Researchers are trying to figure out just how global warming will impact the Antarctica ice and are looking at Greenland for clues -- and what they found was rather surprising.
An international team has been looking into how changes have affected the Greenland ice sheet — and what they found was pretty amazing with broader implications for Antarctica.
Researchers were looking into how those changes would contribute to future sea level rises, as every summer, air temperatures in Greenland get to the point where it’s warm enough to melt ice on the surface, according to University of Tasmania Professor Matt King as quoted in an ABC (Australia) report.
This melting results in melt water that forms lots of ground-level lakes, which drain through the ice. This happens when cracks open in the ice, causing the lakes to drain suddenly within hours, as water cascades to the bottom of the ice sheet, causing ice to flow into the sea and sending sea levels rising.
King and the rest of the team using a network of Global Positioning Systems position around a lake to watch what happens, and in three years, they captured three events of a massive lake-draining event, and were able to watch how the ice moves.
One interesting thing about their observations is that the ice lifted up a little bit before the lake drained — meaning that water from someplace else was lifting the ice, causing it to flex so crevices could form on the surface of the ice sheet.
As air temperatures get even warmer, King said expect more lakes to form — although their contribution to the total rise in sea levels may not be the great, since as temperatures rise, the lakes will likely form farther into the Greenland ice sheet.
It sheds light into what we kind of changes we can expect as Antarctica’s melting intensifies with temperatures rising, which will play a significant role in future sea level rises.
Their findings were published in the journal Nature.
