Turquoise pools of snowmelt on the Antarctic Peninsula, including on the Larsen C ice shelf, have recently been forming months after the continents peak summer melt. Bursts of warm, dry wind cascading over mountains that run along the peninsula are largely to blame, researchers report April 11 in Geophysical Research Letters. In this March 2016 satellite image, meltwater on part of Larsen C can be seen at the foothills of these mountains, just one case of this type of wind-induced melting.
Eastward-flowing winds sweeping across the Antarctic Peninsula sometimes pick up enough speed to surmount its mountain peaks. As the air rises and chills, its moisture condenses and, in the process, reheats the air. So when the now-dry air comes coursing down the leeway mountainside, it can be a balmy 20° Celsius.
Researchers “have told me theyve been in a T-shirt” while standing in these winds, says cryospheric scientist Tri Datta of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Datta and her team compared satellite data collected from 1982 to 2017 with simulations of the peninsulas ice sheet and atmospheric conditions during the same period. The team found that, since 2015, these winds called foehns have caused a lot of melting on the peninsula, including on Larsen C, as late as May, well into Antarcticas autumn. Foehns likely cause 60 percent of the total snowmelt on the northeastern part of the peninsula at that time of year, Datta says.
Thats a problem because meltwater can trickle into crevasses on Larsen C. The waters own weiRead More – Source
Turquoise pools of snowmelt on the Antarctic Peninsula, including on the Larsen C ice shelf, have recently been forming months after the continents peak summer melt. Bursts of warm, dry wind cascading over mountains that run along the peninsula are largely to blame, researchers report April 11 in Geophysical Research Letters. In this March 2016 satellite image, meltwater on part of Larsen C can be seen at the foothills of these mountains, just one case of this type of wind-induced melting.
Eastward-flowing winds sweeping across the Antarctic Peninsula sometimes pick up enough speed to surmount its mountain peaks. As the air rises and chills, its moisture condenses and, in the process, reheats the air. So when the now-dry air comes coursing down the leeway mountainside, it can be a balmy 20° Celsius.
Researchers “have told me theyve been in a T-shirt” while standing in these winds, says cryospheric scientist Tri Datta of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Datta and her team compared satellite data collected from 1982 to 2017 with simulations of the peninsulas ice sheet and atmospheric conditions during the same period. The team found that, since 2015, these winds called foehns have caused a lot of melting on the peninsula, including on Larsen C, as late as May, well into Antarcticas autumn. Foehns likely cause 60 percent of the total snowmelt on the northeastern part of the peninsula at that time of year, Datta says.
Thats a problem because meltwater can trickle into crevasses on Larsen C. The waters own weiRead More – Source
