If you travel to the very south of South America, you first get to Cape Froward on the Brunswick Peninsula, and then, after crossing the Strait of Magellan, to the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Its southernmost point is the famous Cape Horn on the shores of the Drake Passage, separating South America and Antarctica.
If you go through this strait along the shortest route to Antarctica, then (of course, subject to a successful voyage) you end up in the South Shetland Islands and further on the Antarctic Peninsula - the northernmost part of the continent of Antarctica. It is there that the Antarctic glacier farthest from the South Pole is located - the Larsen Ice Shelf.
For almost 12 thousand years since the last ice age, the Larsen Glacier has held a tight grip on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. However, a study conducted at the beginning of the 21st century showed that this ice formation is experiencing a serious crisis and may soon disappear completely.
As New Scientist magazine noted, until the middle of the 20th century. the trend was the opposite: glaciers were advancing on the ocean. But in the 1950s, this process suddenly stopped and rapidly reversed.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey concluded that glacial retreat has accelerated since the 1990s. And if its pace does not slow down, then in the near future the Antarctic Peninsula will resemble the Alps: tourists will see black mountains with white caps of snow and ice.
According to British scientists, such rapid melting of glaciers is associated with a sharp warming of the air: its average annual temperature near the Antarctic Peninsula has reached 2.5 degrees above zero Celsius. Most likely, warm air is sucked into Antarctica from warmer latitudes due to changes in normal air currents. In addition, the ongoing warming of ocean waters also plays a significant role.
Canadian climatologist Robert Gilbert came to similar conclusions in 2005, publishing the results of his research in the journal Nature. Gilbert warned that the melting of Antarctic ice shelves could trigger a real chain reaction. In fact, it has already begun. In January 1995, the northernmost (i.e., farthest from the South Pole, and therefore located in the warmest place) Larsen A glacier with an area of 1500 square meters completely disintegrated. km. Then, in several stages, the Larsen B glacier, much more extensive (12 thousand sq. km) and located further south (i.e. in a colder place than Larsen A), collapsed.
IN final act During this drama, an iceberg with an average thickness of 220 m and an area of 3250 sq. m broke off from the glacier. km, which is larger than the area of the state of Rhode Island. It suddenly collapsed in just 35 days - from January 31 to March 5, 2002.
According to Gilbert's calculations, during the 25 years before this disaster, the temperature of the waters washing Antarctica rose by 10°C, despite the fact that the average temperature of the waters of the World Ocean for the entire time that has passed since the end of the last ice age has increased by only 2-3°C. Thus, Larsen B was “eaten” by relatively warm water, which undermined its sole for a long time. The melting of the outer shell of the glacier, caused by rising air temperatures over Antarctica, also contributed.
By breaking up into icebergs and freeing up space on the shelf that it had occupied for ten millennia, Larsen B opened the way for glaciers lying either on solid ground or in shallow water to slide into the warm sea. The deeper the “land” glaciers slide into the ocean, the faster they will melt - and the higher the level of the world's oceans will be, and the faster the ice will melt... This chain reaction will last until the last Antarctic ice melts in the water. glacier, Gilbert predicted.
In 2015, NASA (National Aerospace Administration of the United States) reported the results of a new study, which showed that only an area of 1,600 square meters remained of the Larsen B glacier. km, which is rapidly melting and will probably completely disintegrate by 2020.
And then the other day an even more grandiose event occurred than the destruction of Larsen B. Literally in a couple of days, between July 10 and 12, 2017, from a site located even further south (i.e. in an even colder place) and even more extensive (50 thousand sq. km) of the Larsen C glacier, an iceberg weighing approximately 1 trillion tons and an area of about 5800 sq. km broke off. km, which could easily accommodate two Luxembourgs.
The crack was discovered back in 2010, the growth of the crack accelerated in 2016, and already at the beginning of 2017, the British Antarctic research project MIDAS warned that a huge fragment of the glacier was “hanging by a thread.” At the moment, one giant iceberg has moved away from the glacier, but glaciologists from MIDAS suggest that it may subsequently break into several parts.
According to scientists, in the near future the iceberg will move quite slowly, but it needs to be monitored: sea currents can carry it to a place where it will pose a danger to ship traffic.
Although the iceberg is huge, its formation did not in itself lead to a rise in sea levels. Since Larsen is an ice shelf, its ice already floats on the ocean rather than resting on land. And when the iceberg melts, the sea level will not change at all. “It's like an ice cube in your gin and tonic. It is already floating, and if it melts, the level of the drink in the glass does not change,” Anna Hogg, a glaciologist from the University of Leeds (UK), clearly explained.
According to scientists, in the short term, the destruction of Larsen C is not a cause for concern. Fragments of glaciers break off from Antarctica every year, and some of the ice subsequently grows again. However, in the long term, the loss of ice on the periphery of the continent is dangerous because it destabilizes the remaining, much more massive glaciers - their behavior is more important to glaciologists than the size of the icebergs.
First of all, the iceberg's breakaway could affect the remaining part of the Larsen C glacier. “We are confident, although many others do not agree, that the remaining glacier will be less stable than it is now,” says MIDAS project leader Professor Alan Luckman. If he is right, then the chain reaction of ice shelf collapse will continue.
As the Antarctic Peninsula is freed from glaciers, the prospect of its settlement will become more and more real. Argentina has long considered this territory to be its own, to which Great Britain objects. This dispute is directly related to the fact that to the north of the Antarctic Peninsula are the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), which Great Britain considers its own, and Argentina considers its own.
The largest icebergs in history
In 1904, the tallest iceberg in history was discovered and explored in the Falkland Islands. Its height reached 450 m. Due to the imperfection of the scientific equipment of that time, the iceberg was not thoroughly explored. Where and how he ended his drift in the ocean is unknown. They didn’t even have time to assign him a code and a proper name. So it went down in history as the tallest iceberg discovered in 1904.
In 1956, the American military icebreaker U.S.S. Glacier discovered a large iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, about Yuri VISHNEVSKY, which broke off the coast of Antarctica. The dimensions of this iceberg, which received the name “Santa Maria,” were 97 × 335 km, the area was about 32 thousand square meters. km, which is larger than the area of Belgium. Unfortunately, there were no satellites at that time that could confirm this assessment. After making a circle around Antarctica, the iceberg split and melted.
In the satellite era, the largest iceberg was B-15, weighing more than 3 trillion tons and covering an area of 11 thousand square meters. km. This block of ice, the size of Jamaica, broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf adjacent to Antarctica in March 2000. After drifting a short distance in open water, the iceberg became stuck in the Ross Sea and then broke up into smaller icebergs. The largest fragment was named iceberg B-15A. Since November 2003, it drifted in the Ross Sea, becoming an obstacle to the supply of resources to three Antarctic stations, and in October 2005, it also got stuck and broke into smaller icebergs. Some of them were spotted just 60 km off the coast of New Zealand in November 2006.
Yuri VISHNEVSKY
Antarctica is the least studied continent located in the south of the globe. Most of its surface has ice cover up to 4.8 km thick. The Antarctic ice sheet contains 90% (!) of all the ice on our planet. It is so heavy that the continent beneath it has sunk almost 500 m. Today the world is seeing the first signs of global warming in Antarctica: large glaciers are collapsing, new lakes are appearing, and the soil is losing its ice cover. Let's simulate the situation of what will happen if Antarctica loses its ice.
How will Antarctica itself change?
Today the area of Antarctica is 14,107,000 km². If the glaciers melt, these numbers will be reduced by a third. The mainland will become almost unrecognizable. Under the ice there are numerous mountain ranges and massifs. The western part will definitely become an archipelago, and the eastern part will remain a continent, although given the rise of ocean waters, it will not retain this status for long.
This is what Antarctica will look like. The current territory is outlined At the moment, on the Antarctic Peninsula, islands and coastal oases, many representatives of the plant world are found: flowers, ferns, lichens, algae, and recently their diversity has been gradually increasing. There are fungi and some bacteria there, and the coasts are occupied by seals and penguins. Already now, on the same Antarctic Peninsula, the appearance of tundra is observed, and scientists are confident that with warming there will be both trees and new ones.
By the way, Antarctica holds several records: the lowest recorded temperature on Earth is 89.2 degrees below zero; the largest crater on Earth is located there; the strongest and longest winds.
Today there is no permanent population on the territory of Antarctica. Only employees of scientific stations are there, and sometimes tourists visit it. With climate change, the former cold continent may become suitable for permanent human habitation, but now it is difficult to talk about this with confidence - everything will depend on the current climatic situation.
How will the world change due to melting glaciers?
Rising water levels in the world's oceans
So, scientists have calculated that after the ice cover melts, The level of the world's oceans will rise by almost 60 meters. And this is a lot and will amount to a global catastrophe. The coastline will shift significantly, and today's coastal zone of the continents will be under water.
The Great Flood awaits many paradises of our planet If we speak, then its central part will not suffer much. In particular, Moscow is located 130 meters above the current sea level, so the flood will not reach it. Large cities such as Astrakhan, Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg, Novgorod and Makhachkala will go under water. Crimea will turn into an island - only its mountainous part will rise above the sea. And in the Krasnodar Territory only Novorossiysk, Anapa and Sochi will be flooded. Siberia and the Urals will not be subject to too much flooding - mostly residents of coastal settlements will have to be resettled.
The Black Sea will grow - in addition to the northern part of Crimea and Odessa, Istanbul will also be taken over. Signed cities that will be under water The Baltic states, Denmark and Holland will almost completely disappear. In general, European cities such as London, Rome, Venice, Amsterdam and Copenhagen will go under water along with all their cultural heritage, so while you have time, be sure to visit them and post photos on Instagram, because your grandchildren will probably already have done so they won't be able to.
It will also be hard for the Americans, who will definitely be left without Washington, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and many other large coastal cities.
What will happen to North America? Signed cities that will be under water Climate
The climate will already undergo unpleasant changes that will lead to the melting of the ice sheet. According to ecologists, the ice of Antarctica, Antarctica and those found on mountain peaks help maintain the temperature balance on the planet by cooling its atmosphere. Without them, this balance will be disrupted.
The entry of large amounts of fresh water into the world's oceans will certainly affect direction of major ocean currents, which largely determine the climatic conditions in many regions. So it is not yet possible to say with certainty what will happen to our weather.
The number of natural disasters will increase significantly. Hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes will claim thousands of lives. Paradoxically, as a result of global warming, some countries will begin to experience lack of fresh water. And not just because of the dry climate. The fact is that snow deposits in the mountains provide water to vast areas, and after it melts there will no longer be such a benefit.
Economy
All this will greatly affect the economy, even if the flooding process is gradual. Take the USA and China for example! Like it or not, these countries greatly influence the economic situation throughout the world. In addition to the problem of relocating tens of millions of people and the loss of their capital, the states will lose almost a quarter of their production capacity, which will ultimately hit the global economy. And China will be forced to say goodbye to its huge trading ports, which will reduce the supply of products to the world market significantly.
How are things today?
Some scientists reassure us that the observed melting of glaciers is normal, because... somewhere they disappear, and somewhere they are formed, and thus balance is maintained. Others note that there are still reasons for concern, and provide convincing evidence.
Not long ago, British scientists analyzed 50 million satellite images of Antarctic ice sheets and came to the conclusion that they melting occurs very quickly. In particular, the giant Totten glacier, comparable in size to the territory of France, is causing concern. Researchers noticed that it was being washed away by warm salty waters, accelerating its decay. According to forecasts, this glacier can raise the level of the World Ocean by as much as 2 meters. It is assumed that the Larsen B glacier will collapse by 2020. And he, by the way, is as much as 12,000 years old.
According to the BBC, Antarctica loses as much as 160 billion tons of ice per year. Moreover, this figure is growing rapidly. Scientists say they did not expect such a rapid melting of the southern ice.
By the way, the name “Antarctica” means “opposite the Arctic” or “opposite the north.”
The most unpleasant thing is that the process of melting glaciers further influences the increase in the greenhouse effect. The fact is that the ice covers of our planet reflect part of the sunlight. Without this, heat will be retained in the Earth's atmosphere in large volumes, thereby increasing the average temperature. And the growing area of the World Ocean, whose waters collect heat, will only worsen the situation. In addition, large amounts of melt water also have a detrimental effect on glaciers. Thus, ice reserves not only in Antarctica, but throughout the globe, are melting faster and faster, which ultimately threatens big problems.
If you travel to the very south of South America, you first get to Cape Froward on the Brunswick Peninsula, and then, after crossing the Strait of Magellan, to the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Its southernmost point is the famous Cape Horn on the shores of the Drake Passage, separating South America and Antarctica.
If you go through this strait along the shortest route to Antarctica, then (of course, subject to a successful voyage) you end up in the South Shetland Islands and further on the Antarctic Peninsula - the northernmost part of the continent of Antarctica. It is there that the Antarctic glacier farthest from the South Pole is located - the Larsen Ice Shelf.
For almost 12 thousand years since the last ice age, the Larsen Glacier has held a tight grip on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. However, a study conducted at the beginning of the 21st century showed that this ice formation is experiencing a serious crisis and may soon disappear completely.
As New Scientist magazine noted, until the middle of the 20th century. the trend was the opposite: glaciers were advancing on the ocean. But in the 1950s, this process suddenly stopped and rapidly reversed.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey concluded that glacial retreat has accelerated since the 1990s. And if its pace does not slow down, then in the near future the Antarctic Peninsula will resemble the Alps: tourists will see black mountains with white caps of snow and ice.
According to British scientists, such rapid melting of glaciers is associated with a sharp warming of the air: its average annual temperature near the Antarctic Peninsula has reached 2.5 degrees above zero Celsius. Most likely, warm air is sucked into Antarctica from warmer latitudes due to changes in normal air currents. In addition, the ongoing warming of ocean waters also plays a significant role.
Canadian climatologist Robert Gilbert came to similar conclusions in 2005, publishing the results of his research in the journal Nature. Gilbert warned that the melting of Antarctic ice shelves could trigger a real chain reaction. In fact, it has already begun. In January 1995, the northernmost (i.e., farthest from the South Pole, and therefore located in the warmest place) Larsen A glacier with an area of 1500 square meters completely disintegrated. km. Then, in several stages, the Larsen B glacier, much more extensive (12 thousand sq. km) and located further south (i.e. in a colder place than Larsen A), collapsed.
IN final act During this drama, an iceberg with an average thickness of 220 m and an area of 3250 sq. m broke off from the glacier. km, which is larger than the area of the state of Rhode Island. It suddenly collapsed in just 35 days - from January 31 to March 5, 2002.
According to Gilbert's calculations, during the 25 years before this disaster, the temperature of the waters washing Antarctica rose by 10°C, despite the fact that the average temperature of the waters of the World Ocean for the entire time that has passed since the end of the last ice age has increased by only 2-3°C. Thus, Larsen B was “eaten” by relatively warm water, which undermined its sole for a long time. The melting of the outer shell of the glacier, caused by rising air temperatures over Antarctica, also contributed.
By breaking up into icebergs and freeing up space on the shelf that it had occupied for ten millennia, Larsen B opened the way for glaciers lying either on solid ground or in shallow water to slide into the warm sea. The deeper the "land" glaciers slide into the ocean, the faster they will melt - and the higher the level of the world's oceans will be, and the faster the ice will melt... This chain reaction will last until the last Antarctic ice melts in the water. glacier, Gilbert predicted.
In 2015, NASA (National Aerospace Administration of the United States) reported the results of a new study, which showed that only an area of 1,600 square meters remained of the Larsen B glacier. km, which is rapidly melting and will probably completely disintegrate by 2020.
And then the other day an even more grandiose event occurred than the destruction of Larsen B. Literally in a couple of days, between July 10 and 12, 2017, from a site located even further south (i.e. in an even colder place) and even more extensive (50 thousand sq. km) of the Larsen C glacier, an iceberg weighing approximately 1 trillion tons and an area of about 5800 sq. km broke off. km, which could easily accommodate two Luxembourgs.
The crack was discovered back in 2010, the growth of the crack accelerated in 2016, and already at the beginning of 2017, the British Antarctic research project MIDAS warned that a huge fragment of the glacier was “hanging by a thread.” At the moment, one giant iceberg has moved away from the glacier, but glaciologists from MIDAS suggest that it may subsequently break into several parts.
According to scientists, in the near future the iceberg will move quite slowly, but it needs to be monitored: sea currents can carry it to a place where it will pose a danger to ship traffic.
Although the iceberg is huge, its formation did not in itself lead to a rise in sea levels. Since Larsen is an ice shelf, its ice already floats on the ocean rather than resting on land. And when the iceberg melts, the sea level will not change at all. “It’s like an ice cube in your glass of gin and tonic. It’s already floating, and if it melts, it doesn’t change the level of the drink in the glass,” Anna Hogg, a glaciologist from the University of Leeds (UK), explained clearly.
According to scientists, in the short term, the destruction of Larsen C is not a cause for concern. Fragments of glaciers break off from Antarctica every year, and some of the ice subsequently grows again. However, in the long term, the loss of ice on the periphery of the continent is dangerous because it destabilizes the remaining, much more massive glaciers - their behavior is more important to glaciologists than the size of the icebergs.
First of all, the iceberg's breakaway could affect the remaining part of the Larsen C glacier. "We are confident, although many others do not agree, that the remaining glacier will be less stable than it is now," says MIDAS project leader Professor Alan Luckman. If he is right, then the chain reaction of ice shelf collapse will continue.
As the Antarctic Peninsula is freed from glaciers, the prospect of its settlement will become more and more real. Argentina has long considered this territory to be its own, to which Great Britain objects. This dispute is directly related to the fact that to the north of the Antarctic Peninsula are the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), which Great Britain considers its own, and Argentina considers its own.
The largest icebergs in history
In 1904, the tallest iceberg in history was discovered and explored in the Falkland Islands. Its height reached 450 m. Due to the imperfection of the scientific equipment of that time, the iceberg was not thoroughly explored. Where and how he ended his drift in the ocean is unknown. They didn’t even have time to assign him a code and a proper name. So it went down in history as the tallest iceberg discovered in 1904.
In 1956, the American military icebreaker U.S.S. Glacier discovered a large iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean that had broken off the coast of Antarctica. The dimensions of this iceberg, which received the name “Santa Maria,” were 97 × 335 km, the area was about 32 thousand square meters. km, which is larger than the area of Belgium. Unfortunately, there were no satellites at that time that could confirm this assessment. After making a circle around Antarctica, the iceberg split and melted.
In the satellite era, the largest iceberg was B-15, weighing more than 3 trillion tons and covering an area of 11 thousand square meters. km. This block of ice, the size of Jamaica, broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf adjacent to Antarctica in March 2000. After drifting a short distance in open water, the iceberg became stuck in the Ross Sea and then broke up into smaller icebergs. The largest fragment was named iceberg B-15A. Since November 2003, it drifted in the Ross Sea, becoming an obstacle to the supply of resources to three Antarctic stations, and in October 2005, it also got stuck and broke into smaller icebergs. Some of them were spotted just 60 km off the coast of New Zealand in November 2006.
According to a number of foreign researchers, the situation in Antarctica has become so threatening that it is time to ring all the bells: data received from satellites irrefutably indicate a catastrophic melting of ice in West Antarctica. If this continues, glaciologists are convinced that in the near future these glaciers will disappear altogether.
Some of them are reducing their area at a rate of one to two kilometers per year. But in general, according to measurements obtained from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat satellite, the ice cover of the Sixth Continent is thinning by two centimeters every year. At the same time, as the BBC reports, Antarctica is losing about 160 billion ice per year - now the rate of ice melting is already twice as high as four years ago. NASA experts named the Amundsen Sea area as the most vulnerable point, where the melting process in the six largest glaciers can already slow down.
The influential Western journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters published a study that proved that as a result of the melting of Antarctica, the earth's crust is deformed at a depth of 400 km. “Despite the fact that the Antarctic ice cover is growing at a rate of 15 mm per year,” they explain, “in general, active melting is occurring at great depths under the ice shelves, due to global warming and changes in the chemical composition of the earth’s crust in the Antarctic region.” This process entered a critical phase back in the late 1990s. And then there is the ozone hole, which also does not have the best effect on the Antarctic climate.
How does this threaten us? As a result, the level of the world's oceans may rise by 1.2 meters or even more in a short period of time. Strong evaporation and a huge volume of water condensation will give rise to powerful typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters, and many land areas will be flooded. Humanity is unable to change the situation. In short, save yourself who can!
“AiF” decided to survey Russian scientists: when exactly will the world be covered by a wave? According to them, everything is not so bad. “If a significant rise in the level of the world’s oceans occurs, it will not happen tomorrow or even the day after tomorrow,” AiF explained. Alexander Nakhutin, Deputy Director of the Institute of Global Climate and Ecology of Roshydromet and the Russian Academy of Sciences. — The melting of Antarctic and Greenland glaciers is a very inertial process, slow even by geological standards. Its consequences, at best, can only be seen by our descendants. And only if the glaciers melt completely. And it will take not a year or two, but a hundred years or more.”
There is also a more positive version. “Global” melting of glaciers has nothing to do with the whole of Antarctica, says Nikolai Osokin, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Deputy Head of the Department of Glaciology at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Perhaps the melting of six glaciers in the Amundsen Sea is truly irreversible, and they will not recover. Well, that's okay! West Antarctica, a smaller part of the continent, has actually been melting noticeably in recent years. However, in general, the process of active melting of glaciers in Antarctica over the past few years, on the contrary, has slowed down. There is plenty of evidence of this. In the same Western Antarctica, for example, the Russian Bellingshausen station is located. “According to our observations, in this area there is an improvement in the feeding of glaciers - more snow falls than melts.”
It turns out that it’s not time to ring the bells yet. “In the atlas of snow and ice resources of the world, published by the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, there is a map: what would happen if all the glaciers on Earth melted at once. She is very popular,” Osokin laughs. — Many journalists use it as a horror story: look, they say, what kind of universal flood awaits us when the level of the world's oceans rises by as much as 64 meters... But this is a purely hypothetical possibility. This will not happen to us in the next century or even a millennium.”
By the way, as a result of studying ice cores in Antarctica, Russian glaciologists established an interesting fact. It turns out that over the past 800 thousand years on Earth, cooling and warming regularly replace each other. “As a result of warming, glaciers are retreating, melting, and sea levels are rising. And then the reverse process occurs - cooling occurs, glaciers grow, and ocean levels fall. This has happened at least 8 times already. And now we are right at the very peak of warming. This means that in the coming centuries the Earth, and with it humanity, will move towards a new ice age. This is normal and is associated with the eternal processes of vibration of the earth’s axis, its tilt, and changes in the distance from the Earth to the Sun.”
Meanwhile, the situation with ice in the Arctic is much more clear: it is melting an order of magnitude faster and more globally than in the Antarctic. “Over the past ten years, there have already been several records for the minimum sea ice area in the Arctic Ocean,” recalls Osokin. “The general trend is toward a decrease in ice area throughout the North.”
Can humanity, if it wants, slow down global warming or cooling? How much does anthropogenic activity affect the melting of ice? “If it does, it will most likely be to a very small extent,” says Osokin. “The main reason why glaciers are melting is natural factors.” So we just have to wait, hope and believe. For the better, of course."
Many people imagine Antarctica as a huge continent completely covered with ice. But it's not all that simple. Scientists have found that earlier, about 52 million years ago, palm trees, baobabs, araucarias, macadamias and other types of heat-loving plants grew in Antarctica. At that time the mainland had a tropical climate. Today the continent is a polar desert.
Before we dwell in more detail on the question of how thick the ice is in Antarctica, we will list some interesting facts regarding this distant, mysterious and coldest continent on Earth.
Who owns Antarctica?
Before we move directly to the question of how thick the ice is in Antarctica, we should decide who owns this unique little-studied continent.
In fact, it doesn't have any government. Many countries at one time tried to take ownership of these deserted lands, far from civilization, but on December 1, 1959, a convention was signed (came into force on June 23, 1961), according to which Antarctica does not belong to any state. Currently, 50 states (with voting rights) and dozens of observer countries are parties to the treaty. However, the existence of an agreement does not mean that the countries that signed the document have abandoned their territorial claims to the continent and the surrounding area.
Relief
Many people imagine Antarctica as an endless icy desert, where there is absolutely nothing but snow and ice. And to a large extent this is true, but there are some interesting points to consider. Therefore, we will not only talk about the thickness of the ice in Antarctica.
On this continent there are quite vast valleys without ice cover, and even sand dunes. There is no snow in such places not because it is warmer there, on the contrary, the climate there is much harsher than in other regions of the mainland.
The McMurdo Valley is exposed to terrible katabatic winds, the speed of which reaches 200 miles per hour. They cause strong evaporation of moisture, which is why there is no ice and snow. Living conditions here are very similar to those on Mars, so NASA tested the Viking (spacecraft) in the McMurdo Valleys.
There is also a huge mountain range in Antarctica, comparable in size to the Alps. His name is the Gamburtsev Mountains, named after the famous Soviet academic geophysicist Georgy Gamburtsev. In 1958, his expedition discovered them.
The length of the mountain range is 1300 km, and its width is from 200 to 500 kilometers. Its highest point reaches 3390 meters. The most interesting thing is that this huge mountain rests under thick layers (on average up to 600 meters) of ice. There are even areas where the thickness of the ice cover exceeds 4 kilometers.
About the climate
Antarctica has a surprising contrast between the amount of water (70 percent fresh water) and the rather dry climate. This is the driest area of the entire planet Earth.
Even the hottest deserts around the world receive more rain than the arid valleys of Antarctica. In total, only 10 centimeters of precipitation falls at the South Pole per year.
Most of the continent's territory is covered with permanent ice. We’ll find out how thick the ice is on the continent of Antarctica below.
About the rivers of Antarctica
One of the rivers that carries meltwater eastward is the Onyx. It flows to Lake Vanda, which is located in the arid Wright Valley. Due to such extreme climatic conditions, Onyx carries its waters only two months a year, during the short Antarctic summer.
The length of the river is 40 kilometers. There are no fish here, but a variety of algae and microorganisms live.
Global warming
Antarctica is the largest landmass covered by ice. Here, as noted above, 90% of the total mass of ice in the world is concentrated. The average ice thickness in Antarctica is approximately 2133 meters.
If all the ice in Antarctica melts, the level of the World Ocean could rise by 61 meters. However, at the moment the average air temperature on the continent is -37 degrees Celsius, so there is no real danger of such a natural disaster yet. Throughout most of the continent, temperatures never rise above freezing.
About animals
The Antarctic fauna is represented by individual species of invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Currently, at least 70 species of invertebrates have been discovered in Antarctica, and four species of penguins nest. The remains of several species of dinosaurs have been found in the polar region.
Polar bears are not known to live in Antarctica, they live in the Arctic. Most of the continent is inhabited by penguins. It is unlikely that these two species of animals will ever meet in natural conditions.
This place is the only one on the entire planet where unique emperor penguins live, which are the tallest and largest among all their relatives. In addition, this is the only species that breeds during the Antarctic winter. Compared to other species, the Adélie penguin breeds in the very south of the continent.
The mainland is not very rich in land animals, but in the coastal waters you can find killer whales, blue whales and fur seals. An unusual insect also lives here - a wingless midge, the length of which is 1.3 cm. Due to the extreme windy conditions, there are no flying insects here at all.
Among the numerous colonies of penguins there are black springtails, jumping like fleas. Antarctica is also the only continent where it is impossible to find ants.
Ice cover area around Antarctica
Before we find out what is the greatest thickness of ice in Antarctica, we will consider the area of sea ice around Antarctica. They increase in some areas and simultaneously decrease in others. Again, the reason for these changes is the wind.
For example, northern winds drive huge blocks of ice away from the mainland, causing the land to partially lose its ice cover. As a result, the mass of ice around Antarctica is increasing, and the number of glaciers that form its ice sheet is decreasing.
The total area of the continent is approximately 14 million square kilometers. In summer it is surrounded by 2.9 million square meters. km of ice, and in winter this area increases almost 2.5 times.
Subglacial lakes
Although the maximum ice thickness in Antarctica is impressive, there are underground lakes on this continent, which may also support life that has evolved completely separately over millions of years.
In total, the presence of more than 140 such reservoirs is known, among which the most famous is Lake. Vostok, located near the Soviet (Russian) Vostok station, which gave the lake its name. A four-kilometer thick layer of ice covers this natural object. Not thanks to the underground geothermal springs located underneath. The water temperature in the depths of the reservoir is about +10 °C.
According to scientists, it was the ice massif that served as a natural insulator, which contributed to the preservation of unique living organisms that developed and evolved for millions of years completely separately from the rest of the ice desert world.
Antarctica's ice sheet is the largest on the planet. Its area is approximately 10 times larger than the Greenland ice massif. It contains 30 million cubic kilometers of ice. It has the shape of a dome, the steepness of the surface of which increases towards the coast, where in many places it is framed by ice shelves. The greatest thickness of ice in Antarctica reaches 4800 m in some areas (in the east).
In the west there is also a continental deepest depression - the Bentley depression (presumably of rift origin), filled with ice. Its depth is 2555 meters below sea level.
What is the average ice thickness in Antarctica? Approximately 2500 to 2800 meters.
A few more interesting facts
Antarctica has a natural reservoir with the cleanest water on Earth. considered the most transparent in the world. Of course, there is nothing surprising in this, since there is no one on this continent to pollute it. Here the maximum value of relative water transparency is noted (79 m), which almost corresponds to the transparency of distilled water.
In the McMurdo Valleys there is an unusual bloody waterfall. It flows from the Taylor Glacier and flows into West Lake Bonney, which is covered with ice. The source of the waterfall is a salt lake located under a thick ice sheet (400 meters). Thanks to salt, water does not freeze even at the lowest temperatures. It was formed about 2 million years ago.
The uniqueness of the waterfall also lies in the color of its water - blood red. Its source is not affected by sunlight. The high content of iron oxide in water, along with microorganisms that receive vital energy through the reduction of sulfates dissolved in water, is the reason for this color.
There are no permanent residents in Antarctica. There are only people who live on the mainland for a certain period of time. These are representatives of temporary scientific communities. In summer, the number of scientists along with support staff is approximately 5 thousand, and in winter - 1000.
The largest iceberg
The thickness of the ice in Antarctica, as noted above, varies greatly. And among the sea ice there are also huge icebergs, including B-15, which was one of the largest.
Its length is about 295 kilometers, its width is 37 kilometers, and its entire surface area is 11,000 square meters. kilometers (more than the area of Jamaica). Its approximate mass is 3 billion tons. And even today, almost 10 years after the measurements were taken, some parts of this giant have not melted.
Conclusion
Antarctica is a place of wondrous secrets and wonders. Of the seven continents, it was the last to be discovered by explorers and travelers. Antarctica is the least studied, populated and hospitable continent on the entire planet, but it is truly the most fabulously beautiful and amazing.