20-Oct-2018: Disturbing global warming trends
When we think of the world’s polar regions, only two usually spring to mind – the North and South. However, there is a region to the south of China and the north of India that is known as the “Third Pole”. That’s because it is the third largest area of frozen water on the planet. Although much smaller than its north and south counterparts, it is still enormous, covering 100,000 square kilometres with some 46,000 glaciers.
Scientists conducting research in the area have warned of disturbing global warming trends, and how, if they continue could affect the lives of 1.3 billion people. What happens to ice in the polar regions is taken as clear evidence of climate change. When the ice melts, we know that the planet is warming up.
The Earth’s north and south extremities are crucial for regulating the climate, and at the same time are particularly sensitive to global warming. The Third Pole, because it is high above sea level, is also sensitive to changes in temperatures.
It also powers life for many thousands of miles. It is estimated that the water that flows from the Third Pole supports 120 million people directly through irrigation systems, and a total of 1.3 billion indirectly through river basins in China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. That’s nearly one fifth of the world’s population.
It is remote – the region encompasses the Himalaya-Hindu Kush mountain ranges and the Tibetan Plateau – but 10 of Asia’s largest rivers begin here, including the Yellow river and Yangtze river in China, the Irrawaddy river in Myanmar, the Ganges, which flows through India and Bangladesh, and the trans-boundary Mekong river.
Scientists have been gathering data from this remote area for over 50 years, and recent findings are disturbing. Among them, the fact that temperatures there have increased by 1.5 degrees – more than double the global average.
Since 2005, the rate at which the Third Pole’s glaciers are melting has almost doubled. Research has also found that more than 500 small glaciers have disappeared altogether and the biggest ones are shrinking rapidly.
But global warming is not the only reason that the team found for the melting ice. Dust and pollution from car exhausts and coal burners is settling on the ice, causing it to absorb the rays of the sun, rather than reflect them away.
Studying this area is difficult – scientists are hampered by harsh weather conditions and political instability – but it is crucial for understanding the impact of global warming as a whole.
The Third Pole Environment (TPE) is an international research program that launched in 2009 and focuses on the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain ranges.
Scientists who gathered at the most recent TPE Workshop heard how the most pressing issue was: “The continuity of…freshwater (both in terms of quantity and quality) in the future is the main concern.”
The effects will be felt much further than the area immediately surrounding the Third Pole. The continuous glacier melting will be catastrophic for the 1.3 billion people who depend on its water.
While initially more water is expected to pour into river basins, causing flooding, eventually that will dry up, resulting in drought and desertification. In the end, only a reduction in black soot emissions, in addition to a reduction in greenhouse gases, will prevent the glaciers in this region from disappearing further.
12-Oct-2018: Mount Etna is sliding into the sea
Sicily’s Mount Etna is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, but scientists say eruptions aren’t the only major threat posed by this smoldering peak. A new study shows that Etna is slowly sliding toward the sea, raising the prospect that it may suddenly collapse and trigger a massive tsunami that could devastate the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Etna is a big and heavy volcano, so gravity is pulling it down. It can spread more easily towards the sea as there is nothing to 'stop' it. The volcano’s slow subsidence has been known since the 1990s. Scientists used a network of underwater sensors along the volcano’s southeastern flank to get a detailed look at its movement.
Etna typically moves about 2 to 3 centimeters (about 1 inch) per year. The sensors showed that Etna’s creeping motion occasionally speeds up for weeks or months at a time as molten rock (magma) builds up underground before spewing out in an eruption; in 2017, the sensors detected a slip of 4 centimeters (about 2 inches) over eight days, without an associated eruption.
The sensors also detected motion in parts of the volcano’s flank that lie underwater, far from the heart of Etna’s volcanic activity — an unexpected finding that suggests that magma alone can’t account for the continuing slide.
From the geological record, collapses are common in the life cycle of volcanoes. But it is important to keep in mind that we are talking about geologic time scales here — Etna is 500,000 years old. But other volcanoes have shown just how catastrophic sudden collapses can be.
On May 18, 1980, the northern flank of Mount St. Helens, a volcano in Washington State, collapsed after a 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck the area. The resulting eruption and landslide caused what the U.S. Geological Survey called the “largest debris avalanche on Earth in recorded history.” It killed 57 people and caused $1.1 billion in damage.
9-Aug-2018: New mineral discovered in eastern Russia.
Russian gold hunters discovered a meteorite composed of a new mineral yet to be documented. The mineral was found in the Uakit meteorite, which was named for the tiny town in eastern Russia where it was found. There are over 4,000 documented minerals found both on Earth and in space. The mineral Uakitite can be added to that list, a mineral never found before on Earth and born under extreme temperatures in space.
The Uakit iron meteorite was found in 2016 and found to primarily be composed of Kamacite, a nickel-rich variety of iron found in meteorites. Researchers examined the meteorite and found trace amounts of a mineral we have yet to find and presented their findings at the Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Moscow.
While 98 percent of the meteorite is composed of Kamacite, very trace amounts contain the mineral Uakitite. The mineral formed under extremely high temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius from the separation of an iron and chromium-rich sulfide liquid from the bulk iron-rich metal. The team found only extremely small fragments of Uakitite, approximately 5 micrometers across and less than a third the thickness of a piece of hair.
Given the extremely small sample, geologists weren't able to fully characterize the physical properties of Uakitite. While some websites claim the newly discovered mineral is harder than diamond, the research team confirmed this is not true. Uakitite lies between 9 and 10 on the Mohs hardness scale while diamond sits at 10, the hardest mineral on Earth.