A new study has discovered what is behind a new phenomenon that is being seen on the Greenland ice sheet in recent years, due to it’s accelerated melting: the formation of large rivers of fresh meltwater flowing on the ice sheet’s surface.
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Keeping in step with the record-breaking high temperatures that were experienced over the holidays, and over 2015 for that matter, the North Pole also saw unseasonably warm weather — with one projection showing the temperature going above freezing for six hours.
The same warming trend in Atlantic and Pacific waters that contributed to massive storm systems across eastern regions of North America and in northern Europe also pushed temperatures at the North Pole to the freezing mark, with Environment Canada reporting that an ocean buoy near the pole registered a temperature of 0ºC (32ºF) on Dec. 30. Seattle, a city with mild winter temperatures, was actually colder on the same day, at -1ºC (30ºF).
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The Aurora Borealis, also commonly known as the Northern Lights, are an atmospheric phenomenon caused by the interaction of charged particles emitted from the sun that interact with various gasses in Earth’s atmosphere, creating beautiful and mesmerizing displays. Typically, these aurora are confined to regions close to the poles, due to the charged particle’s interaction with Earth’s magnetic field, but a new study says that the display may push farther south in the near future.
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Plankton is spreading in the North Atlantic much faster than global warming models have predicted. This appears to be due to a much faster than expected "loading" of carbon dioxide into ocean waters from the CO2-laden atmosphere. Normally, carbon dioxide is absorbed into the oceans, which has been reducing the amount in the atmosphere.
When this loading stops, the amount in the atmosphere could rise quickly, but it’s not yet clear whether the plankton growth is good or bad for the planet. Published Thursday in the journal Science, a new study details a tenfold increase in the abundance of a type of floating phytoplankton between 1965 and 2010, and a particularly sharp spike since the late 1990s.
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