Antarctica hides lakes: Scientists discover a water system formed by melting glaciers due to global warming

Hidden Lakes in Antarctica. Know more…

Friday, 9th July 2021

As global warming and climate change increase the temperature at the poles, the Antarctic ice sheet, which appears calm and stable from above, is slowly losing its base and collapsing under its own weight. The melting of the water formed several lakes under the ice sheet, forming a system of waterways that eventually emptied into the ocean.

To understand the changes that occur under the ice sheet, scientists trained the most advanced earth-observing laser instruments flying in space and discovered two more active subglacial lakes. NASA has mapped the hidden lake system under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

The study published in "Geophysical Research Letters" pointed out that the Antarctic water system contains more than 130 active lakes, and whose evolution remains the main uncertainty of the future dynamics of the ice sheet.

Antarctica's water system has always been a mystery, but it began to be solved in 2007 when Helen Amanda Fricker, a glaciologist at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, helped understand the subglacial lakes in the area.

Scientists have now discovered an entire network of lakes that are interconnected and actively fill and drain over time. Matthew Siegfried, assistant professor of geophysics, said: "These interconnected lake systems have been discovered at the interface of the ice bed. These systems move the water and are creating all the effects of glaciology, microbiology, and oceanography. These effects, this is an important discovery of the ICESat mission. ", the principal investigator of this new study.

Glacial lakes in Antarctica

The formation and operation of subglacial lakes are the results of a combination of factors, including pressure fluctuations exerted by the huge weight of the ice above, friction between the ice sheet bed and the rocks below, and heat from the earth. the following.

Understanding this glacier pipeline system is important because freshwater can change the speed of the ice sheet above or the circulation of the ocean that eventually flows into it. According to NASA, the Antarctic ice sheet is a dome-shaped ice sheet that covers most of the continent and "flows slowly from the center of the continent like super thick honey."

"However, when the ice approaches the coast, its speed changes dramatically, turning into a river-like flow of ice, quickly injecting ice into the ocean at speeds up to several meters per day," NASA said.

Also Read: As countries return to the lunar surface, there is an instrument that can detect water on the moon.

As the temperature in the area rises, this movement causes the water to melt, and as the ice moves, it can form cracks, cracks, and other defects. Continued melting will raise sea levels around the world, and monitoring these complex processes will provide important information about the fate of ice sheets.

Global impact of changes

"We are not just talking about ice sheets. We are really talking about the water system connected to the entire Earth system," Siegfried said. Freshwater from the ice sheet can affect the circulation of the Southern Ocean and its marine ecosystems.

Recently, a huge ice-covered lake in Antarctica disappeared in a few days, which has sounded the alarm in the scientific community about the dangerous trend of climate change and global warming. Events that occurred on the Emory Ice Shelf in East Antarctica in 2019 were only noticed on satellite images.

An estimated 21 to 26 billion cubic feet of water is released into the ocean, potentially raising sea levels. Researchers used NASA satellites to identify glacial lakes that formed under the continental shelf, which later led to the collapse.

The Arctic is also feeling the effects of global warming, and the "last ice" recently showed signs of melting earlier than expected. The last ice region is part of the Arctic, where the floating sea ice is very thick and may withstand decades of global warming. But a ship has now sailed through an opening formed by melting.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

India Today