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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Tiny bubbles make massive glaciers fade away faster

Air pockets trapped between ice crystals are an underappreciated factor in the melting at the glacier–ocean boundary.
Le Conte Bay is a bay in the southeastern region of the US state of Alaska, located east of Frederick Sound.

Xeitl Sít’, also known as LeConte Glacier, in Alaska is melting faster than predicted. New data on the effects of air bubbles in glacial ice might help to explain why. Credit: Getty

Tiny bubbles in glacial ice can speed up its melting1.

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Nature 621, 447 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02826-9

References

  1. Wengrove, M. E., Pettit, E. C., Nash, J. D., Jackson, R. H. & Skyllingstad, E. D. Nature Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01262-8 (2023).

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