Scientists in New Zealand are blowing up ice as an experiment to reveal as to how will ice shelves in Antarctica respond to warming planet. A team whose leader is David Prio, a professor at University of Otago have spent three weeks at Terra Nova Bay, for this research project.
The main aim of this research was to find out as to what controlled ice deformation and how the ice sheets at Antarctica respond to changes in temperatures or ice shelf edge shift.
Global sea level rise has been taking place due to increase in the ice flow from the lands of Antarctica and Greenland. It is apparent that Climate Change which has been the cause of it, however, it was not certain as to how rapidly would the sea level see a rise.
The driver of ice flow has been ice deformation wherein fast-moving Priestley Glacier ended up meeting slow-moving ice at the shear margin.
The project took a deeper look at what drilling holes in the glacier, along with placing explosives in them, and letting them off would do. The data that was gathered by them was almost flawless except a few surprises that came their way.
A definitive objective was to most likely anticipate how quick ice stream would react to warming temperatures and stress changes identified with ice shelf breakdown.
Antarctica stores an identical 60m of potential ocean level ascent, and researchers have cautioned that what may unfurl over coming centuries may be resolved in only a couple of decades, when and if a "tipping point" is crossed.
Antarctica New Zealand boss logical consultant Dr Fiona Shanhun said the work wouldn't have been possible without help from the Korean Polar Research Institute.
"The group remained at Jang Bogo Station which is the Korean base in Terra Nova Bay, about 350km north of Scott Base," she said.
This joint effort shows the significance of working with other nations' projects to all the more likely comprehend ice elements in a warming world, she said.
Image and Story Credit:nzherald