Researchers in the UAE have released findings that could help scientists better understand the factors that are causing Antarctic ice to melt.
Two studies led by scientists at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi shed light on a subject that is of critical importance to the future of the planet.
“In our studies, we identified the atmospheric processes that are triggering and contributing to the ice melt,” Diana Francis, head of Khalifa University's Environmental and Geophysical Sciences Lab and author of the studies, told The National.
She said that these processes have been increasing in frequency and intensity since 2000, with the causes of both attributed to warmer global temperatures.
Antarctica is far from our region but ultimately the ice melt there would impact the sea-level rise globally, especially coastal countries like the UAE
Diana Francis,
head of Khalifa University's Environmental and Geophysical Sciences Lab
“Antarctica is far from our region but ultimately the ice melt there would impact the sea-level rise globally and especially coastal countries like the UAE,” Dr Francis added.
Antarctica holds about 60 per cent of the freshwater in the world and about 90 per cent of Earth's ice.
At over 14 million square kilometres and 2km thick, the Antarctic ice sheet is the biggest ice block in the world.
One of the new studies looks at the Pine Island Glacier, which flows into a bay in West Antarctica.
Pine Island is Antarctica's fastest-melting glacier, accounting for a quarter of its ice loss.
Dr Francis said its melting could “destabilise the whole West Antarctica ice sheet”.
The study looked at how Foehn winds are contributing to the melting of the glacier.
Foehn winds are dry and hot winds that form on the downslopes and the lee side – the side sheltered from the prevailing wind – of a mountain.
Dr Francis said the terrain surrounding the Pine Island Glacier is elevated, meaning that the glacier is often subject to Foehn events.
“Climate change has been identified as a major contributor to the Pine Island Glacier fast melt through both warmer waters, which melt the ice from below, and from a warmer and more moist atmosphere and Foehn events, as highlighted in our study,” she said.
The study is being published in the journal The Cryosphere, the cryosphere being the parts of the Earth’s surface that consist of frozen water.
According to data published by Nasa, the Antarctic ice sheet overall is losing about 150 billion tonnes of ice per year.
Research published in 2020 suggests that even if the world meets the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, Antarctic ice melting could raise sea levels by 2.5 metres.
While this would happen on a time scale stretching into the next century, the effects would not be reversed even by a fall in temperatures.
Aside from the impacts of coastal countries and cities through sea-level rise, Dr Francis said that the other main impact of land ice melt in the polar regions would be on ocean circulation and currents.
Freshwater from the melting of ice into the southern ocean can alter ocean circulation and slow down a process known as abyssal ocean overturning. The abyssal zone of the oceans is the pitch-black layer that lies between 4,000 metres and 6,000 metres beneath the surface.
Abyssal ocean overturning is vital to the global ocean circulations that move nutrients, carbon, oxygen and heat around the world.
A recent study by other scientists in the journal Nature suggested that Antarctic meltwater could cause changes to the abyssal ocean “that could last for centuries”.
The other new paper by the Khalifa University scientists and their co-researchers, published in Climate Dynamics, analysed the Terra Nova Bay polynya. A polynya is an area of open water within sea ice, and Terra Nova Bay lies in East Antarctica.
An examination of data available so far did not find any trends in polynya occurrence related to climate change, but Dr Francis said that alterations in circulation driven by changes to the climate were “set to favour more frequent polynya events”.
Aside from being covered by an enormous ice sheet, Antarctica is surrounded by sea ice, which reaches its greatest extent in September, when winter in the southern hemisphere ends, and its lowest extent in February.
Between 1979 and 2014, there was a roughly 1 per cent increase in Antarctic sea ice each decade, according to Nasa, but from 2016 onwards, there have been “significant decreases”.
Aside from the ice sheet that covers Antarctica, the other major ice sheet in the world covers Greenland. This is losing ice at a rate of about 270 billion tonnes a year – an even faster pace than that recorded at the Antarctic ice sheet.
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MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
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The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. The Intruder
Director: Deon Taylor
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good
One star
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
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Two stars
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
