Therefore,
European satellite finds surprise 7:
Under the ice, the trap: when the Antarctica is emptied from below.
Antarctica gives the impression of a motionless juggernaut… and yet, what an activity! However, We will not tell you about the volcanoes that we had already told you about (the link is just below). Consequently, nor of earthquakes that run from time to time this frozen continent but underground lakes that lead it hard!
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An invisible disaster under the ice of the Antarctica detected from space – European satellite finds surprise 7
It all starts in the white silence of a continent that has no city. In addition, no tree, no birds that sing. However, A frozen desert. Therefore, One of the most inaccessible places in the world. However, it is there, several kilometers deep, that part of the future of the oceans level is played out.
We are in 2013. Furthermore, Scientists scrutinized data european satellite finds surprise 7 from the Cryosat satellite from the European Space Agency (ESA). Meanwhile, Surprise: a brutal drop in the altitude of ice above the ThwaiTes glacier. Similarly, an ice monster the size of the United Kingdom.
What happened? However, In reality, seven underground lakes have just emptied suddenly, releasing 7 cubic kilometers of fresh water (7 billion tonnes) in the ocean. Nevertheless, To give an idea. Nevertheless, it is the equivalent of the entire Loch Ness, but injected under the ice, more than 2,000 meters deep, without a single splash visible on the surface.
Immediate consequence: the downstream ice platform begins to melt faster. Moreover, the speed of ice flow doubles, an extent of free water appears in the ice floe, a “polynya”, and the glacier starts to go back.
France is preparing a scientific offensive in ice cream
Under the foot of the glacier. a ghost network – European satellite finds surprise 7
We thought that this kind of phenomenon was extremely rare. Missed. In fact, a whole network of lakes and underground channels travels the Antarctic, completely invisible to the naked eye. It is a bit as if the ice float on a secret plumbing. made of pockets of water which can fill and empty according to rhythms that we do not yet master.
Noel Gourmelen, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, explains that these lakes are slowly formed, sometimes for years. And then, suddenly, they give in, like an invisible dike. Thousands of billions of european satellite finds surprise 7 liters of water set in motion. And as this fresh water is lighter than the salt water of the ocean. it brings up the hot water from the depths to the base of the glaciers, causing an accelerated defrosting … from below.
A traitor slope under the glacier
There is another detail that worsens it all. The rocky base on which the ice rests tilts towards the interior of the continent. In other words, once the ice begins to go back, it slides on a descending slope. This mechanism, well known to glaciologists, is one of the most dreaded scenarios: that of an excitement.
Imagine an ice cube placed on an inclined board. If you sprinkle it with a little lukewarm water, it melts … and slides faster. In the case of Thwaites. we speak of a thick ice cube of more than 1,000 meters, which could in itself raise the sea level of more than 60 centimeters.
Cryosat: the radar eye that sees the invisible
european satellite finds surprise 7
Fortunately. the ESA (European space agency) equipped Cryosat with a radar altimeter capable of detecting the altitude variations of ice to the nearest millimeter. Even the movements caused by a hidden lake 2 kilometers below the surface leave an observable signature from space.
These data. overlapped with digital models of glacial flows and marine currents, make it possible to rebuild the puzzle of these sub-Glacial events. It is the work of programs like Futureeo 4D Antarctica, which mixes satellite images, fluid physics and climate modeling.
It’s not just melting ice cream
In reality it is the very foundations of Antarctica that changes, which liquefy. Ice platforms, these gigantic frozen rafts, lose their role of “brakes” for glaciers. Once weakened, they let the continental ice go to the ocean like a broken barrier.
The most disturbing is that these events can occur without warning, without trembling, without visible cracks. And they european satellite finds surprise 7 can relaunch ocean currents. cause the opening of free water expanses in the middle of the southern winter.
The French Alps still had a 12,000 -year -old secret that waited for the last American technologies to be revealed
And after Cryosat?
Europe is already preparing the next generation. Three missions are in the pipes:
- CRISTALwhich will continue to measure the thickness of the ice
- Pinka high resolution european satellite finds surprise 7 radar satellite to follow the ground movements
- CIMRwhich will measure the temperature. salinity of polar waters
These tools will allow better anticipation of future glacial collapses, to understand the links between ice and ocean, and to predict the impact on the level of seas on a planetary scale.
Source : https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/CryoSat/How_hidden_lakes_threaten_Antarctic_Ice_Sheet_stability
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