"Hidden underneath the surface of Greenland's ice, there are strange, vast structures known as plumes. But for years, scientists didn't know how these curious forms came to beuntil now. A new study published in the journal Cryosphere reveals that the structures may have been caused by thermal convection in a process similar to the churning of the hot rock in Earth's mantle. Convection is caused by temperature differences within a material. Hot material rises, and cool material fallsdriving a cycling, or convection."
"We typically think of ice as a solid material, so the discovery that parts of the Greenland ice sheet actually undergo thermal convection, resembling a boiling pot of pasta, is as wild as it is fascinating, said Andreas Born, a professor of Earth science at the University of Bergen in Norway, in a statement. Although the findings do not necessarily mean that the ice sheet will melt faster, they could offer clues as to how it may melt."
Strange, vast plume structures exist beneath the surface of Greenland's ice. Thermal convection within the ice, driven by internal temperature differences, causes hot ice to rise and cooler ice to sink, producing churning patterns analogous to mantle convection or a boiling pot of pasta. Parts of the ice sheet therefore behave softer than previously assumed. Those mechanical properties could affect how the ice deforms and responds to warming. The convection phenomenon does not necessarily imply faster melting, but it offers new clues about potential melt pathways and dynamics across Greenland's more than 650,000 square miles of ice, informing efforts to predict future sea-level contributions.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]