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Deep-diving robots help crack the mystery of Antarctica’s vanishing sea ice
Grist ^ | 17/4/26 | Matt Simon

Posted on 04/24/2026 6:02:59 AM PDT by Eleutheria5

Deep-diving robots help crack the mystery of Antarctica’s vanishing sea ice

Something strange has been swirling in the waters around Antarctica. From the 1970s until a decade ago, the floating sea ice that radiates from the continent had been expanding, even with climate change already in full swing. Then, in 2016, it suddenly and dramatically contracted — and has yet to recover — as rising global temperatures seemed to catch up with the Southern Ocean. Far from being just a local issue, the loss of sea ice has huge implications for Antarctica’s vast ice sheet, which would drive sea levels up 190 feet if it disappeared.

Now, scientists say they’ve identified what’s behind this rise and sudden fall, thanks to an assist from deep-diving robots. It all comes down to salinity, winds, and churn. “One of the key takeaways from the study is that the ocean plays a huge role in sort of modulating how sea ice can vary from year to year, decade to decade,” said Earle Wilson, a polar oceanographer at Stanford University and lead author of a new paper describing the research.

.....

As sea ice expanded in the decades before 2016, increased precipitation made surface waters fresher, in contrast to saltier waters below, resulting in stratification. (The saltier a liquid is, the denser it becomes.) This trapped the warmth in the depths, allowing it to build up.

(Excerpt) Read more at grist.org ...


TOPICS: Humor; Local News; Science; Weather
KEYWORDS: 100percentnatural; antarctic; antarctica; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; robots; seaice

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The sky's not falling! The sky's not falling! Run for your lives!
1 posted on 04/24/2026 6:02:59 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
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To: Eleutheria5

The piece star ts right out signalling that it is BS. So many scientific sources have totally debunked the Global Warming myth that it is hare to accept that anybody for whom AGD is not a religion still believes it.


2 posted on 04/24/2026 6:09:21 AM PDT by arthurus (l| covfeve |l <?>)
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To: Eleutheria5

It’s somewhere near -40 in Antartica, they act like if temperatures rose a degree or two the ice would just disappear!


3 posted on 04/24/2026 6:09:37 AM PDT by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: fuzzylogic

But robots are cool! Robin Williams starred in a movie based on an Asimov novella about them. How cool is that!


4 posted on 04/24/2026 6:13:04 AM PDT by Eleutheria5 ("America can be summed up in one word: Asmpfutehehepfpfutehe")
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To: Eleutheria5
the floating sea ice that radiates from the continent had been expanding, even with climate change already in full swing.

That's as far as I got.

5 posted on 04/24/2026 6:19:21 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: ClearCase_guy

It gets better, like listening to Kamala when she’s already at bac 2.8%.


6 posted on 04/24/2026 6:20:22 AM PDT by Eleutheria5 ("America can be summed up in one word: Asmpfutehehepfpfutehe")
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To: Eleutheria5
"...the ocean plays a huge role in sort of modulating how sea ice can vary from year to year, decade to decade..."

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

Who knew that the ocean played a role in melting sea ice??? Who could ever have conceived of such an unexpected thing???

Next thing, they will tell us something outlandish about solar activity having something to do with changes in global temperatures! What a brave new world of wonder!

(Yes. If you detect sarcasm, you are not mistaken as I am laying it on rather heavily.)

7 posted on 04/24/2026 6:47:28 AM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est)
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To: arthurus

“Global Warming myth that it is hare to accept that anybody for whom AGD is not a religion still believes it.”

Global Warming is real, it’s been happening for thousands of years, with a little setback during the younger dryas 12 thousand years ago. AGD, is a religion, and I agree with you 100%. Man didn’t change the climate, it does that all on it’s own.


8 posted on 04/24/2026 6:49:45 AM PDT by Pete Dovgan
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To: rlmorel

Not only that, but the earth’s rotational axis fluctuates minutely from time to time! GASP! And...and—DARE I SAY IT—sometimes the geological magnetic polarization fluctuates globally and/or LOCALLY!

Also, cows are physically incapable of farting.


9 posted on 04/24/2026 6:51:51 AM PDT by Eleutheria5 ("America can be summed up in one word: Asmpfutehehepfpfutehe")
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To: Eleutheria5
"...It gets better, like listening to Kamala when she’s already at bac 2.8%..."

Comedy doesn't get any better than that!

Dan Bongino thinks she is really prepping for a Presidential run, and I thought how disconnected from reality that brainless bimbo has to be. Talk about being hermitically sealed inside your own bubble, not being able to read the sign on your own back, and nobody around you dares tell you that you haven't any clothes...

It is actually a little frightening that someone who appears to be so unaware came as close as she did to having access to the Oval Office. (By "close", I mean appearing on the ballot)

10 posted on 04/24/2026 6:56:56 AM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est)
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To: rlmorel

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YHScO3gZNBo


11 posted on 04/24/2026 7:01:55 AM PDT by Eleutheria5 ("America can be summed up in one word: Asmpfutehehepfpfutehe")
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To: Eleutheria5

That is frikking brilliantly funny! I was grinning all the way through it!!!!!

Thank you-what a great way to put a smile on my face early in the day!


12 posted on 04/24/2026 7:10:28 AM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est)
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To: Eleutheria5
Hahahahaha! And, again-thanks to Free Republic...I now know something about Cows that I never knew:
LINK TO FR THREAD: Recent test reveals that a cow is actually more aerodynamic than a jeep wrangler
13 posted on 04/24/2026 7:18:27 AM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est)
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To: Eleutheria5

Another:
https://sustainability.stanford.edu/news/study-explains-antarctic-sea-ice-growth-and-sudden-decline


14 posted on 04/24/2026 7:19:37 AM PDT by sasquatch (Do NOT forget Ashli Babbit! c/o piytar)
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To: Eleutheria5
Not sure I understand this.

The shore line of Antarctica closest to the South American continent has about 15-20 under sea volcanoes or magma vents.

15 posted on 04/24/2026 7:20:06 AM PDT by zeestephen (Trump Landslide? Kamala lost the election by 230,000 votes, in WI, MI, and PA.)
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To: Eleutheria5

Hmmm...

2026 - 1970 = 56 years

Age of Earth = 4.54 billion years

Sample size = 56 / 4,540,000,000 = 0.000000012334


16 posted on 04/24/2026 7:28:40 AM PDT by Fitzy_888 ("ownership society")
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To: rlmorel
Re: "By close - I mean appearing on the ballot."

Actually, Kamala lost the election by 230,000 votes, in WI, MI, and PA.

17 posted on 04/24/2026 7:30:31 AM PDT by zeestephen (Trump Landslide? Kamala lost the election by 230,000 votes, in WI, MI, and PA.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

LOL, climate change is always in “full swing.”


18 posted on 04/24/2026 7:31:26 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: Eleutheria5

4.76 years? And if the Atlantic current grinds to a halt......😵


19 posted on 04/24/2026 7:35:55 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? On hold! Enlisted USN 1967 proudly. 🚫💉! 🇮🇱🙏! Winning currently!)
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To: zeestephen

That would explain the accumulated heat.


20 posted on 04/24/2026 7:38:18 AM PDT by Eleutheria5 ("America can be summed up in one word: Asmpfutehehepfpfutehe")
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