Antarctic ice shelves are being destabilised by hidden, upside-down ‘rivers’ of warm water that course below the shelves and melt them from underneath, new research shows.
Scientists have known about these basal channels in ice shelves for a number of years now, but the circumstances behind their formation weren’t well understood. Now, we’ve discovered more about the phenomenon, and scientists say it’s something we need to take into account when modelling sea-level rise. The observation published in Science Advances show that basal channels are associated with the development of new zones of crevassing, suggesting that these channels may cause ice fracture