Overview
- The peer-reviewed study in Scientific Reports by Petar Glišović and Alessandro Forte traces the Antarctic Geoid Low to long-term mantle-driven mass redistribution.
- Researchers combined global seismic recordings with geodynamic and mineral-physics modeling to reconstruct Earth’s interior and gravity field, which closely matched satellite gravity data.
- Time-evolving simulations show the gravity anomaly was weaker around 70 million years ago and grew stronger mainly between 50 and 30 million years ago, overlapping the onset of widespread Antarctic glaciation.
- The modeled evolution points to an initial phase dominated by cold, dense material sinking into the deep mantle, followed by hotter, lighter mantle rising that amplified the mass deficit beneath Antarctica.
- Weaker gravity lowers the regional sea-surface height around Antarctica, and the team plans coupled gravity–sea level–topography modeling to test any causal link to ice-sheet initiation and stability.