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Welch, Jacobel author paper published in Science

By Meredith Utt '08
September 27, 2004

Brian Welch, physics and environmental studies professor, and Robert Jacobel, professor of physics at St. Olaf, along with Bristol University colleague Martin Siegert, are the authors of a paper published in the Sept. 25 issue of the international journal Science. The article describes evidence of a distinctive fold found deep within the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that suggests the ice sheet may undergo future change. Because of the sheet's potential to raise global sea level over several centuries, "this new discovery deep within the ice means that we need to re-think our current assessment of the risk of collapse of this ice sheet," writes Siegert. The fold, 800 meters (2,640 feet) deep by 50 kilometers (31 miles) long, was detected using ice-penetrating radar.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.