A vital glacier in western Antarctica seems to be smoking according to satellite views from NASA earlier this month.
The so-called “sea smoke” is actually not smoke but fog, and it appears as fluffy white swirls over the dark water surface of the ocean where the Pine Island glacier meets the sea.
Formation of Sea Smoke
Water and wind were key in creating the sea smoke. A series of strong winds pushed away the ice and colder water, allowing warmer water to rise to the surface, according to NASA. The warmer water injected warmer and moister air into the exceptionally dry and cold air that was blowing over it.
The clash of temperatures caused the moisture in that air to condense and turn into fog. From the ground, it would look as if someone had turned on a spooky smoke machine in a haunted house over the water.
Surprise over these Satellite Views
Sea smoke is not uncommon: it can appear when exceptionally cold and dry air passes over a warmer body of water. It is often seen in the Great Lakes when the first arctic blast of winter sweeps over lakes that are still relatively warm. But seeing it on a satellite over the Pine Island glacier was rare because the area is generally shrouded in clouds, according to NASA.
Importance of the Pine Island Glacier
The Pine Island glacier is a vital and closely monitored part of Antarctica that is threatened by global warming. It acts as a pipeline for the massive ice sheet that borders it, sending a flow of ice into the adjacent ocean. That flow has increased “dramatically” since the 1990s as the glacier is destabilized by warm air, water, and lack of snow, and it cannot replenish its ice, CNN reported.
Together with the neighboring Thwaites glacier, known as the “Doomsday Glacier,” they have been losing ice at an accelerated rate over the past decades and have the potential to raise sea levels on their own by several meters. These glaciers also help prevent the collapse of the rest of the Antarctic ice sheet behind them, which has enough ice to raise sea levels by a catastrophic 3 meters.
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