Antarctic Glacier Accused of "Ice Piracy"

When viewed from space, a very rude glacier in Antarctica was caught stealing ice from its neighbor as it melted. In a new study published in the journal The Cryosphere, researchers from England's University of Leeds found that one West Antarctic glacier has been engaging in "ice piracy," essentially bulking up while its neighbors thin due to melting. Using satellite imagery taken between 2005 and 2022, the environmental researchers were surprised to find that although three glaciers — Kohler East, Pope, and Smith — had begun to thin 51 percent faster per year, their neighbor, the Kohler West, actually slowed down by ten percent. According to Heather Selley, a Leeds PhD researcher who served as the paper's lead author, these disparate thinning speeds seemed to have strange consequences. "We think that the observed slowdown on Kohler West Glacier is due to the redirection of ice flow towards its neighbor — Kohler East," she explained in a press release. "This is due to the large cha ... Read full article.