TORONTO – Scientists believe that a giant crater found beneath Antarctica’s surface was created when a lake suddenly drained.
Antarctica holds lakes of fresh water beneath the ice sheet that covers the vast continent. Scientists are seeking to better understand how water is transported as well as the dynamics of the ice beneath the surface.
Instead of drilling through kilometres of ice, the scientists used a remote-sensing satellite called Cryosat together with older data from NASA’s ICESat.
The Arctic and Antarctic ice are two places where the effects of climate change and global warming are most felt. Scientists are studying the ice sheets at both poles in order to understand the effects of climate change.
Using the data from the satellites, scientists found that from 2007 to 2008, six cubic kilometres of water drained from the lake — the largest drainage ever recorded. The amount of water is about one-tenth of the melting that occurs beneath the Antarctic surface each year.
The lake is refilling, but six times slower than it drained, which could take decades to reform. When lakes drain, they can cause the ice above to slide into the sea much quicker.
Though this is the largest type of event recorded, scientists have determined that due to its very quick draining and refilling, this is not the first time the lake has drained.
About 400 lakes have been discovered beneath the Antarctic surface.
The results of the study were published in the Geophysical Research Letters.
Comments