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Melting triggers melting

Jul 12, 2018
Iceberg in the North Atlantic. Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; V. Diekamp
Iceberg in the North Atlantic. Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; V. Diekamp

The melting of glaciers on one side of the globe can trigger disintegration of glaciers on the other side of the globe, as has been presented in a recent paper by a team of AWI and MARUM scientists, who investigated marine microalgae preserved in glacial deposits and subsequently used their findings to perform climate simulations. The study highlights a process with alerting consequences for modern ice sheets: continuous warming of the ocean can result in a massive loss of polar ice mass, and consequently to rapid sea level rise. The team, led by Edith Maier from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), has now published its results in the journal Nature. 

Original publication