Robots Test Antarctic Ice's Health

"Two international groups of glaciologists and roboticists traveled to Antarctica to study some of its most remote locations.

Among their goals was to use an underwater robot named Icefin to get otherwise inaccessible close-up views of Antarctica's ice, as well as measurements of the temperature, salinity and oxygen levels in this extreme environment. Those data help researchers assess melt rates, a key input for models that predict sea-level rise.

One team went to Kamb Ice Stream, which feeds into Ross Ice Shelf and has been stagnant for about 150 years. Ice shelves are floating platforms of ice that slow down the flow of ice into the ocean from the interior of the continent. At Kamb, the team sent Icefin into crevasses, where they observed seawater actively freezing. The formation of marine ice might help "heal" these cracks, contributing to the structural stability of the ice shelf, said Justin Lawrence, a planetary scientist and an author of a study published Thursday in Nature Geoscience.

An open question is whether Kamb will "reactivate," or start moving again, which could contribute to sea-level rise, he said.

His collaborators went to Thwaites Glacier, which is feared to collapse. There, Icefin measured high ocean temperatures. Warm water melts glaciers from below, destabilizing them. Measurements taken underneath the ice with robots complement readings taken with satellites.

The teams for these missions included scientists from the U.S., New Zealand and the U.K." [1]

1. U.S. News: Robots Test Antarctic Ice's Health
Hernandez, Daniela.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 03 Mar 2023: A.3.