The Delicate Balance of Antarctica's Ice Mass – Felicity McCormack

Opera Antarctica – First Light Symposium, University of Tasmania

The Delicate Balance of Antarctica's Ice Mass – Felicity McCormack

Abstract
Antarctica is not a continent asleep, but is constantly on the move, losing and gaining ice in a complex exchange with the oceans and atmosphere. From the pole to the coasts, Antarctic ice creeps and slides, winding its way around and over mountains and valleys of topography buried beneath. The ice thins as it accelerates and stretches dendritic arms in glacier streams towards the continental margins. When it reaches the coast, ice is lost through shedding of gigantuous icebergs and melting by the oceans. The cycling of water through the system is completed as evaporated water is carried to the atmosphere to inland Antarctica, where it is deposited as snow. But, warming atmospheres and oceans are tipping this delicate water cycling balance, and as Antarctica loses ice more quickly than it is gained, sea levels are slowly rising.

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