A team led by researchers from the University Of Minnesota Twin Cities has revealed, for the first time, that landslides could have a profound effect on glaciers. Using satellite imagery to study the effects of the 2019 Earthquake at Amalia Glacier in the Patagonia region of Chile, researchers have found that landslides have caused ice to grow in size and have since slowed down its melting process.
This information can help scientists to predict accurately the size of future glaciers and to better understand the dangers posed by glaciers and landslides. The study was published in Geology, a peer-reviewed geoscience journal published by the Geological Society of America.
Glaciologists have been monitoring the glaciers for decades for global warming. The 150-square-kilometer Amalia Glacier has been steadily declining – or losing ice and getting smaller – less than 10 miles [100 km] in the last 100 years. Until now, the effect of the landslide on the organization had been largely unknown.
A team of researchers led by the University of Minnesota found that after the 2019 earthquake in question, the Amalia Glacier immediately began to “improve” or grow faster. Although their flow has dropped to half their pre-earthquake speed, over the past three years the ice has grown by about 1,000 feet [1,000 m].
“These landslides are quite common,” explains Max Van Wyk de Vries, lead author of the study and recent Ph.D. graduated from the University of Minnesota in N.H. Winchell School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. “If they could stabilize glaciers, that could affect predicting how great glaciers will be in the future as these glaciers become smaller, they cause sea levels to rise.
The researchers found that landslides pushed ice away from the glacier downstream, causing it to develop rapidly and even in size. Then, sediment and rock from the landslide form where the glacier at the seafloor, prevents the glaciers from bursting into the sea and effectively sustains the ice.
The study also gave researchers an idea of ​​how close proximity to glaciers can unfortunately improve the impact of landslides on neighboring communities.
“The combination of glaciers and landslides could be very dangerous,” said Van Wyk de Vries, recipient of CSE at the University of Minnesota’s CSE and Doctoral Dissertation fellowships. “Glaciers can allow landslides to flow and flow more efficiently than they once did. in these snowy, high mountains. “
Using satellite imagery has allowed researchers to monitor the movement of ice in real time without being on the site. In the future, this method can often be used to monitor glaciers in remote areas. A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota, along with other scientists, are currently studying satellite data from the last 20-30 years to see if they can detect previously unprecedented landslides occurring on ice platforms. They aim to expand their data collection to better understand the situation.
Source Journal Reference: Maximillian Van Wyk de Vries, Andrew D. Wickert, Kelly R. MacGregor, Camilo Rada, Michael J. Willis. Atypical landslide induces speedup, advance, and long-term slowdown of a tidewater glacier. Geology, 2022; DOI: 10.1130/G49854.1
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