Latest news with #AntarcticIceSheet
Sustainability Times
27-07-2025
- Science
- Sustainability Times
'This Proves We've Been Lied To': Alien-Like World Discovered Beneath Antarctica Fuels Explosive Rift Between Scientists and Truth-Seekers
IN A NUTSHELL 🌍 Scientists have discovered ancient, river-carved landscapes hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. 🧊 These preserved surfaces act as natural barriers, influencing the flow of glaciers and potentially moderating ice loss. act as natural barriers, influencing the flow of glaciers and potentially moderating ice loss. 🔬 The research, led by Durham University, utilized radar data to map these features, revealing their vast extent and impact on ice dynamics. to map these features, revealing their vast extent and impact on ice dynamics. 🌡️ Understanding these landscapes is crucial for improving predictive models of future sea-level rise in response to climate change. Recent discoveries beneath the vast, icy expanse of Antarctica have uncovered a hidden world that could reshape our understanding of ice flow dynamics and future sea-level predictions. A team of researchers from Durham University and other global institutions has identified ancient landscapes beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. These landscapes, shaped by rivers millions of years ago, are now influencing the movement of glaciers, potentially altering how we forecast ice loss and its impact on global sea levels. This groundbreaking research offers a new lens through which to observe the frozen continent's past and its implications for our warming world. Revealing the Ancient River-Carved Surfaces The ancient landscapes discovered beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet extend over an impressive 2,175-mile stretch along the continent's coast. These flat surfaces, believed to have been sculpted by rivers before Antarctica became ice-covered around 34 million years ago, now lie buried under the ice. The research team utilized radar data to map these features, revealing their vast expanse and intricate details. What makes these surfaces so significant is their influence on current glacier flow. While deep troughs guide the movement of fast-flowing glaciers, the flat areas act as natural barriers, slowing down the ice flow. This discovery suggests that these surfaces could play a crucial role in moderating ice loss, providing new insights into predicting future changes in sea levels. Incorporating these findings into predictive models can enhance our understanding of how the East Antarctic Ice Sheet may respond to climate change, offering a more accurate assessment of potential sea-level rises. 'This Sensor Sees the Unseeable': NASA's Quantum Gravity Tech Set to Revolutionize Earth Monitoring With Unmatched Precision A Remarkably Preserved Landscape The preservation of these landscapes is nothing short of remarkable. For over 30 million years, these surfaces have remained largely undisturbed, suggesting that the ice sheet has protected rather than eroded the terrain beneath. Dr. Guy Paxman, the lead author of the study, highlights the enigmatic nature of this sub-ice terrain, noting that its preservation offers a unique glimpse into Earth's geological history. These flat surfaces, which span roughly 40% of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet's coastal region, provide critical insights into the dynamics of ice flow. Understanding their shape and geological features is key to improving our ability to forecast the ice sheet's behavior in response to different climate scenarios. This research not only unravels the mysteries of the past but also equips scientists with the knowledge needed to predict future changes more accurately. 'Humanity's Red Dawn Is Here': Scientists Claim Terraforming Mars Is Now Possible, Unveiling Astonishing Plans for This Bold New Frontier International Collaboration and Methodology This pioneering study is a testament to the power of international collaboration, involving experts from universities and research institutions across the globe, including the UK, Germany, and China. By pooling resources and expertise, the team was able to piece together the jigsaw puzzle of data to reveal the bigger picture of how these ancient landscapes formed and their impact on current ice dynamics. The methodology involved analyzing radar data to map the ice thickness and underlying features. By doing so, researchers could identify the flat surfaces and their distribution beneath the ice. This comprehensive approach not only deepens our understanding of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet but also sets the stage for further exploration. Future studies aim to drill through the ice to retrieve rock samples from these surfaces, providing a more detailed timeline of their history and helping to predict how the ice sheet will evolve in a warming world. 'This Jet Will Shatter Laws of Physics and Privacy': X-59 Sparks Outrage as NASA Pushes Supersonic Silence into Civilian Skies Implications for Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise The implications of these findings are far-reaching, particularly in the context of climate change and sea-level rise. If the East Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt entirely, it could raise global sea levels by up to 170 feet. Understanding the role of these river-carved surfaces in moderating ice flow is crucial for developing accurate predictive models. As global temperatures rise, the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet becomes increasingly uncertain. By incorporating the influence of these ancient landscapes into climate models, scientists can better predict how the ice sheet will respond to warming and the subsequent effects on global sea levels. This research is a critical step toward a more comprehensive understanding of Antarctica's role in the climate system and highlights the urgent need for continued exploration and study. The discovery of hidden landscapes beneath Antarctica's ice offers a new perspective on the continent's geological history and its implications for future sea-level changes. As researchers continue to explore these ancient terrains, the knowledge gained will be invaluable in shaping climate policy and mitigation strategies. How will this newfound understanding of Antarctica's past influence our approach to addressing the challenges of climate change in the coming decades? This article is based on verified sources and supported by editorial technologies. Did you like it? 4.6/5 (28)
Time of India
23-07-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Antarctica Ice Mass: Study finds unusual ice mass gain in Antarctica amid global climate concerns; here's more
As the world progresses, so does the climate crisis, and often in the most unexpected ways. Scientists have reported a surprising shift in the southernmost region of the planet. Antarctica has gained ice mass for the first time in decades! Just imagine the shift! What is it about? In a recent study published in , from 2021 to 2023, the Antarctic Ice Sheet underwent an accelerated increase in mass. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Researchers at Tongji University in Shanghai, led by Dr. Wang and Prof. Shen, say this was due to particularly dense snowfall during the period. The scientists used data from NASA's GRACE and GRACE-FO satellite missions, which track the Earth's gravitational field to create maps of mass change. Antarctica is estimated to have gained 108 billion tons of ice annually for the past two years, a dramatic turnaround from the decades of long-term losses in the previous decades. From 2002 to 2010, Antarctica lost around 74 billion tons annually. The rate accelerated to one of nearly 142 billion tons annually from 2011 to 2020, primarily due to melting in the West Antarctic and East Antarctic coastlines. Researchers had long forecast the melting ice on the continent would leave a quantifiable impact on raising global sea levels. The recent spike is not necessarily an indication of lasting recovery, however. Experts warn that it could be a short-term shift and not a reversal of the general warming trend. While the increase in ice mass is good news, it's likely due to transient weather and not a sign that climate change is reversing," a climate scientist unrelated to the study added. "Antarctic ice remains very sensitive to long-term warming, especially at the margins." In the meantime, the Arctic remains beset with portentous indicators of disrepair. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now To our surprise, Arctic sea ice cover hit a record low winter level in March 2025 at 14.33 million square kilometers, NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported. This surpasses the latest low in 2017, once again showing the spectacular changes in the north polar region. The diverging polar trends remind us that climate change is complex and can occur differently in various regions. Scientists refer to the necessity of ongoing monitoring and investigation of changing dynamics of Earth's cryosphere. The researchers attribute this rebound to unusual increases in precipitation, which led to an accumulation of snow and ice. In May 2025, experts warned that current forecasts may underestimate the impact of subglacial water, which develops when the ice sheet melts at its base owing to glacier movement or geothermal heat from bedrock. They anticipated that subglacial water will contribute 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) to sea-level rise by 2300.
Daily Mail
22-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
What lies beneath: Scientists make shocking discovery under the Antarctic Ice Sheet
It is the least explored continent in the world, famous for its harsh and remote environment. Now, scientists have made a shocking discovery lurking beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Researchers have discovered 332 hidden trenches known as submarine canyon networks carved deep into the ocean floor - five times more than previously thought. Some of these underwater trenches reach staggering depths of up to 13,000 feet (4,000m) - roughly as deep as Mont Blanc is tall. Scientists have found roughly 10,000 submarine canyons all over the world. And with just 27 per cent of the sea floor mapped in detail, there are likely to be many more waiting to be found. However, the researchers say those beneath Antarctica's ice are the largest and most impressive anywhere on the planet. David Amblas, of the University of Barcelona, says: 'The most spectacular of these are in East Antarctica, which is characterized by complex, branching canyon systems.' Scientists have made a shocking discovery lurking beneath Antarctica's Ice Sheet (pictured), and it could have big implications for global sea level increases The submarine canyons around Antarctica are so large because they are carved by a phenomenon known as turbidity currents. These are underwater avalanches of sediment and water, which flow at speeds up to 45 miles per hour down the steep slopes of the continental shelf, digging out deep channels as they pass. Dr Amblas says: 'Like those in the Arctic, Antarctic submarine canyons resemble canyons in other parts of the world. 'But they tend to be larger and deeper because of the prolonged action of polar ice and the immense volumes of sediment transported by glaciers to the continental shelf.' These vast canyons play a vital role in a number of important ocean processes. They transport nutrient-rich sediment from the coast to wider ocean, connect shallow and deep waters, and create habitats rich in biodiversity. However, despite being so important, these unique environments remain profoundly understudied - especially in remote, hard-to-reach locations like the Antarctic. In their paper, published in the journal Marine Geology, Dr Amblas and his co-author used the most complete and detailed map of the Antarctic to hunt for previously unnoticed canyons. By analysing the map with a semi-automated method for identifying canyons, the researchers found far more canyons beneath the ice than had previously been expected. Interestingly, these new maps revealed that there is a big difference between the canyons in different parts of the continent. Co-author Dr Riccardo Arosio, a marine geologist from University College Cork, told MailOnline: 'It has been very interesting to discover a striking difference between East and West Antarctic canyons, which had not been observed before.' Dr Arosio says that those in the East form 'long canyon-channel systems, and have more frequent U-shaped profiles'. Meanwhile, canyons in the West of the continent are 'shorter, steeper, and V-shaped'. This is likely because the canyons in the West have been carved by the water released by relatively recent melting of the ice sheet while those in the East are the product of a much longer process of glacial activity. The researchers say this discovery could have much wider implications for how we predict the impacts of climate change. The Antarctic canyons help exchange water between the deep ocean and the continental shelf. This allows cold, dense water formed near the ice sheet to sink into the deep ocean, and drive global ocean circulation currents that help keep the climate stable. At the same time, these canyons also bring warmer waters in from the open sea up to meet the floating ice shelves - driving the ice melt, which is weakening Antarctica's inland glaciers. By affecting how quickly water from the ice sheet enters the ocean, these channels have a direct impact on global sea level increases. However, the ocean models used by organisations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) don't take the effects of these hidden canyons into account. Dr Arosio says: 'Omitting these local mechanisms limits the ability that models must predict changes in ocean and climate dynamics.' In the future, by gathering more high-resolution data in unmapped areas, the researchers expect to find even more submarine canyons beneath the ice. Properly understanding these canyons and how they affect the circulation of water around the poles could be key to accurately predicting the impacts of climate change. Antarctica's ice sheets contain 70% of world's fresh water - and sea levels would rise by 180ft if it melts Antarctica holds a huge amount of water. The three ice sheets that cover the continent contain around 70 per cent of our planet's fresh water - and these are all to warming air and oceans. If all the ice sheets were to melt due to global warming, Antarctica would raise global sea levels by at least 183ft (56m). Given their size, even small losses in the ice sheets could have global consequences. In addition to rising sea levels, meltwater would slow down the world's ocean circulation, while changing wind belts may affect the climate in the southern hemisphere. In February 2018, Nasa revealed El Niño events cause the Antarctic ice shelf to melt by up to ten inches (25 centimetres) every year. El Niño and La Niña are separate events that alter the water temperature of the Pacific ocean. The ocean periodically oscillates between warmer than average during El Niños and cooler than average during La Niñas. Using Nasa satellite imaging, researchers found that the oceanic phenomena cause Antarctic ice shelves to melt while also increasing snowfall. In March 2018, it was revealed that more of a giant France-sized glacier in Antarctica is floating on the ocean than previously thought.
DW
26-06-2025
- Science
- DW
Fact check: Does Antarctic ice increase expose climate hoax? – DW – 06/26/2025
Satellite data shows that Antarctic ice sheets have grown in size, prompting claims that climate change is in reverse or even a hoax. But it's not that simple. A recent study has found that the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) mass has slightly increased in size in recent years, prompting a wave of claims on social media (such as here and here) that global warming may be reversing. Published in March 2025 by researchers at Tongji University in Shanghai, China, the study reported that the Antarctic ice sheet gained approximately 108 billion tons of ice annually between 2021 and 2023. This data focused on four glacier basins in the Wilkes Land-Queen Mary Land (WL-QML) region of the East AIS (EAIS), has been misinterpreted by some climate skeptics as evidence that climate change is a "hoax." DW Fact check looked at the numbers. Claim: Posts on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have gone viral, with one stating, "Moral of the story: Never believe a climate alarmist," garnering over 270,000 views. Another viewed more than 55,000 times, claimed,"Scientists have had to pause the Climate Change Hoax Scam." DW Fact check: Misleading One post even featured a GIF that the user believed showed new land emerging off the coast of Dubaidue to falling sea levels—apparently unaware of the man-made Palm Islands constructed there between 2001 and 2007. The findings in the Chinese study are based on publicly available data from NASA's GRACE and GRACE Follow-on satellites, that have been measuring the Earth's gravitational field since 2002 and have documented changes in the planet's ice and water masses. The data may be correct, but its interpretation by conspiratorial social media users is not—a situation not helped by the researchers' decision to insert an increasing average trend curve next to the preceding decreasing curve depicting ice mass. "This is perfect fodder for people who are intentionally looking to spread disinformation," says Johannes Feldmann, a physicist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) near Berlin, Germany. Feldmann emphasizes that climate science relies on long-term data—typically over 20 to 30 years—to identify meaningful trends. "Two, three, or even five years are far too little to identify a long-term trend," he explains. Cherry-picking short-term data is a common tactic among climate change deniers. "There are always phases where the increase [in temperature] levels off a bit, which people suddenly take to mean: global warming has stopped, the trend is reversing," Feldmann adds. "But it's never turned out to be true." The Antarctic ice sheet, like many natural systems, is subject to fluctuations. A 2023 study from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, highlighted how meteorological events, such as unusually heavy or light snowfall, can temporarily affect ice mass and sea levels. Therefore, fluctuations such as those observed between 2021 and 2023 are only to be expected. "We're dealing with a natural system that is subject to fluctuations—and this is nothing unusual," says Angelika Humbert, a glaciologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. "We sometimes have years with a lot of snow and sometimes years with no snow at all, and it's the same for ice sheets." The Tongji University researchers themselves acknowledged this in a separate 2023 study, linking increased ice mass in eastern Antarctica to unusually high snowfall. "Given the warmer atmosphere, we know that these snowfall events could increase in the coming years," says Feldmann. "On the one hand, this means that more snow could fall more often [on the ice sheets] but also that more could melt—because it's getting warmer. "This is all well-researched and will continue to be researched," he continues. "There was a brief increase [in Antarctic ice mass], but it didn't come anywhere close to replacing the losses of recent decades. The long-term development we are observing is a large-scale loss of the Antarctic ice sheet."
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists stunned after detecting unexpected shift in Antarctic Ice Sheet: 'A historic turnaround'
Scientists have observed an encouraging trend in growth in the Antarctic Ice Sheet but remain cautious about the climate's future. A study published in Science China Earth Sciences found that the AIS had a record-breaking gain in mass between 2021 and 2023, most likely due to a pattern of unusual precipitation, per a report from KTVU. "[The study] found that between 2011 and 2020, the AIS was losing ice at a rate of 142 gigatons per year," the outlet stated. "But between 2021 and 2023, the trend reversed, with the ice sheet gaining approximately 108 gigatons per year — a historic turnaround." According to the KTVU report, the most notable gains for the AIS were in the East Antarctica's Wilkes Land and Queen Mary Land regions, including the Totten, Denman, Moscow University, and Vincennes Bay glacier basins, which had been losing mass at an accelerating rate from 2011 to 2020 but appear to now have at least partially recovered. That growth also helped temporarily offset rising global sea levels by 0.3 millimeters per year during that two-year span. The AIS holds 90% of the freshwater on the planet, and if it was to melt, it would increase sea levels around the world — devastating coastlines, displacing people, and causing untold environmental alterations, according to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. While the news about the AIS gains is positive, KTVU explained that scientists stressed that the climate crisis is far from over and that the gains could likely be attributed to unusual precipitation patterns, something that is also a sign of rising temperatures. As the EPA explained, warmer oceans increase the amount of water that evaporates into the air, which leads to more intense rain and snowfall when the moisture-laden air converges with a storm system. In May 2025, scientists warned that current projections may underestimate the impact of subglacial water, which forms when the base of the ice sheet melts due to either ice movement or geothermal heat from bedrock. They predicted the effects of subglacial water could contribute 2.2 meters (about 7.2 feet) to sea-level rise by 2300. How often do you feel hopeful about the future of the planet when you read news stories or watch entertainment content? Often Sometimes Rarely Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
