Antarctica has always been a place full of mystery, as it remains frozen, remote, and mostly untouched. But every now and then, something happens out there that leaves even the experts wondering. And a few years ago, scientists spotted something truly unusual, a huge hole that suddenly opened up right in the middle of Antarctica’s thick winter sea ice.
This wasn’t just a crack or the kind of melting one might expect as seasons change. It was a massive, open gap in solid ice, far from the shoreline, floating above a hidden underwater mountain called Maud Rise . The size of this hole was big enough to fit an entire country like Switzerland inside, and it remained open for months.
At first, no one knew exactly what it was. Later, scientists identified it as a polynya , a naturally occurring open stretch of water surrounded by sea ice. While polynyas themselves aren’t unusual, this one stood out. It was massive, unusually persistent, and had appeared in a region that hadn’t seen such a phenomenon in decades. Naturally, scientists were intrigued. Questions quickly followed: What caused it? Why there? And why now, after all these years?
When was this hole first noticed?
First captured by satellites in the 1970s and thought to be a recurring feature, this hole vanished as mysteriously as it appeared, but it reemerged decades later in 2017. This left scientists around the world scrambling for answers. How could such an enormous opening get formed so far from land in such hostile conditions, and why did it return after so many years of absence. Aditya Narayanan of the University of Southampton, lead author of the study published in ‘Science Advances’, said, “2017 was the first time that we’ve had such a large and long‑lived polynya in the Weddell Sea since the 1970s.”
The study found that the Weddell Gyre, a vast circular ocean current in the region,began spinning faster, drawing warm, salty water from deep layers upward. This warmer water melted the ice from below, which led to the polynya to open.
“This upwelling helps to explain how the sea ice might melt,” explained Fabien Roquet, a professor in physical oceanography at the University of Gothenburg and co-author of the study. “But as sea ice melts, this leads to a freshening of the surface water, which should in turn put a stop to the mixing.”
But this was contradictory
Researchers found that extratropical storms helped push sea ice outward, allowing salty, dense water to flow toward Maud Rise. Meanwhile, atmospheric rivers delivered warmth from above, adding to the melting process.
What is Ekman transport ?
One more factor tied everything together was Ekman transport, a process where wind blowing across the ocean causes surface water to move at a 90-degree angle due to Earth’s rotation. This deflection directed salt-laden water right over Maud Rise, the exact spot where the hole opened in 2017.
The interaction of storms, ocean currents, and atmospheric heat ultimately led to the formation of the hole, which finally refroze in September of that year.
This wasn’t just a crack or the kind of melting one might expect as seasons change. It was a massive, open gap in solid ice, far from the shoreline, floating above a hidden underwater mountain called Maud Rise . The size of this hole was big enough to fit an entire country like Switzerland inside, and it remained open for months.
At first, no one knew exactly what it was. Later, scientists identified it as a polynya , a naturally occurring open stretch of water surrounded by sea ice. While polynyas themselves aren’t unusual, this one stood out. It was massive, unusually persistent, and had appeared in a region that hadn’t seen such a phenomenon in decades. Naturally, scientists were intrigued. Questions quickly followed: What caused it? Why there? And why now, after all these years?
When was this hole first noticed?
First captured by satellites in the 1970s and thought to be a recurring feature, this hole vanished as mysteriously as it appeared, but it reemerged decades later in 2017. This left scientists around the world scrambling for answers. How could such an enormous opening get formed so far from land in such hostile conditions, and why did it return after so many years of absence. Aditya Narayanan of the University of Southampton, lead author of the study published in ‘Science Advances’, said, “2017 was the first time that we’ve had such a large and long‑lived polynya in the Weddell Sea since the 1970s.”
The study found that the Weddell Gyre, a vast circular ocean current in the region,began spinning faster, drawing warm, salty water from deep layers upward. This warmer water melted the ice from below, which led to the polynya to open.
“This upwelling helps to explain how the sea ice might melt,” explained Fabien Roquet, a professor in physical oceanography at the University of Gothenburg and co-author of the study. “But as sea ice melts, this leads to a freshening of the surface water, which should in turn put a stop to the mixing.”
But this was contradictory
Researchers found that extratropical storms helped push sea ice outward, allowing salty, dense water to flow toward Maud Rise. Meanwhile, atmospheric rivers delivered warmth from above, adding to the melting process.
What is Ekman transport ?
One more factor tied everything together was Ekman transport, a process where wind blowing across the ocean causes surface water to move at a 90-degree angle due to Earth’s rotation. This deflection directed salt-laden water right over Maud Rise, the exact spot where the hole opened in 2017.
The interaction of storms, ocean currents, and atmospheric heat ultimately led to the formation of the hole, which finally refroze in September of that year.
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