Some parts of the sea floor near the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula are much deeper than previously thought, according to new data.

And that could have a significant impact on the melting of the ice shelf on the west side of the Antarctic.

“I run numerical models of how changing ocean temperatures affect melting ice shelves,” explains Laurie Padman, an oceanographer and senior scientist at Earth and Space Research, a non-profit organization based in Seattle, Wash.

And to do that Padman needs accurate information on the depth of the ocean floor around this very fragile area. But up until recently maps of the ocean floor have not been very accurate, he explained.

This has all changed thanks to the data from a study of the elephant seal habitat that was conducted by Daniel Costa, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Costa was tracking elephant seals so he could understand their environment and make predictions on how their physical conditions might change over time and how their behaviour might change over time.

Fifty-seven elephant seals had electronic sensors placed on their heads to transmit information. The sensors fall off when the elephant seals moult and lose their fur.

The data of where the seals were going and how far they were diving were recorded every few seconds and sent back by satellite. While doing this, his seals also came up with a plethora of data on the depth of the waters surrounding the Antarctic.

That data was able to help Padman put together a “much better map” detailing the depth of the ocean floor, thanks to the seals.

“I need to have accurate water-depth information for my models of ocean circulation to be accurate,” said Padman. “If the water depth is wrong then I get the wrong answer for how much warm water is getting to the ice shelf.”

The map and the data produced with the help of the seals is part of a study to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Costa and Padman are co-authors of the report.

The elephant seal information showed that the troughs around the west coast of Antarctica were much deeper than previously thought – about 300 metres deeper, Padman said.

Previous maps had placed the water depth at 400 metres in some spots, but the seals were diving down to 700 metres in some locations around the west coast, the oceanographer said.

The new depth data of those troughs and the warm water that flows through them could mean that the ice shelf on the west side of Antarctica is melting much faster than previously estimated.

And if that ice is melting faster than expected, it could have a profound effect on the rising sea levels that are predicted to occur over the next century.

The area surrounding the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula is already seeing a lot of thinning and melting of ice, said Padman. A similar thing is happening around Greenland.

“These are the two areas that will contribute a lot of water to rising sea levels over the next century,” he said.

Padman and others are interested in getting a fix on just how deep the troughs across the continental shelf by this region of the Antarctic are so they can determine how much warm water flows through them and up to the ice shelves.

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The amount of warm water, which comes from the edge of the Antarctic Circumpolar current, that comes up will determine how quickly the ice shelves melt, he explained.

“We are trying to identify the places where the effects of global climate change might be more important,” Padman said.

If the rate of ice and water coming off the Antarctic is accelerating at a faster rate than previously thought, he added, sea levels could rise much faster than previously predicted.