Antarctic ice shelves have not been changed in a significant way

[Locutus]

New paper using RADARSAT data: Antarctic ice shelves slowed down – “…have not been changed in a significant way in the past 12 years”



A new paper published May 15th in the the journal The Cryosphere utilizes 12 years worth of RADARSAT data to determine the rate at which some well known ice shelves in Antarctica have been moving and changing, and the answer is: “not much”. In fact it appears there has been a slowing down. First a map of Antarctica and the most worrisome Ross Ice Shelf (marked by the red x) is in order:

If you follow the alarmosphere and MSM related to the Ross Ice Shelf and others, you get these kinds of stories:

• West Antarctic ice sheet collapse even more catastrophic for U.S. coasts
• West Antarctic ice shelf – a nudge and a push from collapse?
• Antarctic ice shelves ‘tearing apart’, says study
• Antarctic Ice Shelf Disintegration Underscores a Warming World

Clearly, there’s lots of gloom and doom surrounding Antarctic ice shelves for the worry that they’ll cause catastrophic sea level rise if they cut loose.

This study Twelve years of ice velocity change in Antarctica observed by RADARSAT-1 and -2 satellite radar interferometry (Full paper here) with radar data seems to indicate there not much change in the past 12 years, the authors write:

Overall, however, the observed changes have little impact on the mass balance of the region. We therefore conclude that in contrast with their counterparts in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas (Rignot et al., 2008 the ice streams and ice shelves in the broad region under investigation herein have not been changed in a significant way in the past 12 yr, which suggests that the ice dynamics of the entire region does not have a strong impact on the mass budget of the Antarctic continent.




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New paper using RADARSAT data: Antarctic ice shelves slowed down – “…have not been changed in a significant way in the past 12 years” | Watts Up With That?


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[Highball]

Our contract supply aircraft flies to McMurdoo weekly. Believe me there are no significant changes visible from 12,000 ft in elevation at 184 Knots. If there were you hear from numerous air crew members from Chile, Argentina, Russia, Australia and other nations involved in this scientific endeavor. Their air assets fly in almost daily with personnel or supplies.

 

[petros]

But the models.....

 

[Locutus]

Oh fuk...I forgot about the models.

 

[CDNBear]

Tamiya or Revel?

 

[SLM]

Blue Steel - YouTube

 

[Ron in Regina]

New paper using RADARSAT data: Antarctic ice shelves slowed down – “…have not been changed in a significant way in the past 12 years”

Still cold there, right?

 

[Nuggler]

Where's Kakato when ya need him?

 

[Locutus]

Still cold there, right?

At my age it's cold everywhere. :lol:

 

[Tonington]

So, just so we're all clear, the authors of this paper examined the Central part of the Antarctic continent...a region dominated by snow accumulation, though still part of the drainage. Contrary to Locust's thread title, this research doesn't at all conclude that Antarctic ice shelves have not changed in a major way, they conclude that a subset of Antarctic ice shelves have not changed in a major way. That's important, because they didn't actually look at the Western region, which is where the bulk of the mass balance loss comes from. So when someone pulls this quote from their paper:

Overall, however, the observed changes have little impact on the mass balance of the region. We therefore conclude that in contrast with their counterparts in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas (Rignot et al., 2008 the ice streams and ice shelves in the broad region under investigation herein have not been changed in a significant way in the past 12 yr, which suggests that the ice dynamics of the entire region does not have a strong impact on the mass budget of the Antarctic continent.
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That is not at all controversial. In fact if any of you care to Google the authors' publications, you'll find papers using the same satellite data that have looked at the Western region of Antarctica, and they have found things like:

In West Antarctica, widespread losses along the Bellingshausen and Amundsen seas increased the ice sheet loss by 59% in 10 years to reach 132±60 Gt/yr in 2006. In the Peninsula, losses increased by 140% to reach 60±46 Gt/yr in 2006.
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My emphasis. I emphasize this because the mass balance of Antarctica is not only losing mass, it's accelerating. When the gravity mapping experiment satellite passes over the continent, this is what the time series looks like:

Context, it matters. :lol: What's up with that?