Washington: Satellite images have revealed a sequence of lakes on top of the George VI ice shelf in Antarctica moving along the boundary of the ice shelf with Alexander Island.
It was observed when LaBarbera and MacAyeal analyzed satellite images of the George VI ice shelf in Antarctica taken from 2001 through 2010.
They found that the supraglacial lakes move in a direction and with a speed that differs from ice shelf flow: parallel to the grounding line of the ice shelf, in the manner of a travelling wave.
They present a simple model to show how the lakes form in the depressions associated with compressions of the ice sheet.
The study could help researchers better understand the dynamics of the ice shelf.
The discovery was published in Journal of Geophysical Research Letters (GRL).
ANI
First Published: Saturday, January 14, 2012, 18:06