Lakes Forming In Antarctica Is Compared With Greenland, Scientists Are Alarmed

The mainland of Antarctica, Antarctic Peninsula, shows fast atmospheric warming. Researchers are concerned about the fast melting of ice and the tornado-like flow pattern is forming underwater.

Between 2000 and 2013, an estimate of 8,000 lakes have been formed at Langhovde Glacier in East Antarctica. A team of researchers have analyzed hundreds of satellite images that show supraglacial or meltwater lakes, which are now melting or draining below the floating ice. Aside from that, these scientists have also recognized two kinds of ice forms that are changing by the moment. Slabs of thick ice, called ice shelves, form when a glacier of ice flows down a coastline. And the other one is a massive chunk of glacier ice, called an ice sheet, is observed covering an area of land wider than 50,000 square kilometers.

Scientists claim that if the pace of the ice melt continues, there would be a big chance that Greenland's fate would also happen to Antartica. And this observation is what really gets the scientists involved in the study very alarmed.

The same people who studied Greenland are also studying the Langhovde Glacier in East Antarctica. This study was led by Emily Langley together with Jamieson, Chris Stokes, and Amber Leeson. According to Washington Post, Jamieson said that "What we find is that the appearance of these lakes, unsurprisingly, is correlated directly with the air temperature in the region, and so the maximum number of lakes, and the total area of the lakes, as well as the depth of the lakes, all of these things peak when the air temperatures peak." 

Meanwhile, lead author of the study, Emily Langley, sent an e-mail to Gizmodo, saying "It's a bit early to say whether East Antarctica's fresh summer look is going to mean trouble in the long-term. We do not think that the lakes on Langhovde Glacier are at present affecting the glacier, but it will be important to monitor these in the future to see how they evolve with surface air temperature changes."

Although the scientists are yet to confirm the results of their further study, it is but sure that the melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica are the result of global warming. Global sea levels will rise up to hundreds of feet if Antarctica will melt totally. If this pursues, this would be alarming not only to the scientists, but also to the people who lives nearby that can be affected by the unexpected and drastic sea level rise.