In the 1970's a Nimbus satellite first revealed a giant hole in the sea ice around Antarctica, which appeared every winter for three years.
Only to disappear and not be seen again since.
Now some Canadian scientists have figured out why, and the implications couldn't be more ominous.
According to the research, increased precipitation in the Southern Ocean and the melting of glaciers on Antarctica as a result of climate change has flooded the ocean with massive amounts of freshwater, preventing the warm water underneath from rising to the top.
“Deep ocean waters only mix directly to the surface in a few small regions of the global ocean,” lead author Casimir de Lavergne said in a statement. “So this has effectively shut one of the main conduits for deep ocean heat to escape.”
Because it not only shows how climate change is affecting the oceans, and could affect the creatures that live in it.
“Just like fish in a fish tank that rely on an aerator, deep sea fish need oxygen to be supplied from the air above,” he said. “It will take many decades for the oxygen to get used up, but eventually it will make it hard for the deep sea fish to breathe.”
It also shows how the oceans could be masking the extent of the problem...
Galbraith says it’s unlikely the polynya will ever reappear, but if it does, nearly 40-years’ worth of heat and carbon dioxide will be released from the depths of the ocean.
Until the day they don't.
Which should for any sane human be yet another warning about the mortal threat of climate change. But when you read the comments about this story you see that the climate change deniers are still out there, and STILL as crazy as ever.
We thought it was rare, but it's gone now so we know that it is common and being destroyed by climate change. More ridiculous green babble.
It is hard to do anything about a natural occurring event, monitoring it is about the only thing that we can do. Try not to listen to those that rely on false scientific information, that say it is man made. I have to feel sorry for the uneducated of this world.
And when I read those deranged comments at first I despair. Because trying to explain things like the polar vortex to a climate change denier, is like trying to explain Einstein's theory to your dog. Or a cabbage.
They just don't get it eh?
Even though the polar vortex is also very real. It's responsible for the longest stretch of bitterly cold weather many people in North America have ever experienced...
You know, the Winter from Hell.
Environment Canada released its seasonal forecast for spring on the weekend and said that relief from the frigid cold winter temperatures is still a ways off. The extended forecast, which is released four times a year, calls for temperatures in Ottawa, as well as much of Eastern Canada, to continue to be well below seasonal norms for the next few months.
The one that has the freezing people of the East praying for themselves AND the poor people of Saskatchewan.
And that's when I get angry.
Because those kooky deniers can't see climate change even when it hits them in the face with an icy blast of arctic air...
And they can't see the suffering it's causing to so many animals, including the ones living in this now frozen bay.
Like the swans I told you about last week who have now been reduced to swimming around in holes in the ice as small as this one...
They've been scraping algae off the side of the pier, but there can't be much left.
And although I've been doing my best to feed them, with apples and spinach, and a special bird seed I bought at a pet shop, I don't know how much longer they can last.
For out on the ice even the hardy ducks are starting to die...
And it all reminds me how much I love the amazing creatures who share this world with us, how much I hate climate change deniers, and how much I want them all to pay for their crimes against the planet.
As sooner or later they will.
Starting with this deranged denier...
Who is leading us all to catastrophe in the name of short term greed and Big Oil.
I could say so much about his criminal behaviour, and as you know I do.
But tonight it's going to feel like -30 degrees out there again.
So all I can think about are those poor proud swans, milling around in that shrinking hole with all those other birds in the freezing darkness.
Unable to understand what is happening to them...
And I can't even begin to express how helpless and sad I feel.
But I do know this. All those climate change deniers will one day PAY for what they have done.
Pay for their crimes against this beautiful Planet and all the living things that call it home.
For the day of reckoning is coming. For those kooks or cuckoos there will be no mercy.
And like their criminal leaders they will end up where they belong...
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Your blog post brought me to tears, because I fully understand the helplessness and anger you're feeling when you look at those birds, whose suffering has been brought about by our own foolishness, selfishness, and disconnection from the natural world. Two summers ago, we experienced one of the worst droughts on record in Grey County, Ontario, where my farm is. The drought followed an unprecedented March heatwave and subsequent freeze. Altogether, these unnatural weather phenomena resulted in there being almost no spring blossoms or summer fruit and berries on the wild trees and shrubs, and a vastly reduced wild flora. The birds had so few provisions right when they needed the most food, during mating and nesting seasons. The bees and butterflies had so little nectar. I watched wild trees and shrubs dying on my property by late summer. That drought continues to diminish the long-term health of even mature trees throughout Southwestern Ontario. A couple of years ago, the Ontario environmental commissioner, Gord Miller, warned that climate change could wipe out Ontario's iconic sugar maple forests by sometime this century. Experiencing that year of drought, I started to understand how quickly this could happen. Almost right before our eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe whole time this was happening, the news reports talked about how glorious and sunny the weather was. We went about six weeks, right through the hottest part of the summer, without any rain. People were thrilled! The only thing negative I saw on the news was a report about diminished corn crops. I was so angry. Corn crops! We're worried about that, and enjoying our beach days, while the birds and every other wild creature were suffering and dying. I felt as though we was being given a glimpse of the beginning of the end of nature as we've known it, and no one cared.
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ontario-could-lose-its-maple-trees-watchdog-warns-1.1148162)
hi anon...I'm sorry I made you sad, but if you love animals how else can we feel? The climate change debate always focuses on US and forgets all the other living things that make this world so marvellous. I love those swans. I help protect their nests on the island in the late Spring, and I was so upset that after helping to plant milkweed for the Monarch butterflies, almost none of them visited last summer. The latest victims of climate change and human greed. You're stories are too true and tragic. We are witnessing the end of the world as we know it. But what I take from that is that we must form a mighty movement and take our country and our planet back...
DeleteI agree, Simon. Don't be sorry you made anyone sad. We NEED people to understand how sad and horrifying all this is, to motivate people to get active on this issue. Keep up the great work on your blog. I'm REALLY enjoying it.
DeleteBrings me close to tears too.
ReplyDeletehi anon...I'm sorry about that, but let's turn our tears into anger, and use it to motivate us to change the world. I went by the ice hole this evening and it was completely frozen over, and all the birds had gone. I only hope they found some other place. To make matters worse, I have a pet swan somewhere out there, so you can imagine how I feel. The end of this hideous polar vortex can't come soon enough...
DeletePull your head out of your ice hole. Animals die every day of every year since the beginning of time. They are not smart enough to knit sweaters. They get caught in adverse weather conditions and they DIE! Is it sad? yes. Is it man's fault? no.
ReplyDeleteglobal warming / climate change is a fabrication devised to transfer money...period.
And you all bought it, hook, line and sinker. Pathetic.