There’s A Hole In Antarctica And It’s Huge!
Scientists in Antarctica have located a hole in the ice cover that’s reported as being as big as the state of South Carolina. This is known as a polynya (a stretch of water surrounded by ice). Last year, scientists discovered a polynya, but it wasn’t nearly as big as the one they discovered this year. Polynyas are caused by warmer oceans south of Antarctica to melt the ice. Since it’s an actual hole, it’s hard for new ice to form layers on top of the hole due to the constant contact with the environment and the southern ocean. Scientists are baffled as to why these polynyas are just now starting to form. Scientists studying the polynya believes that marine mammals could have caused it by using the hole to breathe. Some theorists believe that global warming is having a much greater impact than we know and that the polynas is evidence of this. What is your theory? Do you believe global warming is causing this or simply marine animals breaking the ice to breathe?