February 24, 2022
March 23, 2022
In March 2022, old sea ice crumbled away as new ice formed off the coast of Antarcticas Marie Byrd Land.
Near Land Glacier in West Antarctica, a location of old sea ice broke up as brand-new ice formed in March. Around the exact same time, part of the glaciers ice tongue collapsed away.
Michael Lowe, an analyst at the U.S. National Ice Center who pointed out the modifications, has been closely enjoying this part of the Antarctic coastline, known as Marie Byrd Land. “Ive had my eye on that location over the previous 2 months as a large location of older quick ice began to break apart,” Lowe said. “When comparing two SAR images from consecutive days I saw that the tip of the Land Glacier was starting to separate.”
The changes are also obvious in this pair of natural-color images acquired on February 24 and March 23, 2022, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra and Aqua satellites, respectively.
The February image displays a large expanse of sea ice fastened to the edge of the shoreline, and to the Land Glaciers ice tongue and icebergs. “This quick ice then helps anchor those bergs and glaciers as it thickens into old ice over years.”
However current research study using satellite observations revealed that fast ice around parts of Antarctica, consisting of off the coast of Marie Byrd Land, has actually been reducing considering that MODIS records started around 2000. Still, a considerable patch remained at the time of the February image. By March, much of this old quick ice had actually broken apart.
According to Frazer Christie, a glacier geophysicist at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, the loss of fast ice may have had further effects. It is possible, he said, that the fast evacuation of quick ice between February and March, in addition to the longer-term losses, may have contributed to the rifting and supreme calving of Land Glaciers ice tongue.
Christie points to a comparable circumstances at the fast-flowing Totten Glacier in East Antarctica. There, losses of seasonal fast ice have actually triggered the glaciers front to speed up by as much as 100 meters annually. “An increasing body of research has begun to show the essential function sea ice plays in caking together and buttressing both ice tongues and ice shelves,” he stated.
Notification in the March image that the icebergs appear to be turning west into the direction of the remaining sea ice. Christie described that the bergs are being brought in addition to the Antarctic Coastal Current, which streams westward around the continent parallel to the coastline. The Coriolis effect will also influence the bergs flow, deflecting them towards the left of their course.
Iceberg calving is a natural process for glaciers that terminate in the ocean. “While Land Glacier has actually been observed to pull away, thin, and accelerate recently, there is no proof to recommend that its current calving is associated with anthropogenically required environment modification,” Christie stated. “Instead, its behavior probably shows the natural calving lifecycle common to all Antarctic ice shelves and marine terminating glaciers.” The glacier last lost a comparable amount of drifting ice during the austral winter season of 2004.
Another phase in the natural lifecycle of sea ice is noticeable in the March image: the development of brand-new sea ice. New ice that appears streaky is lining up with the direction of surface area winds; ice that shows a swirling pattern is most likely being pushed around by winds and ocean flow patterns, or “eddies.”.
As the next few winter and summer seasons go and come, researchers wonder to see what ends up being of the glacier, icebergs, and sea ice off this part of Marie Byrd Land. Lowe added: “Well be enjoying to see if the bergs that broke off the Land Glacier ground and enable a new location of old quick ice to form over the next couple of years, restabilizing this location.”.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Kathryn Hansen with input from Christopher Shuman (UMBC/GSFC), Michael Lowe (USNIC), and Frazer Christie (U. Cambridge).
Near Land Glacier in West Antarctica, a location of old sea ice broke up as new ice formed in March. The February image displays a huge area of sea ice secured to the edge of the shoreline, and to the Land Glaciers ice tongue and icebergs. “This quick ice then helps anchor those bergs and glaciers as it thickens into old ice over years.”
“An increasing body of research has actually begun to show the essential role sea ice plays in hardening together and buttressing both ice tongues and ice shelves,” he said.
Another phase in the natural lifecycle of sea ice is noticeable in the March image: the development of new sea ice.