Retreating Antarctic Ice Fuels Surprising Glass Sponge Invasion

[knocker]

In the frigid, inky ocean depths beneath permanent ice shelves, life tends to move pretty slowly. But a recent expedition to the seafloor under a newly thawed Antarctic ice sheet has revealed an unexpected invertebrate invasion.

 

(From Wired / by Joe Hanson) – Some of Earth’s strangest species, a group of ghostly pale sponges made of glass, have set up shop there in a hurry, upending much of what scientists know about these exotic creatures

 

http://www.oceanleadership.org/2013/retreating-antarctic-ice-fuels-surprising-glass-sponge-invasion/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

[ANYWEATHER]

Antartica is growing in ice not thawing!!

[knocker]

Antartica is growing in ice not thawing!!

 

I refer you to BFTVs post in the Antarctic thread. I suspect you are thinking of the slight increase in Antarctic sea ice in winter.

 

Just to be clear, both Greenland and Antarctica having been losing mass at an accelerating rate in recent years, despite regional variation. This is contributing to global sea level rises.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2013 by knocker

[4wd]

Isn't that that study where they used data from one station with an extremely patchy record then smoothed it over an area larger than western europe?Only the peninsula has shown much change and that's due to currents not global warming.It's a ridiculous story.

[Methuselah]

I refer you to BFTVs post in the Antarctic thread. I suspect you are thinking of the slight increase in Antarctic sea ice in winter.

Indeed, knocker...It's mass that is most important...

[4wd]

But it's a story about life in the sea under ice shelves, muddled claims about onland ice are irrelevant, Antarctic sea ice has been growing in extent for years.

[knocker]

Isn't that that study where they used data from one station with an extremely patchy record then smoothed it over an area larger than western europe?Only the peninsula has shown much change and that's due to currents not global warming.It's a ridiculous story.

 

No. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

Edited July 16, 2013 by knocker

[knocker]

But it's a story about life in the sea under ice shelves, muddled claims about onland ice are irrelevant, Antarctic sea ice has been growing in extent for years.

 

Glass sponges like those found in the western Weddell Sea are not well studied because they live in deep water beneath polar ice sheets. Ironically, surveys in this area are only possible today because two-thirds of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists, disintegrating without warning in 1995 and 2002. Navigating the German research icebreaking vessel Polarstern through the icy waters there, the team was able to carefully pilot their remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) along the same path studied in 2007. Their cameras got an unprecedented view of the same seafloor at two different points in time.

 

[Methuselah]

Isn't that that study where they used data from one station with an extremely patchy record then smoothed it over an area larger than western europe?Only the peninsula has shown much change and that's due to currents not global warming.It's a ridiculous story.

It's about sponges, 4...