Scientists Compile First Global Inventory of Subglacial Lakes geography geoscience science
A multinational team of researchers has catalogued data on 773 subglacial lakes — repositories of ancient climate conditions, provide habitats for life and modulate ice flow — including 675 subglacial lakes from Antarctica , 64 from Greenland, two beneath the Devon Ice Cap, six beneath Iceland’s ice caps and 26 from valley glaciers.
They can play a critical role in the speed at which ice flows into oceans and, when on land in mountainous regions, could pose a major risk to populations downstream if they were to drain and cause flooding and landslides. “They can occur due to meltwater from the surface of the glacier traveling to the base and lying in in hollow areas or cavities, or they can occur due to geothermal heating from the earth below, warming the ice above and causing it to melt.”
“It is therefore important to study where subglacial lakes are, how much water they contain, how stable or active they may be and how they might be changing over time so we can learn more about why they form and what influence they may have on the local area.” This means they can drain suddenly and catastrophically, posing a hazard to human populations and infrastructure downstream.
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