TITLE:
An Overlooked Term in Assessment of the Potential Sea-Level Rise from a Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
AUTHORS:
Diandong Ren, Mervyn Lynch, Lance M. Leslie
KEYWORDS:
Antarctic Ice Sheet; Landslides; Sea Level Rise
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.4 No.6,
August
14,
2013
ABSTRACT:
As to sea level rise
(SLR) contribution, melting and setting afloat make no difference for land
based ice. Melting of West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) into water is impossible
in the upcoming several centuries, whereas breaking and partially afloat is
likely as long as sea waters find a pathway to the bottom of those ice sectors
with basal elevation below sea level. In this sense WAIS may be disintegrated
in a future warming climate. We reassess the potential contribution to eustatic
sea level from a collapse of WAIS and find that previous assessments have
overlooked a contributor: slope instability after the cementing ice is removed.
Over loading ice has a buttressing effect on slope movements the same way ice
shelves hinder the flow of non-floating coastal ice. A sophisticated landslide
model estimates a 9-mm eustatic SLR contribution from subsequent landslides.