The size of the Antarctic ice sheet is quite difficult to understand: on average, the thickness of the ice in the region reaches 2 kilometers, and its total area is almost twice the size of Australia. Research has also shown that the Antarctic ice sheet contains enough fresh water to raise global sea levels by an incredible 58 meters, writes IFLScience.

Projections show that ice loss from the Antarctic ice sheet is likely to be a major driver of sea level rise by 2100, but its contribution is still uncertain. Most studies show that sea levels are certain to rise this century, but the contributions of Antarctic ice are still unclear, ranging from a rise of 44 centimeters to a fall of 22 centimeters..

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Scientists note that much of this uncertainty stems from the fact that the oceanic processes that control the shield's fate occur on incredibly small scales, making them extremely difficult to measure or model.. Luckily for us, scientists have recently made significant progress in understanding the “ice-ocean boundary layer.”. This progress became the subject of a new study by scientists published in the journal Annual Reviews.

Glaciers flow into the Southern Ocean at the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet, forming floating ice shelves. These glaciers act as keystones, stabilizing the ice sheet, but they are also shrinking.

Previous research has already shown that the ocean is melting ice shelves from below, a process known as " Increased basal melting has led to the thinning and retreat of the ice sheet in some regions, raising global sea levels. The process also slowed the deepest current in the global overturning circulation, a system of ocean currents that circulates around the world.

Ice shelves are huge, as are the glaciers that feed them.. However, the oceanic processes that control basal melting and the fate of the entire Antarctic ice sheet occur on a millimeter scale. They are known to occur in a thin layer of ocean, just under the ice, and are therefore difficult to track.

The boundary layer between the ice shelf and the ocean is cold, kilometers away from anywhere, and under very thick ice, so it is not surprising that it has hardly been measured at all. Scientists have tried to study the layer using other methods, such as computer modeling, but this is also not very simple.. Until recently, tiny movements in the ice-ocean boundary layer made accurate modeling of ice melt elusive.

Studying this layer using other methods such as computer modeling is also a huge challenge. Until recently, tiny movements in the ice-ocean boundary layer made accurate modeling of ice melt elusive.

Computer modeling of ocean processes in itself is not something new.. However, ice-ocean boundary layer modeling has only recently become possible as computing resources grow and their costs become more affordable.. Several research groups around the world have taken on this problem by simulating the microscale ocean flow that supplies heat to ice to melt..

Researchers are focused on finding a connection between what the ocean is doing and how quickly the ice is melting. So far, they have found not just one connection, but several, each pointing to a different melting “regime.”. The study authors note that the state of the ocean, including its temperature, salinity and current speed, as well as the shape of the ice, determine which melting regime is applied..

The shape of the ice is key because melting fresh water is lighter than the surrounding ocean. Just as hot air collects at the top of a room, fresh, cold meltwater collects in depressions on the lower surface of the ice sheet, insulating the ice from the ocean water below and slowing melting. For steeply sloping ice the insulating effect is much less. Vigorous flow of meltwater rising under steep ice causes it to mix with warmer ocean waters, increasing melting.

In a new study, scientists used ocean robots deployed by drilling through ice. This provided researchers with an unprecedented amount of data about the environment beneath the ice shelves..

Using robots, scientists have also discovered a strange and wonderful icy landscape on the underside of ice shelves. It consists of many different ice formations ranging in size from centimeters to kilometers.

New knowledge about melting, obtained through computer modeling and robots, sheds light on these features and how they form. The existence of melting regimes helps explain the evolution of steep terraces or why different features appear in different parts of an ice shelf.

However, scientists admit that uncertainties remain. For example, it is still unknown exactly how some of these features are formed..

New simulations that allow the ice-water interface to move through time show the 'self-sculpting' behavior of ice melting. This is similar to how dunes form and move in the desert.. But additional research will be required to trace the formation and evolution of the entire ice landscape.

Focus previously wrote that there is more life in Antarctica than expected.