Is Ocean Water Helping to Melt Glaciers?

After crossing the Ross Sea, we’ve reached our first study area: the “Little America Trough.” The oceanographers on board want to find out if warmer water from the deep ocean is rising onto the continental shelf and reaching the ice, making it melt faster. They measure temperature and salinity as well as the water currents. To collect additional, long term measurements, we leave behind two moorings–a set of instruments attached to a wire or rope that is anchored, or moored, to the seafloor.