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A map of West Antarctica. The total volume of the entire Antarctic ice sheet is estimated at 26.92 million km 3 (6.46 million cu mi), [2] while the WAIS contains about 2.1 million km 3 (530,000 cu mi) in ice that is above the sea level, and ~1 million km 3 (240,000 cu mi) in ice that is below it. [20]
The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names approved the name in 1962. West Antarctica is mostly covered by a massive ice sheet referred to as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. In recent decades, this ice sheet has shown signs of decreasing mass. [4] The geologic history of West Antarctica was summarized in a 2020 publication. [5]
Because the East Antarctic ice sheet is over 10 times larger than the West Antarctic ice sheet and located at a higher elevation, it is less vulnerable to climate change than the WAIS. In the 20th century, EAIS had been one of the only places on Earth which displayed limited cooling instead of warming, even as the WAIS warmed by over 0.1 °C ...
West Antarctic Rift System (between red dash lines). Dots are geologic drill holes. Insert map shows approximate extent. Exploration of the geology of the West Antarctic Rift System is limited because apart from peaks of the Transantarctic Mountains that protrude above the ice, much of the region is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf and the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
The Antarctic ice sheet is melting in a new, worrying way not taken into account by current models of future sea level rise, according to a new study. ... professor of Earth system science at the ...
Greenland ice sheet as seen from space. An ice sheet is a body of ice which covers a land area of continental size - meaning that it exceeds 50,000 km 2. [4] The currently existing two ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica have a much greater area than this minimum definition, measuring at 1.7 million km 2 and 14 million km 2, respectively.
The frozen continent of Antarctica was the last continent humanity set foot on. The first documented landings made below the Antarctic Circle took place in 1820, when Admiral Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and the crew of the Vostok and Mirny, as part of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, made land at Peter I Island and Alexander Island.
The West Antarctic ice sheet is likely to completely melt [17] [18] [19] unless temperatures are reduced by 2 °C (3.6 °F) below 2020 levels. [20] The loss of this ice sheet would take between 2,000 and 13,000 years, [21] [22] although several centuries of high greenhouse emissions could shorten this time to 500 years. [23]