Something strange is happening in Antarctica. Recently, scientists have noticed in the icy thickness of a huge hole the size of a mountain lake – and still can not figure out the reason for its appearance. Of course, all kinds of cracks and dips in the ice cover occur constantly, and often have the form of polynyas. But in this case, the phenomenon is unique for two reasons: it is too large for a conventional dip and, moreover, is too far from warm ocean waters.
Atmospheric physicist Kent Moore especially stresses that the giant hole appeared in “hundreds of kilometers from the ice edge”. According to him, geologists would never know about the existence of an anomaly without satellites. Usually a polynyas appears when a stream of warm water from the ocean undermines the ice, causing it to crack and melt. But in this case, no “warm waters” can not be said. Moreover, this anomaly was already noticed in the same place earlier – last year and in the 1970s. This means that failure has a kind of repetitive character – one of the clues that will allow scientists to understand what is happening.
Fragment of the image from the satellite, on which the anomaly is clearly visible
If they manage to find out the causes of this phenomenon, then, probably, they will be able to make a forecast about how Antarctica will change over the next few years. The continent is changing rapidly, glaciers are melting on it and volcanoes are awakening, which makes it difficult to identify common trends. Probably, in the future, researchers will still be able to compile a general picture from disparate sources of information.
