1. photo of Ilulissat Icebergs, Disko Bay, Greenland (Flickr/CC photo by kaet44)
Every year, 20 billion tonnes of icebergs calve off the Jakobshavn Isbræ glacier and pass through the Ilulissat Icefjord.
2. Understanding deep ocean circulation and climate modeling
If you follow the latitude lines from much of Europe westward across the Atlantic, you tend to run into Canada. Even if you go to the southern tip of Spain, you’re not much further south than the Virginias. Canada, of course, has a reputation for being rather frozen and inhospitable, while Europe goes to pieces if it snows for more than an hour or two. The difference is mainly due to ocean currents.
At the north edge of the Atlantic Ocean, warm surface water cools off and sinks, drawing in more warm surface water from the south, generating a warm surface current along Europe’s Atlantic coast. Portions of this current comes in from the tropics near Africa and South America, and more is drawn in from the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In addition to making Europe a pleasant place to live, this current also provides the main source of ocean mixing—that is, these currents act to cool the ocean surface temperatures and heat the deep ocean.
More on thermohaline circulation, also known as the “ocean conveyor belt.”
See also: “Freak Current Takes Gulf Stream to Greenland”
3. World’s Longest Migration Found–2X Longer Than Thought
Miniature new transmitters recently revealed that the 4-ounce (113-gram) [arctic tern] follows zigzagging routes between Greenland and Antarctica each year. In the process, the arctic tern racks up about 44,000 frequent flier miles (71,000 kilometers)—edging out its archrival, the sooty shearwater, by roughly 4,000 miles (6,440 kilometers).
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Since the birds often live 30 years or more, the researchers estimate that, over its lifetime, an arctic tern migrates about 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometers)—equal to three trips to the moon and back.
See also: The Arctic Tern Migration Project
Bird of the Sun, a beautiful photographic tribute to the arctic tern by Carsten Egevang
4. A Year of Global Shipping Routes Mapped by GPS
Scientists have come up with the first comprehensive map of global shipping routes based on actual itineraries. The team pieced together a year’s worth of travel itineraries from 16,693 cargo ships using data from LLoyd’s Register Fairplay and the Automatic Identification System, which tracks vessels using a VHF receiver and GPS.
A few hot spots logged the majority of journeys. The busiest port was the Panama Canal, followed by the Suez Canal and Shanghai.
5. The Mariana Trench to scale
Click on the link for an amazing graphic of the deepest point in the ocean.
via kottke: “representation of how deep the Mariana Trench is. Turns out it’s really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really deep.”
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
quite the thing!