The discovery of a giant hole in the North Pole worries scientists


 In an area known as the Last Ice or the last ice in the Arctic or the North Pole, a giant hole was found. This worries scientists in the area because usually, Last Ice has thick ice.

The hole in the ice, also known as polynya, is located on the island of Ellesmere, Canada's northernmost island and is west of Greenland. Researchers from the University of Toronto-Mississauga say this hole formed in May 2020.


The hole had expanded to a length of 99 kilometers and a width of 28 kilometers before closing. The findings are published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.



Although in the end the giant hole closed itself, similar incidents had happened before. Through analysis of satellite data, similar events occurred in 1988 and 2004.


"No one has seen polynya in this area before. It is difficult to move the ice in that area because it is thick and quite a lot," said Kent Moore, an Arctic researcher at the University of Toronto-Mississauga who led the study.



Such a giant hole can be formed in two ways. First is the water below is too warm or there is wind moving the ice. In the case of Last Ice, it was probably due to extreme wind conditions that made it able to move thick ice.


This is considered worrying because giant holes formed in the area are rare. The wind there is not as strong as near the coast. So the chances of the ice being thinner than before.


There may have been environmental changes in the Arctic related to global warming which caused the ice sheet to thin out from before. Scientists estimate that if the air temperature continues to rise, it could be that the giant hole that was formed later could not be closed again.

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