El Niño, fenomeno meteorologico che provoca un forte riscaldamento delle acque dell'Oceano Pacifico Centro-Meridionale e Orientale, provocherebbe una perdita significativa di ghiaccio in alcune zone dell'Antartide, mentre accadrebbe il contrario con il fenomeno conosciuto come La Nina. A rivelarlo è uno studio pubblicato mercoledì sulla rivista Nature Geoscience.
El Niño e La Nina sono due fasi distinte del fenomeno noto come "El Nino-Oscillazione Meridionale (ENSO)", caratterizzato da variazioni della temperatura dell'acqua da più calda durante El Nino a più fredda durante "La Nina" nel giro di alcuni anni.
Lo studio finanziato dalla NASA e dalla "NASA Earth Science Enterprise" ha osservato come un forte fenomeno di El Niño provocherebbe un aumento della massa in superficie delle calotte glaciali nell'area di Amundsen, nell'ovest dell'Antartide, e allo stesso tempo uno scioglimento dei ghiacci della parte inferiore delle calotte.
Secondo la ricerca, la perdita di ghiaccio alla base sarebbe fino a cinque volte superiore rispetto all'aumento della neve sulla superficie.
ATS/ludoC
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