Antarctic Lakes
Scientists studying the effect of global warming on melting of polar ice sheets have discovered a network of lakes beneath the huge West Antarctic ice sheet. The data will help them understand the behavior of Antarctica's fast-moving ice streams, which are believed to play a major role in rising sea levels.
Scientists have been examining three year's worth of satellite data, which shows a huge amount of water stored in a linked system of reservoirs underneath the ice sheets. The data also shows the water is moving quickly into and out of those reservoirs.
Glaciologists have known for a long time that water exists under ice flows, but the surprising thing about the recent discovery is the amount of water involved and its pace of movement from one reservoir to another.
Scientists thought changes took place over years and decades, but are now seeing large changes over months. Now they believe a continuous monitoring of the ice streams is required to completely understand the complex variation of the subglacial water system on longer time-scale. The data was gathered by NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) from 2003 to 2006.
February 16, 2007 6:43 AM | Category: Global Warming, Technology