Eye on Ice Sheets
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Researchers scrutinize melting masses of ice in Antarctica and Greenland to ascertain the rate of ocean rise worldwide.
Aired September 17, 2007
2 minutes (1.8 MB) | Download mp3
Transcript
As Earth gets hotter, researchers measure how melting ice sheets increase global sea levels.From the University of Kansas, this is Research Matters. I'm Brendan Lynch.
A warming climate is taking a toll on the great ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica. In two-thousand five, the National Science Foundation established the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, known as "cree-sis" (CReSIS). The group monitors sea level rise caused by the melting ice. CReSIS is headquartered at the University of Kansas. David Braaten is the group's deputy director.
Braaten: "This is really land-based ice in Greenland and Antarctica and as that melts or as it moves into the oceans, then sea level responds accordingly to that volume. So what were looking at is really how the ice is changing in response to the warming that’s being observed in both the oceans and the atmosphere and to try to understand the mechanism — how that warming affects this very large mass of frozen water."
Change is occuring to ice sheets more rapidly than past models have predicted. And the ice is not just melting, says Braaten, it also is moving seaward.
Braaten: "It essentially breaks off into the ocean and forms icebergs. And the movement we can measure from space. So we have satellites that can give us the surface velocity of the ice. We can see that large areas of the ice sheet are speeding up dramatically and more than doubling in speed over a very short period of time."
With satellites, seismic equipment, unmanned aerial vehicles, and annual visits by scientists, CReSIS closely monitors melting ice sheets. The stakes are especially high for large numbers of people affected by ocean level rise along vulnerable coasts.
Braaten: "Just a one-meter sea level rise is well over 100 million people worldwide. It wouldn’t take much to really cause catastrophic effects. And we’ve had a preview of this in New Orleans with the breaking of the levees and what happens. What happens to a populated area – it’s catastrophic."
For more about CReSIS, log on to Research Matters DOT K-U DOT E-D-U. From the University of Kansas, I'm Brendan Lynch.
Tell Me More
NSF awards KU almost $19M to create national polar ice research center
LAWRENCE -- The National Science Foundation announced today it will establish a prestigious multimillion-dollar research center at the University of Kansas. The new NSF Science and Technology Center will research polar ice and its potential effect on global climate change. This is the second time since 2003 that the NSF has established a major research center at KU.
