Researchers map how ice sheets shrank during Ice Age
February 13th, 2011 - 4:41 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Feb 13 (IANS) Researchers have mapped for the first time how the last British ice sheet shrank during the Ice Age.
The maps record the pattern and speed of shrinkage of the large ice sheet that covered the British Isles during the Ice Age, approximately 20,000 years ago.
Led by Chris Clark, a geographer at the University of Sheffield, experts developed the maps to understand what effect the current shrinking of ice sheets in parts of the Antarctic and Greenland will have on the speed of sea level rise, the journal Quaternary Science Reviews reports.
The sheet, which subsumed most of Britain, Ireland and the North Sea, had an ice volume sufficient to raise global sea levels by around 2.5 metres when it melted, according to a Sheffield University statement.
Using the maps, researchers will be able to understand the mechanisms and rate of change of ice sheet retreat, allowing them to make predictions for our polar regions, whose ice sheets appear to be melting.
Clark said: “It took us over 10 years to gather all the information in order to produce these maps, and we are delighted with the results.”
- Sea levels may rise much higher, says fossil study - Jul 16, 2012
- Polar ice melt 'accelerating rapidly, raising sea level' - Mar 09, 2011
- Warming ocean layers melt polar ice sheets faster - Jul 04, 2011
- Greenland ice sheet is safer than scientists previously believed - Jan 27, 2011
- Warm ocean currents cause ice loss from Antarctica - Apr 26, 2012
- Global warming curbs won't prevent steep sea rise - Mar 21, 2012
- Melting ice sheets largest contributor to sea level rise - Mar 10, 2011
- Scientists develop tool to predict tsunamis, landslides - Apr 18, 2011
- Believe it or not - glaciers are growing! - Jan 28, 2011
- Evidence from octopus hints at ice sheet collapse - May 10, 2012
- Melting glaciers to contribute 12cm to world sea-level increases by 2100 - Jan 11, 2011
- Melting glacial ice sheets 'may not raise sea levels after all' - Nov 22, 2010
- Mountain glacier melt-off to raise sea level by 12 cm by 2100 - Jan 11, 2011
- Greenland ice melted more than Antartica's - Aug 01, 2011
- New digital map reveals more secrets about Antarctica - Dec 16, 2011
Tags: 10 years, british isles, geographer, global sea levels, greenland, ireland, london feb, maps, mechanisms, north sea, polar regions, quaternary science reviews, sea level rise, sheffield university, shrinkage, university of sheffield