(Shenzhen, China) – Here comes the latest scientific explanation on how large lakes vanished so mysteriously with the assistance of GPS technology. This phenomenon once shocked the public that approximately 12 billion gallons of water suddenly disappeared within 90 minutes atop Greenland’s ice sheet in the summer of 2006 while a further explanation is always lacked, till now, a study released by the journal Nature seems provide a perfect answer to this.
From the images obtained by GPS technology, scientists found that over 13 percent of lakes drain amazingly within 24 hours and the main reason for the disappearance of large amount of lakes is the transformation of ice sheet and its trickling meltwater.
In this study, a network of 16 GPS trackers were deployed around Greenland’s North Lake which can monitor and indicate every movement of the ice among the summer of 2011-2013. According to the changes observed from the images and elusive appearance of lakes, Laura Stevens said that, they’ve already know for the last 10 to 15 years that the water could disappear quickly.
“In some ways, ice behaves like Silly Putty–if you push up on it slowly, it will stretch; if you do it with enough force, it will crack,” Stevens said.
She then explained: “Ordinarily, pressure at the ice sheet surface is directed into the lake basin, compressing the ice together. But, essentially, if you push up on the ice sheet and create a dome instead of a bowl, you get tension that stretches the ice surface apart. You change the stress state of the surface ice from compressional to tensional, which promotes crack formation.”
The final result concluded from the new study indicates that this phenomenon only applies to comparatively lower altitudes places with some vertical ice sheet. However, all these useful findings will definitely make its contribution to rising sea levels. And with the assistance of GPS technology, more profound and mysterious phenomenon will become obviously and clearer.