Saturday, June 1, 2024

Losing the meteorites

 

One lesser-reported effect of global warming and the related melting of ice is reported here: it may affect the collection of meteorites in Antarctica.

Global warming threatens Antarctica’s meteorites
The continent is home to Earth’s largest concentration of the objects from outer space

"The researchers project that in all emissions scenarios, at least 5,000 meteorites a year will disappear from the surface. Every tenth of a degree of temperature increase is correlated with a loss of between 5,100 and 12,200 meteorites, and under a high-emissions scenario, 76 percent of the areas currently covered by meteorites will be lost.

This would represent a catastrophic loss to space scientists, who prize meteorites because of the information they contain about the development of our solar system. Since they formed up to billions of years ago, the space rocks offer important clues about stars, planetary formation, and even Earth’s geologic history.

As a result, the researchers say, it’s important to “rapidly and purposefully” collect as many such specimens as possible before they become inaccessible to science."

The picture below is from the article linked below the picture, showing meteorites collected in Antarctica, and where to find them. While they're still there, that is.









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