how did researchers measure the thickening and thinning of the ice sheet
Answers
IS the Antarctic ice sheet growing or diminishing in thickness? This is an interesting question because the change in thickness reflects, in an indirect way, the change of world climate, and also because it directly affects worldwide sea level. It is difficult to obtain the answer by measuring the mass balance of the ice sheet, primarly because of the difficulty of estimating the rate of loss of ice by outflow at the margins. A more direct way is to measure the rate of change of gravity at an inland station and try to interpret this in terms of the thinning or thickening of the ice sheet. For example, a steady increase of g at South Pole station between 1957 and 1967 has been well established, but the most recent analysis1 concludes that 90% of the change can be attributed to the sinking of the station, partly in balance with the normal snow accumulation rate and partly in response to the superimposed load of the snow drift caused by the presence of the station. No disequilibrium of the ice sheet is implied by the gravity observations at South Pole station.
Answer:
The thickness and the thinness of ice is measured by the height above sea level.
Explanation:
Ice has a tendency of creating sheets on top of the earths surface .This is commonly known as glacier.
On this matter if we want to measure how think or thin the ice sheet is ,
snow shovels and wooden poles are used .
This one helps one identify the depth of the ice, traditionally .
If factual results are required , it can be measured to on the pole or measure the height above sea level of the region covered by the snow and subtracting from the normal altitude.