Pine Island: Large Antarctic glacier that has been melting for decades

Melting glaciers is one of the effects of climate change that most worries the scientific community; In particular, it is not yet known to what extent the consequences will reach. One of the most notable effects is rising sea levels that threaten to inundate large coastal areas It is destroying infrastructure, cities and farmland in many parts of the planet, causing the displacement of millions of people. But it also reduces the amount of freshwater available to humans and accelerates biodiversity loss.

Pine Island Glacier Erosion Diagram nature

For this reason, the scientific community has been trying to figure out which of these structures is which through mathematical models for decades. They’ve already passed the point of no return. That is, the moment when glaciers cannot reach their former density and begin a slow and relentless decline in the form of gradual melting.

However, these models have often proven to be inaccurate. So a group of British scientists asked what would happen if they added one more component to this equation: direct observation via satellites.

This is the first time in history that it has been confirmed Pine Island glacier has been melting for some time. In particular, according to the data obtained, there was a rapid and unstable decline. Sometime between 1940 and 1970This led to an irreversible loss of ice over decades. Currently, this glacier is responsible for 25% of Antarctica’s melting.

Position of the glacier inside the box agencies

What triggered this historic meltdown was high sea temperatures reaching the Pine Island ice area. Pine Island hasn’t been the same since. The retreat was stabilized by the topography of the bedrock beneath the Amundsen Sea, allowing the ice to reconsolidate under the sea. Of course, at lower density and by a few meters.

An important point in Antarctica

Pine Island and its neighbor Thwaites are considered the “most vulnerable point” of the West Antarctic ice sheet. It’s no surprise that they form one of the fastest-flowing ice holes in West Antarctica and have contributed more than any other Antarctic glacier to rising global mean sea level in recent decades.

According to the results of the research published in the journal Nature Climate ChangeIn the 1940s and 1970s, the glacier broke away from the seafloor. As a result of a period of high sea temperatures, the glacier experienced a rapid retreat until it was re-anchored in a shallower part of the sea bed in 1980.

Camp set up on Pine Island glacier Wikipedia

Although the glacier’s mass loss appeared to have stopped and stabilized, the results of this study show that the glacier melted to the point of no return in the early 1970s. It will never regain its original mass or position.even during the coldest years of recent decades. Therefore, researchers have confirmed that this process is now irreversible.

And scientists also predicted the future of this glacier using the model they created. Conclusion? Climate change will lead to new periods of rapid declineUnless the burning of fossil fuels is stopped and therefore global warming is limited.

“The consequences for the future are clear. What happened in the past may happen again in the future”, laments Brad Reed, one of the signatories of the published article Nature Climate ChangeHe is responsible for glacier modeling at Northumbria University (UK).

“Although the melting phase appears to be over, we cannot rule out a similar mass loss in the near future and should not risk the consequences of this massive ice loss,” he added.

“This tool, with which we were able to model past changes to identify the moment when the glacier reached the point of no return, is vital for making predictions about the future,” the researcher explains.

Reference work: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq6872

……………………

Contact address of the environmental department:[email protected]