News From the Field

Weighing the Antarctic ice sheet


September 27, 2013

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The slow rebound of the bedrock as ice melts can be used to weigh the Antarctic ice sheet and determine how much mass it has lost since the ice sheets reached their maximum extent more than 20,000 years ago, and how much it is currently losing. Scientists began an effort six years ago to place instruments in the Antarctic interior to learn more about its ice load. Called the Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET), the array consists of GPS and seismic stations at remote sites across Antarctica.Full Story

Source
Washington University in St. Louis

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