Latest news with #Antarctic
NDTV
a day ago
- Science
- NDTV
New Method For Writing And Preserving Messages On Ice Discovered: Research
The extremely low temperatures in the icy Arctic and Antarctic areas often limit devices that require a lot of energy, making communication difficult. Scientists from China, Korea, and the Czech Republic have discovered a new method for writing and preserving messages: making patterns of air bubbles trapped in ice sheets. A study, published in Cell Reports Physical Science, describes how the Beijing Institute of Technology researchers used the mechanics of bubble formation to encode brief messages in ice. Their method is based on controlling the size, shape, and placement of air bubbles that occur when water freezes naturally. This unconventional technique uses ice-trapped air bubbles to create different bubble forms that can be used to encode messages in binary or Morse code, per the New York Times. The concept of bubble messages was inspired by the air bubbles that naturally develop in glaciers. The researchers looked into the dispersion of bubbles in ice to find a simple method of communicating and storing information for extended periods of time. Tiny air pockets, or bubbles, are created inside the ice when water freezes, because it forces out dissolved gases. The researchers employed a unique arrangement, placing a tiny layer of water on a chilly plate between two sheets of transparent plastic. It was discovered that they could produce particular bubble patterns, each of which represented a portion of a coded message, by carefully regulating the freezing process. Several layers were produced, some with and some without bubbles, by varying the freezing speed. The properties of each layer became the fundamental units of communication. Clear ice looks dark, whereas bubbly areas appear white due to the way air bubbles scatter light. The hidden message is revealed when a computer software analyses the image, finds the bubble patterns, and converts them back into binary or Morse code. Author Mengjie Song stated that using trapped air bubbles to convey and store messages is more secret than using paper documents and requires less energy than telecommunication in naturally cold areas. "These ice messages can be preserved for a long time, and the messages they carry are easy to visualise and read," Song added. The researchers agreed that much more work needs to be performed to make such applications possible. The group intends to further study bubble creation in three-dimensional environments and look into how gas type and concentration affect bubble ice properties.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Science
- The Guardian
‘It looks more likely with each day we burn fossil fuels': polar scientist on Antarctic tipping points
For more than 20 years, Louise Sime has worked at the British Antarctic Survey specialising in polar climate dynamics. She uses ice cores to reconstruct past conditions and predict future changes. She now leads several international Earth modelling projects. Why are the Arctic and Antarctic regions important for the rest of the world?They are one of the pillars of global climate stability, a giant store of frozen water, an essential 'biotic pump' that helps to store carbon, and an albedo shield that reflects much of the sun's light and heat back out to space. When and why did scientists become concerned about tipping points in Antarctica?It has become a major talking point in the past five to 10 years, though the possibility has been known for much longer. Up until 2016, the sea ice in Antarctica seemed relatively stable. Then everything started to change. At first, the decline was mostly in line with climate models. But suddenly, in 2023, there was an enormous drop. About 2.5 million sq km of Antarctic sea ice went missing relative to the average before 2023. The anomaly was of such a magnitude that it's quite hard for scientists to know what to make of it. It has been described as a five sigma event. What is a five sigma event?Something that may only happen once in 10,000 years, or higher, possibly once in several million years. It was so far outside of expectations that the statistics became really hard to handle. It was very startling. What was the cause? It's still not absolutely clear but it is probably associated with global warming and circulation changes in the oceans. In that year, there was an enormous atmospheric river event over East Antarctica, which was also a five sigma event. This coincided with the biggest heatwave on record, where we had a temperature anomaly in excess of 40C. What effect did this have on the region?When that much sea ice is lost, there are substantial knock-on impacts. While the ocean is covered by ice, the temperature above the surface can easily be -20C, -30C. But as soon as the water is exposed, then the surface temperature cannot go below -2C. And once the surface is opened to the atmosphere, then you start to get evaporation of water vapour. That means a sudden and substantial change of weather around Antarctica. What are the potential tipping points in the polar regions?Tipping points are broadly defined as abrupt changes that are irreversible, at least on human timescales. We know they are possible in polar ecosystems based on ice-core records going back 800,000 years. We are less sure where those tipping points are. That is because these regions are shaped by complex interactions. It also depends what scale we are talking about. Small, local tipping points may have already been passed on particular ice sheets or coastal ice shelves or possibly even sea ice. But it is less certain that the entire region is near a tipping point. What are ice sheets and why do they matter?Ice must cover at least 50,000 sq km of land to qualify as an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier. They grow when there is more snow than melt-off, and shrink when there is more melt-off than snow or if they slide into the sea. We know this is a risk in Antarctica, because it's got a backward sloping bedrock. If the ice there is thinned, then at some point it starts floating in deep basins and begins melting from below. Then you would have a sort of catastrophic collapse. How do they differ from ice shelves?Ice shelves are floating tongues of ice that flow out from land glaciers over a cold coastal ocean. They range in thickness from 50 to 600 metres, and help to buttress land ice. We've seen examples where they catastrophically collapse because melt water accumulates over the surface and forces cracks into the shelves. An ice shelf that may have been there for hundreds or thousands of years can collapse within months, possibly even weeks. By themselves, the collapse of ice shelves doesn't add much to global sea-level rise, but it can remove the buttress on much bigger ice sheets, which can then slide faster into the ocean. West Antarctica appears to be the area of greatest concern. Why?This is the location of two huge and vulnerable glaciers: Pine Island and Thwaites. We know that their buttressing gate glaciers on the shore are thinning and retreating. That allows more of the ice sheet to flow into the ocean. Satellite images show this has been going on for some time and has accelerated at least since the year 2000. All of those glaciers are connected together so if they slipped into the ocean that would add about four metres to global ocean levels. But the key question is how long this will take. Looking at past records of change in Antarctica, it's likely to take hundreds of years. But a very large acceleration would be felt almost immediately and it would result in the global sea level going up much, much faster in the near future. How does this compare with the situation in the Arctic?The potential for Antarctica to increase global sea levels is scarier than for Greenland. Right now, they're both contributing similar amounts to sea-level rise, but in future, it could be Greenland goes up a bit and then Antarctica goes up catastrophically. Greenland has the potential to raise sea levels by five or six metres, but we don't expect this will come in the form of an absolutely catastrophic, abrupt loss. Most of the ice in Greenland is not below sea level so we can see what is happening and we expect it will melt in a linear fashion. By contrast, Antarctica has 80 metres of potential sea-level rise. We don't expect all of that, but it is harder to know exactly what is happening. Much of Antarctica is below sea level and affected by the ocean, which means it is less stable and harder to observe. We also know there are parts of Antarctica where warm water is encroaching on to unstable shelves and we know that ice could retreat in some of the sloping basins – for example in East Antarctica and Wilkes Land. We don't know where that tipping point is, but if we hit it, there will be an irreversible retreat of the West Antarctic sheet. How long may that take?It's safer to assume that parts of it could happen rapidly. We know that ice shelves can collapse in a matter of weeks or months. On a bigger scale, evidence from the past suggests West Antarctica is unlikely to catastrophically lose all its ice in tens of years. It could unfold over hundreds or even thousands of years, but once you cross the tipping point and initiate that process, it is possible that we'd immediately see a substantial acceleration and jumps in sea level. We need more study. Is it possible that this is already under way?Yes. Some studies have suggested we may have passed tipping points, so the loss of the West Antarctic ice sheet may now be inevitable because of the warming of the oceans. However, this is far from clear. Tipping points definitely exist and we may already have passed some of the minor ones, but there's also a good chance, in my view, that we haven't yet crossed the major ones in Antarctica. What would happen elsewhere if the Antarctic breaches these tipping points?A huge proportion of the global population lives very close to the sea level so if the oceans rise by several metres, I find it personally quite hard to think about the consequences. They would be devastating. How would it affect the climate?A huge amount of the carbon dioxide that is emitted today is being sequestered in the Southern Ocean. But that only happens if ecosystems work effectively as a biological pump that draws carbon dioxide into the depths via plankton, krill and other species. If we cross tipping points in Antarctica, it would undermine that ecosystem. That would change the trajectory of how much carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere in the coming years, and likely increase global temperature, which will be felt by everyone. What is your gut feeling about whether we have crossed a tipping point in the Antarctic? It's unthinkable, but it's not impossible, and it looks more likely with each day that we continue burning fossil fuels. It's beyond worrying. What difference would it make if we stopped burning oil, gas, coal and trees? If we stop emitting carbon tomorrow, then it's quite likely that we would see no further decreases in Arctic sea ice. And it's quite likely that other parts of the global climate system would immediately stabilise and temperatures would stop going up. So even if we had passed some tipping points, it's very likely that we would not pass any others. Is there any way to reverse what's going on with a technological fix?Studies suggest geoengineering is speculative and could make things worse. I'm personally not against what-if modelling experiments: if we did have giant space mirrors, what would the climate of Earth look like at that point? But it's unlikely in my personal view that any of them actually would be usable. They shouldn't distract us from our primary goal which is to stop the burning of any fossil fuel as quickly as possible. How do you feel about the risk of a tipping point in the Antarctic?As a human being, I have so much trouble trying to think about the magnitude of the sea-level rise, that I'm not sure I have the capacity to really think it through. I really enjoy working on polar science generally. It's a privilege, but I don't really have a good answer for you. We scientists just do our best to encourage everyone to decarbonise, please, for my kids' future, as well as for everyone else's kids. Tipping points – in the Amazon, Antarctic, coral reefs and more – could cause fundamental parts of the Earth system to change dramatically, irreversibly and with devastating effects. In this series, we ask the experts about the latest science – and how it makes them feel. Tomorrow, Tim Lenton talks about positive social tipping points Read more
Straits Times
a day ago
- Science
- Straits Times
The world is warming up - and it's happening faster
A report published last week found that human-caused global warming is now increasing by 0.27 degrees Celsius per decade. PHOTO: EPA-EFE NEW YORK - Summer started barely a week ago, and already the United States has been smothered in a record-breaking 'heat dome'. Alaska saw its first-ever heat advisory this month. And all of this comes on the heels of 2024, the hottest calendar year in recorded history. The world is getting hotter, faster. A report published last week found that human-caused global warming is now increasing by 0.27 degrees Celsius per decade. That rate was recorded at 0.2 degrees in the 1970s, and has been growing since. This doesn't surprise scientists who have been crunching the numbers. For years, measurements have followed predictions that the rate of warming in the atmosphere would speed up. But now, patterns that have been evident in charts and graphs are starting to become a bigger part of people's daily lives. 'Each additional fractional degree of warming brings about a relatively larger increase in atmospheric extremes, like extreme downpours and severe droughts and wildfires,' said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California. While this aligns with scientific predictions of how climate change can intensify such events, the increase in severity may feel sudden to people who experience them. 'Back when we had lesser levels of warming, that relationship was a little bit less dramatic,' Dr Swain said. 'There is growing evidence that the most extreme extremes probably will increase faster and to a greater extent than we used to think was the case,' he added. Take rainfall, for example. Generally, extreme rainfall is intensifying at a rate of 7 per cent with each degree Celsius of atmospheric warming. But recent studies indicate that so-called record-shattering events are increasing at double that rate, Dr Swain said. 'There is no weather that's happening outside of climate,' said Dr Kate Marvel, a climate scientist and author of the book 'Human Nature'. 'This is stuff that's manifesting in the real world,' she said, citing catastrophes such as Hurricane Helene that hit Florida in 2024. According to Dr Swain, scientists have yet to come to a universal understanding of these events, in part because the infrequent nature of outliers makes them difficult to study. And as warming has intensified, so have the impacts on vulnerable regions of the planet such as the Arctic and Antarctic, making previously rare or hidden consequences more apparent. Scientists are fine-tuning their models to understand the behaviour of the vast ice sheets in such places to match the rapid changes they're observing. In March 2025, a NASA analysis found that sea levels had risen faster than expected in 2024, in part because of a combination of melting glaciers and heat penetrating deeper into oceans, causing them to expand thermodynamically. Sea surface temperatures are rising faster than previously predicted, too, according to a study published in April by researchers at the National Center for Earth Observation in Britain. Cecilia Bitz, a professor of climate science at the University of Washington, said that modeling the Earth is complex, and that there are an innumerable amount of small factors that could be taken into account. But even with these uncertainties, scientists have ways of building their models to identify trends that are largely accurate. 'Nothing is defying our big picture about the physics of the climate system,' Prof Bitz said. Overall atmospheric warming has consistently followed modeling predictions for decades. But recently, the fundamental imbalance responsible for this heat has been tilting – catching even scientists off guard. Global warming is a symptom of Earth's energy imbalance, which is a measure of the difference between the total amount of heat reaching Earth from the sun, and the amount radiating back into space. In May 2025, a paper analysing data from a NASA satellite found that this imbalance had grown faster than expected, more than doubling in the past two decades and becoming nearly twice as large as it was previously predicted to be. Dr Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, said climate scientists were still working to understand these findings. There are various theories, such as fewer emissions of aerosols, a type of air pollution that is harmful to human health and that increases the reflectivity of clouds, which bounce the sun's heat back into space. Historically, aerosol emissions have masked the warming effect of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Over the past half-century or so, as nations reduced certain kinds of air pollution, aerosol emissions fell significantly. According to Dr Hausfather, this change is the primary reason atmospheric warming has accelerated in recent decades. But the most worrying possibility behind Earth's energy imbalance, he said, is how the general nature of clouds may be changing in response to climbing temperatures. It's a feedback loop that could potentially exacerbate warming and is 'one of the single biggest uncertainties in predicting future climate,' he said. As the world continues to emit planet-warming greenhouse gasses, and temperatures climb past what the human world was built to handle, Dr Marvel said, more people will experience climate change in damaging and frightening ways. 'It's always worse than expected when it happens to you,' Dr Marvel said. 'It is one thing to see something in a climate model, and it's a totally different thing to actually experience it in your own life.' NYTIMES Find out more about climate change and how it could affect you on the ST microsite here.
Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- General
- Int'l Business Times
Why Krill Conservation is Vital for Preserving the Whale Ecosystem: Exploring Captain Paul Watson's Synergistic Mission
Over the years, there has been a significant rise in initiatives and efforts aimed at safeguarding marine biodiversity. From whales to penguins, and sharks to turtles, these animals have long commanded public attention and protection, with many preservation campaigns that have risen to protect them from being hunted. Although many have succeeded in their efforts, a deeper issue remains unresolved beneath the surface. This threatens the very foundation of marine life: the overfishing of Krill, a tiny crustacean often forgotten yet indispensable to the survival of preserved species such as whales, penguins, and seals. As krills are overfished in large numbers, their impact reverberates through the depths of the Southern Ocean, which is the biggest krill fishery in the world. As these species are being harvested at unsustainable rates for the development of health supplements, protein superfood, and farm animal feed, many animals within the Antarctic ecosystem have become deprived of sufficient fodder for their survival. "Large factory vessels are picking up krill in the millions, taking food out of the mouths of whales and penguins, and they're being rendered into protein sources for supplements and livestock. This is extremely harmful to marine life," says renowned marine wildlife conservationist Captain Paul Watson, who is taking active measures to preserve the marine ecosystem and whale life. As the founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, Watson has long stood at the frontline of ocean defence and is now bringing his passion and commitment to preserve the heart of the Southern Ocean. He has dedicated over 50 years of his life to protecting the whale ecosystem, executing several successful missions to halt whaling operations in regions all around the world. "We cannot claim to care about whales while allowing the food they rely on for survival to be stolen from beneath them," Watson states. "There's no moral difference if you're bringing a harpoon or starving it by depleting its food supply, you're still killing the whales. They need to be protected, and to protect them also means to protect what feeds them." Krill is the cornerstone of the Antarctic ecosystem, feeding everything from blue whales, the largest animals to ever exist, to seals, penguins, and countless seabirds. Despite their tiny size, their ecological role is massive. Rich in omega-3, protein, and vitamin A, it's not hard to decipher why krill has become the next touted supplement, and has been left at the mercy of large-scale industrial fishing. However, as they hold such a pivotal role in the marine ecosystem, removing them from the equation can bring a collapse to the fundamental food web, and this is the very issue that Watson aims to tackle. With the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, in collaboration with Sea Shepherd France and Brazil, Watson has launched a new mission to stop the overfishing of krill before the consequences spiral further out of control. Their vigorous method, or as Watson likes to call it, "aggressive non-violence method," involves putting a stop to krill fishing using vessels to intervene as the fishing operations take place. The Captain Paul Watson Foundation Through his aggressive non-violent intervention using vessels, coming from Australia and Brazil, Watson aims to garner global attention by leveraging his tactics to shed light on the industrial exploitation of the krill population. And this is not just a protest. "Our initiatives are totally in compliance with the regulatory authorities that allow for NGOs to intervene to protect endangered species and threatened habitats," Watson explains. "We're stopping illegal or harmful operations without causing injury to anyone." There's also a deeper environmental link that gave Watson an additional impetus for his Krill preservation missions. Krill feed on phytoplankton, which have declined by nearly 40% since 1950 . This degradation in the marine food chain has cascading effects not only across the entire marine ecosystem but also for life on earth. In fact, Phytoplankton produce around 70% of the world's oxygen supply, making krill protection even more pivotal. For many, krill may not be the face of marine conservation, but they are the foundation of it. As they continue to diminish in exponential numbers, it calls for the need to raise a louder voice, not just for the big titans of the ocean, but also for the small ones. With the mission commencing its operations by the end of the year, preserving krill is just a stepping stone towards their larger mission. "This isn't just about saving tiny crustaceans," Watson emphasizes. "It's about preserving an entire ecosystem. When you save krill, you're saving whales, penguins, and many more aquatic animals out there. You're saving the ocean, and that's the ultimate goal behind what we do."
DW
2 days ago
- Science
- DW
Fact check: Does Antarctic ice increase expose climate hoax? – DW – 06/26/2025
Satellite data shows that Antarctic ice sheets have grown in size, prompting claims that climate change is in reverse or even a hoax. But it's not that simple. A recent study has found that the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) mass has slightly increased in size in recent years, prompting a wave of claims on social media (such as here and here) that global warming may be reversing. Published in March 2025 by researchers at Tongji University in Shanghai, China, the study reported that the Antarctic ice sheet gained approximately 108 billion tons of ice annually between 2021 and 2023. This data focused on four glacier basins in the Wilkes Land-Queen Mary Land (WL-QML) region of the East AIS (EAIS), has been misinterpreted by some climate skeptics as evidence that climate change is a "hoax." DW Fact check looked at the numbers. Claim: Posts on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have gone viral, with one stating, "Moral of the story: Never believe a climate alarmist," garnering over 270,000 views. Another viewed more than 55,000 times, claimed,"Scientists have had to pause the Climate Change Hoax Scam." DW Fact check: Misleading One post even featured a GIF that the user believed showed new land emerging off the coast of Dubaidue to falling sea levels—apparently unaware of the man-made Palm Islands constructed there between 2001 and 2007. The findings in the Chinese study are based on publicly available data from NASA's GRACE and GRACE Follow-on satellites, that have been measuring the Earth's gravitational field since 2002 and have documented changes in the planet's ice and water masses. The data may be correct, but its interpretation by conspiratorial social media users is not—a situation not helped by the researchers' decision to insert an increasing average trend curve next to the preceding decreasing curve depicting ice mass. "This is perfect fodder for people who are intentionally looking to spread disinformation," says Johannes Feldmann, a physicist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) near Berlin, Germany. Feldmann emphasizes that climate science relies on long-term data—typically over 20 to 30 years—to identify meaningful trends. "Two, three, or even five years are far too little to identify a long-term trend," he explains. Cherry-picking short-term data is a common tactic among climate change deniers. "There are always phases where the increase [in temperature] levels off a bit, which people suddenly take to mean: global warming has stopped, the trend is reversing," Feldmann adds. "But it's never turned out to be true." The Antarctic ice sheet, like many natural systems, is subject to fluctuations. A 2023 study from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, highlighted how meteorological events, such as unusually heavy or light snowfall, can temporarily affect ice mass and sea levels. Therefore, fluctuations such as those observed between 2021 and 2023 are only to be expected. "We're dealing with a natural system that is subject to fluctuations—and this is nothing unusual," says Angelika Humbert, a glaciologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. "We sometimes have years with a lot of snow and sometimes years with no snow at all, and it's the same for ice sheets." The Tongji University researchers themselves acknowledged this in a separate 2023 study, linking increased ice mass in eastern Antarctica to unusually high snowfall. "Given the warmer atmosphere, we know that these snowfall events could increase in the coming years," says Feldmann. "On the one hand, this means that more snow could fall more often [on the ice sheets] but also that more could melt—because it's getting warmer. "This is all well-researched and will continue to be researched," he continues. "There was a brief increase [in Antarctic ice mass], but it didn't come anywhere close to replacing the losses of recent decades. The long-term development we are observing is a large-scale loss of the Antarctic ice sheet."
