Journal article
Observed rapid bedrock uplift in Amundsen Sea Embayment promotes ice-sheet stability
National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark1
University of Memphis2
Colorado State University3
Pennsylvania State University4
Washington University St. Louis5
Geodynamics, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark6
Ohio University7
University of Washington8
Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark9
University of Colorado Boulder10
Geodesy, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark11
Technical University of Denmark12
University of Texas at Austin13
...and 3 moreThe marine portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) in the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) accounts for one-fourth of the cryospheric contribution to global sea-level rise and is vulnerable to catastrophic collapse. The bedrock response to ice mass loss, glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA), was thought to occur on a time scale of 10,000 years.
We used new GPS measurements, which show a rapid (41 millimeters per year) uplift of the ASE, to estimate the viscosity of the mantle underneath. We found a much lower viscosity (4 × 1018 pascal-second) than global average, and this shortens the GIA response time scale from tens to hundreds of years.
Our finding requires an upward revision of ice mass loss from gravity data of 10% and increases the potential stability of the WAIS against catastrophic collapse.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Pages: | 1335-1339 |
| ISSN: | 10959203 and 00368075 |
| Types: | Journal article |
| DOI: | 10.1126/science.aao1447 |
| ORCIDs: | Barletta, Valentina R. , 0000-0003-0977-7708 , 0000-0002-1118-7865 , 0000-0001-9371-8158 , 0000-0002-4782-6729 , 0000-0001-7872-770X , Khan, Shfaqat Abbas , 0000-0002-9980-5065 , 0000-0002-5727-2766 , 0000-0002-7338-1401 , 0000-0001-6053-7772 , 0000-0001-9831-9877 , 0000-0002-4874-9761 , 0000-0002-0821-4906 , 0000-0002-6844-587X , 0000-0002-5169-4386 and Bordoni, Andrea |
