Below the Antarctic ice sheet are many rivers and lakes, with the upper ice sheet below, the flow of heat from the Earth’s interior below, and the small amount of heat generated by the melting of ice.

Posted by Conversation Website Article —Written February 10 by Hu Joseph Horgan, Associate Professor of Geophysical Glacier at Victoria University, Wellington, and Craig Stevens, Professor of Ocean Physics at the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research. Explain how ice-covered rivers in Antarctica play an important role in sea level rise.

What happens to the snow?

In that article, he explained that water acts as a slippery substance beneath the ice and allows ice to move toward the ocean at speeds of several hundred meters per year, as water exits from the bottom of the ice and enters the cold and salt pores beneath the ice, which are floating extensions of the ice around the continent.

The water here mixes and releases nutrients and sediments and melts the bottom of the ice sheets, which act as struts to block the flow of ice, and understanding how these processes may occur in the coming centuries will be a key factor in understanding the oceans, ”say researchers, unfortunately, Is one of the less explored areas.

The researchers added, “Our New Zealand Antarctic science project is the first direct study of the Antarctic sub-glacier river, and indicates that these sub-glacial rivers form shores when they flow into the ocean, at 82.5 ° S, hidden below 500 m. .

Using hot water, the team was able to drill a 500 m ice shelf and open a hole 0.4 m in diameter (change)

Exploring a river beneath the ice

Our team has just returned from a camp ice stream in the western Antarctic Glacier (WAIS), and researchers say “the camp is a sleeping giant.”

The massive camp Escarpment, which is rapidly losing ice, is located on the Dwights Glacier (or “Doomsday”) from the western Antarctic Glacier, and the camp may have flown faster in the past, stopping that flow about 160 years ago. Years due to changes in the way water is distributed at the bottom of the ice.

Although the camp area is not currently subject to sea warming, ice loss is currently higher than anywhere else in Antarctica, and changes in the camp are believed to forecast major changes in the glaciers and oceans. Of Antarctica.

One challenge is that glaciers respond to external changes, such as rising sea temperatures, but also to internal changes that are difficult to predict, such as flooding when the banks of rivers and lakes beneath the ice fill with water. To explore the rivers beneath the ice, the researchers said, “There’s an art to digging Antarctic ice. In fact, we carry hot, recycled water.”

Scientists struggled with high winds and temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius. The meter diameter will be open for two weeks. Roughly speaking, it has allowed the modeling and monitoring of a wide variety of scientific projects.

Ice vent studies revealed a river more than 240 m high and less than 200 m wide (change)

Hidden river

Studies of more than 240 meters in height and glacial craters revealed that this was more interesting than initially thought. Width less than 200 m.m – The surface is much narrower than indicated by the icy terrain.

According to the researchers, “working from an ice hole can only be searched in one place. To overcome this obstacle, colleagues at Cornell University used their marine robot” Icefin “to study under the ice. Installs devices under ice that allow researchers to measure properties such as salinity and temperature.

5 days after the instrument was activated, researchers detected a tsunami since the eruption of the Hong Tonga-Hung Habai volcano. In addition to the basic observations, these findings provide strong impetus for the implementation of the long-term monitoring tool. And the team will closely monitor any changes in the flow of the glacier in the coming years, including flood events.