Analyses of data gathered by Global Positioning System
equipment atop one of Antarctica’s largest and
most dynamic glaciers and by seismometers nearby suggest that friction in just
one small area beneath the broad glacier regularly halts the ice’s lurching
march to the sea.
Many of Antarctica’s largest ice streams — the megaglaciers
that carry most of the ice draining off the continent — move at an irregular
pace, first sticking in place, then surging ahead (SN: 3/31/07, p.
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