Pink Octopus Arm (Micro Discovery/Getty Images) Posted on 06/16/2023 9:12:27 AM PDT by Red Badger
Pink Octopus Arm (Micro Discovery/Getty Images)
Ocean bays that pinch West Antarctica are home to two distinct populations of Turquet's octopus (Pareledone turqueti). The shared secrets of their ancestors do not bode well for the future health of our planet.
A recent DNA analysis of the two geographically separated octopus populations, published earlier this year ahead of peer review, indicates they were once part of one big family.
This "direct historical connection" suggests that around 125,000 years ago, the massive 2.2 million cubic kilometer (530,000 cubic mile) West Antarctic ice sheet that separates the two bays had fully collapsed into the sea.
West Antarctica Octopuses
The two populations of Turquet's octopus in the Weddell and Ross Sea. (Sally Lau/Twitter)
Scientists who sequenced the genomes of octopus populations in both the Weddell and Ross Seas found evidence of ancestral gene flow between the two populations roughly 70,000 years ago, suggesting that "an ancient seaway was likely once opened across the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which directly linked the present day Weddell Sea and Ross Sea".
"This could only be facilitated by a complete West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse during an interglacial period, which we infer to have occurred approximately between 68 and 265 [thousand years go]," they write.
If it happened then, it could very well happen again, especially since global temperatures are reaching a similar threshold today.
At the moment, scientists don't really know whether West Antarctica is at risk of fully collapsing due to the climate crisis. It's one of the major uncertainties left to solve in climate models.
While some experts warned of disaster in the region as far back as 50 years ago, other climate models made just 10 years ago predicted no significant ice loss in Antarctica within the century.
How wrong that turned out to be.
Today, West Antarctica is discharging melting icebergs the size of major metropolises much faster than the rest of the continent.
One of its glaciers is known as the 'Doomsday Glacier' because if it collapses, it could cause 65 centimeters of sea level rise all on its own. Climate scientists recently warned the glacier was holding on "by its fingernails".
So how long will the region continue to dangle on a cliff's edge?
Of course, the past collapse was due to a natural cycle in Earth's climate. It was not caused by rapid global warming, triggered by human fossil fuel emissions during what should be a planetary cold spell, as it is today.
If the entire West Antarctic ice sheet collapses from human-induced global warming, forming an archipelago in the southern ocean, the resulting environmental catastrophe is hard to fathom.
Scientists predict sea levels could rise by 3.3 to 5 meters (11 to 17 feet) around the world, overturning water circulation in oceans globally and drastically reshaping the coastlines of continents.
"Currently, future West Antarctic ice sheet collapse on centennial timescales is considered as a low likelihood process," researchers of the octopus paper write.
Yet even the most optimistic future models predict air temperatures will reach 1.2 to 1.7 °C by 2100, and as the authors point out, that is "potentially within the tipping point of future West Antarctic ice sheet collapse".
Currently, over half the ice shelves holding up the Antarctic ice sheet are on the brink of caving in, and if they crumble, it could possibly lead to irreversible losses.
If Turquet's octopuses in the southern ocean are ever reunited with their long-lost family members, it will mean our planet has entered truly troubled waters.
The study was published in bioRxiv.
Antarctica is discharging icebergs because of the increased snowfall and weighty ice accumulation is pushing the glacier to the sea where it breaks up into icebergs. It is a phenomenon of Antarctic cooling. The article is crap.
The difference between “Calamari” and “squid” is the price.
For some reason I never thought of Octopus as a cold-water critter.
The damage will be caused by the sudden collapse although it would be short lived. You would get tsunami waves radiating out from the place where the ice sheet collapsed. It would float back up again but for a minute or two it would make quite a mess.
That’ll have to do. :)
Ice is less dense water. When it melts, it becomes MORE DENSE and takes up LESS SPACE.
Ice is less dense water. The West Antarctic ice sheet is already in the water. When it melts, the frozen water becomes MORE DENSE and takes up LESS SPACE. MELTING SEA ICE WILL NOT CAUSE THE WATER LEVEL TO RISE.
At the moment, scientists don’t really know whether West Antarctica is at risk of fully collapsing due to the climate crisis.
These folks are smoking crack. If it happened 70,000 - 125,000 years ago, it wasn’t a “climate crisis” then, and it’s not one now. It’s what it is, climate change - 100% natural, normal, climate change.
Of course, the past collapse was due to a natural cycle in Earth’s climate. It was not caused by rapid global warming, triggered by human fossil fuel emissions during what should be a planetary cold spell, as it is today.
No it’s not today. It’s the same exact thing. Was anyone around to see if it was “rapid global warming” then? Or if it was slow global warming?
If Turquet’s octopuses in the southern ocean are ever reunited with their long-lost family members, it will mean our planet has entered truly troubled waters.
Were they troubled waters the first time they hooked up? NO.
Did anybody Common sense check these claims?
1 iceberg event Even if it covered all of western Antarctica Is not going to provide the surface area To cover all the oceans In nearly 2’ of additional water. Set an alarmist claim Is just plain stupid.
How long do we let these idiots get away with this crap?
“The Scientific Community” is losing much of its credibility.
Super funny!!
Glaciers – large sheets of ice and snow – exist on land all year long. They are found in the mountains of every continent except Australia. Greenland and Antarctica contain giant ice sheets that are also considered glaciers. As temperatures rise, glaciers melt faster than they accumulate new snow. As these ice sheets and glaciers melt, the water eventually runs into the ocean, causing sea level to rise.
Icebergs and frozen seawater also melt in warm temperatures but are not significant contributors to sea level rise. This is because they are already in the water. The volume of water they displace as ice is about the same as the volume of water they add to the ocean when they melt. As a result, sea level does not rise when sea ice melts.
While density differences between salt water and freshwater result in a difference between the volume of salty sea water being displaced by sea ice and the freshwater that would result from the melting of that sea ice, it is minimal.But for the record (and I hope for a warmer climate were I am)
NOAA’s 2022 Sea Level Rise Technical Report suggests that sea levels could rise as much as seven feet by 2050 unless more is done to curb future emissions
These groups are pretty free with their use of words such as "could", "might", "maybe".
That's quite an astounding claim considering the planet is 69% ocean and only 21% land mass and 20% of that land mass is desert.
They never say where exactly all that water is going to come from.
If they think it's going to come from the melting of the Antarctic, consider that the Antarctic only covers 2.75% of the planet's land mass and that the annual average temperature is -47F degrees. That means that there has to be a sustained increase of 79F degrees just to start the melting process.
As far as the Arctic being a source of water for the rise in the oceans, it's already a floating giant ice cube so any melt will have no effect on ocean water levels........
I realize that I'm not an educated climate scientist but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night......
NOAA's short term climate prediction record is quite abysmal,
I enjoy Marinara Sauce over octopus................
Not sure if they are Continentals or Michelins. Most likely Pirellis............
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