Climate change is expanding Antarctica s sea ice, according to a scientific study in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The paradoxical phenomenon is thought to be caused by relatively cold plumes of fresh water derived from melting beneath the Antarctic ice shelves.
This melt water has a relatively low density, so it accumulates in the top layer of the ocean.
The cool surface waters then re-freeze more easily during Autumn and Winter.
This explains the observed peak in sea ice during these seasons, a team from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in De Bilt says in its
.
Climate scientists have been intrigued by observations that Antarctic sea ice shows a small but statistically significant expansion of about 1.9% per decade since 1985, while sea ice in the Arctic
Scientists find 27K suspected barrels of toxic DDT on ocean floor near Los Angeles
By IANS |
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Los Angeles: Photo taken on July 4, 2020 shows the closed Santa Monica beach in Los Angeles County, the United States. (Xinhua/IANS). Image Source: IANS News
Los Angeles, April 30 : Scientists found 27,000 barrel-like objects on the seafloor about 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) offshore Los Angeles, local CBS news channel reported, saying it confirmed the existence of a DDT dump site in the waters off the coast of Southern California.
The report said that a team from University of California San Diego s Scripps Institution of Oceanography used two deep-sea robots to map more than 36,000 acres (145.7 square kilometers) of seafloor between Catalina Island and the Los Angeles County coast over two weeks in March.
A waste barrel dumped off the Los Angeles coast.
Image: DAVID VALENTINE, UC SANTA BARBARA / AUV SENTRY
2021-04-30 14:47:09 UTC
A sprawling dumpsite off the Los Angeles coast, littered with barrels of waste, had been mostly hidden from the public eye for over half a century. Now, marine scientists revealed the field of submerged waste, some of it likely toxic.
They detected around
27,000 barrels.
Over two weeks in March, scientists with NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography dropped two autonomous underwater vehicles (they look like small submarines) into the ocean, approximately 12 miles off the coast. The researchers knew barrels holding waste laden with toxic chemicals like DDT were down there: Limited, though telltale footage and past records hinted at the magnitude of last century s massive dumping campaign. But the robots, using sonar technology to scour 36,000 acres of the seafloor, proved it.
Tonnes of toxic waste collected from British municipal dumps is being sent illegally to Africa in flagrant breach of this country’s obligation to ensure its rapidly growing mountain of defunct televisions, computers and gadgets are disposed of safely.
Hundreds of thousands of discarded items, which under British law must be dismantled or recycled by specialist contractors, are being packaged into cargo containers and shipped to countries such as Nigeria and Ghana, where they are stripped of their raw metals by young men and children working on poisoned waste dumps.
In a joint investigation by
The Independent, Sky News, and Greenpeace, a television that had been broken beyond repair was tracked to an electronics market in Lagos, Nigeria, after being left at a civic amenity site in Basingstoke run by Hampshire Country Council. Under environmental protection laws It was classified as hazardous waste and should never have left the UK.
Jeff Schmaltz / , MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Originally published on May 4, 2021 1:04 pm
No official cause has yet been established for the destruction of an Indonesian submarine with 53 people aboard earlier this month, but some speculation has zeroed in on an undersea phenomenon which has been noted by submariners since at least World War II, though it has become better understood only in recent decades.
A senior Indonesian navy official suggested earlier this week that an internal wave may have pushed the KRI Nanggala 402 below its crush depth, causing the loss of the vessel and all aboard. He cited satellite images showing the presence of such a wave in the area at about the time the sub disappeared.