Cracking ice: seismic signals identify most rapid rupture recorded on Antarctic ice shelf
In Western Antarctica, the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf cracks and calves. One of these rifting events was observed via seismic sensors, demonstrating that while the tear was slower than expected, it’s still the fastest through-cutting fracture in a floating ice shelf ever recorded.
Scientists spy salty groundwater system beneath Antarctic ice stream
Antarctica’s ice sheets are on the move, with the solid ice flowing toward the surrounding oceans. This exodus toward the coasts, explains Paul Winberry, a seismologist at Central Washington University, is enabled by fast moving ice streams—regions where liquid water located at the interface between the ice and underlying subsurface facilitates an ice sheet’s seaward slide.