In 2005, scientists discovered a bacteria called carnobacterium pleistocenium. NASA pulled the samples from a lake that had frozen over in Alaska and estimated they were over 30,000 years old. And in 2016, an odd case occurred in a remote area in Siberia, in which a 12-year-old boy died from what they later found to be an anthrax infection.
Several other people in the area were also treated in the hospital for the same thing. Scientists believe the cause was a caribou carcass from nearly 80 years ago that had been frozen until a heatwave dethawed it that year. Since the body was no longer frozen, the bacteria got into the soil and water, causing the infections.
A Subglacial Forest
Imagine walking through an icy tundra one day and realizing that you were standing on top of an entire forest full of trees. That is exactly what happened in the Mendenhall Glacier region of Alaska, where researchers discovered thousands of trees thought to be somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 years old. Now that is seriously old!
As more of the glacier melts, scientists are able to learn more about the trees that lived on Earth so long ago. Right now, they are simply looking at the tip of the iceberg…so to speak, which is the top of some of the long-frozen flora.
A Tunic from the Iron Age
Norway’s melting glaciers have proven time and time again to produce some of the most interesting (and frequent) subglacial discoveries. Weapons and tools, including horseshoes and arrows, etc, continue to turn up in the area.
Scientists pulled a tunic from the ice and dated it back to somewhere between 250-350 A.D. The article of clothing was found buried in not only the ice, but also a few layers of horse poo, and crumpled up into a ball. But regardless of the condition that it was found in, it was still able to tell researchers a lot about life during that time.
Flash Flood Frozen in Time
This is a great example of just how terrifying (and amazing) nature can truly be. Flash floods are crazy enough on their own, but just imagine how this could possibly even happen: a flash flood being frozen in time. Just think about the phenomena that had to occur in order for this to happen.
It’s probably a good thing that this took place in a rural area where there weren’t a lot of signs of human civilization, as this would have been a scary situation to be caught up in! A flash flood would have had to freeze very suddenly to get stuck at this angle.
Sea Ice Continues to Grow
Even though most of the world’s most prominent scientists agree that global warming is very much a real thing and it is affecting the environment at an alarming rate, naysayers point to the fact that Antarctica’s sea ice only continues to expand as a method of debunking the science behind the phenomenon.
Climate change may melt the glaciers around the world, but so far, it has not stopped the sea from forming new ice. But even with the ice expansion in Antarctica, the melting glaciers continue to cause the sea levels to rise. There is plenty of cause for concern, and we should also be aware of it.