What this CSU scientist found beneath Antarctica could offer new clues about climate change

In The NOCO

A team of scientists, including a CSU seismologist, recently spent years peering beneath the largest mass of ice on Earth.

The unique study yielded fascinating insights about the relationship between the massive glaciers that cover much of Antarctica’s surface, and the ground underneath the ice. And the findings may help scientists better predict how climate change will affect sea level in the decades ahead.

Researchers discovered that the rock beneath Antarctica’s ice sheets actually rises and sinks under the weight of the continent’s glaciers. That geologic movement will likely affect how much sea level rises as the planet warms in the decades ahead.

Dr. Rick Aster, a professor of geophysics and the head of the Department of Geosciences at Colorado State University, gathered seismological data from underneath the continent’s surface. The results were published earlier this month in the journal Science Advances.

Aster joined host Erin O’Toole to share more about what his team discovered.

You can read more about the project here. And for fun -- check out this poem inspired by the team’s research.

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner

Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.