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A ice shelf of the size of New York CityEast Antarctica collapsed, an area that was long considered stable and not impacted much by the storms. Climate changeFriday, scientists were concerned.
Satellite images show that the Conger Ice Shelf, measuring 460-miles in area, was completely submerged into the ocean on or about March 15. This was the first time that an ice shelf in this frigid region has collapsed in human history.
Ice shelves, permanently floating sheets of ice attached on to the ground, take thousands of year to form and act as levees that keep snow and other ice from flowing into oceans. This causes seas to rise.
The sudden heat wave that began last week saw temperatures soar above 40 degrees Celsius (70 F) in some areas of East Antarctica.
Scientists were concerned Friday that an ice shelf in East Antarctica the size of New York City had collapsed. This area was long considered stable and not affected by climate change.
Satellite images show that the Conger Ice Shelf, measuring 460-miles in area, was completely submerged into the ocean on or about March 15, (pictured).
Satellite images captured the event via satellite images. It was the first time that the ice shelf in the region of frigid temperatures had ever collapsed.
Peter Neff, a University of Minnesota glaciologist, stated that the March heat wave was linked to the atmospheric river phenomenon.
This creates columns that are hundreds of miles long and carry water vapour from tropics. Neff called it a ‘firehose of moisture’.
Satellite photos have shown that the area has been shrinking rapidly over the past couple of years. Scientists now wonder if they are underestimating East Antarctica’s stability and resistance against global warming. The melting ice on the western side and the vulnerable peninsula is causing rapid changes in the area.
According to Catherine Walker, ice scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the ice shelf that covered 460 miles of land and protected the Conger and Glenzer glaciers in warmer waters collapsed between March 14-16.
She said that scientists have never seen such an event in this part of the continent. This is alarming.
Neff stated that the Glenzer Conger Ice Shelf presumably existed for thousands of years, and it’s unlikely to ever be there again.
Neff and Walker stated that the issue is not the amount of ice that was lost in the collapse. This is negligible. It’s about the circumstances that led to it. Neff expressed concern that some of the assumptions about East Antarctica’s stability might not be true.
NASA Modis satellite image taken March 21, 2022 by NASA Modis in this handout image.
This is important because, if the water in East Antarctica were to melt – which can take a millennia, if not more – it would raise seas around the globe by more than 160 feet (50 metres).
It is more than five times as thick as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which scientists have focused much of their research.
The Antarctic is surrounded by vast oceans and protected by winds that tends to protect it against large warm-air intrusions. It is responding slower to climate change than the Arctic.
NASA reports that East Antarctica has lost an average of 149 million tonnes of ice annually between 2002 and 2020.
The Conger Ice Shelf’s disappearance is just one example of the changes that are taking place.
The sudden heat spell that began last week saw temperatures soar above 40 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit), in some areas of East Antarctica.
Helen Amanda Fricker, codirector of Scripps Polar Center at University of California San Diego said that researchers need to spend more time looking at eastern parts of the continent.
“East Antarctica is changing.” Fricker said that there is mass loss. We need to know how stable each of the ice shelves is, because if one of them disappears, it means that the melting glaciers will be melted into the warmer water.
Neff explained that scientists have been seeing this particular shelf of ice, closest to Australia, shrinking a little since the 1970s. Walker stated that in 2020, the shelf lost about half of its ice each month.
Walker stated that ‘we probably are seeing the results of a lot long-term increased ocean heating there. It’s just been melting and melting.
One expert still believes that only a small portion of East Antarctica should be considered a concern.
Rob Larter, British Antarctic Survey geophysicist, stated that most of East Antarctica was relatively secure and relatively invulnerable. However, there are still vulnerable areas.
“The overall impact of climate change in East Antarctica is that it’s chipping away some of the ice sheet edges in some places, but it actually adds more snow to its middle.
NASA reports that East Antarctica experienced a very low degree of warming over the past century. However, some regions were affected and the continent lost an average 149 billion tonnes of glacier per year between 2002-2020.
Last week, an atmospheric river – also known as warm air – poured a lot of warm and even rain on parts of East Antarctica. It caused temperatures so high that scientists spent the last week discussing it.
Australia’s Casey station is about 180 from the closest station to the collapsed shelf of ice. It reached 5.6 degrees Celsius, which is about 10 degrees Celsius higher than normal.
Walker said that Walker’s statement was “probably something like, you’re aware, the last straw on a camel’s back.”
Fricker, who was able to explore an East Antarctic ice shelves that was more stable than the one in East Antarctic, said that an ice shelf there is ‘the calmest and most serene place you can think of’.
