Mass loss of Antarctic ice sheets accelerates due to cracks
Maaike Izeboud, who obtained her PhD at Delft University of Technology and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), has collaborated with her fellow researchers at Delft University of Technology to create a new “crack map” of Antarctica based on satellite images. The map shows how damage to the ice sheets has developed over decades. Thanks to their new method, they gained insight into these changes. The results have been published in Nature Climate Change and also show how the ice cracks may develop in the future under different global warming scenarios.
In a future where greenhouse gas emissions remain high, damage to ice sheets is expected to accelerate. However, there is a glimmer of hope: in scenarios where emissions are drastically reduced, the ice sheets remain more intact and stable. This slows down sea level rise.
Ice shelves are the floating extension of the Antarctic ice sheet. They determine the mass loss of the ice sheet by resisting the land ice that flows towards the ocean. When ice shelves weaken or break off, more ice flows into the ocean, increasing the mass loss of Antarctica and contributing to sea level rise. The processes of breaking off and cracking are complex and are often not included in large-scale ice sheet models. With this study, the researchers emphasise the importance of doing so in order to better predict future sea level rise.
Satellite images
Maaike Izeboud, who completed her PhD research at Delft University of Technology last year: "You can clearly see the ice cracks on satellite images; they are hundreds of metres long. During my PhD research, I developed a method to automatically map the fractures and cracks."
This enabled Izeboud and her colleagues to combine multiple images from different satellite missions, creating an evolving 'crack map' of Antarctica. "We succeeded in processing different types of satellite images. As a result, we now have images covering more than twenty years and can quantify how the fractures have changed over the years."
“If you compare the scenarios side by side, one with further warming and one with stabilisation, you can immediately see that today's choices matter when it comes to Antarctic ice break-off.”
