来自剑桥大学和奥地利工程公司 ENVEO 的研究人员确定了在南极半岛上流入乔治六世冰架的陆基冰流中存在明显季节性运动，乔治六世冰架是南极半岛上一个大约与威尔士大小相当的浮冰平台。

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and Austrian engineering company ENVEO, identified distinct, seasonal movements in the flow of land-based ice draining into George VI Ice Shelf – a floating platform of ice roughly the size of Wales – on the Antarctic Peninsula.

利用哥白尼/欧洲航天局 Sentinel-1 卫星的图像，研究人员发现，在南极夏季，供给冰架的冰川加速了约 15%。这是第一次在流入南极洲冰架的陆地冰上检测到这种季节性循环。该研究结果发表在《冷冻圈》杂志上。

Using imagery from the Copernicus/European Space Agency Sentinel-1 satellites, the researchers found that the glaciers feeding the ice shelf speed up by approximately 15% during the Antarctic summer. This is the first time that such seasonal cycles have been detected on land ice flowing into ice shelves in Antarctica. The results are reported in the journal The Cryosphere.

目前，这种季节性变化的原因尚不确定。这可能是由于地表融水到达冰的底部并起到润滑剂的作用，就像在北极和高山地区的情况一样，也可能是由于相对温暖的海水从下面融化了冰，使浮冰变薄，并使上游冰川移动得更快。

Currently, the causes of this seasonal change are uncertain. It could be caused by surface meltwater reaching the base of the ice and acting like a lubricant, as is the case in Arctic and Alpine regions, or it could be due to relatively warm ocean water melting the ice from below, thinning the floating ice and allowing upstream glaciers to move faster.