10/12/2017 Massive Hole Appears In Antarctic Ice and Scientists Aren't Sure Why

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MASSIVE HOLE APPEARS IN ANTARCTIC ICE AND SCIENTISTS AREN'T
SURE WHY
BYJOSH LOWEON10/12/17AT5:30AM

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10/12/2017 Massive Hole Appears In Antarctic Ice and Scientists Aren't Sure Why

TECH & SCIENCE A N TA R C T I C A

AvastholehasreopenedinAntarctica,anditcouldhavesomethingtoteachusaboutclimate
change.

Some40yearsaftersatellitesobservedawintertimegapintheiceoftheWeddellSeanear
theAntarcticPeninsula,thephenomenonhasreturnedanditcomprisesanarealargerthan
Maryland.

Atthistimeofyear,theareaisusuallycoatedinthickice.Sotheappearanceoftheholeor
polynya,asthistypeofphenomenoniscalledisofinteresttoclimatescientistsandother
observers.

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"Forusthisicefreeareaisanimportantnewdatapointwhichwecanusetovalidateour
climatemodels,saidDr.TorgeMartin,meteorologistandclimatemodelerattheGEOMAR
HelmholtzCenterforOceanResearchKiel.

Martinsaysthatthereappearanceoftheholeatthistimeconfirmsthecentersprevious
calculationsGEOMARhaspositedamodelthatexplainsthepolynyaaspartofnatural
climateprocesses.

"TheSouthernOceanisstronglystratified.Averycoldbutrelativelyfreshwaterlayercoversa
muchwarmerandsaltierwatermass,thusactingasaninsulatinglayer,"Prof.Dr.MojibLatif,
headoftheResearchDivisionatGEOMAR,toldthesite.

Sometimes,thelayerofwarmwatercanthenmelttheice."Thisislikeopeningapressure
reliefvalvetheoceanthenreleasesasurplusofheattotheatmosphereforseveral
consecutivewintersuntiltheheatreservoirisexhausted,"Latifsaid.

Whatisnotfullyknown,however,ishowclimatechangemightaffectthisprocess.Some
Americanscientiststhinkthatthispolynyawillneverreappear,asmeltingiceandmore
precipitationintheairseparatesthesurfaceicesheetfromdeeperlayersofwater.

Butsomemodelssuggestthatswrong.Thereappearanceoftheholewillbringnewdatato
helpsolvethequandary.

And,Latifsaid,understandingtherelationshipbetweenclimatechangeandthiskindofnatural
phenomenoncanhelpscientistsunderstandtheclimatesystemmorebroadly.
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10/12/2017 Massive Hole Appears In Antarctic Ice and Scientists Aren't Sure Why

"Globalwarmingisnotalinearprocessandhappensontopofinternalvariabilityinherentto
theclimatesystem.Thebetterweunderstandthesenaturalprocesses,thebetterwecan
identifytheanthropogenicimpactontheclimatesystem,"Latifsaid.

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