Antarctic Sea Ice Cover At Record Low

Barrons – AFP, By Marlowe HOOD, March 8, 2023 

Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent in the 45-year satellite data record last
month. Johan ORDONEZ

Sea ice in Antarctica shrank to the smallest area on record in February for the second year in a row, continuing a decade-long decline, the European Union's climate monitoring service said Tuesday. 

On February 16, the ocean surface covered by ice around the frozen continent shrank to 2.09 million square kilometres (800,000 square miles), the lowest level since satellite records began, according to figures provided to AFP by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). 

"Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent in the 45-year satellite data record," said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of C3S. 

US government scientists have also confirmed a new record last month but indicated an even lower figure of 1.79 million sq km, a difference Copernicus attributed to "different sea ice retrieval algorithms". 

Sea-ice concentrations during the southern hemisphere summer were well below average in all sectors of the Southern Ocean. 

Startlingly, the record lows this year and in 2022 are about 30 percent below the 1981-2010 average. 

"These low sea-ice conditions may have important implications for the stability of Antarctic ice shelves and ultimately for global sea level rise," said Burgess.

 "Polar ice caps are a sensitive indicator of the climate crisis." 

Melting sea ice has no discernible impact on sea levels because the ice is already in ocean water. 

But diminished ice cover is nonetheless a major concern because it helps accelerate global warming, including in the Arctic region. 

About 90 percent of the Sun's energy that hits white sea ice is reflected back into space. But when sunlight hits dark, unfrozen ocean water, nearly the same amount of that energy is absorbed instead, contributing directly to a warming planet. 

Both the North and South pole regions have warmed by roughly three degrees Celsius compared to late 19th-century levels, three times the global average.  

Antarctic sea ice at record low. Valentin RAKOVSKY

But unlike sea ice in the Arctic, which has diminished by three percent a year since the late 1970s, sea ice in Antarctica has remained relatively constant over the same period, albeit with large annual variations. 

Until recently -- over the last eight years -- minimum sea ice extent in the Southern Ocean has consistently been below the average for the 1991-2020 period. 

Antarctica encountered its first recorded heatwave in 2020, with an unprecedented 9.2C above the mean maximum. In March last year, a research centre in eastern Antarctica saw temperatures soar 30 degrees above normal. 

Recent ice cover during the austral summer has shrunk most around West Antarctica, which is more vulnerable to the impacts of global warming than the far larger East Antarctica. 

The record minimum sea ice extent in the Arctic -- 3.4 million square kilometres -- occurred in 2012, with the second- and third-lowest ice-covered areas in 2020 and 2019, respectively. 

In 2021, The UN's IPCC climate science advisory panel forecast with "high confidence" that the Arctic Ocean would become practically ice-free in September at least once by mid-century.

Monster iceberg released 'billions of tonnes' of fresh water into ocean

MSN - AFP, 20 January 2022

The A-68 iceberg was one of the largest ever observed

A giant iceberg that detached from Antarctica in 2017 released the equivalent of 61 million Olympic-sized swimming pools of fresh water as it melted, according to research published Thursday, raising questions over the impact on the marine ecosystem. 

The monstrous iceberg was twice the size of Luxembourg when it separated from the Larsen ice shelf, which has warmed faster than any other part of Earth's southernmost continent. 

At 5,719 square kilometres (2,200 square miles) it was the biggest iceberg on Earth when it formed and the sixth-largest on record, according to the British Antarctic Survey. 

For two years, the trillion-tonne giant known as A-68, drifted close to home in the cold waters of the Weddell Sea before travelling northwards and menacing the British island of South Georgia, some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from its starting point. 

The iceberg, by then known as A-68a after a piece snapped off, came dangerously close to the island in late 2020, raising fears that it would become stuck on the seabed, block ocean currents and obstruct the passage of thousands of penguins and seals. 

But the new study found that while it did briefly graze the seabed, the iceberg melted quickly once in the warmer region around South Georgia and had already lost a significant amount of its bulk by the time it reached shallower waters. 

Researchers who tracked its journey via satellites calculated that from late 2020 until it melted away in 2021, A-68 released an estimated total of 152 billion tonnes of nutrient-rich fresh water into the sea. 

That is equivalent to 20 times the water in Scotland's Loch Ness, or 61 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, said the BAS in a press release, adding it was "a disturbance that could have a profound impact on the island's marine habitat". 

"This is a huge amount of melt water," said Anne Braakmann-Folgmann, a researcher at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), who led the research published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment. 

"The next thing we want to learn is whether it had a positive or negative impact on the ecosystem" around South Georgia, she said. 

'Classic' route 

Researchers said the cold fresh meltwater and nutrients released as icebergs melt can influence local ocean circulation and spark biological production. 

Braakmann-Folgmann said A-68 had taken a "classic" route for icebergs in the region, adding that further research would look to learn more about how these icebergs are affecting the polar oceans. 

Icebergs form when hunks of ice break off from ice shelves or glaciers and begin to float in open water. 

Their formation is part of a natural process, although one which can be accelerated by warming air and ocean temperatures due to human-caused climate change. 

Earth's average surface temperature has gone up by one degree Celsius since the 19th century, enough to increase the intensity of droughts, heat waves and tropical cyclones. 

But the air over Antarctica has warmed more than twice that much. 

Ice sheets atop Greenland and West Antarctic hold enough frozen water to lift oceans a dozen metres (40 feet), drowning cities and redrawing the planet's coastlines. 

Icebergs are traditionally named after the Antarctic quadrant in which they were originally detected, then a sequential number. 

If they break apart more letters are added to differentiate the fragments.

Tropical Indonesia's tiny glaciers to melt away in a decade: study

Yahoo – AFP, Dessy Sagita and Peter Brieger, December 13, 2019

While they're usually associated with colder-weather countries, the glaciers in
Indonesia's Papua region are a key marker of the impact of rising global
temperatures, researchers said (AFP Photo/Handout)

Indonesia's little-known glaciers are melting so fast they could disappear in a decade, a new study says, underscoring the imminent threat posed by climate change to ice sheets in tropical countries.

As the COP 25 summit wraps up in Madrid, nations are struggling to finalise rules for the 2015 landmark Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global temperature rises.

Thousands of kilometres away, glaciers on a mountain range in Indonesia's Papua region -- and a handful of others in Africa and the Peruvian Andes -- are an early warning of what could be in store if they fail.

"Because of the relatively low elevation of the (Papua) glaciers... these will be the first to go," said Lonnie Thompson, one of the authors of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

"They are the 'canaries in the coal mine'".

This summer, Iceland mourned the passing of Okjokull, its first glacier lost to climate change, amid warnings that some 400 others on the subarctic island risk the same fate.

Meanwhile, a team of researchers in Switzerland warned that unchecked greenhouse gas emissions could see more than 90-percent of glaciers in the Alps disappear by the end of the century.

Accelerating melt-off from glaciers and especially ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are driving sea level rises, threatening coastal megacities and small island nations. Glaciers are also a key water source for tens of millions of people.

While they're usually associated with colder-weather countries, the glaciers in 

Indonesia's Papua region are a key marker of the impact of rising global 

temperatures, researchers said (AFP Photo/Handout)

Tropical glaciers?

While they're usually associated with colder-weather countries, the glaciers in Papua, an Indonesian region on the western half of New Guinea island, are a key marker of the impact of rising global temperatures, researchers said.

"Tropical glaciers are mostly smaller and so their response time to variations in climate change is faster compared to larger glaciers and ice sheets," said Indonesia-based glaciologist Donaldi Permana, also an author on the study.

Earlier estimates suggested that Papua's glaciers have shrunk by some 85 percent in the past few decades.

This week's study said glaciers that once covered some 20 square kilometres have shrunk to less than half of one square kilometre. There has also been a more than five-fold increase in the rate of ice thinning over the past few years.

"The situation has reached worrying levels because ice formation is no longer happening -- only glacier recession," Permana said.

"The glaciers are in danger of disappearing within a decade or less," he added.

The melting has been exacerbated by the El Nino phenomenon, which causes warmer temperatures and reduced rainfall.

"Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and planting more trees can probably slow down the ice recession in Papua," Permana said.

"However, we believe it'll be extremely difficult to keep them" from melting.

Aside from any environmental impact, their disappearance would also be a cultural loss for some indigenous Papuans who consider them sacred.

"The mountains and valleys are the arms and legs of their god and the glaciers are the head," said Thompson, a professor at Ohio State University.

"The head of their god will soon disappear."

July 2019 hottest month on record for planet: US agency

Yahoo – AFP, August 15, 2019

Heat haze distorts the background during a heatwave in Tokyo on July 31 (AFP
Photo/Kazuhiro NOGI)

Washington (AFP) - July 2019 temperatures were the hottest ever recorded globally, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday, while satellite data showed polar ice shrank to its lowest levels.

According to the NOAA, the average global temperature for the month was 0.95 degrees Celsius (1.71 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average of 15.8 degrees Celsius (60.4 Fahrenheit), making it the hottest July in its records, which go back to 1880.

"Much of the planet sweltered in unprecedented heat in July, as temperatures soared to new heights in the hottest month ever recorded. The record warmth also shrank Arctic and Antarctic sea ice to historic lows," the agency said.

The findings confirmed data released by the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service on August 5, though the margin of the new record compared to the last, in July 2016, was greater according to the US data.

People cool off and sunbathe by the Trocadero Fountains next to the Eiffel Tower 

in Paris, on July 25 during a massive heat wave (AFP Photo/Bertrand GUAY)

Searing heat waves saw records tumble across Europe last month, while in the US, nearly 150 million people struggled to stay cool from the Midwestern plains to the Atlantic coast and local media reported at least six deaths.

The new high is all the more notable because the previous followed a strong El Nino, which boosts average global temperates beyond the impact of global warming alone.

El Ninos are naturally occurring weather events triggered by periodic warming -- every three to seven years -- in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Declining polar sea ice

"Nine of the 10 hottest Julys have occurred since 2005—with the last five years ranking as the five hottest," the NOAA said, based on its data from weather stations, ship reports, and buoys.

A girl runs through water at Praterstern Square in Vienna on July 25 amid a 

blistering heat wave (AFP Photo/ALEX HALADA)

Alaska had its hottest July since it began keeping records in 2005, several countries in Europe saw their heat records smashed, and it was also the hottest month ever across Africa as a whole.

There were some regions with cooler than average temperatures including parts of Scandinavia and western and eastern Russia, where temperatures were at least 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) below average or cooler.

Average Arctic sea ice meanwhile set a record low for July, at 1.9 million square kilometers (726,000 square miles), 19.8 percent below average, and surpassing the previous historic low of July 2012.

Heat haze distorts the background during a heatwave in Tokyo on July 31 (AFP 

Photo/Kazuhiro NOGI)

Average Antarctic sea ice was 675,000 square kilometers (260,000 square miles), 4.3 percent below the 1981-2010 average, making it the smallest for July in the 41-year record.

US President Donald Trump in withdrew in 2017 from the Paris Climate Agreement, which seeks to cap global warming at below 2 C above pre-industrial levels.

But a federal climate assessment released by the NOAA in November found that climate change "is affecting the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, and human health and welfare across the US and its territories."

Related Article:

20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

Great Barrier Reef on sixth life in 30,000 years: study

Yahoo – AFP, May 28, 2018

An aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the Whitsunday Islands,
along the central coast of Queensland. Researchers say the reef has returned
from near-extinction five times in the past 30,000 years (AFP Photo/SARAH
LAI, SARAH LAI)

Paris (AFP) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef, under severe stress in a warmer, more acidic ocean, has returned from near-extinction five times in the past 30,000 years, researchers said Monday.

And while this suggests the reef may be more resilient than once thought, it has likely never faced an onslaught quite as severe as today, they added.

"I have grave concerns about the ability of the reef in its current form to survive the pace of change caused by the many current stresses and those projected into the near future," said Jody Webster of the University of Sydney, who co-authored a paper in the journal Nature Geoscience.

In the past, the reef shifted along the sea floor to deal with changes in its environment -- either seaward or landward depending on whether the level of the ocean was rising or falling, the research team found.

Based on fossil data from cores drilled into the ocean floor at 16 sites, they determined the Great Barrier Reef, or GBR for short, was able to migrate between 20 centimetres (7.9 inches) and 1.5 metres per year.

This rate may not be enough to withstand the current barrage of environmental challenges.

The reef "probably has not faced changes in SST (sea surface temperature) and acidification at such a rate," Webster told AFP. Rates of change "are likely much faster now -- and in future projections."

The World Heritage-listed site, which attracts millions of tourists, is reeling from successive bouts of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

Webster and an international team wanted to view the reef's current plight within a longer-term context.

Over 10 years, they studied how it had responded to changes caused by continental ice sheets expanding and waning over 30 millennia.

Fish nurseries

Their research covers a period from before the "Last Glacial Maximum" or LGM -- the peak freeze about 21,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.

The average sea level at the time was some 120 metres (394 feet) lower than today.

As sea levels dropped leading up to the LGM, there were two massive "death events" -- about 30,000 and 22,000 years ago, the team found.

These were caused by the reef being exposed to air. What remained of it inched seaward to rebound later.

As ice sheets melted after the LGM, two die-offs -- 17,000 and 13,000 years ago -- were due to sea level rise, the team found. In these cases, the reef moved itself landward.

The fifth death event took place about 10,000 years ago, apparently due to a massive sediment dump amidst a higher sea level.

Webster said the GBR "will probably die again in the next few thousand years anyway if it follows its past geological pattern" as Earth is believed to be due for another ice age.

"But whether human-induced climate change will hasten that death remains to be seen."

In April, a study said nearly a third of the reef's coral was killed in a "catastrophic die-off" during a violent heatwave in 2016.

Changes in sea temperature and acidity can cause corals to "bleach" -- ejecting the algae that live in their tissue and provide them with food.

Bleached corals are more susceptible to disease, and without enough time to recover, may disappear for good.

Coral reefs are home to about a quarter of ocean life, and act as nurseries for many species of fish.

Related Article:

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....The Prediction: The Renewal of the Life Cycle

When you change the temperature strata of the oceans of the earth, things start to change, for the life cycle of the food in the ocean depends upon that which is the smallest. The plankton of the planet survive in certain temperatures, and that's changing. Throw away what you think you know about how it's all supposed to work, and instead think "renewal" or "how did it begin." This will serve you to understand what is happening now. This cycle is built to replenish the ocean with life and not always by sustaining the kind that was there.

Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth.

Within this process, there will be the extinction of certain plants and animals, birds and fish. My advice to you, especially to those environmentalists, is to understand the cycle of life so that you may relax with what nature has always done. It puts life on the planet to serve the planet for a time. When certain life no longer serves the planet in the ways it used to, it takes it away. The extinction of life, especially through weather change, is normal for Gaia. It is honored, appropriate and normal, even if you don't think so. Don't try to save all the disappearing animals, fish and birds! Some are supposed to go away. And, dear ones, don't assign all this activity to something you did to cause it!

The red people are stressing. The purple is here, and they are trying to figure out what they did wrong. They don't know they are in the Rainbow Room. They think they are in the RED ROOM. This is what the Rainbow Room does; it changes colors. So as the room does what it has always done, the red people are sitting there in fear trying to figure out what it is that they did that possibly could have caused the purple to appear.

The Rainbow Room is beautiful. The color purple is significant. Going from red to purple has metaphysical significance within this parable, but I'll let you figure it out. For those who are into colors, there's a reason why I gave those two. The earth is becoming more sacred than it's ever been before. Gaia is with you in this. It's cooperating in ways you never thought it could, in the way biologists said it would not. You think you're killing it? Instead, it's giving birth to an altered ecological system. ...."

Brexit 1.0: How Britain became an island

Yahoo – AFP, Richard INGHAM, April 4, 2017

Visitors walk on the cliff-top paths above the Fan Bay Deep Shelter,
overlooking Dover, England, on July 23, 2015 (AFP Photo/LEON NEAL)

Paris (AFP) - A giant waterfall tens of kilometres (miles) wide broke down a ridge which connected modern-day England to mainland Europe nearly half a million years ago, unleashing a mega-flood that gouged out the Channel and created the island of Britain, scientists said Tuesday.

In an intricate piece of detective work, an international team of geologists said they had answered a puzzle that has gripped their profession for more than a century.

Their sleuthing focuses on an ice age some 450,000 years ago, when much of the northern hemisphere was covered by a thick glacial slab and sea levels were far lower than they are today.

The hypothetical picture of that epoch is of a Channel that was dry, cold and tundra-like.

It rose to a ridge of chalky rock that joined Britain and mainland Europe at what is now the Strait of Dover.

The scientists, writing in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that a mighty lake, fed by continental rivers, built up in the southern North Sea between the edge of the ice cap and this escarpment.

The lake started to spill over the ridge, creating a waterfall some 32 kilometres (20 miles) wide and 100 metres (330 feet) high, and disgorging into a valley far below.

The cascade eroded the crest of the dam, and eventually the wall cracked and collapsed, resulting in a tsunami that gouged out what is now the Channel.

Geological Brexit

The event had a huge impact on history, shaping early human settlement in Britain and the wars, trade, society and culture that followed.

"The breaching of this land bridge between Dover and Calais was undeniably one of the most important events in British history, helping to shape our island nation's identity even today," said Sanjeev Gupta of Imperial College London, who co-authored the paper.

"When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, flooding the valley floor for good, Britain lost its physical connection to the mainland," he said.

The geological Brexit (AFP Photo/Simon MALFATTO, Sabrina BLANCHARD)

"Without this dramatic breaching, Britain would still be part of Europe. This is Brexit 1.0 -- the Brexit nobody voted for."

The idea that a glacial lake made the Channel was first aired a century ago, but struggled to make headway.

The new study, though, finds fresh evidence to back the theory. In particular, it gives the nod to a marine geologist named Alec Smith, who in 1985 suggested the mega-flood was triggered by a waterfall -- an idea that was soon forgotten.

The big clue comes from gigantic holes discovered in the bedrock of the Channel -- strange indentations up to several kilometres across and 100 metres (yards) deep, and filled with gravel and soft sand sediment.

They were found by accident in the 1960s and 1970s, when engineers drilled test holes in the sea floor as part of exploratory work for the Channel Tunnel.

In fact, the sediment was so loose that the engineers deemed that these holes were too dangerous to tunnel, and as a result the route of the Channel Tunnel was changed.

'Plunge pools'

The scientists believe that these holes are so-called plunge pools -- chambers that are typically chiselled out in river beds beneath large waterfalls.

Eventually, the holes can become so big that they cause the waterfall cliff to become unstable and collapse.

Using new sonar scanning of the sea floor and a technique called seismic reflection, which uses pulses of energy to discern different rock formations, the team found that seven of these giant holes form a remarkable straight line, running from the ports of Calais to Dover -- the edge of the theorised ridge.

They also saw evidence of an ancient giant valley on the Channel floor, the signs of a massive outpouring.

The initial breach of the dam was followed by a second big event, possibly caused by a spillover of other, smaller lakes, the study suggests.

But the timeline of the two events remains unclear, and they possibly occurred hundreds of thousands of years apart.

Without this stroke of geological fate, Britain would have remained attached to the continent, rather like Denmark juts out into the sea from the European mainland, the scientists say.

Arctic 9-12C above normal in climate 'vicious circle'

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe Hood, November 25, 2016

Freakishly high temperatures in the Arctic have been reinforced by a "vicious
circle" of climate change (AFP Photo/Mario Hoppmann)

Paris (AFP) - Freakishly high temperatures in the Arctic driven by heat-packed oceans and northward winds have been reinforced by a "vicious circle" of climate change, scientists said Thursday.

Air above the Polar ice cap has been 9-12 degrees Celsius (16.2 to 21.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above average during the last four weeks, according the data from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), which tracks hourly changes in Arctic weather.

And during several days last week, temperatures above the North Pole were a balmy zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), a full 20C (36F) above the levels typical for mid-November, said Martin Stendel, a DMI climate researcher based in Copenhagen.

"This is by far the highest recorded" in the era of satellite data, starting in 1979, he told AFP.

"What we are observing is very unusual."

At this time of year, open Arctic ocean exposed by sea ice melted away in summer should be freezing again, with thousands of square kilometres icing over every day.

But that has not been happening, at least not at the same pace, said Stendel.

"Not only was the ice not growing as it would normally, there was further melting due to warm air coming in," he explained by phone.

Ice cover at the top of the globe shrank to its smallest area in 2016 -- some 

4.14 million sq km (1.6 million sq miles) -- on September 16 (AFP Photo)

The US National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice extent in October was the lowest on record, some 6.4 million square kilometres (2.5 million square miles).

Ice cover at the top of the globe shrank to its smallest area in 2016 -- some 4.14 million sq km (1.6 million sq miles) -- on September 16.

Several factors have caused the Arctic to overheat since late October, say scientists.

The most immediate are warm winds sweeping up from western Europe and off the west coast of Africa.

"The winds carrying this heat is a temporary -- and fairly unprecedented -- weather phenomenon," said Valerie Masson Delmotte, a scientist at the Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory in Paris.

Only since Thursday have they abated.

Mirror effect

A second contributor is the record-strong Pacific Ocean El Nino that tapered off earlier this year -- after pumping a couple tenths of a degree of added warming into the atmosphere.

But reinforcing these periodic, if powerful, drivers is the biggest one of all: global warming, experts agreed.

"The long-term decline in sea ice in the Arctic can be attributed to climate change," said Ed Blockley, lead scientist at the UK Met Office's Polar Climate Group.

Alaska has seen a years-long streak of astonishing warmth, with the

 warmest year-to-date and warmest June capping it off so far this year. 

The heat this week in interior parts of Alaska has been particularly extreme, 

with one noteworthy all-time high temperature record falling.  

Manmade climate change caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gases has already pushed up Earth's average surface temperature by 1.0 C (1.8 F) since the pre-industrial era.

It the Arctic, however, the pace of warming has been twice as fast, caused in part by a vicious circle that scientists call "positive feedback".

About 80 percent of solar radiation from the Sun bounces back into space when it falls on white snow and ice, what Delmotte called a "mirror effect".

But when those same sunrays hit deep blue sea -- far more of which is now exposed -- 80 percent of that warmth is absorbed into the water instead, and stored there.

"If you look at the extent of sea ice, then you can see the vicious circle right away, because there's a clear downward trend," said Stendel.

And in the short term, that exposed sea water is slowing the reformation of ice.

At just under zero degrees Celsius, the sea water is vastly warmer "compared to the ice that should be there", Stendel added.

Air temperatures above the thick layer if ice replaced by open sea "are generally minus 30 to minus 40 Celsius".

The loss of ice cover could have far reaching consequences.

"It amplifies global warming in general, and increases warming especially in nearby continents," Delmotte told AFP.

One of those neighbouring land masses Greenland, whose huge ice sheet -- melting rapidly -- contains enough water to lift global sea levels by several metres.

Unprecedented oil spill clean-up tests in icy Finnish conditions reveal just how

hazardous and challenging an accident in the Arctic's pristine sea ice could be

(AFP Photo/Sam Kingsley)

Related Articles:

Obama puts Arctic Ocean off limits for drilling in last-ditch barrier to Trump

Oil spill tests on ice prove Arctic quests risky

Global average temperatures soar, Arctic ice shrinks
Record-breaking 2014 was hottest in modern history: US


The Kryon Patagonia Adventure - Letter G - Perito Moreno Glacier - Mar 18-26, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll

"The Weather" - Mar 1, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

British Columbia salmon return one of largest seen in region (Sep 2013)

Pink salmon, shown in a file photograph, 

have a lifespan of two years

"Effect of the New Energy on DNA" + "One Foot in Each Energy" (3) - Aug 1-2, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

"... The Role of the Sun

As you move into this new energy, or what some have even called "radiation", you should know how it works, for it's very related to your Sun. Physically, it affects the magnetic field of the Sun (the heliosphere), which then in turn is blasted to your own magnetic field via the solar wind. That's the physics of it, but dear one, let me give you the esoterics of it. This has been the plan all along, that if you made it as a Human race past the 2012 marker, you would pass into this area of space and the magnetics would shift, allowing Human consciousness to change. Dear ones, this was always here waiting for you to pass the marker! This is why I came 26 years ago and told you the magnetics would shift. This is an evolutionary energy that is going to affect your Sun - the heliosphere of your Sun - which then will pass to the magnetic field of the earth, a field that has now been repostured for this new consciousness.

Oh, there are those intellectuals who would say, "Well, what if we had destroyed ourselves as the prophecies said we would? What if there were no Humans to receive this?" It's simple. No Humans would have been here, but the planet would have still moved into this new area of space and the same energies would have been there, but you would not have been. Simple. But indeed, here you are!

So now you can see that the prophecy from the indigenous is also being fulfilled, for they told you about the changes coming after the precession of the equinoxes (December 2012). How could they have had this prophecy about your movement into a new place around your galaxy? Think about it! These things are not new, and even the ancients told you it was coming! They may not have known the specifics of science, but their prophecy is the same one I have: New consciousness is coming.

Dear ones, I want you to continue to put together these pieces physically in what you can see. As we told you, these changes affect your Sun. The heliosphere of your Sun changes you magnetic grid. Now, for this all to work, the Sun had to be quiet for this. I want you to ask an astronomer about the Sun and the cycles of the Sun. Ask about what period of radiance the Sun is in at the moment. The astronomer will tell you that it appears to be one of the quietest cycles that the Sun has ever seen. Solar flares and sunspots are disturbances in the multidimensional field that surrounds the Sun, so these had to be gone while the new energies were starting to be implemented. For this all to work, the Sun had to be as quiet as possible, and it is. The Sun's quiet time is also affecting your weather, and we told you that, too. Due to its quietness, you're in a cycle of weather that we also predicted [a cold time coming] that also has a lot to do with the energy that's coming. That's physical. Ask an astronomer, “Are they worried about all this?” Some of them are and others are not. But it is affecting you and the planet right now. Now you know why the magnetic grid was changed when it was changed and why. That's physical. .."

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one."