Sea Creatures Hint at Recent Trans-Antarctic Seaway

[n2doc]

By Jess McNally August 31, 2010 | 6:28 pm | Categories: Biology, Earth Science


The discovery of nearly identical sea creatures on either side of a now solid Antarctic ice sheet — 1,500 miles wide and over a mile thick — points to an open ocean passage there as recently as 125,000 years ago.


The new evidence adds to geologic clues indicating the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has collapsed at least once in the last million years, and could do so again in a warmer climate. The complete collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise global sea level by 11 to 16 feet.

“The West Antarctic Ice Sheet can be considered the Achilles heel of Antarctica,” biologist David Barnes of the West Antarctic Survey, lead author of the study, said in a press release. “Our research provides compelling evidence that a seaway stretching across West Antarctica could have opened up only if the ice sheet has collapsed in the past.”

As part of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life, scientists were looking at the distribution of different species of bryozoans, small filter-feeders that are attached to the sea floor as adults (top image). They found that the populations of bryozoans were remarkably similar in two different seas separated by the ice sheet, the Weddell and the Ross.



Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/08/antarctic-passage/

[Nihil]

1. K & R (n/t)

[Sinistrous]

2. Interesting statistic:

"The complete collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise global sea level by 11 to 16 feet."

Would someone mind running the numbers on that?

[Nihil]

3. Not the OP author but ...

... if it helps,

"Until recently, scientists estimated that if the WAIS melted, sea levels
worldwide would rise by some 16 feet. Now, using more refined data, a new
study in the May 15 issue of the journal Science revises that number down
to an average 11-foot sea level rise."

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Global-Warming/2009/0514/new-study-less-sea-rise-expected-from-possible-antarctic-melt

HTH :hi:

[Sinistrous]

4. Thank you.