Science
Scientists Warn Melting Arctic Ice Could Release Ancient, Potentially Deadly Pathogens
Hidden amid centuries’ worth of arctic ice, scientists have discovered something disturbing.
Scientists are working feverishly to evaluate data from the 18-kilometer-long Blomstrandbreen glacier in the Arctic Ocean.
The glacier is melting quickly, like many others, endangering important data that is housed inside its core.
During their recent visit to the glacier, the team reportedly heard cracking and popping sounds.
Speaking to Carbon Brief, ice core scientist Dorothea Moser said, “That sound is the air bubbles in the ice escaping as it melts.”
“The air is probably nearly 200 years old. It’s from the Victorian times.”
Scientists can determine the amounts of carbon dioxide present at the time the ice formed by looking at the bubbles inside the ice.
Scientists get this by extracting ice cores, which are presently endangered because of the melting process.
Even after the melting has begun, the team is frantically attempting to determine whether the data can be preserved.
With so many glaciers disappearing, scientists are frantically attempting to drill for the so-called “proxy data,” which spans hundreds, if not thousands, of years, while the ice is still intact.
Scientists have found that the water is removing important molecules, though, and the implications are already catastrophic.
“If you imagine an ice core like a book containing important information, what is happening is almost like someone has spilled a cup of tea all over the pages,” Moser explained.
“We are in a crucial timeframe before the records are lost entirely. I’m trying to understand whether and how we can still make sense of the information that we have.”
“I’m intent on showing that we can still make sense of this. The melting of ice cores is a big issue and we need to raise the alarm – but we also can’t give up on them completely yet.”
Scientists are also monitoring the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ elsewhere.
The glacier floats at the northern edge of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and is 120 km (80 miles) wide, roughly the size of the United Kingdom. It is also known by its scientific, and less spectacular, name, Thwaites Glacier.
As per Forbes, ’10 percent’ of the current global sea level increase is caused by melting ice and breakaways from Thwaites. Sea levels might increase up to two feet if it completely fell.
More concerning, according to Science Focus, is the possibility that Thwaites will drag other glaciers and antarctic lakes down with it, raising our ocean levels by three meters.
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