A global team of scientists has observed the sudden drainage of a large, deep, ice-covered lake within an Antarctic ice shelf—a rare phenomenon that could be interpreted as an ominous sign for the future survival of the ice sheet, and potential global sea-level rise.
The event, chronicled in a study just published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, occurred during the 2019 Antarctic winter on the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica. The scientists estimate that 600 million to 750 million cubic meters of water, about twice the volume of California’s San Diego Bay, were suddenly lost to the ocean when the lake drained from the bottom of the 1,400-meter (4,590 feet) -thick floating ice shelf.
And to the question of rising water:
A global team of scientists has observed the sudden drainage of a large, deep, ice-covered lake within an Antarctic ice shelf—a rare phenomenon that could be interpreted as an ominous sign for the future survival of the ice sheet, and potential global sea-level rise.
The event, chronicled in a study just published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, occurred during the 2019 Antarctic winter on the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica. The scientists estimate that 600 million to 750 million cubic meters of water, about twice the volume of California’s San Diego Bay, were suddenly lost to the ocean when the lake drained from the bottom of the 1,400-meter (4,590 feet) -thick floating ice shelf.
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/06/24/scientists-track-sudden-disappearance-of-an-antarctic-ice-shelf-lake/