Making Snowstorms in Antarctica
It is predicted that with global warming, sea levels around the world could rise by as much as 10 feet (3 m). The result would be that many coastal cities, like New York and Tokyo, would be below sea level.
Scientists believe the time is now for nations to come up with solutions to avoid future natural disasters.
Warmer coastal water is now melting the underside of the coastal ice sheet on the Western side of Antarctica. The knock-on effect is bringing both the disintegration of the bedrock below and speeding the melting of glaciers in the area. These contribute to rising sea levels.
A group of scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany have formulated a theory to solve the problem. Their idea is to create snow, lots of snow! They would pump up water from the ocean, desalinate it (that means take out the salt) and then change it to snow and use wind turbines to blow it onto the shore. The result would be to stabilize the ice sheet and prevent it from melting.
Their computer models calculate this enormous geoengineering endeavor would need trillions of tons of snow, 12,000 wind turbines to blow it in place and about 10 years to complete.
It is just an idea, but it also reveals the seriousness of the problem and the need for solutions for the future.
Diver Swims with a Life-Sized Jellyfish
When we come across stories such as the jellyfish as large as a person, we often ponder if it’s true or not. Images can be manipulated to make something look larger than it is or even changed on a computer.
So, this story had us thinking. We try to check stories to see if they can be confirmed by three separate sources (not Wikipedia by the way). This will usually show whether or not it can be confirmed as true.
Sources for this story are Snopes.com (a fact-checking site), LiveScience.com and Smithsonian.com. All are serious sites that confirmed the story is true.
You might try checking three reputable sources if you think a story might be fake.
Lizzie Daly is an ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society in the United Kingdom. She is a trained biologist and, along with her cameraman Dan Abbott, was exploring the coastal water off Cornwall in England for a TV series.
Like a ghost in the murky water, a 5-foot-long barrel jellyfish appeared. The pair spent the next hour swimming alongside. Neither had ever encountered a jellyfish this large before. In fact, few people can say they have had this experience, although marine biologists will tell you the Lion’s Mane jellyfish can grow to as much as 120 feet long.