Risk for the planet? NASA publishes a photo of a huge cavity under the Antarctic glacier



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A team of NASA scientists discovered a gigantic cavity on the Thwaites Glacier, located in western Antarctica,

. The hole, of an area equivalent to that of the US state of Florida and a height of 300 meters, is

The results highlight the need to observe so Detailed Lower Antarctic glaciers in calculating the speed with which sea level will rise in response to climate change.

Pietro Milillo, one of the leaders of the study, explains that "the size of a cavity under a glacier plays an important role in melting, the more heat and water entering the glacier melt faster".

Although the cavity is sufficient to hold 14 billion tonnes of ice, research shows that most of the ice has melted in the last three years.

The director of the study, Eric Rignot, said that for years "Understanding the details of the melting of the ocean on this glacier is essential to project its impact on the rise of the level of the sea over the next decades, "said Rignot.

19659004] The global level of the oceans could rise by more than two centimeters if the Thwaites Glacier melted.

Under the Thwaites Glacier in Western Antarctica, JPL NASA researchers have found signs of rapid disintegration: a 2/3 area of ​​Manhattan. It is large enough to contain 14 billion tons of ice and most of them have melted in the last three years

Scientists discovered the cavity using a penetration radar. ice in NASA's IceBridge operation, launched in 2010, as well as data from a group of synthetic aperture radars

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