Record-Cold Antarctic Lake Waters Lead To Exceptionally Rare Ice
Antarctic expeditioners have just witnessed an incredibly rare event — ice forming on a super-salty lake 9km from the Davis research station.
According to information provided by antarctica.gov.au, the aptly named Deep Lake, located in the Vestfold Hills, is a land-locked ‘hypersaline’ lake that contains about 270 grams of salt per liter. Seawater, by comparison, contains 35 grams of salt per liter.
The lake is 36 meters (120ft) deep and sits about 50 meters (164ft) below sea level. It has no outflow, and is filled only by snowmelt and wind-driven snow. As a result, it remains extremely salty and rarely freezes.
Scientists and expeditioners have been monitoring the water level of Deep Lake since 1977, and the water temperature since 2016. This year –2023– the lake hit a record high water level in January, and a record low temperature of -18C (-0.4F) this August:
Water level measurements are made using a gauge pole installed in the lake at a known depth:
This year, the lake level measured roughly 1.5 meters (4.9ft) higher then when it was first measured in 1977.
Records show the depth has varied between 50 and 100cm (20 and 40 inches) over the past 40 years, while the surface water temperature has varied between -15C (5F) in winter and 9C (48.2F) in summer.
Worth noting: Deep Lake’s record water depth hasn’t come as an anomalous spike, rather as a gradual deepening which started in 2011, following a gradual shallowing which started in 2002 (see chart below). Deep Lake’s water depth, as with every other climate variable we humans have records for, appears to be cyclical:
As documented on Electroverse, Antarctica has consistently posted record cold temperatures in recent years, from record cold months to record cold seasons — such as its coldest-ever ‘coreless’ winter (April-Sept) in 2021.
And while the legacy media collectively pounces on Antarctic sea ice losses this season –a phenomenon likely tied to shifting ocean currents/wind patterns, a developing El Niño, and even Hunga-Tonga’s recent record-high mesospheric eruption— the Antarctic Plateau is at little risk of melting.
As recently as last month in fact, Antarctica plunged to -83.1C (117.8F) — Earth’s lowest temperature since 2017; and then just last week, the continent broke a myriad of all-time low temperature benchmarks — unreported by the MSM.
Now, alarmists can blame Deep Lake’s record low temperatures and rare ice on an anomalous influx of ‘global boiling’-induced snowmelt, rather than cold air temperatures/wind-driven snow; and while unlikely, given the aforementioned record cold consistently gripping much of the Plateau, it isn’t impossible. However, this contention would be a troublesome path for the AGW Party to head down.
Extrapolating this theory out to the wider oceans leads to only one conclusion: global cooling.
Large volumes of melting sea ice –i.e. an influx of cold freshwater into the seas– would result in a stark cooling of the ocean waters. It is theorized–and widely agreed upon–that such an influx would disrupt the AMOC, with the potential upshot being a shutdown of the conveyorbelt that, for one, feeds warmth to much of the Northern Hemisphere — a setup that keeps Europe from having a climate more akin to Canada’s.
In short: a disrupted Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation = Ice Age conditions (‘little’ or otherwise).
This is explained further in a 2022 article posted on the now censored electroverse.co:
When asked on X if Deep Lake’s record cold waters and rare ice formation were an “indicator of climate change,” Antarctic ecologist Prof Dana Bergstrom said the following: “Higher water level probably means more snow and so yes, more melt … Deep Lake usually remains open/ice free in winter because of its salt. As for a signal of climate change? Not sure.”
This is about as close to a “no” as you’re going to get from an orthodox educator.
The poor buggers are bound by AGW Party doctrine; entirely compromised.
Additional reading:
WoW~~!!!
The temp of Deep Lake is Certainly Ominous!!!!
It breaks almost a decade of relatively stable temperature band.
This is a Breakout to the low side for sure.
Look at the Peak temps of the last three peaks —– a Downward Trend, about to drop off sharply.
It roughly resembles my cash/bills ratio – which I am fully intent on reversing!!! LoL
Dallas
http://www.redneckbillionaires.com
This article brings an Antarctic ice content question – how much salt content is in the ice?
Both generally, as in an overall average and specifically, for various regions of the ice continent, if it varies?
The salt content must be rather high for the melts to form such salty water….unless perhaps the fresh water tends to evaporate during the summer season, leaving a higher salt content following the melt periods.
Given that the lake doesn’t have an outflow I assume that the salt content has built up of millennia and could of come from slow erosion of surrounding bedrock rather than the snow surrounding it. My assumption is that snow that falls very close to the coast may contain a small amount of frozen spray in it and hence very low levels of salt, but more than, at most, a couple of miles inland all the snow that falls will be water from the atmosphere and will have zero salt content.