Monday, July 6, 2020

Onyx River


We just learned about the Subglacial Lakes.

Another part of Antarctica is the Onyx River.

This is the longest river in Antarctica, at 32 kilometers long and ends up at Lake Vanda.
The water for this river is from meltwater, and goes toward the middle of Antarctica away from the ocean, during the summer months.

Water levels change depending on the season, and the river can flow as fast as 20 cubic meters per second. There were even some researchers from New Zealand that rafted down the river one time!

There are no fish in the river, but there are some tiny animals like bacteria and algea living there, along with some gulls that fly around.

Most of the time the water is just barely higher than the 32 degrees F it needs to melt, so it is really ice cold water!



(from: wikipedia - onyx river)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Roundel