communicatingscience

[communicatingscience]

Greenland glacier growing again

Jakobshavn had been the fastest-flowing and fastest-thinning glacier in Greenland for the past 20 years. It was the Greenland Ice Sheet’s largest loss of mass. This glacier was ideal to study and predict world sea level rise and has been under observation for many years by scientists from NASA and other organizations. Since 2016, the glacier has undergone major thickening and has slowed down and changed direction, now moving toward the ocean rather than inland. According to NASA, water temperatures around the glacier are the coldest they have been since the mid-1980s, causing the glacier to thicken. Unfortunately, this does not mean the glacier is no longer contributing to the world sea level rise. It is contributing at a slower rate, but the contribution is still present due to the glacier losing more ice to the ocean than it gains from snowfall. The Jakobshavn has caught a break from its thinning, but the oceans are still increasingly warming so this is very likely to be only a temporary break. 

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/fast-shrinking-greenland-glacier-now-growing-again/4852457.html

[communicatingscience]

Fossils discovered in North Dakota

A group of scientists have recently discovered a mass of fossilized creatures that died merely minutes before the cataclysmic asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, killing the dinosaurs. A team of paleontologists at the University of Kansas were the ones to find these “exquisitely preserved animal and fish fossils” in North Dakota. This asteroid eradicated 75% of the animal and plant species on Earth upon impact. The seismic surges triggered by the impact of the asteroid caused a sudden torrent of water and debris causing a “tangled mass of freshwater fish, terrestrial vertebrates, trees, branches, logs, marine ammonites and other marine creatures”. The discovery of these fossils lead to scientists identifying new fish species and other species that were better variations of present-day species. 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/01/world/science-health-world/north-dakota-fossil-mother-lode-records-earth-shaking-asteroids-impact-study/#.XKFexihKg2w

[communicatingscience]

You know what wouldn’t feel like being on cloud 9? If the clouds disappeared. Recent research reveals that carbon released from burning fossil fuels breaks down the low hanging clouds that keep Earth cool. Without these clouds, the Earth’s temperature would increase 14 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to a mass extinction. Just to put in perspective the impact this would have: areas near the equator would become inhabitable (yes, that means you can’t vacation in the Maldives anymore). Even an increase of just 4 degrees Fahrenheit could result in the end of human civilization according to climate scientist, Micheal Mann. Just another reason to protect our planet and stay away from fossil fuels.

[communicatingscience]

It’s extremely difficult for most to fathom just how big the Milky Way Galaxy is. That is because it’s HUGE. Astronomers are constantly discovering new things in and about our galaxy. A recent discovery being a 1,300 light year long cluster of more than 4,000 stars. This is the closest cluster to Earth to have been discovered and studying it can help astronomers understand more about the structure and evolution of our galaxy. It can be inferred from studying this cluster that many of the stars in the galaxy formed in clusters initially and were then spread out by the gravitational field. This inference raised the question of, “Where are the other stars that were formed in the cluster the sun was formed in?” The European Space Agency’s Gaia team will be working to see what other discoveries this will lead to.

[communicatingscience]

Upon seeing this image you’re probably thinking, “Oh, just another parking lot that the snow plow plowed all of the snow to the back row.” Wrong. Some refer to these formations as “ice tsunamis” or “ice shoves”. This is a wall of broken lake ice that has been blown onto the shore of Lake Eerie in Ontario. These formations have been occurring since 1822 under extreme weather. Especially strong winds blow broken ice from the lake on to the shore causing these wall-like formations to form.