Ancient glacial melting shows that small amount of subsurface warming can trigger rapid collapse of ice shelves
Monday, August 1, 2011 - 16:31
in Earth & Climate
An analysis of prehistoric "Heinrich events" that happened many thousands of years ago, creating mass discharges of icebergs into the North Atlantic Ocean, make it clear that very small amounts of subsurface warming of water can trigger a rapid collapse of ice shelves. The results are important due to concerns that warmer water could cause a comparatively fast collapse of ice shelves in Antarctica or Greenland.