{"id":31383,"date":"2025-03-22T02:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=31383"},"modified":"2025-04-16T11:31:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T06:01:44","slug":"life-under-the-antarctic-ice-shelf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/life-under-the-antarctic-ice-shelf\/","title":{"rendered":"Life under the Antarctic Ice Shelf"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Life under the Antarctic Ice Shelf Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>Scientists have discovered dozens of new species on the newly exposed seafloor left behind by the A-84 iceberg, which broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf on January 13, 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>What is an Ice Shelf?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>An <strong>ice shelf<\/strong> is a <strong>floating mass of glacial ice<\/strong>, fed from land by <strong>tributary glaciers<\/strong>, and extending over the <strong>sea above an ice shelf cavity<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Ice Sheets<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Antarctica and Greenland Ice Sheets<\/strong> hold <strong>two-thirds of Earth\u2019s freshwater<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>West Antarctic Ice Sheet<\/strong> is one of the largest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Role in Sea Level Changes<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>When <strong>ice sheets gain mass<\/strong>, global sea levels <strong>fall<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>When <strong>ice sheets lose mass<\/strong>, global sea levels <strong>rise<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Scientific Discoveries Under George VI Ice Shelf<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Expedition<\/strong>: Conducted as part of <strong>Challenger 150<\/strong>, a <strong>UNESCO-endorsed global deep-sea research initiative<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastian<\/strong> explored the seabed <strong>1,300 meters deep<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key findings<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Diverse ecosystem<\/strong>: Found <strong>icefish, giant sea spiders, corals, sponges, and octopi<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New species<\/strong>: Scientists believe they <strong>discovered previously unknown marine species<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jellyfish discovery<\/strong>: A <strong>giant phantom jelly<\/strong> was recorded, growing <strong>up to a meter wide<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Unusual nutrient supply<\/strong>: Despite being cut off from surface nutrients for <strong>centuries<\/strong>, life thrives\u2014possibly due to <strong>ocean currents or glacial meltwater<\/strong> transporting essential nutrients.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About George VI Ice Shelf<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Location<\/strong>: Lies <strong>between Alexander Island and the Antarctic Peninsula<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Size<\/strong>: Covers <strong>24,000 sq. km<\/strong>, making it the <strong>second-largest ice shelf<\/strong> in the region.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ice flow<\/strong>: Receives ice from both the <strong>Antarctic Peninsula and Alexander Island<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Unlike most ice shelves, it is <strong>laterally constrained<\/strong> (trapped between landmasses) instead of freely flowing into the ocean.<\/li>\n<li>It <strong>blocks epishelf lakes<\/strong> (trapped freshwater bodies between ice shelves and land).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Situated at the -9\u00b0C mean annual air temperature isotherm<\/strong>, a <strong>critical threshold<\/strong> beyond which ice shelves are prone to collapse.<\/li>\n<li>Susceptible to melting from both <strong>atmospheric warming <\/strong>and <strong>warm ocean currents.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Life under the Antarctic Ice Shelf FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1. <\/strong>What is an Antarctic Ice Shelf?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> An ice shelf is a floating extension of a glacier or ice sheet that forms where the ice flows from the land into the ocean. These shelves are attached to the continent but extend over the sea.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>Why are Antarctic Ice Shelves important?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> Ice shelves act as barriers, slowing the flow of glaciers into the ocean. Their stability is crucial for maintaining sea levels and regulating ocean currents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>What is the impact of ice shelf collapse on sea levels?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> Ice shelves themselves do not raise sea levels when they melt since they are already floating. However, their collapse can speed up glacier movement, leading to a rise in global sea levels.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4. <\/strong>What are some major Antarctic Ice Shelves?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>Ross Ice Shelf (largest in Antarctica), Ronne Ice Shelf, Larsen Ice Shelf (Larsen A, B, and C have experienced major collapses), Filchner Ice Shelf and Amery Ice Shelf.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-sci-tech\/why-scientists-were-surprised-to-find-life-under-antarctic-ice-shelf-9899234\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An ice shelf is a floating mass of glacial ice, fed from land by tributary glaciers, and extending over the sea above an ice shelf cavity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}