SAN FRANCISCO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Dustin Schroeder, a radio glaciologist at the Stanford University School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, has been using ice-penetrating radar data as a new way to observe, understand and predict the configuration of ice sheets.
The research, according to a news release from the school, is important for understanding climate change, since ice sheets and glaciers, namely slowly moving masses of ice, regulate conditions for the whole planet. Located in the Antarctic and Greenland, their stability greatly impacts how quickly oceans will rise, by how much, and how that will affect the rest of the climate system.
"In some ways, we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about what's beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet," Schroeder was quoted as saying. And "we can predict weather reasonably well. But when you're talking about the collapse of an ice sheet, it's less like predicting weather and more like earthquake prediction."
Making predictions about glaciers and ice sheets requires researchers to observe and understand changing conditions beneath kilometers of ice. Much of the data Schroeder uses to analyze ice sheets is collected by air-borne radar technology developed by different nations during World War II.
While ground-penetrating radar can only measure a few meters through land, ice-penetrating radar can reach three kilometers below the surface.
With information collected from these surveys, the researchers analyze radargrams, or visualizations of the data that show a vertical profile through the ice sheet, like a slice of layer cake. Similar to tree rings, the layers reveal information about the history of the ice sheets.
Ice-penetrating radar is the best tool for understanding ice sheets, but researchers need to use innovative methods in data processing, analysis, and modeling to create a complete picture of the glacial system. Some techniques offer broad, three-dimensional coverage, but cannot reveal patterns over long periods of time.
"If a retreat starts there, it could spread to the rest of the ice sheet," Schroeder said. "From my perspective, heat from the ocean is driving change, but it's what's happening underneath that determines how the ice sheet responds."
