A group of researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh and Washington noticed that the melting of ice depends not only on global warming, but also on the prevailing winds blowing on the glaciers from the west. This makes the melting process reversible, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.

In most parts of Antarctica, westerly winds prevail, which, when intensified, raise warm and salty water from the depths of the ocean, which increases the rate of ice melting. In the period from 2003 to 2015, the intensity of westerly winds decreased significantly near the coast of glaciers and deep warm water could not penetrate them. Glaciers at this time clearly reduced melting.

Since the early 1990s, scientists have observed a sharp acceleration of ice melting in this region, which was previously explained only by the dramatic climate change over the past century. The West Antarctic ice is enough to raise the level of the world ocean by 3.3 meters.

This study shows the difficulty of identifying patterns in the behavior of ice and raises the question of predicting further changes in the ice continent and solving this problem.

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