Tidal pressures have been observed pushing (relatively) warm water under the Thwaites Glacier, exposing a much larger area of ice to warming pressure. The observations indicate a catastrophic sea level rise could be coming much sooner than almost anyone is preparing for.Rising temperatures are contributing to higher sea levels by making the existing water in the ocean expand, as well as by melting alpine glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet. All of these are virtually certain to increase, and spell trouble for coastal cities worldwide. There is much more uncertainty, however, about the rate at which Antarctic ice will melt, potentially multiplying existing estimates for flooding threats. Despite the vastness of Antarctica, one glacier, the Thwaites, is considered key, earning the name “The Doomsday Glacier”.The Thwaites Glacier is 120 kilometers (75 miles) wide where it reaches the ocean and extends from West Antarctica into an offshore basin. The warming of air above and the water in front of the Thwaites are causing it to melt, but there are fears of something much worse. Water underneath the Thwaites where it currently sits upon the bottom of the ocean would expose the ice to much more heating, greatly speeding up the melt rate.This is where observations by Professor Christine Dow of the University of Waterloo and colleagues come in. They have seen evidence in satellite imagery that the water is getting beneath the glacier daily and lifting it off the seabed, before the weight of the 1.2-kilometer (4,000-foot) thick glacier causes it to settle back down. The cycle repeats with the tides over the front 2-6 kilometers (1.2-3.7 miles) of the glacier, but when Sun and Moon align to create extreme tidal conditions they can reach up to six kilometers further.This causes brief accelerated warming, but the shape of the basin means that if, or more realistically when, the glacier’s front retreats deeper into the basin the underside melting will become continuous. Two ridges on the seabed are the planet’s last lines of defense against accelerated melting. The question for humanity is how long we have before both are breached.False coloring of a satellite images shows the flexing experienced by the Thwaites Glacier as tidal pressures rise and fall, as water penetrates for kilometers beneath the ice, accelerating warming.Image credit: ICEYE; ERIC RIGNOT / UC IRVINEDow and co-authors estimate this will occur in 10-20 years’ time, and with it will come a greatly accelerated rise in sea level. “Thwaites is the most unstable place in the Antarctic and contains the equivalent of 60 centimetres [24 inches] of sea level rise,” Dow said in a statement. “The worry is that we are underestimating the speed that the glacier is changing, which would be devastating for coastal communities around the world.” The wealthiest locations might install dykes like the Netherlands or tidal barrier like London, but for much of the world this will mean the drowning of homes and prime agricultural land.Dow is hoping to achieve more precision on how soon we can expect to see these events occur by refining models of the way water flows in and out of the basin, and how saltwater and glacial melt mix there. “At the moment we don't have enough information to say one way or the other how much time there is before the ocean water intrusion is irreversible,” she said.   However, modeling can only take one so far without direct observations to calibrate it. Scientific data from Antarctica once advanced at a pace comparable to the one at which glaciers moved. Eyes in space have turned some aspects into a flood, but the same isn’t true for operations that require boots on the ground.“We operate at the same budget in 2024 in real dollars that we were in the 1990s,” said lead author Professor Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine. “We need to grow the community of glaciologists and physical oceanographers to address these observation issues sooner rather than later, but right now we’re trying to climb Everest in tennis shoes.” The study is published open access in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Over recent years, astronomers have investigated an unusual phenomenon: stars apparently disappearing, leaving behind few clues as to what made them vanish from our view.In 2019, the Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations (VASCO) project attempted to catalog how many stars have disappeared from view in the last 70 years and found around 100 that had gone missing without a concrete explanation.Stars may dim like Betelgeuse or explode as a supernova before collapsing into a black hole or neutron star, but generally do not simply vanish from view. "In the delayed neutrino-driven mechanism, neutrinos revive the stalled shock wave, eventually leading to a successful explosion," the author of a new study write. "In this case, the stellar mantle is successfully ejected and the compact-object remnant is a neutron star (NS) in most cases. However, if the explosion mechanism fails, continuous accretion of matter onto the transiently stable proto-NS pushes the latter over its mass limit and a black hole (BH) forms."Smaller stars take longer to use up their fuel. Our own sun (a yellow dwarf) will become a red giant as it depletes its supply of hydrogen, and then a tiny white dwarf as it depletes its supply of helium. These tiny remnants – comprised mainly of carbon and oxygen – may eventually collapse into theoretical black dwarf stars, though there hasn't been enough time in the universe for this to have happened yet.           So why do some stars appear to just vanish? One possible explanation, which has been tentatively supported by evidence in a new study, is that stars of a sufficient mass can undergo collapse into a black hole without going supernova – they turn directly into a black hole, without a massive explosion we have come to expect.The team looked at a binary star system at the edge of the Milky Way known as VFTS 243, comprising of a main sequence O star and a back hole orbiting each other every 10.4 days. The team attempted to look for signs of the black hole having emerged following a supernova explosion, including baryonic mass ejecta and "natal kicks" accelerating orbiting objects."In the extreme scenario of complete collapse into a BH, the ejecta mass and natal kicks are thought to be very low," the team explains in their paper. "In this case, mass-energy is lost via neutrinos and, to a lesser extent, gravitational waves. This differs from the archetypical scenario in which anisotropic baryonic ejecta are the main carriers of momentum."The team found evidence for the idea that the black hole formed with little baryonic ejecta, suggesting that it could have formed via a total collapse."Our calculations provide constraints on the total natal kick and mass loss, which we find to be largely in agreement with mass loss exclusively through neutrino emission and an associated natal kick," the team wrote, "rather than baryonic mass ejecta".While cool in its own right, the team suggested the possibility that this could explain the sudden disappearance of some (large) stars."Were one to stand gazing up at a visible star going through a total collapse, it might, just at the right time, be like watching a star suddenly extinguish and disappear from the heavens. The collapse is so complete that no explosion occurs, nothing escapes and one wouldn't see any bright supernova in the night sky," Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, co-author of the study, said in a statement. "Astronomers have actually observed the sudden disappearance of brightly shining stars in recent times. We cannot be sure of a connection, but the results we have obtained from analyzing VFTS 243 has brought us much closer to a credible explanation."As always, further study is needed, but the observations are quite exciting."Our results highlight VFTS 243 as the best observable case so far for the theory of stellar black holes formed through total collapse, where the supernova explosion fails and which our models have shown to be possible," Professor Irene Tamborra from the Niels Bohr Institute, co-author of the study, added. "It is an important reality check for these models. And we certainly expect that the system will serve as a crucial benchmark for future research into stellar evolution and collapse."The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Good Gravy! Corrections Officer Accused of Biscuit Bigotry

Thursday Morning Minute

We explore how headphones deliver sonic information to your brain. The post A tiny band in your ears: how do headphones actually work? first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

CJ Hopkins, like most of us, has been seeing mindless gibberish about what happened on 7 October in Israel and the aftermath for seven months now. As he explains, Hamas’ attack on […]

by Leo Hohmann, Leo Hohmann: One of NATO’s primary missions is to spread instability throughout the world, using the military-industrial complex to bully and intimidate countries non-compliant with a militant anti-family anti-God agenda flowing out of Western capitals and promoted by Western media. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asserted on Friday the alliance’s commitment to […]

This boyfriend’s magical proposal was right out of a romance book — literally! Bonnie Barton, who describes herself as “an avid reader,” was blown away by the way her partner, Chris, popped the question. He arranged for the special moment to take place at the couple’s favorite bookstore. While this was pretty thoughtful in itself, it was nothing compared to surprise that was waiting there! Standing on a display shelf was a book cover that Bonnie’s boyfriend had designed especially for the proposal! Titled, Marry Me, Mon Cutie, the thick tome featured a custom illustration of the couple walking together. When the woman opened the book, there were no words inside — just a beautiful engagement ring! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bonnie Barton (@flashesofstyle) There was one more incredibly special touch on the back cover, though. Loved ones had written their endorsements and best wishes to the happy couple in a heartwarming “advance praise” section! Underneath that, there was a photo of Bonnie and Chris, where they were listed as the authors of the love story. A short bio of their relationship recalled how they met. This might be the most romantic proposal ever! Bonnie couldn’t have been more touched by this stunning, book-themed proposal. She shared the sweetest video of the romantic moment on social media. Everyone in the bookstore applauded for the engaged couple! “The most special proposal for a book lover like me, from the man of my dreams,” read the bride-to-be’s caption. “I cannot wait to marry my best friend!!” Screengrab from Instagram Even commenters were swept off their feet by this grand gesture. “This is the MOST romantic proposal I’ve ever seen!” one user wrote. “He nailed it!” Another added, “Now that is a lot of effort, girl you’re living the romance novel dream!!!” There’s pretty much no better way to plan a proposal for a book lover than this creative scheme. We wish Bonnie and Chris all the best as they begin to make arrangments for their wedding. No doubt they’ll include a few nods to their mutual love of literature! You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Boyfriend Sneakily Designs Custom Romance Novel To Propose To Book-Loving Girlfriend appeared first on InspireMore.

One curious aspect of the UFO phenomenon is how many sightings seem to come in waves, with many witnesses coming forward in the same area within a short span of time, for whatever reasons. This is true not only for UFOs, but also for their supposed occupants, and paranormal researcher and author Albert S Rosales has uncovered one such wave of encounters from 1968 in Spain and has kindly passed along a selection of bizarre reports from that year. Here we will look at a country that at the time seemed to be besieged by an array of humanoid sightings and high strangeness.