A fast - moving Antarctic glacier has been mention by satellites to be stealing frosting from a neighbor . Glaciologists were cognisant this could occur , but thought it took centuries or millennia . or else , they have spotted the process taking property in just 18 years . As well as being a potential upshot of ball-shaped warming , the case offer an chance to improve our understanding of the appendage by which ice moves , and therefore improve modelling projections .
A squad extend by Dr Heather L Selley of the University of Leeds investigated the speed with which seven streams of crank inWest Antarcticaare flowing to Dotson and Crosson Ice shelves protract into the Amundsen Sea . More significantly , they wanted to know how that rate changed between 2005 and 2022 . Glaciers flow at unlike speeds as a result of many factor , such as the incline of the rock to a lower place , but an acceleration in that stream would be bad news for coastal residential area worldwide .
Disturbingly , but predictably , the glaciers sped up by an average of 51 percent . therefore , six of the seven were moving by more than 700 cadence ( 2,100 Feet ) a year on modal at the ending . That might be slow even to a tortoise , but we know what happens when the tortoise does n’t stop ; for a river of firm water ice , this is disturbingly fast .
The Kohler Range splits the sibling glaciers, with one speeding up and the other slowing down.Image Credit: ESA (Data source: Selley et al., 2025, University of Leeds)
However , one reflexion was less expect . The Kohler West Ice stream really slow down down , while those around it were speeding up . Grateful as we might be for this recess in the sombreness , the observation needed enquire , and the fact that the greatest acceleration was in the glacier on either side of Kohler West seemed relevant .
“ We think that the observed slowdown on Kohler West Glacier is due to the redirection of ice stream towards its neighbor – Kohler East . This is due to the large change in Kohler West ’s surface slope , belike due to the vastly different cutting rates on its neighboring glaciers , ” Selley say in astatement .
“ Because Kohler East ’s ice flow is flow and thinning faster as it jaunt , it absorbs , or ' steals ' ice from Kohler West , ” Selley said . “ This is in effect an act of ‘ ice plagiarism ’ , where Methedrine flow is redirected from one glacier to another , and the accelerating glacier is essentially ‘ thieve ’ ice from its slow up neighbour . ” The piracy has even sham the bounds between the two ice shelf , as Kohler East is one of five glaciers feed Crosson , while Kohler West flows to Dotson .
The generator call up Kohler West ’s relatively unfaltering gait is a import of the fundamentals it sits on slop in the opposite focussing to the other glacier beds . The ice is nevertheless lose weight like its neighbors .
Satellites ca n’t measure the drive of the ice directly , but it ’s potential to make out features like crevasses with the Sentinel-1a and -1b satellite and detect their motility over clip . The pace of motion was measured at the grounding line , where a tongue of ice begin to float , rather than resting on bedrock . Meanwhile , the European Space Agency ’s CryoSat satellite can measure out the heaviness of the ice instantly .
Co - writer Dr Pierre Dutrieux of the British Antarctic Society impute the piracy to faster run where the frosting forgather the ocean , with the cutting this has triggered causing shabu upstream to join one glacier rather than another .
“ We did n’t know ice streams could ‘ slip ’ ice from each over such a short period , so this is a fascinating find , ” Shelley said .
These glaciers are little than their neighbor , theThwaites Glacier , dubbed the Doomsday Glacier for its potency to submerge the homes of zillion .
The author say the discovery will need to be incorporated into model of Antarctic thawing , but at this stage are not estimating how much difference it will make .
The Kohler East glacier lie in Marie Byrd Land , the one part of Antarctica not assigned to a country under subsist treaties . Consequently , even if it were potential to engage a river of methamphetamine hydrochloride for thieving , the jurisdiction would be uncertain , as in all the best piracy cases .
The study is open access inThe Cryosphere .
