Support the Arctic Sea Ice Forum and Blog

Author Topic: Melt lake on Nivlisen Ice Shelf  (Read 2216 times)

grixm

  • Grease ice
  • Posts: 699
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 374
  • Likes Given: 131
Melt lake on Nivlisen Ice Shelf
« on: January 10, 2020, 06:34:29 PM »
Noticed this cool lake on Worldview, and thought I'd make a thread even if it may not be of any particular significance.

There is a surface meltwater lake growing on the Nivlisen Ice Shelf in Queen Maud Land. By now the main lake is almost 5km wide. It formed on around the 26th of December from rivers of meltwater originating dozens of kilometers further up the shelf.

I had a quick browse through worldview and I couldn't find any other year where the lake was this big. Most years a proper lake doesn't even form at all on this shelf. Also I think this might be the biggest meltwater body on the Antarctic right now.

Here is the coordinates on worldview: https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=224464.63410371373,1972163.5070182374,715984.6341037138,2225091.5070182374&p=antarctic&t=2020-01-10-T17%3A02%3A46Z

And here is a Sentinel picture from four days ago. The deep blue color is gorgeous, I think:


blumenkraft

  • Guest
Re: Melt lake on Nivlisen Ice Shelf
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2020, 07:16:54 PM »
The deep blue color is gorgeous, I think

100% agreed.

grixm

  • Grease ice
  • Posts: 699
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 374
  • Likes Given: 131
Re: Melt lake on Nivlisen Ice Shelf
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2020, 11:53:26 AM »
We got a cloud-free sentinel image on the 26th. And also the lake has mostly frozen over, or drained? I'm not experienced enough to tell the difference. If it has drained, does that have implications for future sea level? That's a pretty large meltwater drainage basin that would have found a way to the ocean.


gerontocrat

  • Multi-year ice
  • Posts: 20370
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 5289
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Melt lake on Nivlisen Ice Shelf
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2020, 01:20:20 PM »
It seems that surface melt on the fringes of Antarctica have been a a record high this year.
http://climato.be/cms/index.php?climato=the-2020-melt-season-over-antarctica-as-simulated-by-marv3-10

I have written about the possible effect of this at....
https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1759.msg245950.html#msg245950
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)