Kristin Poinar: What's hidden under the Greenland ice sheet?
Kristin Poinar: O que há debaixo do manto de gelo da Groenlândia?
Kristin Poinar uses remote sensing and numerical models to study the interaction of meltwater with ice flow, especially on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
so I took a lot of breaks there.
então fiz várias pausas lá.
a Antártida e a Groenlândia.
reformado da Força Aérea,
hidden inside the ice sheet,
that the Greenland ice sheet is huge,
de gelo da Groenlândia é imenso,
is two miles thick.
de 3,2 km da base ao topo.
downhill towards the ocean.
em direção ao oceano.
remote physical environments
is like getting in on the ground floor
é como entrar
and satellites over the ice sheets
sobre os mantos de gelo
has done for social media.
pelas mídias sociais.
a wealth of observations
uma riqueza de observação
about the ice sheets continuously.
sob os mantos de gelo.
of the size of the Greenland ice sheet
do tamanho do manto da Groenlândia
of the screen here
of the ice sheet melt
do manto derretem
by an overall rate of mass loss
por uma taxa de perda de massa
a glaciologist 50 years ago.
50 anos atrás.
lose mass into the ocean this quickly.
perder massa para o mar tão rápido.
on our smallest continent,
em nosso menor continente,
valleys, mountains and depressions
vales, montanhas e depressões
the size of the Grand Canyon
do tamanho do Grand Canyon
off of Greenland and into the ocean.
da Groenlândia para o oceano.
can reveal the bedrock
transparent to radar.
transparente para o radar.
an ice cube in the microwave.
without interacting.
you have to get it wet,
seu cubo de gelo, terá de molhá-lo
in the microwave.
the microwave oven is designed around.
sob este princípio.
a vast pool of liquid water
piscina de água líquida
back to the ice sheet's surface.
do manto de gelo.
this glacier aquifer existed.
que esse aquífero glacial existia.
from the cold and the wind above.
hidden in the ice sheet
to reach the global ocean?
for the water to reach the bedrock
alcançar a rocha matriz
forces them deeper and deeper.
a fenda a se abrir mais,
que extrai gás natural do subsolo.
from deep within the earth.
in the Greenland ice sheet
most of the Greenland ice sheet
flies towards the coast,
on its quest to flow downhill,
em busca de seu curso,
do they take that water?
beyond remote sensing data.
de sensoriamento remoto,
that run on supercomputers.
para supercomputadores.
is simply a set of equations
é um conjunto de equações
as the next number in a sequence --
como completar uma sequência
set of equations
the equations for how ice cracks?
para saber como uma fenda se abre?
a very good understanding
fracture under stress.
rompem sob pressão.
em nossa sociedade.
that the engineering equations
from my physics homework.
dos meus execícios de física.
for how a crevasse can fracture
para o rompimento de fendas
real processes in our world.
do mundo real.
the results of my numeric model,
do meu modelo numérico,
a thousand times narrower than it is deep,
mais estreita do que profunda.
panel on the right
for how tall and skinny the crevasse is.
e da espessura da fenda.
flows into the crevasse,
segue para a fenda,
in the negative 15 degree Celsius ice.
as your kitchen freezer.
do seu freezer.
the glacier aquifer is high enough.
glacial for alto o suficiente.
all the way to the base of the ice sheet
até a base do manto de gelo,
to reach the ocean.
per year of sea level rise
might be punching above its weight.
mais do que se pensa.
at the base of the ice sheet here.
tende a ter água.
present at the base there.
do manto não contém água.
is getting to the base of the ice sheet,
do aquífero vai para a base do manto,
flow faster into the ocean?
mais rápido até o oceano?
hidden inside the Greenland ice sheet
esses mistérios do manto da Groenlândia
for the sea level rise it holds.
do nível do mar que eles acarretam.
that Greenland has lost since 2002
que a Groenlândia perdeu desde 2002
of what that ice sheet holds.
do que o manto contém.
that operate on long timescales.
que operam em larga escala.
will rise at least 20 centimeters,
vai aumentar pelo menos 20 cm,
of future sea level rise is good,
and scientists
e cientistas reduzir essas incertezas.
plan for the sea level rise that's coming.
possam se planejar para o que virá.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kristin Poinar - GlaciologistKristin Poinar uses remote sensing and numerical models to study the interaction of meltwater with ice flow, especially on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Why you should listen
Hidden under many meters of ice, a pool of meltwater lies under the Greenland Ice Sheet. Kristin Poinar studies how the meltwater forms and flows in this dynamic glacial system. She asks: How did this water get there, and where does it go? How much water is in there? And how is climate change affecting this system?
Using data from Operation IceBridge flights and from field instruments, she's building a numerical model of how crevasses form and channel water. In fact, a NASA report released in February 2017 revealed a new pathway her team discovered for meltwater to reach the ocean. Using physically based models to constrain the bounds of what is realistic has shaped Poinar's interest in glaciology.
Poinar is currently a postdoctoral researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She will be moving to the University at Buffalo in winter 2017 to be a professor in the Geology Department and the RENEW Institute.
Kristin Poinar | Speaker | TED.com