Something scary is brewing under the surface of Antarctica.
is melting the ice from below, forming large cracks across the floating ice shelf.
“I visualize it somewhat similar to that car window where you have a few cracks that are slowly propagating, and then suddenly you go over a bump in your car and the whole thing just starts to shatter in every direction,” Erin Pettit, a glaciologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, said at the meeting on December 13.to the CIRES release
. If cracked, it’s only a matter of time until all that ice can melt and rush into the ocean. “What’s most concerning about the recent results is that it’s pointing to a collapse of this ice shelf, this kind of safety band that holds the ice on the land,” Peter Davis, oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey,
. “If we lose this ice shelf, then the glacier will flow into the ocean more quickly, contributing towards sea level rise.”Warming water creeping underneath the glacier also causes the ice to lose its grip on the “grounding zone”—the section of seabed holding the glacier in place. Peter Washam, a research associate at Cornell University, discovered through a remote-controlled underwater robot that the grounding floordue to warm water, rugged ice, and a steeply sloped base.
“If Thwaites were to collapse, it would drag most of West Antarctica’s ice with it,” Scambos said in the release. “So it’s critical to get a clearer picture of how the glacier will behave over the next 100 years.” Research from the ITGC, a group of 100 scientists making up the largest UK-US project on the southern continent in 70 years, will continue surveying Thwaites’s shaky future.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Serve any brew in style with this DIY beer flight boardBeer flight boards are a woodworking project that can look more elaborate than they are. Follow these steps to build a custom one for your hosting needs.
Read more »
Burlesque, body-slams and bright masks: How Lucha VaVoom became an L.A. institutionKnown for embracing camp, silliness and an element of awe, the indie lucha libre company Lucha VaVoom rings in two-plus decades of high-flying fun with a pair of Valentine's Day shows.
Read more »
The Upstart Shark of the 2023 Awards SeasonThis awards season has been dominated by conversations around grassroots campaigns and studio money. For an insider look, TaraDBennett spoke with The Reef: Stalked composer Mark Smythe about his successful DIY efforts:
Read more »
Andy Reid’s Eagles tenure was a success even if he never delivered a Super Bowl winFrom surprising hire to the brink of a championship, Reid won a lot of games and admirers during 14 years with the Birds.
Read more »
In a first, some CSX railroad workers to get paid sick leaveSeveral thousand workers at CSX will soon get one of the things that pushed the U.S. railroad industry to the brink of a strike last fall: paid sick time.
Read more »