Video Experimental Relacionado
Updated: May 7, 2026
13:38
Laser-Induced Fluorescence Emission (L.I.F.E.) as Novel Non-Invasive Tool for In-Situ Measurements of Biomarkers in Cryospheric Habitats
Published on: October 26, 2019
Canalizar el derretimiento del hielo en la capa límite del océano debajo del glaciar Pine Island, Antártida
T P Stanton1, W J Shaw, M Truffer
1Department of Oceanography, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA 93943, USA. stanton@nps.edu
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|September 14, 2013
Resumen
Las plataformas de hielo del glaciar Pine Island se están derritiendo desde abajo debido al calentamiento del océano. Este estudio revela que los canales basales derriten rápidamente el ápice de la plataforma de hielo, lo que afecta la estabilidad de la capa de hielo antártica.
Área de la Ciencia:
- Glaciología glaciología.
- Oceanografía La oceanografía es la oceanografía.
- Investigación en la Antártida Investigación antártica.
Sus antecedentes:
- Las plataformas de hielo son críticas para la estabilidad de la capa de hielo de la Antártida al apuntalar los glaciares.
- Pine Island Glacier (PIG) es un importante glaciar de salida de la capa de hielo de la Antártida Occidental que experimenta un rápido adelgazamiento y aceleración.
- El forzamiento térmico oceánico es un factor clave en el debilitamiento de la plataforma de hielo.
Objetivo del estudio:
- Para investigar los procesos de fusión impulsados por el océano debajo de la plataforma de hielo del glaciar Pine Island.
- Para entender el papel de los canales basales en el adelgazamiento de la plataforma de hielo.
- Evaluar el impacto del derretimiento basal en la estabilidad de la capa de hielo de la Antártida Occidental.
Principales métodos:
- Estudios geofísicos de la plataforma de hielo.
- Despliegue de instrumentos oceanográficos a largo plazo a través de pozos en la cavidad de la plataforma de hielo.
- Análisis de las tasas de fusión dentro de los canales basales.
Principales resultados:
- Se identificó una capa límite impulsada por la flotabilidad dentro de un canal basal.
- El ápice del canal experimenta un rápido derretimiento a una velocidad de 0,06 metros por día.
- Se observaron tasas de fusión cercanas a cero a lo largo de los flancos del canal.
- Los complejos patrones de canales prevalecen en toda la plataforma de hielo del glaciar Pine Island.
Conclusiones:
- El derretimiento del canal basal contribuye significativamente al adelgazamiento de la plataforma de hielo del glaciar Pine Island.
- El derretimiento inducido por el calentamiento de los océanos en los canales basales representa una amenaza para la estabilidad de la plataforma de hielo.
- Comprender estos procesos de fusión es crucial para predecir la futura pérdida de hielo antártico y el aumento del nivel del mar.
Videos de Conceptos Relacionados
02:39Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...
01:50Global Climate Change
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
02:33Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
Some solids can transition directly into the gaseous state, bypassing the liquid state, via a process known as sublimation. At room temperature and standard pressure, a piece of dry ice (solid CO2) sublimes, appearing to gradually disappear without ever forming any liquid. Snow and ice sublimate at temperatures below the melting point of water, a slow process that may be accelerated by winds and the reduced atmospheric pressures at high altitudes. When solid iodine is warmed, the solid sublimes...
01:27Microbes and Climate Change
Microorganisms are pivotal agents in Earth's biogeochemical cycles, significantly influencing climate dynamics through their metabolic activities. These microbes modulate the levels of key greenhouse gases by both contributing to and helping mitigate climate change.Microbial Contributions to Greenhouse Gas EmissionsRising global temperatures accelerate microbial metabolism, which, in turn, speeds up the decomposition of organic matter. This process releases carbon dioxide (CO₂) through...
01:30Marine Microbial Ecology
Marine microbial ecosystems are shaped by distinct physicochemical limits, including high salinity, low nutrient availability, and fluctuating oxygen levels. These conditions favor smaller microbial cell sizes, which maximize their surface-to-volume ratio for efficient nutrient uptake.Microbial activity and community composition are closely linked to biogeochemical cycles, particularly in dynamic environments like estuaries, where halotolerant microbes thrive in response to variable salinity...
01:18Deep Sea Microbial Ecology
The deep ocean and its underlying sediments represent vast, largely unexplored microbial habitats that extend far beyond the sunlit photic zone. The photic (euphotic) zone typically spans the upper ~100–200 meters of pelagic waters in the open ocean, but its depth varies geographically and seasonally, where sufficient light supports photosynthetic life. Below this lies the deep sea, spanning roughly 1000–6000 meters (bathypelagic to abyssal zones), with deeper hadal trenches extending beyond...