New results based on data from airborne and satellite missions show a clear picture of mechanisms driving ice loss in West Antarctica. Scientists have previously shown that West Antarctica is losing ice, but how that ice is lost remained unclear. Now, using data from a range of NASA's Earth observing satellites and from the ongoing Operation IceBridge airborne mission, scientists have pinpointed ice loss culprits above and below the ice. Continued monitoring of Antarctica's rapidly changing areas is expected to improve predictions of sea level rise. Related Sessions: C22B, C13D, C11A, C44A

Panelists

Ted Scambos, glaciologist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.

Bob Bindschadler, glaciologist, Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Michael Studinger, project scientist, Operation IceBridge, Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Related Links:

› View Media Briefing

› Download briefing presentation

› View Related Feature