The total surface area of the subglacial lakes is 700 square kilometers.
American, British and French scientists discovered in the depths of Antarctica four obmelchali lake. A study published in the journal the Cryosphere, briefly about it, reports the European space Agency.
Four linked lakes are hidden under located near the Amundsen sea shelf Thwaites glacier in the West of the mainland. From June 2013 to January 2014 the water, they are trapped in the World’s oceans. The reason for this is the washing away of melt water overlying the base of the glacier.
The total surface area of the subglacial lakes is 700 square kilometers, the amount caught of them in the ocean of liquid water and 3.5 cubic kilometres. The maximum speed of the flow was estimated to be scientists, 240 cubic meters per second — the highest rate for such processes in West Antarctica.
Shallowing of under-ice lakes, as the authors suggest, occurs with a frequency of 20-28 years and by 10 percent increased the speed of sliding of the Thwaites glacier (which is about 11 meters per day) in the ocean, and leads to a small increase in the level of the World ocean.
The work of scientists has also confirmed that Thwaites will be in the ocean through 200-900 years. Discover lake succeeded with the help of the satellite CryoSat-2.
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