2022-04-06 ジョージア工科大学
・ニューカッスル大学、ランカスター大学、ジョージア工科大学の共著者とともにNature Communicationsに発表した研究によると、個々の棚氷（南極の主氷床の浮遊延長）では年によって200％もの差があり、全体では約72％の差があることがわかりました。
・氷床全体にわたって連続した融解期で融解湖を調査したのは今回が初めてであり、湖の発達に及ぼす影響を調べることができた。この研究は、湖がなぜ、どこでできるのかについての重要な洞察を提供し、表面融解の結果として崩壊の危険性が最も高い棚氷を専門家が理解するのに役立つだろう。
＜関連情報＞
- https://research.gatech.edu/warmer-summers-and-meltwater-lakes-are-threatening-fringes-worlds-largest-ice-sheet
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29385-3
東南極周辺の超氷河湖における大きな経年変動 Large interannual variability in supraglacial lakes around East Antarctica
Jennifer F. Arthur,Chris R. Stokes,Stewart S. R. Jamieson,J. Rachel Carr,Amber A. Leeson &Vincent Verjans
Nature Communications Published: 31 March 2022
Abstract
Antarctic supraglacial lakes (SGLs) have been linked to ice shelf collapse and the subsequent acceleration of inland ice flow, but observations of SGLs remain relatively scarce and their interannual variability is largely unknown. This makes it difficult to assess whether some ice shelves are close to thresholds of stability under climate warming. Here, we present the first observations of SGLs across the entire East Antarctic Ice Sheet over multiple melt seasons (2014–2020). Interannual variability in SGL volume is >200% on some ice shelves, but patterns are highly asynchronous. More extensive, deeper SGLs correlate with higher summer (December-January-February) air temperatures, but comparisons with modelled melt and runoff are complex. However, we find that modelled January melt and the ratio of November firn air content to summer melt are important predictors of SGL volume on some potentially vulnerable ice shelves, suggesting large increases in SGLs should be expected under future atmospheric warming.
