Newly Discovered Meltwater Streams Flow Beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 6, 2013 @02:57PM from the streams-of-whiskey-they-are-flowing dept.

The Telegraph reports that previously undetected streams of meltwater have been observed beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. "The streams of water, some of which are 250m in height and stretch for hundreds of kilometres, could be destabilising parts of the Antarctic ice shelf immediately around them and speeding up melting, researchers said. However, they added that it remains unclear how the localised effects of the channels will impact on the future of the floating ice sheet as a whole. The British researchers used satellite images and radar data to measure variations in the height of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in West Antarctica, which reveal how thick the ice is." The paper itself is paywalled, but the abstract is available online.

2 of 130 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

There always has been water flow under the ice by SpaceLifeForm · 2013-10-06 15:05 · Score: 0, Troll

It is when it is visible because of the lack of ice that some of the global warming deniers will wake up. Maybe.

--
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Re:Is the end nigh again? by Pino+Grigio · 2013-10-07 00:35 · Score: 0, Troll

What a load of utter tripe. Antarctic ice sheet gains exceed losses. I would link to NASA but due to budget difficulties, their website appears to be down.

Listen, here's the deal: You lost. Your narrative of catastrophic climate change due to man emitting Co2 into the atmosphere is a busted flush. Get over it.