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Science 24 July 1998:
Vol. 281. no. 5376, pp. 549 - 551
DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5376.549
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Reports

Fast Recession of a West Antarctic Glacier

E. J. Rignot

Satellite radar interferometry observations of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, reveal that the glacier hinge-line position retreated 1.2 ± 0.3 kilometers per year between 1992 and 1996, which in turn implies that the ice thinned by 3.5 ± 0.9 meters per year. The fast recession of Pine Island Glacier, predicted to be a possible trigger for the disintegration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is attributed to enhanced basal melting of the glacier floating tongue by warm ocean waters.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 300-235, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA. E-mail: eric{at}adelie.jpl.nasa.gov

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