Satellites have captured amazing images of the largest foothill glacier on Earth in all its glory – a giant in a state of change.
Recently, scientists are increasingly saying that humanity will not be able to win the battle for glaciers and ice sheets of the Earth – the climate crisis is inexorably approaching, and our planet is warming up, which equally applies to land and oceans, writes IFLScience.
In a new study, scientists were able to look “under the skin” of the largest foothill glacier on the planet, located on the southeastern edge of Alaska. We are talking about the Malaspina Glacier – this natural monument from the outside may look motionless and stable, but new images show that this is not entirely true – the ice giant is undergoing changes.
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According to NASA Earth Observatory researchers, the false-color image was taken by OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on board the Landsat 9 satellite. To the naked eye, the glacier appears blue-white with occasional splashes of gray rocks. However, the satellite was able to take a deeper perspective thanks to OLI-2 capturing the surface using infrared radiation:
yellow, red and orange – ice; red – water; blue – rocks; green – vegetation; dark bluish-purple – moraines, areas where the glacier has picked up rocky soil.
Scientists say ripples can be seen along the main part of the glacier, showing how the ice periodically advances in a multi-year process, creating moraines that fold and compress with the waves.
Labeled version of an image of a glacier in Alaska
Фото: NASA Earth Observatory
Between the large glacier and the Gulf of Alaska, you can also see a thin strip of land that eventually leads to the Pacific Ocean. According to the researchers, over the past decades, a water system of lagoons has formed along this “barrier,” which can also be seen in red spots.
Scientists note that some of this water is extremely salty, indicating contact between relatively warm ocean water and ice. Alas, if this continues in the future, this will probably be enough for a significant part of the glacier to break off, which will accelerate its retreat. Note that today the glacier’s area is 4,350 square kilometers, but this may change over time.
Previously Focus wrote that the ice giant “woke up” for the first time in 30 years: scientists filmed the movement of the Earth’s largest iceberg.
