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The loss from ice shelves is now estimated to be twice as great as it was previously, and new research on Antarctica, including the first map of iceberg calving, shows how the continent is changing, as per NASA.gov
It further states how quickly Antarctica's ice will melt as the planet warms is the biggest unknown in predictions of sea level rise. Unexpected new information about how the Antarctic Ice Sheet has been losing mass over the past few decades is revealed in two studies that were published on August 10 and were led by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
A study that was published in the journal Nature illustrates how the Antarctic shoreline has evolved over the past 25 years as a result of iceberg calving, or the breaking off of ice from a glacier front. The scientists discovered that the ice sheet's edge had been releasing icebergs.
This surprise finding doubles previous estimates of ice loss from Antarctic’s floating ice shelves since 1997, from 6 trillion to 12 trillion metric tons. Ice loss from calving has weakened the ice shelves and allowed Antarctic glaciers to flow more rapidly to the ocean, accelerating the rate of global sea level rise.