Confirmation of the ancient age of the maps of Piri Reis, Orontius Phineus and Philippe Boischer by the results of ice drilling in Antarctica
The thickness of the Antarctic ice cap varies from 300-400 m to 3-4 km. According to academician V.M. Kotlyakov, the results of drilling ice in Antarctica indicate that it existed for at least 400-800 thousand years. Although it is very difficult to determine his age.
About age Antarctic ice a fragment from an interview with V. Kotlyakov gives an idea:
"Alexander Gordon.
When last time Was Antarctica ice-free?
Kotlyakov. Nobody knows for sure. But it is assumed that glaciation in Antarctica began no later than 5 million years ago, most likely 30-35 million years ago, this continent was constantly under ice. Thus, the development of nature in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres did not occur at all in the same way. In the Northern Hemisphere, the glacier either spread out or disappeared completely, while in the Southern Hemisphere the ice existed almost continuously.”(Antarctica: climate. Broadcast by A. Gordon)
Doctor shares the same point of view geographical sciences D. Kvasov:
« 20-30 million years ago volume Antarctic glaciers was already close to modern. At that time in temperate and polar latitudes A rather warm climate prevailed. Ice sheet East Antarctica melted at the edges, but did not decrease in size - much more snow fell on its surface than now».
D. Kvasov wrote that “Warming will also lead to heavy snowfall. The largest ice sheets may even increase their thickness as a result. They will produce fewer icebergs and melt a little at the edges, but will not decrease in volume until the volume of melting exceeds the volume of snow water received by the glaciers each year. For this to happen, a warming of 10-12 degrees is needed. Only after this will the glaciers of Antarctica begin to disintegrate and the ocean level to rise... With less warming, sea levels could even drop slightly as Antarctic glaciers become thicker."(Glaciation of Antarctica, or What is considered a disaster in the history of the Earth)
Head of the marine geophysical detachment in the second Antarctic expedition 1956–1957. N.P. Grushinsky and the head of the wintering quarters of the fourth and seventh Antarctic expeditions of 1958–1959. and 1961–1962 A.G. Dralkin also wrote that last glaciation Antarctica began about 10 million years ago. This glaciation has remained constant to this day.Antarctica has not experienced much warming since the end of the Tertiary period and remains covered in ice.
(Antarctica).
Returning to the interview with Academician V.M. Kotlyakov, I will also quote his following words:
« The well at Vostok station showed for the first time that the existing temperature on Earth, despite warming, one and a half degrees lower than the temperatures that were during the interglacial periods we studied
(three interglacials during the last 420 thousand years), that is, the current temperature is one and a half degrees less than the upper limit known to us. This means that over the past 400 thousand years the climate on Earth has not changed fundamentally.»
In another work by V. Kotlyakov it is said that in individual periods During the Pleistocene (interglacial era), temperatures in Antarctica (as well as in the Arctic) increased by 10-12 degrees. This is a very interesting moment, which seems to give a chance to supporters of the 20-30 thousand year old maps of Piri Reis, Orontius Phineus, Philippe Buache and other cartographers and navigators. However, it contradicts the above statement by the same V. Kotlyakov, and is not confirmed by any other information, so I would not accept it as evidence base. Moreover, the results of drilling the Antarctic ice show that in the last and penultimate ice ages(12-120 and 140-220 thousand years ago) the temperature in Antarctica was approximately 6 degrees. below modern, with temperature minimums 20, 60 and 110 thousand years ago, that is, just at the time when, according to Charles Hapgood, Antarctica was free of ice.
Moreover, also because all other data indicate that the Antarctic ice cover has remained unchanged, at least over the last 5 million years.
Confirmation of the ancient age of the maps of Piri Reis, Orontius Phineus and Philippe Boischer by paleogeodynamic reconstructions of Antarctica
One more important argument In favor of the constancy of the Antarctic glacier over the last 20-23 million years is the location of Antarctica throughout the Neogene in an area close to the modern one, that is, in close proximity to the south geographic pole. True, the position of the south pole changed several times during this period of time. However, even with a change in the tilt of the earth’s axis by 15-30 degrees, which was noted 12 thousand years ago, at least half of Antarctica always remained in polar latitudes, and the rest of it 24-12 thousand years ago should also have been covered by ice, because What earth's axis was then located almost vertically and there were almost no falls on Antarctica sun rays. That is, there is not even a hint that the temperature on it increased by more than 10-12 degrees.
ABOUT ancient age The Piri Reis map also indicates the separation of Antarctica from South America 34 (according to other sources, 23) million years ago. And on this map they are shown together.
***
Based on all of the above, we can repeat the conclusion made in the book “Battles of the ancient gods” and the work “The earliest maps of the Earth were compiled in the Paleogene” that the original maps of Piri Reis, Orontius Phineus, Philippe Buache and other cartographers and navigators were compiled in the Paleogene or the first half of the Neogene period (34-20 million years ago). And opponents of this do not have many arguments to continue the dispute.
Read my others works “The earliest maps of the Earth were compiled in the Paleogene” and “World map of Orontius Phineus 1531 - map of the bright half of the Earth in the early Miocene era (23 -16 million years ago)? "
I invite everyone to further discuss this material on the topic pages And
© A.V. Koltypin, 20
11
Relief and ice cover
Antarctica is the highest continent on Earth; the average height of the continent's surface above sea level is more than 2000 m, and in the center of the continent it reaches 4000 meters. Most of this height is made up of a permanent ice cover of the continent, under which the continental relief is hidden and only ~5% of its area is free of ice - mainly in West Antarctica and the Transantarctic Mountains: islands, sections of the coast, the so-called. “dry valleys” and individual ridges and mountain peaks (nunataks) rising above the icy surface. The Transantarctic Mountains, crossing almost the entire continent, divide Antarctica into two parts - West Antarctica and East Antarctica, which have different origins And geological structure. In the east there is a high (highest elevation of the ice surface ~4100 m above sea level) ice-covered plateau. Western part consists of a group of mountainous islands connected by ice. On the Pacific coast are the Antarctic Andes, whose altitude exceeds 4000 m; the highest point of the continent - 4892 m above sea level - the Vinson Massif of the Sentinel Ridge. In West Antarctica there is also the deepest depression of the continent - the Bentley Basin, probably of rift origin. The depth of the ice-filled Bentley Trench reaches 2555 m below sea level.
The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest on our planet and is approximately 10 times larger in area than the next largest, the Greenland Ice Sheet. It contains ~30 million km³ of ice, that is, 90% of all land ice. It is dome-shaped with the surface increasing in steepness towards the coast, where it is flanked in many places by ice shelves. The average thickness of the ice layer is 2500-2800 m, reaching maximum value in some areas of East Antarctica - 4800 m. The accumulation of ice on the ice sheet leads, as in the case of other glaciers, to the flow of ice into the ablation (destruction) zone, which is the coast of the continent (see Fig. 3); the ice breaks off in the form of icebergs. The annual volume of ablation is estimated at 2500 km³.
A special feature of Antarctica is the large area of ice shelves (low (blue) areas of West Antarctica), amounting to ~10% of the area above sea level; these glaciers are the source of icebergs of record sizes, significantly exceeding the size of the icebergs of the outlet glaciers of Greenland; for example, in 2000, the largest known ice cap broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf. at the moment(2005) iceberg B-15 with an area of over 10,000 km². In winter (summer in the northern hemisphere) the area sea ice around Antarctica increases to 18 million km², and in summer it decreases to 3-4 million km².
The Antarctic ice sheet formed about 14 million years ago, apparently facilitated by the rupture of a bridge connecting South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, which led, in turn, to the formation of the Antarctic circumpolar current (current Western Winds) and isolation of Antarctic waters from the World Ocean - these waters make up the so-called Southern Ocean.
Seismic activity
Antarctica is a tectonically calm continent with little seismic activity, manifestations of volcanism are concentrated in western Antarctica and are associated with the Antarctic Peninsula, which arose during the Andean period of mountain building. Some of the volcanoes, especially island volcanoes, have erupted in the last 200 years. Most active volcano Antarctica - Erebus. It is called “the volcano guarding the path to the South Pole.”
Climate
Antarctica has an extremely harsh cold climate. The absolute pole of cold is located in East Antarctica, where temperatures down to −89.2 °C were recorded (the area of the Vostok station).
Another feature of the meteorology of East Antarctica is katabatic winds, caused by its dome-shaped topography. These steady winds southern directions arise on fairly steep slopes of the ice sheet due to cooling of the air layer near the ice surface, the density of the near-surface layer increases, and it flows down the slope under the influence of gravity. The thickness of the air flow layer is usually 200-300 m; Due to the large amount of ice dust carried by the wind, horizontal visibility in such winds is very low. The strength of the katabatic wind is proportional to the steepness of the slope and greatest strength reaches in coastal areas with a high slope towards the sea. Maximum strength katabatic winds reach the Antarctic winter - from April to November they blow almost continuously around the clock, from November to March - at night or when the Sun is low above the horizon. In summer, during the daytime, due to the heating of the surface layer of air by the sun, katabatic winds along the coast cease.
Data on temperature changes from 1981 to 2007 show that the temperature background in Antarctica changed unevenly. For West Antarctica as a whole, an increase in temperature has been observed, while for East Antarctica no warming has been detected, and even some negative trend has been noted. It is unlikely that the melting process in Antarctica will increase significantly in the 21st century. On the contrary, as temperatures rise, the amount of snow falling on the Antarctic ice sheet is expected to increase. However, due to warming, more intense destruction of ice shelves and acceleration of the movement of Antarctica's outlet glaciers, throwing ice into the World Ocean, is possible.
Inland waters
Due to the fact that not only the average annual temperature, but also in most areas even summer temperatures in Antarctica do not exceed zero degrees, precipitation there falls only in the form of snow (rain is an extremely rare occurrence). It forms a glacial cover (snow is compressed under its own weight) with a thickness of more than 1700 m, in some places reaching 4300 m. Up to 90% of the total ice is concentrated in Antarctic ice. fresh water Earth.
In the 90s of the 20th century, Russian scientists discovered a subglacial ice-free lake Vostok is the largest of the Antarctic lakes, having a length of 250 km and a width of 50 km; the lake holds about 5,400 thousand km³ of water.
In January 2006, geophysicists Robin Bell and Michael Studinger from the American Lamont-Doherty Geophysical Observatory discovered the second and third largest subglacial lakes, with an area of 2000 km² and 1600 km² respectively, located at a depth of about 3 km from the surface of the continent. They reported that this could have been done earlier if the data from the 1958-1959 Soviet expedition had been analyzed more thoroughly. In addition to these data, satellite data, radar readings and measurements of the force of gravity on the surface of the continent were used.
In total, as of 2007, more than 140 subglacial lakes were discovered in Antarctica.
Biosphere
The biosphere in Antarctica is represented in four “arenas of life”: coastal islands and ice, coastal oases on the mainland (for example, the “Banger Oasis”), the nunataks arena (Mount Amundsen near Mirny, Mount Nansen on Victoria Land, etc.) and the ice sheet arena .
Plants and animals are most common in the coastal zone. Ground vegetation on deprived of ice areas exists mainly in the form various types does not form mosses and lichens and does not form a closed cover (Antarctic moss-lichen deserts).
Antarctic animals are completely dependent on the coastal ecosystem of the Southern Ocean: due to the paucity of vegetation, all food chains coastal ecosystems begin in the waters surrounding Antarctica. Antarctic waters are especially rich in zooplankton, primarily krill. Krill directly or indirectly form the basis of the food chain of many species of fish, cetaceans, squid, seals, penguins and other animals; There are no completely land mammals in Antarctica; invertebrates are represented by approximately 70 species of arthropods (insects and arachnids) and nematodes living in soils.
Terrestrial animals include seals (Weddell, crabeater seals, leopard seals, Ross seals, elephant seals) and birds (several species of petrels, two species of skuas, Adélie penguins and emperor penguins).
In the freshwater lakes of continental coastal oases - “dry valleys” - there are oligotrophic ecosystems inhabited by blue-green algae, roundworms, copepods (cyclops) and daphnia, while birds (petrels and skuas) fly here occasionally.
Nunataks are characterized only by bacteria, algae, lichens and severely suppressed mosses; only skuas, following people, occasionally fly onto the ice sheet.
There is an assumption about the presence in subglacial lakes of Antarctica, such as Lake Vostok, of extremely oligotrophic ecosystems, practically isolated from the outside world.
In 1994, scientists reported a rapid increase in the number of plants in Antarctica, which seemed to confirm the hypothesis of global warming climate on the planet.
The Antarctic Peninsula and its surrounding islands have the most favorable conditions on the mainland climatic conditions. It is here that the only flowering plants in the region grow - Antarctic meadowsweet and Quito colobanthus.
Exploring Antarctica
The first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle belonged to the Dutch; it was commanded by Dirk Geeritz, who sailed in the squadron of Jacob Magyu. In 1559, in the Strait of Magellan, Geeritz's ship lost sight of the squadron after a storm and went south. When it dropped to 64° S. sh., was found there high ground. In 1671 La Roche discovered South Georgia; Bouvet Island was discovered in 1739; in 1772 Indian Ocean Yves-Joseph Kerglen, French naval officer, discovered the island named after him.
Almost simultaneously with the voyage, Kerglen set off from England on his first trip to Southern Hemisphere James Cook, and already in January 1773 his ships “Adventure” and “Resolution” crossed the Antarctic Circle at the meridian 37°33′ E. d. After a difficult struggle with ice, he reached 67°15′ S. sh., where he was forced to turn north. In December 1773, Cook again set off for the southern ocean, crossing it on December 8 and at parallel 67°5′ S. w. was covered in ice. Having freed himself, Cook went further south and at the end of January 1774 reached 71°15′ S. sh., southwest of Tierra del Fuego. Here an impenetrable wall of ice prevented him from going further. Cook was one of the first to reach the south polar seas and, having encountered solid ice in several places, declared that it could not be penetrated further. They believed him, and for 45 years polar expeditions did not undertake.
In 1819, Russian sailors F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev on the sloops of war “Vostok” and “Mirny” visited South Georgia and tried to penetrate deep into the South Arctic Ocean. For the first time, in January 1820, almost on the Greenwich meridian, they reached 69°21′ S. sh.; then, going beyond Arctic Circle, Bellingshausen walked along it to the east to 19° east. d., where he crossed it again and reached in February 1820 again almost the same latitude (69°6′). Further east, he rose only to the 62° parallel and continued his path along the outskirts floating ice. Then, on the meridian of the Balleny Islands, Bellingshausen reached 64°55′, and in December 1820 reached 161°w. d., passed the southern polar circle and reached 67°15′ S. latitude, and in January 1821 reached 69°53′ S. w. Almost at the 81° meridian he discovered high bank Peter I Islands, and having passed further east, inside the southern polar circle - the coast of Alexander I Land. Thus, Bellingshausen was the first to complete a complete voyage around Antarctica at latitudes from 60° to 70°.
After this, the study of the coast of the continent and its interior began. Numerous studies were carried out by English expeditions led by Ernest Shackleton (he wrote the book “The Most Terrible Campaign” about them). In 1911-1912, between the expeditions of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott, a real race for the conquest unfolded. South Pole. Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole; a month after him, Robert Scott's party arrived at the cherished point and died on the way back.
From the middle of the 20th century, the study of Antarctica began on an industrial basis. On the continent different countries numerous permanent bases are being created, all year round leading meteorological, glaciological and geological research. On December 14, 1958, the third Soviet Antarctic expedition, led by Evgeniy Tolstikov, reached the South Pole of Inaccessibility and founded a temporary station there, the Pole of Inaccessibility.
Population
Due to the severity of the climate, Antarctica has no permanent population. However, there are scientific stations. The temporary population of Antarctica ranges from 4,000 people in summer (about 150 Russians) to 1,000 people in winter (about 100 Russians).
Antarctica has been assigned the top-level Internet domain .aq and the telephone prefix +672.
Over the past 25 years, Antarctica has lost more than 3 trillion tons of ice. At the same time, ice loss has increased sharply over the past 5 years. These findings are reported in one of the largest studies of the state of the ice cover of this continent. The work was carried out by an international team of 84 scientists who analyzed data collected through satellite observations from 1992 to 2017.
Researchers have discovered that the icy continent in present moment is losing its ice reserves three times faster than it did before 2012. The annual loss rate is estimated at more than 241 billion tons. At the same time, the total loss of Antarctic ice reserves over the past 25 years has increased the level of the World Ocean by about 8 millimeters. Moreover, the last 5 years account for about 40 percent of this growth (about 3 mm).
A rise in the level of the World Ocean by a few millimeters at first glance does not seem to be an impressive event, but only until then, if you do not remember the results of previous studies that stated that global change climate change will have no effect on the reduction in the volume of ice cover in Antarctica. New data indicates that the continent's ice cap is not so resistant to climate change (primarily warming), and therefore we should revise forecasts regarding its potential to affect sea levels. Preliminary analysis, conducted by an international team of scientists, suggests that if all the ice in Antarctica melts, the level of the World Ocean could rise by 58 meters.
The scientists' report was published June 13 in the journal Nature Research and was one of five reports on the state of Antarctica published simultaneously. Taken together, these studies address both the past and current state continent to determine the level of impact of these changes on global climate change. In addition, issues affecting the role of human activity on the continent, and options for protecting ecology and geology are being discussed.
The ice has broken
“For their study, the scientists selected three types of data obtained from satellite observations of changes in the situation on the continent,” says co-author Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds (UK).
Using satellites equipped with altimeters, scientists obtained data on the thickness of the ice contained in Antarctica. With the help of other satellites, data on the rate of glacial emissions into the ocean was obtained. The third type of data made it possible to calculate the level of gravity created by the land, as well as determine the total weight of the Antarctic ice cap.
Each of these methods individually has a number of limitations. For example, certain factors, such as variability in the amount of snow falling on an ice cap or changes in the composition of rocks beneath the ice, can affect satellite measurements. However, by combining all three methods, Shepherd explains, the researchers were able to isolate the factors that were interfering with determining the state of Antarctica's ice.
“Satellite measurements have shown us that the ice layer is much more dynamic than we all used to think,” says the scientist.
“If you look at the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report 30 years ago, before we even started doing satellite studies of the polar regions, scientists didn't even consider the possibility of ice caps in any way. respond to global climate change. For a long time in glaciology (the science of natural ice) the thesis that the ice cover cannot change rapidly was taken for granted. But, as our research shows, this turned out to be a misconception,” says Shepherd.
IN total 3 trillion tons of ice disappeared from Antarctica over the 25-year period studied. Just last year, an iceberg weighing more than 1 trillion tons—one of the largest in history—and covering an area half the size of the island of Jamaica, broke off from the Larsen C Ice Shelf.
The largest change in annual Antarctic ice loss observed in the western part of the continent occurred by 2012. Thus, the volume of ice loss, which amounted to 58 billion tons annually, has rapidly increased to 175 billion tons over the past 5 years, researchers report. At the same time, annual ice loss from the Antarctic Peninsula, which stood at 7 billion tons between 1992 and 2012, increased to 36 billion tons between 2012 and 2017. Mainly due to the destruction of ice shelves.
At an accelerated pace
Antarctica is covered with ice all year round, but its ice caps have been shrinking and growing in annual cycles for many thousands of years. Clues from the geological record suggest that climate change is reducing Antarctica's ice volume, and doing so much faster than it would have naturally occurred in the past.
Ancient ice sheets leave signs of their past presence on the ground on which they lie. Using these signs, scientists can determine exactly where the melted glaciers were previously located. This is done as part of observations of the seabed around the western part of the continent. It contains underwater remnants of glaciers that indicate exactly where they were in the past, Shepherd explains.
All these signs allow scientists to estimate the rate of retreat of Antarctic ice. In the past, between glacial cycles, the annual figure was about 50 meters. However modern observations they say that the rate of ice loss has increased more than 20 times and is now about 1 kilometer annually.
Based on materials from hi-news
Despite the reduction in area continental ice Antarctica, its thickness increases.
The latest series of studies, carried out using data obtained from the European Cryosat satellite, made it possible to find out that at the same time as the total area of ice in Antarctica decreased, its thickness increased. According to experts, the accuracy of the scientific equipment installed on Cryosat currently has no analogues. In this regard, the confidence in the data obtained is high, and their importance is scientific point vision is beyond doubt. Although scientists are unable to explain the reliable cause of the thickening polar ice, but there is no doubt that this process has a direct connection with changes in environmental conditions.
Cryosat measured the thickness of the ice layer at certain control points, which were mainly located at the ends of the continent, for example, on a desert plateau known for the presence of very blue ice. There is almost no snow here, but there is an abundance of very clean ice. Such specific conditions are the best suited for measuring the thickness of the ice cover from a satellite. In this regard, a special high-precision device is installed on Cryosat - a laser altimeter, which, using radar signals, allows you to study the thickness and other characteristics of ice and transmit the resulting data back to the satellite.
The thickness of the ice in Antarctica is determined quite simply by taking into account the time delay between the emission of the signal and its receipt after reflection from the earth's solid surface under the ice mass. The difficulty is that the ice in Antarctica is usually covered with a fairly thick layer of snow, and the signal does not always penetrate through it, which causes large distortions in measurements. Therefore, those areas of the mainland. where there is no snow, are ideal for such studies, since the accuracy of measurements here is an order of magnitude higher.
The value of the data obtained lies in the fact that satellite monitoring has been carried out in the selected regions since 2008. Previously, it was found that from 2008 to 2010, the Antarctic ice layer increased by an average of 9 centimeters. but in the next two years the increase was already 10 centimeters. which indicates a significant increase in the growth rate of the thickness of the ice crust. German scientists from the University of Dresden note that from 1991 to 2000, the layer of ice crust on the desert plateau grew by only 5 centimeters. which is much lower than the rates observed today.
Currently, a team of climatologists from the USA. Europe and Canada are busy collecting additional information, which scientists hope will help explain possible reasons increasing the thickness of the ice of the sixth continent.
The thickness of the ice under which Vostok is located - a subglacial lake in Antarctica?
Firstly, this fossil ice, whose age is calculated not in years, hundreds of years or thousands, but in hundreds of thousands of years. It froze for a very long time, during the time that the continent of Antarctica existed. The age of the ice, which was raised almost from the depth where the water begins, is about 430 thousand years.
It is clear that during such a time a lot of ice has frozen and its thickness is approximately 4000 meters. Last digit- this is the depth of the well drilled by Russian scientists; scientists did not reach the water so as not to disturb the ecosystem of the lake, which is very fragile and vulnerable to anthropogenic interference.
By the way, in the northern part of the lake the ice thickness is less than 4000 meters - about 3800 meters, and in the southern part it is greater - about 4200 meters.
Ice of Antarctica
For recent years Extensive research has been carried out in Antarctica. The continent, almost completely covered with ice cover, has an area one and a half times more australia. The thickness of the ice here reaches 5 km. Deep valleys and entire mountain systems are hidden under glaciers. Soviet researchers discovered under the ice in the region of the Pole of relative inaccessibility a huge mountainous country with peaks reaching a height of 3 thousand m above sea level. Moreover, there is about a kilometer of ice above the highest of the peaks. Scientists have now calculated that the volume of the Antarctic ice sheet is 25 million cubic meters. km. Suffice it to say that the melting of such an amount of ice will cause the level of the World Ocean to rise 56 m above the existing one. The huge ice cap lying on the southern continent develops according to very complex laws. Precipitation falls continuously on its surface all year round. Every year the layer of snow grows, and under the pressure of newly fallen snow it turns into firn, and then into glacier ice. As the glacier grows upward, it experiences stresses that cause the glacier to spread from the center to the edge, compensating for the continuous growth in the center.
Scientists from many countries have trekked across the Antarctic ice sheet, taking seismic measurements of the thickness of the ice sheet. Now the length of these routes, or cuts, as they are called, reaches 25 thousand km. During these trips, a number of measurements were taken, in particular temperature measurements snow cover to a depth of 50 m. At this depth, seasonal and long-term fluctuations air temperature. Here the temperature is relatively constant. For example, in the center of Antarctica it reaches 56 58C, with a thickness of the ice cover of 3500 m. When scientists calculated how temperature changes with depth, they encountered a contradiction. According to theoretical curves associated with the geothermal internal heat of the Earth, it turned out that at geothermal stage 1 at 30 m, already at a depth of 1880 m, the ice temperature should be 0, that is, on the verge of melting, and this contradicted a number of indirect signs. First deep wells, drilled in Antarctica, showed that sometimes the temperature begins to decrease with depth, rather than increase, and only at a depth of several hundred meters is an increase in temperature observed again according to the geothermal gradient.
True, these wells were drilled in the marginal part of the glacier, where the correct picture can be distorted due to ice movement. But in the center of the ice sheet, the temperature gradient can be greatly distorted due to the growth of the glacier as a result of snow accumulation. It is very important to clarify these data, since if the lower layers of the glacier have a temperature close to zero, then we can expect that under a thick layer of ice there is a layer of water, and this radically changes all our ideas about the structure of the Antarctic ice sheet . Recent drilling work has shown that in Antarctica there really is a layer of water under the ice.
Pyramids in Antarctica?
Everyone is accustomed to the picture shown to us, where Antarctica is continuous endless snow-covered expanses. And only near the coast, where during the warm period it thaws coastal strip- beaches and partly mountain ranges are exposed. And everything else lies, as we were told in geography lessons, under 2-3 km of ice. And there are places, according to official data, up to 5 km. But it turns out that if you look at Google program Planet Earth - in the depths of the continent, on the surface above the ice, there are mountainous and rocky massifs, partially not covered with snow or ice.
It’s amazing that from under the thickness of the ice and snow these not at all low mountains rise. Maybe the thickness of the ice on the continent is not kilometers at all. If you remember the video and photo of the ice sliding into the ocean, its height is a maximum of several hundred meters.
It is unusual to see mountains without snow in the interior of this continent. Airstrip at the foot of the mountains
Could these be traces? water erosion- when was the continent ice-free and there were comfortable temperatures?
Glacier off the coast of Antarctica. It cannot be said at all that the thickness of this ice is 2 km. But somehow no one talks about this or compares it.
And where are the kilometer-thick glaciers? There’s not even 30 meters here...
And they always show us this:
Perhaps there are such ice deposits in mountain valleys. But on the plain, such thicknesses are not visible from photographs.
Scientists have one argument in estimating the age of the ice - we took cores and measured the number of rings on them. But we know that this method is fundamentally wrong: The Lost Squadron, 37,000 years old.
Scientists discovered a unique super-saline lake five kilometers deep in Antarctica under a 19-meter layer of centuries-old ice. The lake was named Vida. The age of microbes found in the lake water reaches 2800 years. As biologists expect, since the water in the lake was isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years, unique ecological systems. According to the researchers, this may provide a clue to the search organic life on other planets, including Mars.
The researchers did not drill a pit directly to the lake for fear of destroying the tightness of the reservoir. Using method radiocarbon dating, scientists have determined the age of sedimentary rocks found in the ice core to be 2,800 years old. When the rocks were thawed, microorganisms were found in them and managed to be revived. Biologists have suggested that the protozoa survived due to a unique combination of light, cold and hypersalinity.
Sources: news-mining.ru, www.bolshoyvopros.ru, restinworld.ru, sibved.livejournal.com, www.astronomy.ru
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In East Antarctica, the foundation of the ice sheet is composed of continental rocks, while in West Antarctica the foundation plunges more than 2500 m below sea level.
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is a huge ice “cake” with an area of 10 million km² and a diameter of more than 4 thousand km. The ice surface, hidden under 100-150 meters of snow and firn, forms a huge plateau with average height about 3 km and a maximum height in its center of up to 4 km. The average thickness of the ice in East Antarctica is 2.5 km, and the maximum is almost 4.8 km. The West Antarctic ice sheet has a significantly smaller size: an area of less than 2 million km², an average thickness of only 1.1 km, and the surface does not rise above 2 km above sea level. The foundation of this shield is on large areas submerged below ocean level, its average depth is about 400 m.
Very interesting ice shelves Antarctica, which are a floating continuation of the land and “sea” covers. Their total area is 1.5 million km², and the largest of them are the Ross and Ronne-Filchner ice shelves, which occupy the interior parts of the Ross and Weddell seas, with an area of 0.6 million km² each. The floating ice of these glaciers is separated from the main sheet by abutment lines, and its outer boundaries are formed by frontal cliffs, or barriers, which are constantly renewed due to the calving of icebergs. The ice thickness at the rear borders can reach up to 1-1.3 km; near the barriers it rarely exceeds 150-200 m.
Antarctic ice spreads from several centers to the periphery of the ice sheet. In its different parts this movement comes with at different speeds. In the center of Antarctica, the ice moves slowly; near the glacial edge its speed increases to several tens and hundreds of meters per year. Ice streams move fastest here, plunging into open ocean. Their speeds often reach a kilometer per year, and one of the ice streams of West Antarctica - the Pine Island Glacier - moves at a speed of several kilometers per year. However, most ice streams do not flow into the ocean, but into ice shelves. Ice streams of this category move more slowly, their speed does not exceed 300-800 m/year. Such slow pace usually explained by resistance from ice shelves, which themselves, as a rule, are inhibited by shores and shoals.
Glaciation of Antarctica began during the Middle Eocene about 45.5 million years ago and spread during the Eocene-Oligocene extinction about 34 million years ago. Scientists call the causes of cooling and glaciation a decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and the appearance of the Drake Passage.
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WHAT HAPPENS IF THE ICE OF ANTARCTICA MELTS?
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Antarctica is the least studied continent located in the south globe. Most of its surface has ice cover up to 5 km thick. The Antarctic ice sheet contains 90% of all the ice on our planet. The ice is so heavy that the continent beneath it has sunk almost 500 m. Today the world is witnessing the first consequences of global warming in Antarctica: large glaciers are being destroyed, new lakes are appearing, and the soil is losing its ice cover. Let's simulate the situation: what will happen if Antarctica loses its ice completely. Today, the area of Antarctica is about 14,000,000 sq. km. If the glaciers melt, these numbers will be reduced by a third. The mainland will become almost unrecognizable. Under the ice there are numerous mountain ranges and arrays. The western part will definitely become an archipelago, and the eastern part will remain a continent, although given the rise of ocean waters, it will not retain this status for long. At the moment, many representatives are found on the Antarctic Peninsula, islands and coastal oases. flora: flowers, ferns, lichens, algae, and recently their diversity has been gradually increasing. There are fungi and some bacteria there, and the coasts are occupied by seals and penguins. Already now, on the same Antarctic Peninsula, the appearance of tundra is observed, and scientists are confident that with warming there will be trees and new representatives of the animal world. Today there is no permanent population on the territory of Antarctica. Only employees of scientific stations are there, sometimes tourists visit it. With climate change, the former cold continent may become suitable for permanent human habitation, but now it is difficult to talk about this with confidence - everything will depend on the current climatic situation. How will the world change as a result of melting glaciers? Scientists have calculated that after the ice cover melts, the level of the world's oceans will rise by almost 60 meters. And this is a lot and will practically mean a global catastrophe. The coastline will shift significantly, and today's coastal zone of the continents will be under water. The Black Sea will grow - in addition to the northern part of Crimea and Odessa, Istanbul will also be drowned. European cities such as London, Rome, Venice, Amsterdam and Copenhagen will go under water along with their entire cultural heritage. So, while you have time, be sure to visit them and post photos on Instagram, it is likely that your grandchildren will no longer be able to do this. It will also be hard for the Americans, who will definitely be left without Washington, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and many other large coastal cities. According to ecologists, the ice of Antarctica, Antarctica and those found on mountain peaks help maintain the temperature balance on the planet by cooling its atmosphere. Without them, this balance will be disrupted. The entry of large amounts of fresh water into the world's oceans will likely change the direction of large ocean currents that determine climatic conditions in many regions. So it is not yet possible to say with certainty what will happen to our weather. Quantity natural disasters will increase significantly. Hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes will claim thousands of lives. Paradoxically, due to global warming, some countries will begin to experience a shortage of fresh water. The fact is that snow deposits in the mountains provide water to vast areas, and after it melts there will no longer be such a benefit. All this will greatly affect the economy, even if the flooding process is gradual. Take the USA and China for example! Like it or not, these countries greatly influence the economic situation throughout the world. And in addition to the problem of relocating tens of millions of people and the loss of their capital, the states will lose almost a quarter of their production capacity, which will ultimately hit the entire global economy. China will be forced to say goodbye to its huge trading ports, which will significantly reduce the supply of products to the world market. How are things today? Some scientists reassure us that the observed melting of glaciers is normal, because... somewhere they disappear, and somewhere they are formed, and thus balance is maintained. Others note that there are still reasons for concern, and provide compelling evidence. Not long ago, British scientists analyzed 50 million satellite images of Antarctic ice sheets and came to the conclusion that their melting is happening very rapidly. In particular, the giant Totten glacier, comparable in size to the territory of France, causes concern. Researchers have noticed that warm salt waters accelerate its decay. According to forecasts, this glacier, if completely melted, could raise the level of the World Ocean by as much as 2 meters. It is expected that the Larsen Glacier will collapse by 2020. And he, by the way, is as much as 12,000 years old. According to research, Antarctica loses as much as 160 billion tons of ice every year. Moreover, this figure is growing rapidly. Scientists say that they had not previously expected such a sharp melting of the southern ice. The most unpleasant thing is that this process itself even more affects the increase greenhouse effect. The fact is that the ice covers of our planet reflect part of the sunlight. Without this, heat is retained in the Earth's atmosphere in larger volumes, thereby increasing the average air temperature. The growing area of the World Ocean, whose waters collect heat, only aggravates the situation. At the same time, large amounts of melt water also have a detrimental effect on glaciers. As a result, ice reserves not only in Antarctica, but throughout the globe are melting faster and faster, which ultimately threatens big problems. According to researchers, all the ice on the planet could melt in about five thousand years. The speed of this process depends on many factors, including the rate of increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Of course, one should not take all these forecasts too literally and straightforwardly. After all, they are made by people, and it is human nature to make mistakes. But one thing is certain: the world is changing at an unprecedented pace, and tomorrow it will no longer be the same as it was yesterday. Changes are global and inevitable. But humanity still has time to think, prepare and methodically adapt to the new reality.
