Massive Ice Shelf Held Back Ice Age Glaciers, Study Finds
A new study reveals that a massive, mile-thick ice shelf in Baffin Bay played a crucial role in stabilizing major ice sheets 20,000 years ago. Researchers suggest this 'buttressing' effect provides important insights into how modern Antarctic ice sheets might respond to climate change.
Why it matters
Understanding ancient ice shelf dynamics helps scientists predict future sea-level rise and the stability of current polar ice sheets.
About 20,000 years ago, an enormous, floating ice shelf more than a mile thick helped lock in three of the largest ice sheets in northern Canada and Greenland. When that ice shelf disappeared, it helped unlock part of these ice sheets, which contributed to hundreds of feet of sea level rise, establishing modern coastlines as we know them.
Those are the findings of a new study that uncovered evidence of an ancient ice shelf in Baffin Bay, west of Greenland. The size and scale of such a floating fortress of ice was not previously known, and it provides clues to the future of today's massive ice sheets in Antarctica and the sea-level rise that could follow if they melt.
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