Environment & Animals
Antarctica will play a role “incredibly important in general sea level rise, especially in Western Europe”.
Some cold ice shelves located in Antarctica are proving vulnerable to global warming as researchers thought they would remain stable for centuries to come. This is revealed by the results of a study conducted by the University of Utrecht and KU Leuven published Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
These platforms constitute floating pieces attached to the continent thus forming a barrier to the terrestrial ice. When these plates separate, melting land ice can flow at a faster rate into the seas, causing their levels to rise. These ice shelves surround about 75% of Antarctica.
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many cracks
The creation of meltwater lakes can lead to the failure of an ice shelf. When one of these has cracks, water from these lakes can flow into it. The plate can thus break quickly. More than 60% of the ice shelves of the White Continent, including the Ross Shelf which is the largest in the world, have such cracks. “It is therefore important to know when and under what conditions these meltwater lakes form”explains KU Leuven researcher Stef Lhermitte. “We assumed that they usually formed under a temperature of -5°C”he continues before declaring that he and his team of researchers have “for the first time contrasted the amount of meltwater on an ice shelf with the amount of precipitation”.
Relatively little snow falls on some ice shelves including Ross. During heavy falls, the snow acts as a sort of sponge preventing the formation of melt lakes. Since this phenomenon is limited on the Ross platform, melt lakes form as soon as the average annual temperature reaches -15°C, note the glaciologists. With average global warming, these temperatures could be reached as early as the end of this century, according to the latest climate models.
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“The results were logical” according to M.Lhermitte who also states that “the impact of snow is clear on the formation threshold of melt lakes”. Antarctica will play a role “incredibly important in general sea level rise, especially in Western Europe” et “Our research has contributed to a better understanding of this phenomenon”he concludes.
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