Antarctica: cracks in the ice
Publication in PNAS
In recent years, the Pine Island Glacier and the Thwaites Glacier on West-Antarctica have been undergoing rapid changes, with potentially major consequences for rising sea levels. However, the processes that underlie these changes and their precise impact on the weakening of these ice sheets have not yet been fully charted.
A team of researchers, among which Bert Wouters (Utrecht University/TU Delft) have now investigated one of these processes in detail: the emergence and development of damage/cracks in part of the glaciers and how this process of cracking reinforces itself. They are publishing about this in PNAS.
