Friday, 1 February 2019

Melting ice beneath West Antarctica created a gigantic cavity that’s more than half the size of Manhattan

An iceberg floats near Orne Harbour, AntarcticaReuters/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo

  • Researchers discovered a massive cavity growing under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica that's almost 1,000 feet tall.
  • They believe the expanding void could've once been large enough to hold roughly 14 billion metric tons of ice.
  • This cavity is just one of several instances of rapid ice loss on Thwaites Glacier, which has ice regions that are retreating as much as 2,625 feet each year.
  • Scientists will conduct more research on the glacier to find out how these ice melts will affect the rest of the continent and surrounding water.

Antarctica is not in a good place. In the space of only decades, the continent has lost trillions of tonnes of ice at alarming rates we can't keep up with, even in places we once thought were safe.

Now, a stunning new void has been revealed amidst this massive vanishing act, and it's a big one: a gigantic cavity growing under West Antarctica that scientists say covers two-thirds the footprint of Manhattan and stands almost 300 metres (984 ft) tall.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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