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"The Mystery of the Giant Hole in Antarctica that Appears and Disappears Briefly Finally Revealed"

Dream - The puzzle that has puzzled scientists for 50 years has finally been solved. In the winter, when ice covers the Weddell Sea in Antarctica, sometimes large mysterious and dark holes appear.

Mystery of the Giant Hole in Antarctica that Appears and Disappears

"Mysterious Hole in Antarctica"

The following is the translation of the 'Bahasa' text to 'English' while preserving any HTML tags: "First seen in 1974, this hole does not appear every year. This makes scientists wonder about the specific conditions needed for the creation of that mysterious hole. After years of disappearance, the hole reappeared in 2016 and 2017, and a complete answer slowly began to unfold."

By using a combination of satellite imagery, floating autonomous instruments, and computational modeling, the answer to that mystery was finally found. Interestingly, the answer involves winds that pull layers of water to create what is known as the Ekman spiral. "The Ekman spiral is an important process needed to enhance salt balance and maintain the mixing of salt and heat towards the water's surface," said oceanography expert Alberto Naveira Garabato from the University of Southampton in England.

As known, the hole in the Antarctic ice sea, known as polynya, is often seen near the coast. Polynya is frequently used by marine mammals such as seals and whales to regulate their breathing after diving for a long time.

Mystery of the Giant Hole in Antarctica that Appears and Disappears

Hole as big as New Zealand

However, the presence of a polynya formed far in the middle of the ocean actually confuses scientists. This polynya in the middle of the sea is known as the Maud Rise polynya. The Maud Rise polynya was first seen in satellite images 50 years ago. At that time, in 1974, a giant hole the size of New Zealand was seen in Antarctica.

Mystery of the Giant Hole in Antarctica that Appears and Disappears

The enclosed water hole in the ice reappeared again in 1975 and 1976, albeit briefly, leading scientists to suspect that the unique polynya had disappeared forever.

"Appearing Again in 2016 and 2017"

However, in 2016 and 2017, the water hole reappeared with an area as large as the state of Maine, United States. Maud Rise Polynya in 2017 marked the largest and longest-lasting phenomenon since the 1970s, prompting scientists to conduct further research.

From the compilation of data mentioned above, it is shown that a number of different factors contribute in the right way to create the Maud Rise polynya. One of the factors is the strong circulating current (Ekman Spiral) around the Weddell Sea in 2016 and 2017, which resulted in the rise of warm water, especially saline water.

"The uplift of this water helps explain how sea ice can melt. But when sea ice melts, it causes the surface water to become fresh, which in turn will stop mixing. So, another process must occur for the polynya to persist. There must be additional salt input from somewhere," explained marine scientist Fabien Roquet from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden."

As known, salt can significantly lower the freezing point of water. So if the water is very salty, it can explain why the polynya is able to persist.

Mystery of the Giant Hole in Antarctica that Appears and Disappears

Research then shifted to ocean data and computational models, to find out where the additional salt came from. The research team eventually discovered that when the Weddell current flows around Maud Rise, it would generate turbulent eddies that would transport salt up to the peak of the underwater mountain.

The Formation Process of Maud Rise Polynya

From here, the Ekman spiral begins to work and take over the process of the formation of the Maud Rise polynya. So, when the wind blows above the sea surface, it will create friction. In the Ekman spiral, water is not only pulled forward but also deflected sideways like waves behind a boat. This causes the water to rotate in a spiral like a screw thread. As the upper layer of water moves away with the wind, water rises from below to replace it.

In the case of the Maud Rise polynya, this upwelling water carries floating stacks of salt around Maud Rise, keeping the hole from freezing.

Mystery of the Giant Hole in Antarctica that Appears and Disappears

The following text is in 'Bahasa' and will be translated to 'English' while preserving any HTML tags: "Temuan yang dipublikasikan di Science Advances ini dapat membantu ilmuwan memprediksi apa yang akan terjadi pada es laut Antartika di masa depan, suatu hal yang sangat memprihatinkan bagi iklim global.Para klimatolog sudah memperkirakan bahwa angin musim dingin Antartika akan menjadi lebih kuat dan lebih sering, yang dapat menyebabkan munculnya polynya yang lebih besar dan lebih sering dalam beberapa tahun mendatang." The discovery published in Science Advances can help scientists predict what will happen to the Antarctic sea ice in the future, a matter of great concern for the global climate. Climatologists have already predicted that winter winds in Antarctica will become stronger and more frequent, which can lead to the emergence of larger and more frequent polynyas in the coming years.

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