If 2.2 billion tons of glaciers melt in a day, will the prehistoric virus wake up?

Will the glaciers on earth melt completely? On July 28, 2021, the ESA Sentinel 2 satellite, which is responsible for observing all the islands of the European Union, took a set of satellite images of Greenland. As can be seen in the picture, a large amount of ice has melted around Greenland and glaciers have disappeared explosively.

On July 28 alone, nearly 2.2 billion tons of ice melted, of which 1.2 billion tons flowed into the ocean, 1 billion tons were absorbed by snow, and the water absorbed by the snow could be refrozen, climate scientists at Liri University in Belgium said.

What is the concept that this is the third largest daily ice loss in Greenland since 1950 after 2012 and 2019? for example, the amount of water produced by melting glaciers is enough to bring the entire state of Florida to 5.1 centimeters. The daily ice melting of 2.2 billion tons is less than the record set in 2019, but the event covers a larger area.

The question that people are most concerned about is: will the sea level rise as the glaciers melt?

When we were studying physics in junior high school, we may have done an experiment in which we put a piece of ice in a glass of water. After the ice melts, will the height of the liquid in the cup increase? The result is no. So many people think that the rise in sea levels caused by melting glaciers is a hoax.

There is a misunderstanding in this idea. The ice used in the experiment is made of fresh water. According to Archimedes's buoyancy law, if 100 grams of ice is put into the water, the rising water level volume should be 100 grams. The amount of water dissolved in the water should also be 100 grams as the rising water level.

The change of water level of ice after melting in salt water

But the water flowing from the glacier is fresh water, and the sea water below the glacier is salt water. The density of the glacier made of fresh water is low, and the salinity of the sea water is higher than that of the iceberg, so the glacier can float on the sea surface. When the glaciers melt, the density increases, which increases the volume of sea water, even if the non-floating ice glaciers distributed on the north and south poles of land melt.

To sum up, after the iceberg melts, the volume is larger than the sea water of the same weight, so it will cause the sea level to rise after melting into the sea water. So melting glaciers in Greenland and rising sea levels are inevitable.

Will the glaciers on earth melt completely? What happens if the melt is over?

In 2019, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) released the Special report on Oceans and Cryosphere in Climate change, which mentioned that the oceans and cryosphere are facing unprecedented continuous changes, and that by the end of the 21st century, sea levels will reach a maximum or rise of 2 meters, flooding low-altitude cities such as New York and Shanghai.

Special report on oceans and cryosphere in climate change

During the decade from 2005 to 2015, the average global sea level rise has reached 3.6 mm. The accelerated melting of glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland is the main reason for the rapid sea level rise.

The rate of glacier melting and sea level rise is slow in years, but it may be fast in 100 years. It is estimated that if all the glaciers around the world melt, the sea level will probably rise by about 60 to 70 meters. If the sea level rises by 2 meters every 100 years, it may take at least 30 100-year glaciers to melt.

What will be the consequences? Parts of North and East China may be submerged, while Central China may also become a "coastal city".

Melting glaciers is not only about rising sea levels, but also about prehistoric viruses that have been hidden in glaciers for hundreds of millions of years.

There may be some virus hidden in the glacier.

In general, the time for a virus to remain active at low temperatures is limited, and even if it has been frozen in a glacier for so long, it is difficult to pose a threat to organisms. But there are individual viruses that are highly tolerant, such as anthrax, which broke out in 2015.

At that time, the Siberian glacier melted, exposing the prehistoric permafrost, from which the body of a reindeer was unearthed. After the body of the reindeer was exposed, the anthrax virus spread, infecting more than 2300 nearby reindeer and hospitalizing about 100 people, including a 12-year-old boy who died.

Dead reindeer infected with anthrax in Siberia

Anthrax, also known as Bacillus anthracis, it will form spores when necessary, and spores are equivalent to a dormant body, after the formation of a dormant body, its resistance to the external environment is greatly enhanced, heat and cold resistance, but also resistant to chemical drugs. When the glacier melts and the ambient temperature rises, the spores will wake up and restore their activity.

Moreover, after forming spores, Bacillus anthracis will exist in the soil of the environment, and herbivores may come into contact with soil containing Bacillus anthracis when eating. Herbivores are also the natural host of anthrax. After entering the body, they will form a vegetative form, and then multiply in large numbers, resulting in host septicemia and finally shock and death.

After the death of animals, Bacillus anthracis will be excreted from the body through mouth, nose, anus and other exits, and continue to go deep into the soil to form spore resting bodies. If carnivores and humans mistakenly eat animals with anthrax, it will also cause an outbreak of anthrax in the body, showing different symptoms.

The most common symptom of anthrax infection in humans is skin ulcers, which mainly occur in easily exposed areas such as the face, neck, shoulders and hands. Serious diseases such as "pulmonary anthrax", "intestinal anthrax" and "meningeal anthrax" may occur.

Anthrax is still a known virus, if the emergence of an unprecedented virus, it will bring greater disaster.

There may be some human viruses that have wiped out other people in the glacier, and if these viruses come back to life, humans will certainly have no resistance. Assuming that it spreads very fast, it will bring an extinct blow to mankind. Experts believe that the most serious consequence of a virus outbreak caused by melting glaciers is a global population extinction, similar to the impact of an asteroid on Earth, which is completely impossible to deal with at the current level of human health and epidemic prevention.

Global warming will not only cause glaciers to melt, but also permafrost will begin to melt.

When the ambient temperature stays below zero, the moisture in the soil condenses into ice, freezing the soil together to form a hard layer of permafrost. The permafrost is like a large natural refrigerator that freezes the remains of organisms from tens of thousands of years ago, just as the remains and viruses in the soil are sealed by the permafrost. After the permafrost melts, ancient viruses may re-enter nature with the melting snow and ice.

The glacier melting crisis has become a reality, and abnormal climate needs to be more vigilant.

The melting of glaciers reminds us that the problem of global warming is becoming more and more serious, and the problem of abnormal climate is becoming more and more obvious, especially the abnormal extreme weather around the world in 2021.

A week after the Greenland glacier melted, 43 cities in Brazil experienced rare snow and freezing rain. Most of Brazil has a tropical climate, while only a few areas in the south have a subtropical monsoon climate. Brazil, which crosses the equator, rarely sees snow even in winter, let alone in summer. Many middle-aged people say that this is the first time in their lives that they have seen snow in their own country.

North America, on the other hand, experienced extremely high temperatures in June, with temperatures soaring nearly 50 ℃ in several northern cities and above 52 ℃