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Giant, mysterious hole has reopened in Antarctica, scientists not sure why

X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...t-mysterious-hole-has-opened-up-in-antarctica

A Giant, Mysterious Hole Has Opened Up in Antarctica
”We're still trying to figure out what's going on."
Kate Lunau
Oct 10 2017, 9:55am

A hole as large as Lake Superior or the state of Maine has opened up in Antarctica, and scientists aren't sure why it's there.

The gigantic, mysterious hole "is quite remarkable," atmospheric physicist Kent Moore, a professor at the University of Toronto's Mississauga campus, told me over the phone. "It looks like you just punched a hole in the ice."

Areas of open water surrounded by sea ice, such as this one, are known as polynias. They form in coastal regions of Antarctica, Moore told me. What's strange here, though, is that this polynia is "deep in the ice pack," he said, and must have formed through other processes that aren't understood.

"This is hundreds of kilometres from the ice edge. If we didn't have a satellite, we wouldn't know it was there." (It measured 80,000 k㎡ at its peak.)

A polynia was observed in the same location, in Antarctica's Weddell Sea, in the 1970s, according to Moore, who's been working with the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modelling (SOCCOM) group, based at Princeton University, to analyze what's going on. Back then, scientists' observation tools weren't nearly as good, so that hole remained largely unstudied. Then it went away for four decades, until last year, when it reopened for a few weeks. Now it's back again.

"This is now the second year in a row it's opened after 40 years of not being there," Moore said. (It opened around September 9.) "We're still trying to figure out what's going on."
Click to expand...

Using observations from satellites and deep sea robots, Moore and his collaborators are working on as-yet-unpublished research that aims to answer some of these questions. "Compared to 40 years ago, the amount of data we have is amazing," he said.

Antarctica is undergoing massive changes right now, and figuring out why a gaping hole could suddenly open up will be key to understanding larger systems at play.
Click to expand...

3O4frKA.jpg
 
M

Manu

Member
Ḫ̛̝̰͇̉̆ͨ̀ͧ̿ͫ͊̌̽͛̓̾̀̕͜͢Ë̡̗̫̦͈̠̩͔̘̠̰͖̗̣̞̤͓̙̤̱̀ͪ̇͒̿ͮ̀̃̅͋̓̑̚͘͟ ̢̛̻͕̲̺̈͗ͣ̏̆͊͋̂̒͐̚ͅC͎̤̯̜̭̱̞̆̈́ͤ̔͌͞Ǫ̸̶̴̛̯͈͖̥̥͓̳̰͈̖̦͓̒̽͑ͯͥ̓͌ͭ͑̂̓̆ͥ̄̚Ḿ̨̎̈̽ͨ͌̓̓̽́̚҉̛͔̙͉̘̤̦Ę̴̩̟̙̠̰̘̦̻̜̻̳͂ͣ̊͐̀ͯ͊͒̊̿ͭ̓̄̚ͅSͦ̈́̆̉̈͋͊́̄̑̉҉̰̼͔͇͇̮͕̣̗͞͠ͅ.̷ͬ͛̅ͥ͆͏͏̢͚̜̩̖̯͕̳͉̦̩
 
A

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
Shoggoths for everyone!
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Whoops, I guess the Doom tracker got to 0.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
So is some kind of live camera team on the way right now or what? I can't see shit on that stupid satellite picture, I demand to see what's going to destroy us all in full HD !
 
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