Planet Earth

Bodies of Deep Sea Creatures Found to Contain Radioactive Carbon From Atomic Bombs

The Cold War is done and dusted (well, kind of) but its legacy still lives on, even in the bodies of creatures living in the world’s deepest underwater trench.

At the bottom of the West Pacific, in its darkest depths – the deepest point on Earth, in fact, the Mariana Trench – scientists have discovered the presence of unstable carbon isotopes in the bodies of shrimp-like beasties. By tracing the unique “fingerprint” of the isotopes, they were able to trace it back to the nasty leftovers of nuclear warheads detonated during the Cold War.

Reporting in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences documented how atmosphere explosions from nuclear warheads above the Pacific ended up in the guts of tiny crustaceans at depths of up to 11,000 meters (36,000 feet).

The team of scientists started by collecting small crustaceans, known as amphipods, from the Mariana Trench, Mussau Trench, and New Britain Trench in the spring of 2017. Analysis of their muscle tissue and gut contents found strangely elevated levels of the unstable carbon isotope carbon-14 (14C), a sure sign of thermonuclear denotations.

The world’s small handful of nuclear power nations – mainly the US and the former USSR – have conducted more than 2,000 nuclear test explosions since 1945, nearly 400 of which were denotated in the atmosphere between 1945 to 1963. As a result of this wreckless atomic activity, the amount of 14C in the atmosphere doubled during the 1950s and 1960s alone.

It appears that this 14C “drifted” its way down to the ocean’s surface water below. Here, it was eaten by surface-dwelling creatures, where it made its way deep into the food chain of Pacific marine life. As scavengers, amphipods will also happily eat the rotting flesh of marine creatures that have floated down to the seabed after they die, thereby serving as a super-fast route through the atmospheric 14C to end up in the belly of deep-sea shrimps.

Interestingly, the levels of 14C also suggested that these deep sea inhabitants have a relatively long lifespan of over 10 years, much higher than their shallow-water cousins.

“This ‘bomb 14C’ mixed quickly into the surface ocean and terrestrial carbon pools, enabling 14C to be traced within the carbon cycle on a short time scale, from years to decades,” the study authors write.

“The penetration of bomb 14C into the deepest fauna has not been reported until now.”

Radioactivity isn’t the only relic of human activity that can be found in these trenches. Scientists have found plastic bags on the floor of the Mariana Trench. Even more worrying, a recent study published earlier this year discovered the presence of microplastics in animals living in the Mariana Trench. In fact, nearly 75 percent of the shrimp tested here contained at least one plastic microparticle, showing that human influence has spread to even the most remote places on Earth.

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Now just imagine what’s happening to sea life because of Fukushima, and what those who eat sea animals could be potentially ingesting.

Tom Hale
IFL

Planet Earth

A bright fireball exploded over Armenia

Fireball over the sky of Armenia / Zohrap Yeganyan

Yesterday, a very bright fireball exploded over Armenia. This was announced by the head of the meteorological forecast department of the Hydrometeorological Center Gagik Surenyan on Facebook. The magnitude (brilliance) of a celestial body, which entered the Earth’s atmosphere with great speed, is at least 12.

A bright fireball exploded over Armenia 24 — Photo Source: Getty Image

On the evening of May 27, local residents saw a luminous ball flying from the sky, when it collided with the ground, an outbreak occurred.

Users of social networks began to share their guesses, but they officially gave a comment at the Hydrometeorological Center only the next day:

“Yesterday’s fall of a large meteorite in the Hrazdan -Hankavan section ,” Gagik Surenyan wrote, head of the meteorological forecast department of the Hydrometeorological Center and posted a video showing the meteorite.

Those who also saw the meteorite offered to go to the site of the fall of the celestial body and “collect the pieces”, others reproached the authorities and scientists for silence, when everyone discussed the event, no one began to confirm to people that the luminous ball was a meteorite.

“A meteorite is the final act of this nightmare year,” users of social networks wrote a comment on the video, with sad irony.

The camera was installed in the vicinity of Hrazdan and was directed towards the village of Hankavan.

A bright fireball exploded over Armenia 25

“The meteorite, judging by the records studied, was very large and entered at great speed the atmosphere of the planet, where it burned at an altitude of several kilometers. The risk that parts of this fireball could reach Earth is small, and the likelihood that they can be somehow found tends to zero, including the woodland and the fact that, when burned, meteors and fireballs crumble, as a rule, for particles up to several millimeters in size,” astrophysicist R. Martirosyan said.

Planet Earth

Powerful sprites over Kansas were visible to the naked eye

Have you ever seen sprites? They say that this is impossible. Strange and fleeting forms of Red Lightning materialize over thunderclouds, usually disappearing in less time than it takes to blink. However, storm hunter Michael Havan had no problems seeing them on May 23rd.

“The extremely bright jellyfish sprites were easily visible to the naked eye at dusk!” Says Gavin. “This is one of the brightest shots I’ve captured with my modified Canon T3i.”

Gavin saw this sight from Northwest Kansas. “Clear skies provided fantastic views of the MCS (mesoscale convective system) moving through Nebraska almost 100 miles from us,” he says. “I was not the only one who saw them.” There have been reports that people also saw sprites from Interstate 70. “

Powerful sprites over Kansas were visible to the naked eye 27

The storm lasted so long that Gavin managed to attach an 85mm lens to his camera for several close-up shots. “Because I had an image of the same area without a sprite from a few seconds earlier, I was able to subtract the sky (stars, air glow, etc.) to take a photo of the structure of the sprite without any distractions.

A solar minimum can stimulate sprites. During the low phase of the solar cycle — now occurring — cosmic rays from deep space penetrate the inner solar system relatively unhindered due to the weakening of the Sun’s magnetic field.

Some models claim that cosmic rays help sprites get started by creating conductive paths in the atmosphere.

By the way:

Today, May 25, 2020, the level of cosmic rays crashing onto the Earth, reached its maximum levels, increasing today by 10.4% of average values.

Cosmic rays

The magnetic field of the sun is weak, which allows additional cosmic rays to penetrate the solar system. Neutron counts from the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory of the University of Oulu show that cosmic rays reaching Earth in 2020 are close to the peak of the space age.

Planet Earth

A surge in volcanic activity threatens the Earth with a new Ice Age

Over the past few days, we have witnessed a turbulent global volcanic surge in activity. He sends us all signs that the Great Solar Minimum is approaching.

The Japanese meteorological satellite HIMAWARI-8 recorded two powerful eruptions on May 16, both of which occurred in Indonesia.

The first took place in IBU – a relatively new volcano with only 3 noticeable eruptions; in 1911, 1998 and 2008 – and was confirmed by Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), which warned that the ash plume rises to about 13.7 km.

The second high-level eruption occurred just a few hours later on Semera – a very active volcano with an eruptive history; the first happened in 1818, the most recent in 2014.

As with IBU, the Semeru eruption was confirmed by both HIMAWARI-8 and VAAC Darwin, the latter confirming the generation of a “dark ash plume that reached a height of 14 km.

In addition, active lava flows remain active on the southeastern flank of Semeru, currently about 1.5 km long (as of the morning of May 18).

Direct cooling effect

These high-level eruptions are notable for the fact that solid particles are thrown to a height of over 10 km – and into the stratosphere – are often delayed, where they have a direct cooling effect on the planet.

Volcanic eruptions are one of the key factors pushing the Earth toward its next round of global cooling, with their worldwide surge associated with low solar activity, coronal holes, a diminishing magnetosphere and the influx of cosmic rays penetrating silica-rich magma.

A surge in volcanic activity threatens the Earth with a new Ice Age 29

In addition to Indonesia, Icelandic volcanoes have intensified, and it is this high-mountain volcanic region of the world that is believed to be home to the next “big eruption” – one that will plunge the whole world into the new Ice Age almost instantly.

Katla is such a volcano here and it shows signs of activity, since a significant gas output has been recorded over the past few days.

In addition, seismic activity under a large ice volcano has also increased, and this activity is probably caused by injections of new magma entering the chamber.

Icelandic authorities are aware of the danger posed by the next Katla eruption, and a delegation of volcanologists regularly meets with the Icelandic parliament to discuss how to respond in the event of an eruption, the likelihood of which is simply a matter of when, not if.