ABSTRACT
The Antarctic ice sheet is the biggest potential supply of worldwide sea degree rise. Among the many elements controlling its mass stability are the quantity of snow falling throughout its floor and the soundness of its ice cabinets by way of which a lot of the ice sheet flows. This presentation first focuss on the ice sheet’s floor mass stability, which was at a four-decade excessive in 2022, and the atmospheric and oceanic drivers of this anomaly. Subsequent, by way of evaluation of CESM2 simulations, this analysis examines how ocean floor variability, particularly sea ice protection, impacts the ice sheet floor mass stability. Outcomes of this work counsel underprediction of sea ice, which is widespread in lots of fashions, could result in overestimation of snowfall and thus underestimation of the Antarctic contribution to sea degree. Subsequent, we’ll flip to latest observations of floor hydrology from East Antarctica that point out ocean tides could restrict the buildup of meltwater on ice cabinets. This analysis suggests a brand new mechanism that would at the very least quickly safeguard ice cabinets from floor meltwater-induced destabilization. By producing new insights into meltwater processes and the coupling of Antarctica with the broader cryosphere system, this analysis seeks to advertise a extra knowledgeable understanding of the ice sheet’s potential future evolution.