Scientists discover cavity two-thirds the size of Manhattan underneath Antarctic glacier

A gigantic cavity almost 300 metres tall and two-thirds the size of Manhattan has been discovered growing at the bottom of a glacier in West Antarctica.

The huge cavity is one of several disturbing findings
from a NASA-led study of the disintegrating glacier.

The Thwaites Glacier — which is itself more than twice the size of Tasmania — is currently responsible for approximately 4 per cent of global sea level rise.

The NASA-led study expected to find a few gaps between the ice and the bedrock underneath the glacier, where ocean water could flow in and melt it from below — but researchers said the size and explosive growth rate of the cavity took them by surprise.

They think it would have contained 14 billion tonnes of ice, and said most of that ice melted over the past three years.

Read the ABC News story - “Scientists discover cavity two-thirds the size of Manhattan underneath Antarctic glacier.”

‘Raining hell down': death toll rises to 25 in California fires, as more victims found

The charred remains of fourteen more victims have been found in and around the northern California town of Paradise, and two bodies were also discovered in Malibu, officials said on Saturday, raising the death toll to 25.

About 157,000 people in Los Angeles and Ventura counties
have been evacuated due to two fires in the region.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott Maclean said there were no details immediately available about the circumstances of the deaths at Paradise, a mountain community some 90 miles (145 km) north of Sacramento left devastated by the Camp Fire. He said the bodies were badly burned, which would make identification difficult.

Authorities are bringing in a mobile DNA lab to help with identification and are encouraging relatives to donate.

Read the story from The Guardian - “‘Raining hell down': death toll rises to 25 in California fires, as more victims found.”

The great nutrient collapse

Helena Bottemiller Evich.

Irakli Loladze is a mathematician by training, but he was in a biology lab when he encountered the puzzle that would change his life. It was in 1998, and Loladze was studying for his Ph.D. at Arizona State University. Against a backdrop of glass containers glowing with bright green algae, a biologist told Loladze and a half-dozen other graduate students that scientists had discovered something mysterious about zooplankton.

Zooplankton are microscopic animals that float in the world’s oceans and lakes, and for food they rely on algae, which are essentially tiny plants. Scientists found that they could make algae grow faster by shining more light onto them—increasing the food supply for the zooplankton, which should have flourished. But it didn’t work out that way. When the researchers shined more light on the algae, the algae grew faster, and the tiny animals had lots and lots to eat—but at a certain point they started struggling to survive. This was a paradox. More food should lead to more growth. How could more algae be a problem?

Read Helena Bottemiller Evich’s story on Politico - “The great nutrient collapse.”