One of the largest glaciers on the planet, Totten, is melting due to
ocean warming, a phenomenon that demonstrates the vulnerability of East
Antarctica and its role in increasing the level of the oceans.
The
Totten glacier, 120 km long and 30 km wide, is one of the largest
glaciers on the planet and also one of the least understood glacier
systems, Steven Rintoul, head of a scientific expedition that is
measuring the waters below the ice cap, told Efe news agency.
The
Australian scientist clarified that these are the first measurements of
temperatures of the waters that surround Totten, located about 3,200 km
south of the Australian island of Tasmania, and it therefore would be
premature to imagine a link with climate change.
Rintoul said
that "East Antarctica is potentially more vulnerable to changes in the
ocean driven by climate change than we used to think", and can
contribute to the rise in the level of oceans in a manner still unknown.
Satellite
images had already proved that Totten was melting, but the study led by
Rintoul demonstrated the hypothesis that warm waters are melting it
from its foundations.
"We used to think the glaciers in East
Antarctica were unlikely to be affected by the ocean because they were a
long way away from the warm ocean waters," said Rintoul, referring to
the expedition that was able to reach the front of the glacier for the
first time to measure submarine waters.
Totten, moreover, sits on
a bedrock well below the sea level, exposing it more to the warm
waters, in a similar process that occurs in Antarctic areas south of
South America and which cannot be reversed.
The temperatures of
the water off the Totten at the time of the measurements was about four
degrees below zero, but the temperature much closer to the water base
was three degrees warmer than the freezing point, which depends on the
depth of the ocean, said the scientist.
Rintoul, leader of the Australian Antarctic Division expedition, clarified that the Totten will not melt away completely.
With
the samples in the laboratories, new studies and projects to develop
new measurement techniques, Rintoul hopes to determine in the future how
much glacial water is present in the seas and find the “chemical
signature†of Totten.
The expert is also trying to find out how
long the Antarctic waters can contribute to "draining" carbon dioxide
(CO2) out of the atmosphere.
According to Rintoul, the Antarctic
seas as absorbers of CO2 is definitely helpful, but it comes at a cost,
which is the acidification of the oceans.
Changes in the chemistry of the oceans have implications on marine life, among other ecosystem components. added the expert.
