时间：2024-09-22 00:54:12 来源：American news

Hefty elephant seals regularly dive more than 2,500 feet underwater, holding their breath for 30 minutes while swimming in the dark, frigid ocean depths.

This remarkable ability makes these mammals well-suited to collect critical data about deep, warming ocean waters that scientists believe could accelerate the thaw of the vulnerable West Antarctic glaciers. If melted completely, these glaciers, which once included the Manhattan-sized iceberg that broke off the Pine Island Glacier last year, would raise sea levels by some 10 feet, according to the seal-study's researchers.

NASA recently confirmed that ice losses in the West Antarctic are ramping up, "probably in response to global warming."

SEE ALSO:Deep beneath the Pacific, another active Hawaiian volcano waits to emerge

To better understand how the ice may thaw, scientists attached sensors to the foreheads of 14 southern elephant and Weddell seals, who hunt for fish in these deep waters, in 2014. The seals made over 11,000 deep dives before their annual molting, or skin shedding, naturally detached the devices -- but not before providing scientists with an unprecedented amount of information.

---

Prime Day deals you can shop right now

Products available for purchase here through affiliate links are selected by our merchandising team. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

• iRobot Roomba Combo i3+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum and Mop—$329.99(List Price $599.99)

• Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 10.9" 64GB Wi-Fi Tablet—$169.99(List Price $219.99)

• Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Gen With MagSafe USB-C Charging Case—$189.99(List Price $249.00)

• Eero 6 Dual-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (Router + 2 Extenders)—$149.99(List Price $199.99)

• Apple Watch Series 9 (GPS, 41mm, Midnight, S/M, Sports Band)—$299.00(List Price $399.00)

---

"It's a world away from what we had before," Helen Mallett, a researcher at the University of East Anglia who led the study, said in an interview. The study was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letterslast week.

Wild research seals near West Antarctica.Credit: Lars Boehme (SMRU)

Of these 11,000 dives, 6,700 provided good, scientifically useful "profiles" of the water's temperature at different depths. Until the seals, it took 20 years of scientists using long cables to gather just 1,000 profiles, said Mallet.

This is an immensely difficult part of the world to study. It's remote. It's deep. And for much of the year, surface ice and perilous icebergs makes getting there impossible.

"In winter it's inaccessible to humans," said Mallett. "It's too harsh."

This wasn't the first time researchers had employed seals to visit ocean depths, but it was a first for this vulnerable region. It could only be done because scientists spotted seals living in the area.

Mashable Light SpeedWant more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories?Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter.By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Thanks for signing up!

Via Giphy

The West Antarctic ice sheets are particularly vulnerable to melting because they extend far over the ocean, so there's no land to protect their icy undersides from influxes of warmer water.

The water, coming from northern oceans, certainly isn't "warm," in the sense that bathwater is warm. In fact, Mallett characterizes it as "slightly less freezing water" compared to water closer to the frigid the Antarctic surface.

Still, this slightly warmer water is enough to thaw the undersides of the ice sheets, eating away at them. These glaciers matter because they act as plugs, holding the ice on land back. If the glaciers go, so could the land ice, exposing more vulnerable ice in a vicious melting cycle.

"There's nothing to stop it from getting faster," said Mallet.

A NASA map, derived from satellite imagery, showing the velocity of Antarctic ice moving toward the ocean.Credit: NASA

It's still unknown just how rapidly warmer ocean waters will erode the glaciers. But Mallett hopes the seal monitoring can change that.

"In terms of pinning that down for the near future, it's so difficult to do," she said. "We just don’t know enough of what's going on there. We don’t have enough to work with yet."

But it seems researchers will have the opportunity to learn more, using both seals and even submarines.

Mallet said another study coauthor was given enough funding to use these wild seals for another three years. Meanwhile, the British research submarine "Boaty McBoatface" is also headed to Antarctica, as part of the Thwaites Glacier collaboration to investigate how warmer waters are altering these vulnerable glaciers.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Giant icebergs are a big tourist draw in Newfoundland, and a warning sign

---

上一篇：Google is bringing AI summaries to ‘Files’ so you can find your docs quicker
下一篇：Cyrix: Gone But Not Forgotten

• ·25 Years Later: A Brief Analysis of GPU Processing Efficiency
• ·厚植精神文明沃土 培树司法文明新风
• ·I went to an offline dating event for singles. Here's how it went.
• ·Swifties for Kamala raises over $100,000 in donations for Harris campaign
• ·The Techies Who Lunch
• ·World's first 18650
• ·Which is Faster for Gaming, Windows 10 or Windows 11?
• ·微视频广东：在推进中国式现代化建设中走在前列
• ·Nvidia GeForce Now Ultimate vs. New Graphics Card
• ·Arshad Nadeem receives Hilal
• ·3D Game Rendering 101
• ·Spate of defections show Kim Jong
• ·Why Kamala Harris triggers Donald Trump so intensely.
• ·Upgrade Your Monitor, Not Your GPU
• ·Abrar Ahmed returns as Pakistan names squad for second Test against Bangladesh
• ·Freedom from Dissent