Glacier | Common News Update

Apr112021 by adminNo Comments

Scientists measure ocean currents underneath ‘Doomsday Glacier’

Science

April 9 (UPI) -- For the first time, climate scientists have measured ocean conditions beneath Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier, sometimes called the "Doomsday Glacier." The fresh observations, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, show Thwaites is exposed to larger amounts of warm water than previously estimated. Advertisement Thwaites is thought to be one of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's most vulnerable glaciers, its location and structure making it especially susceptible to influxes of warm, salty water. In recent years, scientists have watched its grounding line recede and its height shrink as melting rates accelerate. To better understand the vulnerabilities of the glacier's underbelly, scientists sent a remote-controlled submersible named Ran beneath the ice shelf to inve...

Feb92021 by adminNo Comments

Rescuers look for survivors of Indian glacier flood disaster

Technology

Hundreds of rescue workers were scouring muck-filled ravines and valleys in northern India for survivors after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off, sending a devastating flood downriver that has left at least 31 people dead and 165 missingBy RISHABH R. JAIN Associated PressFebruary 9, 2021, 8:00 AM• 2 min readShare to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleJOSHIMATH, India -- Hundreds of rescue workers were scouring muck-filled ravines and valleys in northern India on Tuesday looking for survivors after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off, unleashing a devastating flood that has left at least 31 people dead and 165 missing.One of the rescue efforts is focused on a tunnel at a hydroelectric power plant where more than three dozen workers have been out of contact since the flood occur...

Sep92020 by adminNo Comments

Thwaites: ‘Doomsday Glacier’ vulnerability seen in new maps

Science

Scientists may just have identified Thwaites Glacier's Achilles heel. This Antarctic colossus is melting at a rapid rate, dumping billions of tonnes of ice in the ocean every year and pushing up global sea-levels. Now, a UK-US team has surveyed the deep seafloor channels in front of the glacier that almost certainly provide the access for warm water to infiltrate and attack Thwaites' underside.It's information that will be used to try to predict the ice stream's future."These channels had not been mapped before in this kind of detail, and what we've discovered is that they're actually much bigger than anyone thought - up to 600m deep. Think of six football pitches back to back," said Dr Kelly Hogan from the British Antarctic Sur...

Jan282020 by adminNo Comments

Antarctica melting: Journey to the ‘doomsday’ glacier

Science

The images are murky at first.Sediment sweeps past the camera as Icefin, a bright yellow remotely operated robot submarine, moves tentatively forward under the ice.Then the waters begin to clear.Icefin is under almost half a mile (600m) of ice, at the front of one the fastest-changing large glaciers in the world. Suddenly a shadow looms above, an overhanging cliff of dirt-encrusted ice.It doesn't look like much, but this is a unique image - the first ever pictures from a frontier that is changing our world.Icefin has reached the point at which the warm ocean water meets the wall of ice at the front of the mighty Thwaites glacier - the point where this vast body of ice begins to melt. The ...

Dec122019 by adminNo Comments

Denman Glacier: Deepest point on land found in Antarctica

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your device The deepest point on continental Earth has been identified in East Antarctica, under Denman Glacier.This ice-filled canyon reaches 3.5km (11,500ft) below sea level. Only in the ocean are the valleys deeper still.The discovery is illustrated in a new map of the White Continent that reveals the shape of the bedrock under the ice sheet in unprecedented detail.Its features will be critical to our understanding of how the polar south might change in the future.For comparison, the lowest exposed land on Earth, at the Dead Sea shore, is just 413m (1,355ft) below sea level.The new finding shows, for example, previously unrecognised ridges that will impede the retreat of melting glaciers in a warming world; ...