Issue 17
World
Carbon and Ice
Measuring glacial retreat. The current estimate of glacial retreat is based on measured retreat from photos and satellites and the fastest retreating glacier is the Pope Glacier in Antarctica at 33m per day. This data goes into climate modeling. New measurements of the rapid retreat of the glacial ice sheet in Norway are estimated to be 55m to 610 m per day during the last glacial retreat. Apply this to Antarctic ice sheets that are retreating today, like the Thwaites glacier. It will definitely update climate models.
- BBC arcticle: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65192825
- Nature article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05876-1.epdf
- Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230413154452.htm
- Pope Glacier: https://goo.gl/maps/cMNXZinpJgdTBuAY7
- Thwaites Glacier: https://goo.gl/maps/QYVYQZUQHdDwi23Q6
Worlds biggest logjam. Fallen trees can result in long-term carbon storage. A new study mapped a 51 km sq. logjam on the Mackenzie River Delta in Nunavut, Canada. It is estimated to store 3.4 million tons of carbon.
- AGU Press Release: https://news.agu.org/press-release/worlds-biggest-cumulative-logjam-newly-mapped-in-the-arctic-stores-3-4-million-tons-of-carbon
- AGU Journal: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GL100913
US
The Big Sort by Bill Bishop. Great book that Bob recommended to me years ago. The sorting is even more pronounced today than when his original essays came out in 2004. I think it also is definitely applicable world-wide in any economies that allow for easy mobility. Here’s a pretty cool story map by the NYT that allows you to see how much your particular neighborhood is “sorted”. Try it with your address.
- Maps, Stats, and article. Check your bubble: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/30/opinion/politics/bubble-politics.html
- Graphic of the current political bubbles in the US:
