Strong winds in eastern Antarctica are causing ice to melt in the west Antarctic peninsula, located as far away as 6,000 km, according to a study.
The study, published in Nature Climate Change, found that winds in east Antarctica can generate sea disturbances that spread around the continent at 700 kmph via a type of ocean wave known as the Kelvin wave, reports Efe news.
According to the study, when the waves encounter the underwater topography of the peninsula they push the warmer water toward the ice along the coast, near the warm current that goes around the South Pole.
“It is this combination of available warm water offshore, and a transport of this warm water onto the shelf, that has seen rapid ice shelf melt along the West Antarctic sector over the past several decades,” lead researcher Paul Spence said.