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.
More Bacteria
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.
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.
Polynyas
A polynya is a phenomenon that occurs when ocean currents push warm water toward the surface, melting the ice and creating giant holes. Some of these holes are so enormous that they could cover an entire small state in New England. Polynyas can stay open and grow in size once they appear, like this one in Antarctica that first popped up in 2017.
They tend to be circular or oval in shape, but that’s more of a guideline than a rule. The upside to these gaps between the ocean and ice is that they provide an entrance/exit for animals like seals, who live both in water and on land.
Ancient Plants
In the mid-1500s, Canada experienced an era known as the “Little Ice Age,” which covered the Ellesmere Island region of the country in permafrost. Most of the plants in the area were snuffed out for good, but some of the area’s mosses were apparently pretty tough because more than 400 years later when the ice started to melt, they began to come back to life.
The melting Teardrop Glacier continues to reveal more of the region’s resilient flora, which researchers dated to somewhere between 400-600 years old in a report that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.