Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have utilized aerial photos from 1937 to analyze the stability and growth of East Antarctica’s ice, revealing that despite some signs of weakening, the ice has remained largely stable over almost a century, enhancing predictions of sea-level rise. Credit: Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø
Using hundreds of old aerial photographs dating back to 1937, combined with modern computer technology, researchers have tracked the evolution of glaciers in East Antarctica. This area, which spans approximately 2,000 kilometers of coastline, contains as much ice as the entire Greenland Ice Sheet.
“Our results also indicate weakening sea ice conditions, making the glaciers’ floating ice tongues more vulnerable and unable to grow as large as seen in the early aerial images from 1937. We know from other parts of Antarctica that the ocean plays an extremely important role and drives the massive and increasing melt we see in e.g. West Antarctica,” says Dømgaard.
“By comparing the historical aerial photos with modern satellite data, we have gained critical knowledge about glaciers that we would not otherwise have had. I think it’s fantastic that these old images can be used to generated new research results almost 100 years after they were taken,” says Assistant Professor Anders Bjørk from the University of Copenhagen, who leads the group working with the historical images.
Ingrid Christensen, wife of Lars Christensen, took part in several expeditions to Antarctica and is considered the first woman to set foot in Antarctica. Here she is seen in the Stinson airplane in 1937 ready to throw a Norwegian flag over the land area in East Antarctica.
The Norwegian aerial images were supplemented with 165 aerial images of the same glaciers from Australian surveys conducted between 1950 and 1974. This allowed the researchers to examine the evolution of the glaciers over different periods and calculate historical ice flow speeds for selected glaciers.
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