Toronto, Ontario, Canada - As melting glaciers erode the land, global warming could alter the shape of the planet, says a new study.
"Antarctica is warming up, and as it moves to temperatures above zero
degrees Celsius, the glaciers are all going to start moving faster,"
said study lead author Michele Koppes, assistant professor at University
of British Columbia.
"We are already seeing that the ice sheets are starting to move
faster and should become more erosive, digging deeper valleys and
shedding more sediment into the oceans," Koppes noted.
The repercussions of this erosion add to the already complex effects of climate change in the polar regions.
Faster moving glaciers deposit more sediment in downstream basins and
on the continental shelves, potentially impacting fisheries, dams and
access to clean freshwater in mountain communities, the study noted.
Faster moving glaciers deposit more sediment in downstream basins and
on the continental shelves, potentially impacting fisheries, dams and
access to clean freshwater in mountain communities, the study noted.
When the researchers compared glaciers in Patagonia and in the
Antarctic Peninsula over a period of five years, they found that
glaciers in warmer Patagonia moved even faster and caused more erosion
than those in Antarctica, as warmer temperatures and melting ice helped
lubricate the bed of the glaciers.
"We found that glaciers erode 100 to 1,000 times faster in Patagonia than they do in Antarctica," Koppes said.
Source: IANS
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