Stripes crucial to understanding movement of large glaciers in Antarctica
Researchers have found stripes of rock and dust, which act like no-slip strips used on floors, that are preventing and slowing the movement of ice from Antarctic glaciers toward the sea. The stripes are providing friction
and hindering the flow of this ice over the underlying bedrock and sediment. Researchers from Princeton University and the British Antarctic Survey used mathematical models to locate these ribs, dubbed tiger stripes in reference to Princeton's mascot, which occur in the slippery regions of a glacier.
The researchers studied the Pine Island Glacier and the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, which together contributed about 10 percent of the observed sea-level rise over the past 20 years, despite their small areas. The Pine Island Glacier moves at a velocity of about 1.5 miles per year, according to the researchers.
"The ribs may play an important role in buffering the effects of a warming climate, since they slow the movement of ice that reaches the ocean and contributes to sea-level rise," said Sergienko, an associate research scientist at Princeton. "These changes can happen independently of climate change, too."
Surveying the bottom of the ice is nearly impossible as it is over a mile-and-a-half thick, so the researchers used satellite measurements of the ice velocity and and ground-penetrating radar to detect the topography of the bedrock.The data pointed to the presence of these stripes and validated what Richard Hindmarsh, a scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, theorized years earlier.
Source: UPI
GMT 14:48 2018 Wednesday ,17 January
The Romanian sheep nibbling away at US securityGMT 13:45 2018 Tuesday ,16 January
China races to prevent environmental disasterGMT 13:59 2018 Sunday ,14 January
Sea levels off Dutch coast highest ever recordedGMT 17:34 2018 Saturday ,13 January
Dozens still unaccounted for in California mudslidesGMT 12:35 2018 Friday ,12 January
Campaigners slam UK plans on cutting plastic wasteGMT 14:12 2018 Wednesday ,10 January
Alpine air at work? Delhi eyes novel ways to battle smogGMT 15:37 2018 Tuesday ,09 January
2017 the costliest year in US history for natural disastersGMT 15:30 2018 Tuesday ,09 January
Power stacked against SE Asia's poor as China dams MekongMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor