Reveal an unexplored island in Antarctica

Sif Island with a layer of brown volcanic granite and traces of creatures appear due to melting ice in Antarctica.

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming areas on Earth. The two large glaciers of the peninsula are the Thwaites glaciers and the Pine Island glaciers , which are melting faster than newly formed glaciers, melting each year on the mainland coast.

Recently, all of the melting ice has left a surprise that can change the map of the area permanently. An unexplored island, buried in previous ice but first visible above sea level.

Scientists with research projects off the Thwaites glacier discovered the island on February 24 while surveying off the glaciers of the Pine Island Glacier. The small island is only about 350 meters long, mostly covered by ice, but emerges from the sea a layer of brown rocks distinct from the surrounding glaciers and icebergs.

After approaching and surveying, the researchers confirmed that the island was made up of volcanic granite and even preserved some traces of the creature. According to expedition member James Marschalek, a graduate student at Imperial College London, there are no other stone islands within an area of ​​65 km radius.

Researchers are examining rock samples on Sif Island.(Photo: UHEAS).

The researchers plan to name the island, Sif, after a Nordic goddess associated with the Earth. The island's sudden appearance will directly impact the region's melting of ice and has become typical in Antarctica in the past decade, Sarah Slack, a member of the expedition and the medium teacher studied in Brooklyn, New York said.

Using satellite imagery from Google Earth, expedition member Peter Neff has created a model that shows the steady depletion of the ice shelf since 2011 made Sif Island separate and alone in the South Island Bay. Pole. From above, the block of ice lies alone among other ice sheets. Now the newly discovered island of Sif could reveal how the region's reef system will continue to surface with climate change.

A satellite image of the Sif island region in the bay of Antarctic island.(Photo: Peter Neff).

There is a possibility that the island may emerge as a result of a process called ice restoration , Lindsay Prothro, an ice geologist at Texas A & M-Corpus Christi University, told Nature. As the ice melts, it relieves pressure on the continent below. At this point, the continent may recover or rise higher than before. It is unclear whether the recovery will accelerate or slow down the rate at which the ice sheets break, further investigation of Sif Island may provide some clues. The team's expedition will end on March 25, after which they will have a complete analysis of Sif Island's rock samples.

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