Ripples In A Teacup

  Scientists using ice-breaking ships and underwater robotshave found the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is melting at an acceleratingrate and could be on an irreversible path to collapse, spelling catastrophe forglobal sea level rise. A six-year investigation into the vast Thwaites glacier in Antarctica has concluded with a grim outlook on its future. Often dubbed the “doomsday glacier”, this huge mass of ice is comparable in size to Britain or Florida and its collapse alone would raise sea levels by 65 centimetres. Worse still, this is expected to trigger a more widespread loss of the ice sheet covering West Antarctica, causing a calamitous sea level rise of 3.3 metres and threatening cities like New York, Kolkata and Shanghai. Though the glacier is in anextremely remote and difficult area, the International Thwaites GlacierCollaboration (ITGC), a joint UK-US research programme, has deployed 100scientists there over the past six years, using planes, ships and underwaterrobots...

I just finished the first term of my last year at school. As usual, we had a set of exams before a short break kicked in. I had drastically cut down on my news reading for the last three weeks and couldn’t wait to catch up as soon I got home yesterday after my physics exam. Horrible news from Sweden , a country which I visited once when I was three (I don’t remember a thing) and which I hope to re-visit one day. Apparently Sweden plans to cull 20% of its brown bear population. Licenses have been issued to kill 486 bears. We are told that culling is necessary for sustaining the rest of the bear population and at some level, it does make sense. However, I am very sad to hear this news. The summer of 2024 has been the warmest ever in the Northern Hemisphere, the EU Climate Change monitor has said. This is yet another portent of the disaster we are walking into. In India, thanks to climate change, monsoons have become extremely unpredictable. This year, monsoon rains have continued ...