A massive ice-covered lake in Antarctica vanished within days, raising alarm bells in the scientific community over the dangerous trends of climate change and global warming. The event that occurred in 2019 on Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica was only noticed in satellite images.
Scientists believe that an estimated 21 billion to 26 billion cubic feet of water that drained into the ocean could raise sea levels. The lake vanished within three days after the ice shelf underneath collapsed. In the winter of 2019 on the Amery Ice Shelf, the third-largest ice shelf on the continent, around 21 billion to 26 billion cubic feet (600 million to 750 million cubic meters) drained really quickly into the ocean. The lake’s disappearing act was noticed the following summer when scientists were looking at satellite photos of the region. The findings are chronicled in a new study. Researchers said that surface melting over Antarctica’s floating ice shelves is predicted to increase significantly during the coming decades, but the implications for their stability are unknown. The Antarctica peninsula has been witnessing significant melting driven ice shelf collapses as researchers try to understand how meltwater forms, flows and alters the surface, and that rapid water-driven changes are not limited to the summer season alone.
