Hydrologists at St. Petersburg State University have modeled scenarios for the development of the Antarctic subglacial Lake Dolk, due to the breakthrough of which a large sinkhole formed in the Antarctic glacier in 2018. St. Petersburg State University announced this on its website.
"Scientists have concluded that an increase in the temperature of the glacier, inside which the lake is located, will lead to the fact that in the next five years it will freeze to a depth of up to seven meters, which is slightly less than a quarter of its original depth," the report says.
As noted at the university, Dolk is an Antarctic intraglacial reservoir, which has never been opened during the entire period of research on this territory. The lake is located in East Antarctica, near the Progress station, in the thickness of a glacier. It has been covered with a multi-meter layer of ice for at least half a century.
Scientists consider this lake to be a model object for studying the processes occurring in subglacial reservoirs, in particular their breakthroughs, and the flow of water from one lake to another, St. Petersburg State University said.
In January 2018, there was a break in the ice, and as a result, a huge sinkhole formed in the glacier.
"In all likelihood, due to climatic factors, Lake Boulder, located higher in relation to Lake Dolk, broke through. Its waters, according to scientists, fed Lake Dolk through cracks in the glacier. Due to the pressure difference, the ice roof above it could not stand and collapsed, as a result of which the breakthrough of this lake through the glacier began. Scientists believe that the breakthrough of Lake Dolk occurred due to external influences. In particular, due to the movement of the glacier and warming," the message says.
According to scientists, this is due to the fact that an increase in the temperature of the glacier leads to a decrease in its viscosity and an increase in the speed of its movement due to spreading.
"Global warming of the external environment also played a role, which led to accelerated melting of the near-surface layer during the warm period," the university noted.
Scientists have modeled three possible scenarios for the development of the lake.
"With the exception of some details, all three scenarios point to one common trend — the degradation of Lake Dolk," the researchers concluded.
The results of the scientists' research are published in Polar Science.
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