Sea-level feedback lowers projections of future Antarctic Ice-Sheet mass loss.
Sea-level feedback lowers projections of future Antarctic Ice-Sheet mass loss.
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DOI:
10.1038/ncomms9798
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发表时间:
2015-11-10
影响因子:
16.6
通讯作者:
Holland D
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Gomez N;Pollard D;Holland D
The stability of marine sectors of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) in a warming climate has been identified as the largest source of uncertainty in projections of future sea-level rise. Sea-level fall near the grounding line of a retreating marine ice sheet has a stabilizing influence on the ice sheets, and previous studies have established the importance of this feedback on ice age AIS evolution. Here we use a coupled ice sheet–sea-level model to investigate the impact of the feedback mechanism on future AIS retreat over centennial and millennial timescales for a range of emission scenarios. We show that the combination of bedrock uplift and sea-surface drop associated with ice-sheet retreat significantly reduces AIS mass loss relative to a simulation without these effects included. Sensitivity analyses show that the stabilization tends to be greatest for lower emission scenarios and Earth models characterized by a thin elastic lithosphere and low-viscosity upper mantle, as is the case for West Antarctica. The retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its potential contribution to future sea-level rise, is a major focus of climate research. Here, the authors show that positive feedbacks involving bedrock uplift and sea surface drop, may significantly impact the timing and extent of local ice-sheet retreat.