SAN FRANCISCO — Several Antarctic glaciers are experiencing significant acceleration and ice loss. Hektoria Glacier, the most affected, has seen its sliding speed quadruple and has lost 25 kilometers of ice from its front in just 16 months, according to scientists. The collapse was triggered by abnormally warm ocean temperatures, which led to the retreat of sea ice. This allowed a series of large waves to impact a normally protected section of the coastline. Naomi Ochwat, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, presented these findings on December 11 at the American Geophysical Union meeting, stating that this situation could be an indication of what may occur in other parts of Antarctica. Hektoria Glacier, Green Glacier, and Crane Glacier are located near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, which extends towards South America. The Larsen B Embayment, a crescent moon-shaped bay, was once considered stable. As these glaciers flowed off the coastline, their ice used to merge into a floating slab approximately 200 meters thick, known as the Larsen B Ice Shelf, which was about the size of Rhode Island and filled the entire bay. This ice shelf, which had existed for over 10,000 years, provided support and stability to the flowing glaciers. However, during a warm summer in 2002, it suddenly fragmented into thousands of thin icebergs (SN: 3/27/02).
2023-12-18 07:00:00
Original from www.sciencenews.org