Recent science of WAIS

     A recent study over the past summer has found evidence for surprisingly high geothermal heating beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The UC Santa Cruz team reports first direct measurement of heat flow from deep within the Earth to the bottom of the West Antarctic ice sheet. The results, published July 10 in Science Advances, provides important data for researchers trying to predict the fate of the ice sheet in, which has experienced rapid melting over the past decade.
     Although thermal heating is not the underlying cause of the rapid disintegration of the ice sheet, it is believed that thermal heating could explain why the ice sheet is so unstable. The study was conducted under the WISSARD project, which is a drilling project founded by the National Science Foundation.
     The geothermal heating contributes to the melting of basal ice in the ice sheet, which supplies water to a network of sub-glacial lakes and wetlands that scientists have discovered underlies a large region of the ice sheet. Warm geothermal conditions may also be causing such sub-glacial habitats more supportive of microbial life, and could also drive fluid flow that delivers heat, carbon, and nutrients to these communities.
     For climate scientists, the geothermal heat flux is an important value for computer models that are being used to understand why and how quickly the WAIS is shrinking. Since the WAIS rests on land that is below surface level, it is much more unstable than the East Antarctic ice sheet. Recent studies have shown that ice shelves are melting due to warm ocean currents now circulating under the ice, and the rate at which the ice shelves are shrinking is accelerating.


Study finds surprisingly high geothermal heating beneath West Antarctic Ice Sheet


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