The “1:15 p.m. on Sunday” teams followed Eric Rignot, a Franco-American glaciologist, as he embarked on a unique experiment in Antarctica. Crucial research as the consequences of global warming are felt there more than anywhere else.
The Jakobshavn Glacier, also known as the Ilulissa Glacier, is the largest glacier in Greenland, but also the fastest in the world. It can move 14 meters per day, and up to 15 kilometers per year. “It’s a monster“, summarizes Eric Rignot, a Franco-American glaciologist.
The teams of “1:15 p.m. on Sunday” (X, #1:15 p.m.) followed him for two years as he embarked on a unique experiment: sending a submarine into the waters of the fjord to understand what is happening “under the ice”. A new capital challenge to learn more about the different ways glaciers melt, the direct impact of global warming on the melting of ice as well as the consequences of all this.
“It would raise sea levels by 50 centimeters”
Facing Jakobshavn glacier, Eric and his friend Didier, the expedition guide, remind us of the dangers that exist when approaching too close. “We are in the dangerous zone, it is not the fact that the block will break away and create a wave or a tsunami, it is that there will be ice projectiles that will go off, cannonballs will go off. come out, it will pierce the walls of the boat“, explains Eric Rignot.
Estimating the size of the glacier at 30 or 40 meters high, he adds that “there are at least nine times this size below since it is barely stranded“. A true colossus with feet of clay that could well cause a lot of damage if it continues to melt at this rate. “If all the ice coming from Jakobshavn started tumbling into the ocean, it would cause global sea levels to rise by 50 centimeters.“, alerts the glaciologist.
However, the two colleagues point out the lack of mobilization around causes as important as this. “We are facing catastrophes on a global scale, but the means deployed to study the polar regions have not actually changed that much. As I often say, we climb Everest in sneakers and we’ll see if it works or not. We will certainly pay the price“, concludes Eric Rignot.
A series signed Florent Muller, Benjamine Jeunehomme and Gaël Pouvreau.
Excerpt from “The Ice Struggle”, a report broadcast in “1:15 p.m. on Sunday” on December 3, 2023.
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