Arctic ice is not only melting due to climate change, but it is also affected by a giant pool of warm water forming under the ice in northern Canada.
New research published by Yale University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (USA) has partly explained why the Arctic is heating up twice as fast as the average rate of global warming.
Data collected over the past 30 years shows that a mysterious local heat source has affected this frozen area.
It is an underground pool of hot water, created by climate change and then returning to worsen the effects of climate change.
This warm water comes from a special stream, which flows south to the Chukchi Sea, which is warmer and no longer a sea of ice as it was many years ago. Thus, the water is exposed to the sun and heats up.
After being heated, this water is pushed north by arctic winds, forming a pool of warm groundwater trapped under the ice of the North Pole. This hot water is the top layer of water, so it can melt ice quickly.
“The loss of ice not only affects the directly thawed regions, but also leads to a build-up of heat inside the more polar regions of the Arctic Ocean”, explains Professor Mary-Louise Timmermans, head of research.
The pool of hot water trapped under arctic ice is now estimated to be hundreds of kilometers wide. If this water continues to affect the surface ice, it is completely capable of completely melting the ice of the Arctic Ocean, causing great destruction of the ecosystem and the life of the inhabitants of this region.
Earlier this year, almost all of the ice covering the Bering Sea in the North Pacific disappeared for a month, affecting the fishing activities of residents of western Alaska (USA). Over the past year, images of skinny polar bears struggling in the heat have also rocked the world.
