An extraordinary and rare atmospheric phenomenon has been captured by NASA's Landsat 8 satellite, showing 'sea smoke' rising above Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on October 10 clicked images of the ghostly plumes, emanating from the White Continent's most crucial and vulnerable ice masses - depicting the "power of the wind". The sea smoke took shape at the very edge of the glacier's terminus as well as over open water along its northern edge, intriguing the scientists.
Christopher Shuman, a University of Maryland, Baltimore County, glaciologist based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center explained that the satellite was able to take clear images of the near-surface atmospheric phenomena which are typically obscured by cloud cover.
The origins of some of these plumes are particularly visible near the jumbled shear zone along the south side of Pine Island Glacier.
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What is sea smoke?
Sea smoke is essentially fog above water and occurs when cold, frigid air above the glacier meets with relatively warm water surrounding it. By cooling, the air condenses into fog, forming small ice crystals that appear as ghostly plumes. It creates a haunting scene on the water as it rises and enshrouds the nearby surroundings.
According to Shuman, the strong winds can transport and sublimate enough snow to have a significant influence on the surface mass balance of polar ice sheets. However, the extent to which the blowing snow contributes to the loss of surface mass is not fully understood, primarily due to the difficulty in collecting ground-based data.
"One really shouldn't be surprised to see winds coming out of the interior with all the cold winter air that's been isolated there for months," Shuman said.
Notably, the Pine Island Glacier, alongside the neighbouring Thwaites Glacier routinely draws attention for being one of the main pathways for ice flowing from the West Antarctic Sheet to the Amundsen Sea. It is also believed to be one of the fastest-retreating glaciers in all of Antarctica.
