Study: More work needed in glacial science

GOTTINGEN, Germany, July 2 (UPI) -- European scientists say glacial processes at levels ranging from the molecular to whole ice sheets need more research to upgrade climate change forecasting.

Members of the European Science Foundation, during a recent workshop, said predicting climate change depends on many factors not properly included in current forecasting models, such as how the major polar ice caps will move in the event of melting.

That, in turn, requires greater understanding of the processes at work when ice is under stress, influencing how it flows and moves, the glaciologists, geologists and experts in the processes of crystalline stress said.

"The challenge ahead is to convert the insight gained on the effects of grain-scale processes into improved rheological models," said Professor Paul Bons of the University of Tubingen, who co-chaired the ESF workshop. Rheology is the study of how materials such as ice or rock flow when forces are applied to them.

The April workshop was held in Gottingen, Germany.