There’s a new type of criminal on the loose. They’re big. They’re cold. And they’ve been committing acts of thievery in Antarctica for the past eighteen years.

A new study, published in The Cryosphere, reveals that a glacier in Antarctica has been stealing ice from its neighbor. This act of ice piracy, observed using satellite imagery, is a phenomenon never before seen in such a short period of time. In fact, until now, ice piracy was understood to be a centuries- or even millennia-long process. 

“We didn’t know ice streams could ‘steal’ ice from each other over such a short period, so this is a fascinating discovery,” said lead author Heather L. Selley in a press release. “It’s unprecedented as we’re seeing this from satellite data, and it’s happening at a rate of under 18 years, whereas we’ve always thought it was this extremely long, slow process.”

The discovery of this unprecedented change in ice flow direction is a crucial step in understanding Antarctica’s future and the associated rise in global sea levels.

Read More: Ice Quakes Cause Glacial Ice to Flow Toward the Ocean

The Ice Pirate

The research team, from the University of Leeds, used satellite data to measure the speed of ice streams in West Antarctica. Throughout their research, they focused on seven streams in particular in the Pope, Smith, and Kohler (PSK) region. Of these seven streams, six had been significantly sped up. These six streams reached average speeds of over 2200 feet per year in 2022, the equivalent of seven football fields.

While six of the seven streams showed evidence of speeding up, one ice stream provided striking and unexpected data. Unlike the other quickening ice streams, whose average acceleration sped up by 51 percent since 2005, the Kohler West ice stream slowed by 10 percent. Additionally, the fastest-growing ice stream of the seven was Kohler West’s neighbor, Kohler East. 

This phenomenon of Kohler West and Kohler East is a direct result of climate change. Many Antarctic glaciers are responding to climate change by flowing faster into the ocean. The faster a glacier’s flow speeds up, the more its ice becomes stretched and thin, and the more likely it is to steal from other glaciers.

“Because Kohler East’s ice stream is flowing and thinning faster as it travels, it absorbs, or ‘steals,’ ice from Kohler West. This is effectively an act of ‘ice piracy,’ where ice flow is redirected from one glacier to another, and the accelerating glacier is essentially ‘thieving’ ice from its slowing neighbor,” said Selley in the press release.

A Global Concern

Accelerating ice sheet speed will likely lead to accelerating sea level rise. Current data on sea level rise shows that global sea levels have risen more than 10cm (~4 inches) in the last decade. By 2100, it is estimated that over 410 million people could be at risk due to climate-related sea level rise.

The research team is monitoring changes in conditions that impact ice flow speed and will inevitably lead to sea level rise, such as ocean warming, ocean circulation, air temperature, and snowfall. 

The increasing speed of ice streams is helpful in tracking these conditions thanks to what is known as the grounding line. The grounding line is the point where glaciers and ice shelves begin to float. By observing and monitoring grounding lines, scientists can gather evidence of ice-sheet instability, as well as ocean imbalances and inland ice.

“This suggests that ice flow redirection is an important new process in contemporary ice sheet dynamics, which is required to understand present-day structural change in glaciers and the future evolution of these systems,” said Anna Hogg, study co-author and Professor of Earth Observation at Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment, in the press release.

Read More: Chicago-Sized Iceberg Breaks Away From Ice Sheet, Revealing Thriving Ecosystem

Article Sources

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As the marketing coordinator at Discover Magazine, Stephanie Edwards interacts with readers across Discover’s social media channels and writes digital content. Offline, she is a contract lecturer in English & Cultural Studies at Lakehead University, teaching courses on everything from professional communication to Taylor Swift, and received her graduate degrees in the same department from McMaster University. You can find more of her science writing in Lab Manager and her short fiction in anthologies and literary magazine across the horror genre.