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Topics: Water/Ocean environment

Aerial image of of mangrove dieback in the Maldives, on the island HDh Neykurendhoo.  Credit: Maldives Resilient Reefs

“Drowning” mangrove forests in Maldives signal global coastal threat

Researchers have found evidence that mangrove forests – which protect tropical and subtropical coastlines – are drowning in the Maldives. Their findings, published today (Tuesday 12 December) in Scientific Reports, indicate that rising sea level and a climate phenomenon known as the Indian Ocean Dipole have led to some Maldivian islands losing over half of their mangrove cover since 2020.

The RV Polarstern in front of a huge iceberg in Pine Island Bay (Credit: J Klages, AWI)

The dawn of the Antarctic ice sheets: new study reveals it took millions of years for ice to cover Antarctica

Major differences in the way that Antarctica’s ice sheets formed millions of years ago could be the reason why ice is melting faster today than predicted, especially in West Antarctica, an international research team has discovered. The surprising findings, detailed in unique geological sediment samples from drill cores, provide insights into when and where today’s Antarctic ice sheets formed.

Ice on the Antarctic peninsula flowing along a channel into an ice shelf in the ocean. Hilmar Gudmundsson

EXPERT COMMENT: Antarctic study proves glacier has undergone irreversible retreat – highlighting potential for widespread ice loss

In an article written for The Conversation*, both from Northumbria University, Hilmar Gudmundsson, Professor of Glaciology and Dr Brad Reed, Research Fellow in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, alongside Mattias Green, Professor in Physical Oceanography at Bangor University discuss developments in the activity of the Pine Island glacier in the west Antarctic ice sheet.

An image showing the process of ice flowing into the ocean and forming an ice shelf in Antarctica

Major Antarctic glacier passed a tipping point in the last 80 years, research reveals

Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica has gone through an irreversible retreat, passing a tipping point within the last 80 years, researchers have found. The findings, which are published in the influential journal Nature Climate Change, have emerged when world leaders gather in Dubai to debate the impacts of climate change at the COP28 conference.

Sea ice reflections around Rothera Point, home to a research station and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base on the Antarctic Peninsula. Photo by Steve Gibbs.

Increased West Antarctic ice sheet melting is ‘unavoidable’, say scientists

The West Antarctic ice sheet will continue to increase its rate of melting over the rest of the century, no matter how much we reduce fossil fuel use, according to British Antarctic Survey (BAS) research, supported by Northumbria University, and published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Areas in red highlighting changes to the thickness of Greenland's ice sheets between 1992-2020

Polar ice sheet melting records have toppled during the past decade

The seven worst years for polar ice sheets melting and losing ice have occurred during the past decade, according to new research led by IMBIE - part of Northumbria University's Centre for Polar Observations and Modelling - with 2019 being the worst year on record. The findings are published today in the journal Earth System Science Data.

Dr Sebastian Breitenbach exploring possible passages in an ice-filled cave in Siberia

Examining the impact of climate change on Siberia’s stores of permafrost

Northumbria University is to play a leading role in a major study to assess the long-term impact of global warming on Siberia’s thawing permafrost.
Permafrost is frozen ground that stores vast amounts of fossil carbon. Given that permafrost holds twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, and that almost a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere is covered in permafrost, this frozen land plays an essen

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