• Scienmag
  • Contcat Us
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Thousands of meltwater lakes mapped on the east Antarctic ice sheet

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
September 26, 2019
in Biology
0

IMAGE

Credit: Nicholas Bayou, UNAVCO.

The number of meltwater lakes on the surface of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is more significant than previously thought, according to new research.

A study led by Durham University, UK, discovered more than 65,000 supraglacial lakes using high-resolution satellite imagery covering five million square kilometres of the ice sheet, including areas where surface melting was previously thought to be less intense.

This is the first time that researchers have been able to map the widespread distribution of lakes across a vast area of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet – the world’s largest ice mass – within a single melt year.

Although most of the ice sheet is incredibly cold, with temperatures plummeting to below -40 degrees Celsius in winter, summer temperatures can often reach above zero and cause surface melting. The study shows that meltwater lakes are forming in most coastal areas of the ice sheet, suggesting that East Antarctica could be more susceptible to the effects of a warming climate than previously thought.

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The researchers looked at satellite images acquired in January 2017 during the East Antarctic Ice Sheet’s summer melt season.

The images showed that meltwater lakes often cluster just a few kilometres from where the ice sheet begins to float on the sea, but some can exist hundreds of kilometres inland and at quite high elevations, up to 1,000m.

About 60 per cent of lakes develop on floating ice shelves, including some potentially at risk of collapse if the meltwater lakes become large enough to cause fracturing and drain through the ice.

This new study allowed the researchers to see where lakes are forming in the highest densities due to surface melting and which parts of the ice sheet might be most vulnerable to climate change.

Many of the lakes were the size of a standard swimming pool while the largest measured over 70 square kilometres.

Lead author Professor Chris Stokes, in the Department of Geography, Durham University, said: “We’ve known for some time that lakes are forming in East Antarctica, but we were surprised at quite how many had formed and all around the ice sheet margin.

“The density of lakes in some regions is similar to the densities we’ve observed on the Greenland Ice Sheet and on the Antarctic Peninsula, which are generally viewed as much warmer.

“It’s concerning because we know that in other areas large numbers of lakes draining can fracture apart floating ice shelves, causing the inland ice to speed-up.”

The researchers said the number of lakes mapped was a minimum as some small lakes might have been missed, while others might have been bigger in December or February.

Professor Stokes added: “This dataset should help us better understand why lakes are forming where they are and that will help us predict how the distribution of lakes will change in the future, especially if air temperatures warm. Whilst there is no imminent threat to the stability of the ice sheet, our study has shown which areas we should be keeping an eye on over the next few years and beyond.”

Co-author Dr Amber Leeson, of the Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, UK, said: “At the opposite end of the Earth, we’ve seen Greenland’s population of supraglacial lakes spread inland as air temperatures have risen, and we’re concerned about the potential implications for enhanced melting and ice loss there. Until recently we assumed that East Antarctica was too cold to be similarly vulnerable, but this work shows that there may be closer parallels here to our observations on Greenland than previously thought.”

Co-author Dr Stewart Jamieson, in the Department of Geography, Durham University, said: “At a time where the pressure to act on climate change is increasing, it’s more important than ever to establish baseline measurements against which future change can be compared – this study will enable just that in relation to surface melting at the edges of the world’s largest ice sheet.”

###

The satellite imagery used in the study was obtained from the United States Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation Science Centre and the Copernicus Open Access Hub.

The research was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.
ENDS

Media Contact
Leighton Kitson
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50343-5

Tags: Climate ChangeClimate ScienceEarth ScienceEcology/EnvironmentGeographyOceanographyTemperature-Dependent Phenomena

Related Posts

IMAGE
Biology

Could dark carbon be hiding the true scale of ocean ‘dead zones’?

by Bioengineer
December 10, 2019
IMAGE
Biology

Clemson geneticists identify small molecules that are potential indicators for disease

by Bioengineer
December 10, 2019
IMAGE
Biology

Scientists accidentally discover a new water mold threatening Christmas trees

by Bioengineer
December 9, 2019

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    Scientists find eternal Nile to be more ancient than previously thought

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What felled the great Assyrian Empire? A Yale professor weighs in

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Scientists discover how the molecule-sorting station in our cells is formed and maintained

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nearly extreme black holes which attempt to regrow hair become bald again

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Early DNA lineages shed light on the diverse origins of the contemporary population

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
ADVERTISEMENT

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent Posts

  • Lyme disease claim lines increased 117% from 2007 to 2018
  • Making robots more perceptive
  • Could dark carbon be hiding the true scale of ocean ‘dead zones’?
  • Clemson geneticists identify small molecules that are potential indicators for disease

Tags

Aging Agriculture Atmospheric Science Behavior Biochemistry Biodiversity Biology Biomedical/Environmental/Chemical Engineering Biotechnology cancer Cardiology Cell Biology Chemistry/Physics/Materials Sciences Climate Change Clinical Trials Computer Science Earth Science Ecology/Environment Electrical Engineering/Electronics Evolution Genes Genetics Health Care Health Care Systems/Services Health Professionals Immunology/Allergies/Asthma Infectious/Emerging Diseases Marine/Freshwater Biology Materials Medicine/Health Mental Health Microbiology Molecular Biology Nanotechnology/Micromachines neurobiology Nutrition/Nutrients Pediatrics Pharmaceutical Science Physiology Plant Sciences Public Health Research/Development Social/Behavioral Science Technology/Engineering/Computer Science Zoology/Veterinary Science
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In