Lead
NASA sent an expedition to Antarctica to discover that a crack in Antarctica caused a huge iceberg to float and melt, a huge iceberg of more than 1,300 square kilometers, the size of a large city, after three years of melting, its weight has dropped rapidly, and now it weighs 2 billion tons.
The fissure in the Antarctic continent is already more than 27 kilometers away, and this huge fissure has expanded to the edge of the Arctic Ocean, causing the melting of large icebergs, which part of the Antarctic continent is this?
Why is the weight of Antarctica dropping?
How are cracks formed?
What are the dangers of cracks?
1. Antarctica fissures.
The eastern glaciers of the Antarctic continent flow from the Arctic Ocean to Antarctica, and one of them is the largest glacier ever found in Antarctica.
The glacier has been named A-74 by NASA, and A-74 is a huge glacier shed from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, which is 1,300 square kilometers in size, and the surface of this glacier is very flat, but there is a huge glacier wall underneath.
Although the A-74 glacier is a huge glacier, it has a huge crisis, because after three years of melting, the weight of this glacier has dropped rapidly, and now it weighs 2 billion tons, and this huge crack is still moving forward.
The length of this fissure is more than 27 kilometers, and the fissure of this glacier is unimaginably huge, and this huge glacial fissure is still expanding, how did this glacial fissure in Antarctica form?
What are the dangers of this?
As we all know, the continent of Antarctica is the coldest region in the world, and the glaciers are also the place with the most glaciers, and the glaciers in Antarctica weigh 30 trillion tons, which is quite a huge number.
And since 2002, Antarctica has lost more than 100 cubic kilometers of ice every year, which is the most important reason for the discovery of cracks in Antarctica.
It is precisely because of such cracks that huge ice blocks such as icebergs continue to melt and float on the continents of Antarctica, and the melting of these huge ice blocks will cause the surface of Antarctica to melt, and the melting of the surface will lead to the weight of the continents of Antarctica, which is also the weight of the continents of Antarctica is constantly decreasing.
So how did this crack form?
Is it due to the fact that the glacier is too heavy, or is it due to something else?
2. The weight of the Antarctic continent is decreasing.
NASA sent an expedition to Antarctica to explore and make detailed measurements of Antarctica's glaciers, but when the expedition team explored Antarctica, the expedition team members found that there was a crack in the continent of Antarctica, and this huge crack was the crack in the Amundsen Sea in Antarctica.
The crack has expanded to a width of 180 kilometers, and the crack is still moving forward, and the length of the crack has exceeded 27 kilometers, and the crack is still expanding, and this huge crack has caused a huge iceberg to appear on the continent of Antarctica, the size of this iceberg is 1,300 square kilometers.
And this iceberg in the process of floating, is still melting, and this iceberg has been melting for 3 years, and the weight of this iceberg has dropped rapidly, now the weight of this iceberg has reached 2 billion tons, it is because this iceberg is melting too fast, so the expedition team began to make a detailed measurement of this iceberg.
And this iceberg was shed from a huge glacier in Antarctica, and the name of this huge glacier is A-74, and the glacier fissure in Antarctica is still expanding, and this fissure is still moving forward, which is why the weight of the A-74 glacier is decreasing, and there is also a theory that the weight of the glacier in Antarctica is too large.
As a result, cracks have appeared in the Antarctic continent, and these cracks are still expanding, which has also led to a continuous decrease in the weight of the Antarctic continent, but this statement is not very correct, because the cracks in the Antarctic continent will only bring about a decrease in the weight of the Antarctic continent, and will not cause the sea level of Antarctica to rise, but this statement is not very perfect.
Because it doesn't fully explain the cause of the opening of the Antarctic continental rift.
And the glacier fissures in Antarctica have another important role, that is, the glacial fissures can allow liquid water to flow quickly into the ice shelves of Antarctica, and these liquid water will cause the ice shelves of Antarctica to disintegrate quickly, so this statement is also not correct.
3. Glacier melt in Antarctica.
The glaciers of Antarctica are mainly distributed in the east and west of the Antarctic continent, and the glaciers of the Antarctic continent are mainly formed by the melting and freezing of snow and glaciers in Antarctica, and these glaciers are mainly transported from the interior of Antarctica to the seashores of Antarctica, and then flow into the ocean of Antarctica.
These glaciers are transported very slowly, and the ice that melts from the interior will melt again in the ocean, so the glaciers of Antarctica are formed from the melting of ice from the interior, and these ice blocks will melt in the oceans of Antarctica, so the weight of the Antarctic continent will continue to decrease as the glaciers of Antarctica melt.
At the same time, the weight of the Antarctic continent will continue to decrease as the glaciers in Antarctica melt, and as the melting rate of the glaciers continues to accelerate, this will also accelerate the weight decline of the Antarctic continent, so the weight of the Antarctic continent is mainly due to the cracks in the Antarctic continent.
And what are the dangers of the cracks on the continent of Antarctica?
Another important problem solved by the cracks on the Antarctic continent is that the melting of glaciers on the Antarctic continent will minimize the rate of melting of the glaciers, but because the cracks on the Antarctic continent are still expanding, the cracks still play an accelerated role in the melting of the glaciers on the Antarctic continent.
Moreover, the melting rate of glaciers in East Antarctica is relatively slow, while the melting rate of glaciers in West Antarctica is relatively fast, and the glaciers in West Antarctica also have the problem of ice shelf thinning, and the thinning of ice shelves will lead to the disintegration of ice shelves, which will lead to the disintegration of ice shelves behind, forming a vicious circle, which will accelerate the melting rate of glaciers on the continent of Antarctica.
At the same time, the cracks on the Antarctic continent will cause more ice to melt and float in the ocean, which will also cause the glaciers on the Antarctic continent to melt faster, and the melting glaciers will flow liquid water into the cracks, which will accelerate the disintegration of the ice shelves on the Antarctic continent.
epilogue
Although the melting of glaciers in Antarctica and the fissures on the continent of Antarctica will not directly lead to sea level rise in Antarctica, its impact on global sea level rise is also very large, so we need to strengthen the monitoring and research of glacier melting in Antarctica.