Antarctica is largely covered by glacial ice sheets, with ice-free areas making up ~0.32% of the entire continental land mass [ 1].
"Now That We've Melted It, Let's Exploit It" Department: As Arctic ice recedes under global warming with the promise of ice free summers appearing within decades, oil companies such as Shell, spurred by better technology and high oil prices, are pursuing oil drilling up there, reports the Economist.
E.g. weather and radiation shields are equipped with heating elements to maintain ice free conditions of a critical sensor surface.
Meantime, Norway's Arctic north enjoyed a lively trade with Russia, exchanging fish for flour in Hammerfest, the Arctic city with the ice-free harbor, thanks to the Gulf Stream.
With an ice-free port, this rail terminus would allow Russia's far east to export freight year round to Pacific markets.
The bitterly cold weather sweeping Britain and the rest of Europe has been linked by scientists with the ice-free seas of the Arctic, where global warming is exerting its greatest influence.
Three commercial heated cup anemometers are tested together with two ice-free prototypes developed as part of a broader research program focusing on ice-free sensors.
Anything less than a snowball--such as a partially glaciated world with lingering ice-free ocean waters and the iridium could not build up.
Our study has shown that East Antarctic Adélie penguins responded similarly to Scotia Arc Adélie penguins during climate warming following the LGM, with both populations undergoing an increase in population size coincident with an expansion of ice-free breeding habitat.
Bacteria were resuspended from the filter with ice cold nuclease free water.
Similarly the synoviocytes were rinsed with ice cold RNase free PBS, treated with 350 ul of RLT lysis buffer (RNeasy minikit, Qiagen, Valencia CA) and stored in −80°C.
