A huge ice-covered lake in East Antarctic disappeared in less than a week, potentially due to climate change, a new study reveals.
Researchers used radar images to track the rapid melting event at the Amery Ice Shelf, which occurred in June 2019, during the Antarctic winter.
Scientists believe the weight of meltwater (water released by the melting of snow or ice) accumulated in the deep lake and cracked open the ice shelf beneath – an event called a ‘hydrofracture’.
It’s estimated that between 600 million and 750 million cubic metres (21-26 billion cubic feet) of water drained to the ocean below – about twice the volume of San Diego Bay.
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After drainage, in place of the lake, there was a crater-like depression in the ice shelf surface, covering about 4.25 square miles.
This surface depression, known as an ice ‘doline’, contained the fractured remains of the ice cover.
‘We believe the weight of water accumulated in this deep lake opened a fissure in the ice shelf beneath the lake, a process known as hydrofracture, causing the water to drain away to the ocean below,’ said study author Roland Warner, a glaciologist with the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership at the University of Tasmania.
The team can’t say for sure what triggered the rapid draining event.
It is too early to conclude that the drainage of this meltwater lake was related to the warming of the climate around Antarctica, they say.
But it’s well known that rising air temperatures melts ice shelves, increasing the risk of widespread hydrofracturing.
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities cause a rise in global temperatures, which in turn melt ice and snow and result in a rise in sea levels.
Source: Mail Online
