A huge jam has open up in Antarctica and , well , scientists are n’t really sure what it ’s doing there .
The discovery is said to be as large as the state of Maine , notesMotherboard , and bigger than the Netherlands . In September it was 60,000 straightforward kilometre ( 23,000 square mil ) in size , but at its freehanded , it was 80,000 square kilometre ( 31,000 square miles ) .
This opening is called apolynya , and this particular gob is the heavy determine in the Weddell Sea since the seventies , when it was five time larger . It was witness by the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modelling ( SOCCOM ) group atPrinceton Universityin Washington .
The area is essentially ice - free and may be the result of instinctive climate change . However , its formation is not really sympathize . Actually mounting expedition here is ruffianly , too , but scientists hope that robotic float ( minuscule submersible objects , like mini - submarines ) could tell us more .
Rather amazingly , one swim bladder actually surfaced inside the polynya . Its measurements are now being studied , and scientist trust to reveal the secrets of how it formed . Unlike 40 years ago , we can gather a lot more info this time around .
" This is hundreds of kilometers from the ice edge , ” Kent Moore , an atmospherical physicist at the University of Toronto , secernate Motherboard . " If we did n’t have a planet , we would n’t live it was there . "
He added that it reckon like someone had “ punched a golf hole ” in the ice .
The enceinte issue at the moment is what role climate modification played in the appearance of the polynya . It was n’t expected to appear again , but it has now surface doubly in two years . It may be the result of change in the Southern Ocean due to manmade mood change .
“ We really do n’t have sex what ’s going on , ” Céline Heuzé from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden toldEarther . “ We do n’t have enough observations of the Southern Ocean yet . ”
The polynya is expected to continue free rut and slide down weewee until the strong spring air play it to a halt . Until then , it will continue to be studied in businesslike to learn more about this enigmatic phenomenon .
