Coastal cities – such as Miami and New Orleans – and even entire countries, such as Bangladesh, are threatened by melting glaciers.
Now, for the first time, there is visible evidence that seawater is seeping beneath the glacier ThwaitesWhich accelerates its dissolution. This glacier, nicknamed The glacier of the end of the world
Continent m at the global level”text”:A volume of ice equivalent to a sea level rise of 0.6 meters at the global level”}}”>The ice volume is equivalent to a global sea level rise of 0.6 metres
.
Authors of the study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Earlier this week, it used data from a constellation of satellites to reach these conclusions.
according to Christine DowOne of the report's authors said sea level rise was now inevitable. There is no possibility of escape at the moment.
The glacier in question is linked to West Antarctica. Its melting will have an impact that will be felt everywhere on the planet, especially in coastal cities, according to the woman. Daoholds the Canada Research Chair in Glacial Hydrology and Ice Dynamics and is attached to the University of Waterloo.
Problematic, from Miami to Bangladesh
This is very bad news for the glacier, because when there is seawater under the ice, it melts much faster than if there was seawater.
Explains Mrs. Dao. This melting will force sea levels to rise around the world.
The glacier is huge: its diameter is about 120 kilometers and covers an area of 192 thousand square kilometers.
According to mrs. DaoCoastal communities will be the first to see the effects of this phenomenon.
[Le mois dernier]New Orleans experienced major flooding. This area is very close to sea level, and other areas, like Miami or Bangladesh, would have a lot of problems, and of course the South Pacific islands, which are only a few meters above sea level.
In Bangladesh, floodwaters from northeastern India led to the collapse of a major dam in 2022.
Photo: AFP via Getty Images / –
Anytime there is more than a few centimeters, all of these areas will suffer. Vancouver will be next on the list. It is also not very far from sea level.
And it's not just about the impacts on coastal communities. This will affect ocean currents, which will affect the air above us, which will affect how the air above us moves and will affect rain and drought.
specify.
A constellation of satellites
The international team used data from the Finnish manufacturer of small satellites Icy In order to reach its conclusions.
ICEYE synthetic aperture radar satellite constellation in orbit.
Photo: Courtesy of ICEYE
ICEYE operates the world's first constellation of small synthetic aperture radar satellites”,”text”:ICEYE operates the world's first constellation of small synthetic aperture radar satellites”}}”>Icy It operates the world's first constellation of small synthetic aperture radar satellites
We read on the European Space Agency website. The constellation provides images from different angles several times daily for specific areas of interest.
In the past, researchers had access to the data only intermittently, explains Eric Renaud, the study's lead author and a professor of Earth system sciences at the University of California, Irvine, in a press release on the university's website.
With these few notes, it was difficult to understand what was happening. When we have a continuous time series and compare it to the tidal cycle, we see that seawater comes in at high tide and recedes, sometimes going deeper under the glacier and becoming trapped
he adds.
Mr. Regnot hopes that these results will lead to further research into the changes occurring under Antarctica's glaciers.
The scientific community is very excited to go to these remote polar regions to collect data and better understand what is happening there, but the funding is lacking
“, confirms Mr. Renaud.
In 2024, we have the same budget in real dollars as in previous years1990. We need to grow the community of glaciologists and physical oceanographers to answer these observational questions as soon as possible, but for now we are trying to climb Mount Everest in tennis shoes.”,text”:In 2024, we have the same budget in real dollars as we had The situation in the nineties. We need to grow the community of glaciologists and physical oceanographers to address these observational questions as soon as possible, but for now we are trying to climb Mount Everest in tennis shoes.In 2024, we have the same budget in real dollars as we did in the 1990s. We need to grow the community of glaciologists and physical oceanographers to address these observational questions as soon as possible, but for now we are trying to climb Mount Everest with tennis. shoes.
With information from CBC
“Hardcore beer fanatic. Falls down a lot. Professional coffee fan. Music ninja.”
More Stories
Available for less than €25, the Android TV Box is causing panic on the web
More Android and less Linux in ChromeOS's future
When sponges did not have skeletons