(ORDO NEWS) — Where did the lake suddenly disappear in Antarctica? In June 2019, a large freshwater reservoir with a volume of 600-750 million cubic meters disappeared. It happened in less than a week. In the place where the tones of water used to be, a crater-like depression with an area of about 11 square kilometers has formed. Scientists from the University of Tasmania have found out what happened to him.
Reported by AGU Publications – Wiley Online Library.
What could have happened to such a huge body of water in Antarctica? It is unlikely that he evaporated. The authors of the study analyzed images from the ICESat-2 satellite. They captured the Aymery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica.
After examining the images provided, the researchers concluded that the water that had accumulated in the lake over the years opened a crack in the glacier and flowed out into the ocean. This process in nature is called hydraulic fracturing.
Roland Warner, lead author of the study and glaciologist for the Australia Partnership Program, said the water broke through a 1.5 km thick floating glacier. This is the first time scientists have encountered such a large scale hydraulic fracturing. Whether this is due to global warming or not is not yet clear. It is necessary to carry out many more calculations in order to establish the exact cause of such phenomena.
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