East Antarctica..............
( "The 120-kilometre (74.4 mile) long Totten Glacier, which is more than 30 kilometres wide, had been thought to be in an area untouched by warmer currents.
But a just-returned voyage to the frozen region found the waters around the glacier were warmer than expected and likely melting the ice from below.
"We knew that the glacier was thinning from the satellite data, and we didn't know why," the voyage's chief scientist Steve Rintoul told AFP....")
((The SE portion is showing ..oceanic heat stress...))
Climate of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is very cold. Temperatures as low as -85°C have been recorded at Dome C 5. It is also dry, receiving very little annual precipitation and far less than the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet6. East Antarctica is so cold, high and dry, that it creates its own climate 7.
Surface mass balance
 Surface mass balance of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. From Van den Broeke et al., 2011.
The surface mass balance of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is shown in this figure, from Van den Broeke et al., 2011. Surface mass balance is the sum of accumulation (snow, rain) and melting (by sublimation and run off). This can be calculated using measurements from satellites8. This figure is the average surface mass balance from 1989-2009. This figure shows that the Antarctic Peninsula, West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the coastal regions of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet are significantly wetter than the ice sheet interior. Peak values of 3000 kg per metre per year of accumulation are experienced in the western Antarctic Peninsula, but the interior of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet receives less than 50 kg per metre per |
