Phys. When I first went to Rothera, we used to get drinking water in the summer from a melt pool that formed on a patch of ice nearby. Cold, dark and alive! WebBut in the early 1980s, through a combination of ground-based and satellite measurements, scientists began to realize that Earths natural sunscreen was thinning dramatically over the South Pole each spring. "We're really talking about a water system that is connected to the whole Earth system. Will this ever be confirmed, given the iron grip on exploration now exercised by governments? Thank you for visiting nature.com. Next month, its back to the 1870s and the starring role of the gorilla in the quest to understand mans place in nature. Something went wrong, please try again later. He allegedly made the bizarre sightings between 1983 and 1997 when he was stationed with the Antarctic Development Squadron. The researchers think the cyclones winds pushed the ice outward from its center, creating a hole that would continue to expand over the days to come. The Montreal Protocol signed today aims at stopping the deterioration of the ozone layer in the atmosphere thats the layer which shields us from damaging ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. There are also indications other animals may be fixed to the boulder, such as tube worms, stalked barnacles, or hydroids, which are related to jellyfish. Over time, these lakes experienced major change. "As more heat and water get under the glacier, it melts faster.". The Ross Ice Shelf is considered more stable, at present, than many of West Antarcticas other floating shelvesand this observation could help explain that: if a few inches of sea water periodically freezes onto the bottom of its ice, this could buffer it from thinning more rapidly. The 2021 Antarctic ozone hole reached its maximum area on Oct. 7 and ranks 13th largest since 1979. Scientists say the glacier is responsible for about four percent of global sea level rise. Cline Heuz, a physical oceanographer at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, told Earther in a phone interview that other recent research has shown 2017 to be quite an intense year in the Southern Ocean with respect to storm activity. While Heuz said that the new studys findings make sense, shes keen to learn more about the role that the ocean plays, which is why she recently had a student trek out and deploy an autonomous profiler to measure temperature and salinity in the Maud Rise area. In the interviews he made shocking claims about top-secret contact between humans and aliens. Multiple rounds went into the front bedroom. "[The size of] a cavity under a glacier plays an important role in melting," said Pietro Milillo of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Many are military veterans. Already, researchers are finding the links between the under-ice lakes and the ocean: In January, a study co-authored by Fricker found that the drainage of one lake on the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica flushed as much as 198 billion gallons (750 billion liters) into the ocean in only three days, Live Science reported at the time. I am the historian at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A NASA satellite image in August 2016 drew public attention to a 33,000-square-kilometer (13,000-square-mile) gap that appeared for three weeks. So, basically, it was more than an order of magnitude greater than we expected. The Montreal Protocol, as its initially written, was a 50% reduction in production of chlorofluorocarbons it was not a ban. The former US Naval officer said he was on duty when he came across the mystery structure buried into the ice. Nature Geosci. It means that 41% of its There is a great deal of variation in the density of stratospheric ozone it varies by season, it varies by latitude so there were claims of depletion but they werent widely accepted yet. Forrestal and Byrd got into hot water by thumbing their noses at the authorities who demanded absolute silence. At the Mercer and Whillans boundary, the researchers found two new lakes, which they dubbed the Lower Conway Subglacial Lake and the Lower Mercer Subglacial Lake. US Navy pilot tells of an Ancient Alien City found in Antarctica. "This did not make any sense to any of us on the crew because on two different occasions we had to fly over this area. The Southern Ocean is thought to play a key role in global ocean currents and carbon cycles, but its behavior is poorly understood. Nature, international weekly journal of science. In an email to Mrs Howe, 75, he said: "Another unique issue with South Pole station is that our aircraft was not allowed to fly over a certain area designated five miles from the station. And this is worth exploring, Holland said, because the polynyas delivery of ocean heat to the surface, followed by the sinking of that water as it becomes cooler and denser, plays an important role in global ocean circulation. We may earn a commission from links on this page. According to their claims, polar explorer Richard E. Byrd and co-pilot Floyd Bennett fly over the North Pole on this day in the Josephine Ford, a triple-engine Fokker Thompson, D. W. J. et al. (See what would happen if all the worlds ice melted.). Police said someone opened fire on the crash pad just after midnight. 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Explore a billion-year-old volcanic mystery on Lake Superior, A journey of the senses through Abu Dhabi. NASA Worldview/NASA Blue Marble. In January 2015, UFO researcher Linda Moulton-Howe (editor of the earthfiles.com website) They focused on three areas with good satellite coverage and known active lakes: the boundary between the Mercer and Whillans ice streams in West Antarctica; the lower MacAyeal Ice Stream, also in West Antarctica; and the upper Academy Glacier in East Antarctica. This certainly had more of a military signature rather than an innocent exploration. Their data showed that, after about 20 years of fairly steady values, ozone levels began dropping in the austral spring months around the late 1970s (Fig. A UFO whistleblower claims he saw the entrance to a top secret alien base hidden deep in the Antarctic. In 1964, Dr. Raymond W. Bernard, was a leader of the Rosicrucians, who are members of a worldwide cabal, especially the Ancient Mystic Order, Rosae Crucis and the Rosicrucian Order, focused his research on old magical, philosophical, and religious teachings, concerned with the application of these doctrines to modern life. What is wind chill, and how does it affect your body? Bats and agaves make tequila possibleand theyre both at risk. Muller, R.) Ch. What was precisely discovered has always been shrouded in mystery, but it may have been astonishing. And, of course, there was nothing there. Satellite images from Aug. 30, 2017 through Dec. 2, 2017 show the rarely-seen opening in the late Southern Hemisphere winter sea ice. Google Scholar. It has been said that when he returned, he reported exactly what took place during this exploration. But the question of how these animals get food will have to wait until another scientific expedition can visit the spot, perhaps equipped with a remotely operated underwater vehicle that can recover samples of the animals. The biggest known polynyas at that location were in 1974, 1975 and 1976, just after the first satellites were launched, when an area the size of New Zealand remained ice-free through three consecutive Antarctic winters despite air temperatures far below freezing. 96, 320325 (1970). / CBS News. One way that a surface polynya matters for the climate is for the deepest water in the oceans, known as Antarctic Bottom Water. Video shows discovery of sea-sponges living nearly half a mile beneath Antarctica ice. Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? These hidden gems of frigid water are part of a vast network of ever-changing lakes hidden beneath 1.2 to 2.5 miles (2 to 4 kilometers) of ice on the southernmost continent. 2. Google Scholar. Analysis shows that when the surface ocean is especially salty, as seen throughout 2016, strong winter storms can set off an overturning circulation. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. FedEx employs more than 5,500 of the worlds most experienced pilots. The geologists were more than 150 miles from the open ocean when they bored a hole through the 3,000-foot-thick ice with a hot-water drill and lowered a coring device and a video camera into the dark seawater below it. "The only thing we saw going over this camp was a very large hole going into the ice. 92, 83298338 (1987). The site of the polynyadirectly above an enormous undersea mountain known as the Maud Risemade it especially intriguing, as similar giant polynyas had been spotted in the same location in satellite imagery from the 1970s. Admiral Richard E. Byrd Encounter With A Lost Civilization in Antarctica On February 19, 1947, Admiral Richard E. Byrd left Base Camp Arctic and flew northward. What happened on that flight? For years rumors have persisted that on his historic flight to the North Pole, Admiral Byrd flew beyond the Pole into an opening leading inside the Earth. After drilling out the borehole, the scientists lowered a sediment corer and an attached video camera through the ice shelf. Researchers say a massive cavity the size of two-thirds of Manhattan was found under a glacier in Antarctica. The hole was, in a word, enormous, and it prompted a raft of speculation as to what could have caused it. Molina, M. J. At 12:10 a.m. Tuesday, one pilots crash pad became a crime scene. It is not clear to me to this day who coined the term ozone hole and when and where it was done. 2023 University of Washington | Seattle, WA, Mysterious holes in Antarctic sea ice explained by years of robotic data, Dan Costa/University of California, Santa Cruz, Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling, Human-wildlife conflicts rising worldwide with climate change, Newly discovered form of salty ice could exist on surface of extraterrestrial moons, UW computer scientist and mathematician named Sloan Fellows. Internet Explorer). She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthlymagazine of the American Psychological Association. Scherer, a micro-paleontologist now at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, found this subglacial mud chockablock full of microscopic diatom shellsbeautiful glassy objects, reminiscent of fine vases. Can we bring a species back from the brink? The geologists used hot-water equipment to drill the borehole through more than half a mile of the ice shelf, on the southern edge of Antarctica's Weddell Sea. Farman, J. C., Gardner, B. G. & Shanklin, J. D. Nature 315, 207210 (1985). Mysterious Land Beyond the Poles The True Origin of the Flying Saucers. Chem., 2011). So, when the Goddard folks mapped all these flags of potentially bad data, they were all over the Antarctic, exactly where the British Antarctic Survey said it should be. Majestic Twelve (MJ 12) was originally conceived by a man named Jesse Marcel, who had been involved with the first Roswell UFO event.Majestic Twelve (MJ 12) was the alleged code label of a secret committee of experts, military top leaders, and government authorities, supposedly developed in 1947 by an executive order of the then US president, Harry S. Truman. He allegedly made the bizarre sightings between 1983 and 1997 when he was stationed with the Antarctic Development Squadron. The fluorocarbon-ozone theory was a theory. Conspiracy theorist and journalist Linda Moulton Howe interviewed the whistleblower, named only as Brian, in a series of fascinating YouTube videos. He went on to become the single greatest polar explorer of the century, a feat recognized by the American government when they awarded him the, Admiral Richard Byrd referred to Antarctica as, Id like to see that land past the North Pole, it is the Center of the Great Unknown., A legend among those in the know was that Adolph Hitler did not die due to a suicide in 1945, but fled to Argentina, to an SS base carved under the ice in New Swabia during the very early 1950s, where he resumed his passion as a painter. Did you encounter any technical issues? It seems to not only be melting on the ocean edges, but also from underneath, and warmer ocean waters are infiltrating. All of a sudden, you look at it differently wow, we really can affect the planet as a whole. The ban actually took a number of more years to negotiate and became possible as more evidence that chlorofluorocarbons were actually responsible for the ozone hole was developed by the scientific research that was going on.