New Study: Maps Of Ice Mass Loss Show Geothermal Heat Flow Explains 2003-2019 Antarctic Ice Melt

There is a “direct link” between the location of origin for recent ice melt in Antarctica and geothermal heat flow.

High geothermal heat flow (GHF) is mostly why Antarctic ice melts, not “atmospheric and ocean forcing,” which is what has been commonly thought until recently (Haeger et al., 2023).

Even though atmospheric CO2 is well-mixed, or about the same everywhere over the Southern Hemisphere, we are asked to believe anthropogenic CO2 emissions are responsible for ice melt at very specific locations on the Antarctic continent, whereas it is not responsible for the mass gains at other locations on the ice sheet.

This belief that human CO2 emissions concentrate their alleged ice-melting powers at certain locations at the base – underneath – the ice sheet as it simultaneously leaves other ice sheet regions alone cannot be explained with atmospheric physics.

On the other hand, since the location of origin for modern (2003-2019) ice mass losses “coincides with a region of elevated GHF, which can further destabilize the ice sheet and could drive unstable retreat,” it is much more easily assumed GHF is primarily responsible for Antarctic ice melt. Not human emissions.

“It is common to attribute changes in the ice dynamics and subsequent ice loss to atmospheric and oceanic forcing. However, recent studies suggest a direct link between the location of the origin of ice streams and zones of increased heat flow (Petrunin et  al.,  2013; Rogozhina et  al.,  2016; Smith-Johnsen et al., 2020) that allows to consider GHF as an important factor in ice dynamics. Our results also show a good spatial correspondence with the map of ice mass loss between 2003 and 2019.”

Image Source: Haeger et al., 2023