NASA has issued a stark warning about the threat of climate change as a brand new island has appeared.
As captured over a period of four decades by NASA satellites, a melting glacier along the coastal plain of southeastern Alaska has formed an ever-growing lake around a patch of land.
So much so, the region is now considered a solitary island as of this year.
The area, measuring two square miles, is home to Prow Knob, a small mountain that once upon a time was surrounded by the frozen waters known as the Alsek Glacier.
Yet as the glacier thinned and thawed away, meltwater formed what is called ‘proglacial lakes’, the runoff of meltwater into the glacier basin, and took over the region over time.
Now, NASA says Prow Knob officially stands alone as a land mass, surrounded by the increasing Alsek Lake, as of summer this year.
It is feared the transformation is just another sign of the effects of climate change, with rising temperatures contributing to melting glaciers and reshaping coastlines around the globe.
The Landsat 5 satellite first took images of Prow Knob in July 1984, where the mountain’s western perimeter made contact with the lakeshore while the rest stood enveloped by the mass of ice from the glacier.
Over the last 40 years, the satellite has monitored the situation and the steady retreat of the Alsek Glacier and the southern Grand Plateau Glacier as they melted.
As they did, the lake expanded and started to fill in the void before gradually consuming the ice that stood around the mountain.
The last segment of ice was seen succumbing to the problem this summer, leaving Prow Knob as a solitary island.
NASA estimates the separation took place sometime between July 13 and August 6.
The space agency states in the early 20th century, the Alsek Glacier ended at Gateway Knob, around three miles west of Prow Knob.
While the ice started to retreat eastward by the middle of the century, it still encompassed Prow Knob, prompting late glaciologist Austin Post to name the feature due to its similarity to a ship’s prow.
Yet by 1984, its perimeter had converted to lakeshore, and by 1999 both glaciers started to retreat.
Since then, Alsek Lake has nearly doubled in size, expanding from 45 square kilometers to 75 square kilometers.
NASA warns further melting is to be anticipated in the coming years, especially now that the ice has officially detached from the mountain.
It says since the glacier has ‘lost contact’ with Prow Knob, the ‘ice is less stable and more prone to calving’.
Source: unilad.com
