Scientists have discovered an abundance of water hidden in the Antarctic ice sheet that could improve our understanding of how it could affect ocean levels around the world. The new findings confirm what researchers have already suspected.
Researchers estimate that if the water is concentrated, it will build a reservoir from 700 feet [220 to 820 m]. This water was not enough to immerse the statue of Unity, 182 feet [182 m] high.
The team was able to capture just one such snow in a cold world, but we suspect that there is something else that can enlighten us about how the system works and how it changes over time due to the weather. They make measurements of Whillans Ice Stream.
The findings published in the journal Science mean that this groundwater, stretching less than a kilometer, contains 10 times the volume of the liquid than the shallow hydrologic system above. The study was led by researchers from the Scripps Oceanography and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
“Ice streams are important because they draw about 90 percent of Antarctic ice from the interior to the extremities,” said Chloe Gustafson, a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, adding that there is probably groundwater below the Antarctic ice streams.
Underground dams are hidden
Scientists have long speculated about the existence of large amounts of groundwater in the Antarctic ice sheet and have thought about its effect on the planet’s functioning. However, they could not measure the volume of these parks.
The latest measurement was made in the 2018-2019 field season with a ground-based geophysical electromagnetic (EM) system called magneto tellurics. Researchers have used the earth’s magnetic field and magnetic field to measure the earth’s surface.
Electrical techniques used to indicate shallow groundwater in the area of more than 100 to 200 meters (328 to 656 feet) beneath small glaciers and permanent glaciers. In this case the team used technology to measure about 800 meters in the Willans Ice Stream. “This procedure is generally not used in tropical areas. This is a good demonstration of the power of this process and how much it can bring to our knowledge not only in Antarctica, but also in Greenland and other icy lands, ”said study author Helen Amanda Fricker. The team took a photo from the snow to about 5 km and even deeper and the data confirmed the presence of thick soil buried beneath the ice and snow.
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