Alarming news from Antarctica. These are ice shelves. Disturbing news

The results of the research were published on the ice shelves in the nature of climate change A group of Dutch scientists under the leadership of Melchior van Wissum of the University of Utrecht. They focused on glacial shelves, which were supposed to be relatively stable in the coming centuries as climate change progressed. It turns out that some of these cold ice masses, however, are more sensitive to global warming and may behave less stable than previously thought.

Antarctica. Ice shelves may behave differently than previously thought

These are formations like the Ross Glacier, located in West Antarctica. It is the largest ice shelf in the world. it’s huge. Much larger than Poland – it has 473,000 kilometers square meters, which is similar to the territory of mainland Spain. Interestingly, average temperature From this glacier less than others (cold anyway). So, as Utrecht University points out in a press release, climate scientists have until now assumed that these icebergs are reasonably safe, at least for the next century.

Construction at the end of the world. “Within two weeks, three working days were in order.”

Research by Van Wessem’s team shows that these assumptions have not been confirmed. Well, precipitation happens on glaciers like the Ross Glacier The snow Relatively small, which makes it easy to form puddles of melt water on them. And such reservoirs can accelerate shelf collapse: When cracks appear in the ice, meltwater penetrates into them and causes the glacier’s surface to collapse.

“What struck me most is that the amount of snowfall strongly determines the threshold for melt pond formation,” says Melchior van Wiesem. Works His groups indicate that for glaciers like Ross this threshold is 10 degrees lower than for glaciers that receive relatively much snow.

Waligóra conquered the Pole. “I knew there was no help.”

Ice shelves may become less stable as global warming progresses

Researchers from Delft University of Technology who collaborated with Wisem analyzed satellite images. “This analysis shows that in areas where the threshold value for current climate has already been exceeded, thaw lakes already exist,” the university said.

If the glaciers collapsed, it would open the way for glaciers on land to flow more freely into the ocean, thus accelerating sea level rise. These huge ice plugs are found in about 75% of the world. coast of Antarctica. “The breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula in 2002 was a striking example of this process. The formation of melt ponds as a result of warm summers led to its abrupt breakup,” explained Steve Lermitte, a Delft researcher. Technological University who worked on the study.

Melt lakes on glaciers such as the Ross Ice Shelf begin to form with an average annual temperature of -15°C. Climate models show that these temperatures could occur there by the end of this century.

This is not the only research in recent months that indicates the ice shelf may be less stable than previously thought. From research published last year by scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA Antarctica’s ice shelves, which are breaking off at their shores, are losing more ice than the continent can gather through natural processes, and what’s more, they have lost twice as much ice in the last quarter-century as previously predicted. We wrote more about it on this link.

We are still mainly talking here about West Antarctica, which, according to popular belief (in the near world of science), is more vulnerable than the eastern part of the continent. But even this East is not safe. – In the middle of the continent, ice is slowly growing, and the edges are being eaten more and more. And that negative trend seems to be winning, and the balance is negative — more ice is melting than is being added. Professor A. said. Sławomir Tułaczyk of the University of California, Santa Cruz, a Pole has been researching this part of the world for the past 25 years. Show that ice is melting in the east of the continent faster. You can read the fascinating story of his research here.