An international team of scientists from South Korea and Japan has reached alarming conclusions about the future of Antarctica’s sea ice. Strong ocean currents threaten their stability. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature Communications (NatComms).
The Pine Island and Thwaites ice shelves are among the most rapidly changing ice shelves in Antarctica and are of particular interest because of their vulnerability to warming ocean waters. They act as massive barriers that prevent continental glaciers from flowing into the ocean.
However, their rapid melting and potential collapse pose a serious threat to coastal communities worldwide due to rising sea levels.
The team found that the interaction between underwater currents and the ocean floor accelerates the transport of warm water masses to shallower depths. This process contributes significantly to the melting of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica.
The researchers looked at “thermocline depth,” which is the depth of the boundary between warmer deep waters and colder surface waters. Changes in thermocline depth significantly affect the flow of warm water onto ice shelves.
Until now, it was thought that stronger westerly winds north of the Amundsen Sea moved ocean currents across the shelf, carrying warmer water into the gaps of the ice shelf. This phenomenon is especially evident during the El Niño climate phenomenon.
But the new results show that winds do not affect this process as much as deep currents. The discovery will allow a new assessment of predictions of melting of the ice barrier on the Antarctic shelf.
Previous scientists I learnedIt turns out that the giant Ross Sea Glacier in Antarctica, the size of France, is constantly shaking.
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Source: Gazeta
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