“At a glacial pace” used to mean moving so slowly the movement is almost imperceptible. Lately though, glaciers are moving faster. Ice on land is melting and flowing, sending water to the oceans, where it raises sea levels.
In 2018, we launched the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) to continue a global record of ice elevation. Now, the results are in. Using millions of measurements from a laser in space and quite a bit of math, researchers have confirmed that Earth is rapidly losing ice.
ICESat-2 was a follow-up mission to the original ICESat, which launched in 2003 and took measurements until 2009. Comparing the two records tells us how much ice sheets have melted over 16 years.
During those 16 years, melting ice from Antarctica and Greenland was responsible for just over a half-inch of sea level rise. When ice on land melts, it eventually finds its way to the ocean. The rapid melt at the poles is no exception.
One gigaton of ice holds enough water to fill 400,000 Olympic swimming pools. It’s also enough ice to cover Central Park in New York in more than 1,000 feet of ice.
Between 2003 and 2019, Greenland lost 200 gigatons of ice per year. That’s 80 million Olympic swimming pools reaching the ocean every year, just from Greenland alone.
During the same time period, Antarctica lost 118 gigatons of ice per year. That’s another 47 million Olympic swimming pools every year. While there has been some elevation gain in the continent’s center from increased snowfall, it’s nowhere near enough to make up for how much ice is lost to the sea from coastal glaciers.
ICESat-2 sends out 10,000 pulses of laser light a second down to Earth’s surface and times how long it takes them to return to the satellite, down to a billionth of a second. That’s how we get such precise measurements of height and changing elevation.
These numbers confirm what scientists have been finding in most previous studies and continue a long record of data showing how Earth’s polar ice is melting. ICESat-2 is a key tool in our toolbox to track how our planet is changing.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
The Fall of Icarus, Jacob Peter Gowy, 1635-37
for people who are unaware of why the riots in minneapolis started happening, here’s the facts:
it wasn’t george floyd’s protesters who started reacting violently; it was the cops.
the protest was peaceful until the cops showed up in riot gear, and started using water cannons, followed up by tear gas and rubber bullets. i got videos from friends who were there, of people screaming and running away from the cops shooting the water cannons, rubber bullets and throwing tear gas at them. they were even shooting at the protesters dragging people away to get medical attention.
speaking of medical attention, dispatch refused to provide any medical attention to the protesters. people literally had to drive their bleeding friends to the hospital because they refused to send ambulances.
cops are using non-lethal weapons in a lethal way. they shot rubber bullets into people’s heads and injured them. there’s dozens of photos of protesters with bleeding head wounds from the rubber bullets.
multiple people used police scanners and heard that there were undercover cops pretending to be violent protesters who were throwing rocks and whatnot at the police, with dozens of eyewitness accounts confirming that information.
the person who instigated all the chaos last night (it was a fire at an autozone) with the looting and burning buildings is highly suspected to be an undercover cop pretending to be a protester, because the video of him keeps getting taken down. protesters tried to stop him but couldn’t because he had a hammer and they were scared for their safety.
the cops jammed cell phone towers and cut live streams to interrupt broadcasts and to prevent people from seeing what was really going on and who actually started the violence.
the cops lied about protesters being armed and about throwing rocks and are literally trying to continue the violence happening and yet no one is holding them accountable for that.
and during all this, the cop that murdered george floyd still hasn’t been arrested. he has had more than ten complaints filed against him and was involved in three other civilian shootings in the past. and yet he’s still out free along with his three other buddies involved, probably sitting on his couch while all this chaos is happening.
so don’t get it twisted. the cops just want to change the narrative to make it look like they’re the wounded and righteous party, when they’re the ones who started reacting violently in the first place and are still acting violently. so don’t you ever forget who started this tragedy and murdered someone, and who are continuing to react to the situation with violence.
You should be outraged. You should be enraged and if you are not, if the senseless killing of the black community at the hands of our police force does not anger you please reevaluate your humanity.
To be unmoved by the current issues of our society is a privilege. To prioritize looting and damage to property over lost black lives and police brutality is to lack humanity.
Please evaluate and educate yourself, this is a major issue and we need serious reform and revolution in this country.
You can’t love the Romantics and academia and remain ignorant and complacent.
Photos taken from @thetogfather on Instagram
dark academia critics
dark academia is like one of my favourite aesthetics however there are certain things/issues that bother me about this whole aesthetic
have you ever come across any dark academia posts that included any people of color. everywhere I go, all I see is elite white kids. I would die to see japanese/korean/indian /pakistani/ african/ middle eastern dark academia students often wearing their ethnic attires and embracing their cultures.
I know the whole theme about dark academia is ivy league/ rich elite students but imagine middle class dark academia srudents who are not necessarily clad in expensive attires rather wearing clothes bought from the thrift stores studying on scholarships, who own second hand books and antique/vintage items from some local flee markets or thrift stores.
not that I hate Greek philosophy but all dark academia posts do talk about is western art/architechture/ mythologies / history and philosophy etc. I would love to read and discuss persian poetry and history , south asian mythologies, japanese/Arabic/korean calligraphy, Muslim world's art and architecture.
why are dark academia students always protrayed as nerds, reserve, quiet, hates to have a social life, perfectionist who can't afford to get any grades lower than As etc like even the best students have their ups and downs, what matters is the passion and the will to do better. It's okay to have a life outside books, to have romantic dates, to prank, to hangout with yout friends, to skip classes, to be unorganized...its more realistic.
If you go alone, don’t bring a flashlight. You’ll see things you don’t want to.
Don’t bring groups bigger than 12.
Bring water and some snacks, but no wine.
If you have to sleep there, sleep in the sanctuary, but not on a pew.
If you try to read the hymnal, the words won’t be english anymore.
The Bibles will be blank until you confess.
Don’t go into the confession booth. The man talking to you is not the priest, and you don’t want to know what he really is.
The cross on the wall changes locations, don’t look at it for too long.
If you see someone praying at the altar, don’t approach them. If they approach you, don’t talk to them. Leave immediately.
If you hear the organ playing while you’re in the basement, know that your time is running out.
If it plays while you’re in the sanctuary, your time is up.
Take whatever you want, but if you find that one of your possesions is missing, don’t look for it. Let them have it. It’s not worth your life.
If you find a rosary, don’t put it on. It won’t help.
The water isn’t holy anymore. Throwing it on the demons in the shadows won’t work.
Drink the wine if you wish to never leave.
Don’t get seperated from your friends.
If you spend the night, leave at sunrise otherwise you’ll enter another plane of reality with no way back.
If you don’t spend the night, leave through the doors you came in.
You might look behind you after leaving and see that the church isn’t there anymore. It means that they took what they wanted.
Never enter the same abandoned church twice. Even (especially) if you forgot something inside. That’s a lure. On your second tour through, they will know enough about you to keep you there.
in this essay i won’t
SIGNAL BOOST: There is currently a political protest against the government’s corruption going on in the capital of Serbia after they lied about COVID infection rate to host an election
Police are using brutality and only reports on it are coming from the American funded sources and meme pages. Reporters are reporting live while dodging tear gas being tossed at them. Random standbyers are being beaten up by the police for no reason.
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A post shared by NE DAVIMO BEOGRAD (@nedavimobgd) on Jul 7, 2020 at 5:12pm PDT
achilles and patroclus / andromache and hector / odysseus and penelope
moodboard: fullmetal alchemist - edward elric | エドワード・エルリック
“A lesson without pain is meaningless. That’s because no one can gain without sacrificing something. But by enduring that pain and overcoming it, he shall obtain a powerful, unmatched heart. A fullmetal heart.” Edward Elric