web counter
LEXO PA REKLAMA!

SHKARKO APP

App Store
Google Play

Why are Tidewater glaciers retreating at breakneck speed?

2023-09-10 16:50:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Why are Tidewater glaciers retreating at breakneck speed?

Research from Oregon State University has revealed a possible reason for the glaciers' rapid retreat.

The findings, recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience, show that glacier ice, filled with pockets of pressurized air, melts significantly faster than bubble-free sea ice or the artificial ice commonly used to study melting rates.

Tidewater glaciers are retreating rapidly, the authors say, resulting in loss of ice mass in Greenland, the Antarctic Peninsula and other glaciated regions around the globe.

Glacial ice results from the compaction of snow. Air pockets between snowflakes are trapped in pores between ice crystals as ice makes its way from the top layer of a glacier to its depths. There are about 200 bubbles per cubic centimeter, which means that glacier ice is about 10% air.

Laboratory-scale experiments conducted in this study suggest that bubbles may explain some of the difference between observed and predicted glacier melt rates.

Right now, data from NASA attributes about 60% of sea level rise to meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets. 





Lajmet e fundit nga