Word: permafrost
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...report on climate change, I come across a lot of scary facts, like the possibility that thawing permafrost in Siberia could release gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere or the risk that Greenland could pass a tipping point and begin to melt rapidly. But one of the most frightening studies I've read recently had nothing to do with icebergs or mega-droughts. In a paper that came out Oct. 23 in Science, John Sterman - a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Sloan School of Management - wrote about asking 212 MIT grad students to give a rough...
...scoop, edged with pronglike "ripper tines," is designed to crunch into the tough polar permafrost. NASA's plan is to dig trenches about 19 in. (.5 m) into the surface, a depth where scientists believe ice meets soil, and haul a sample onto the spacecraft. There, an instrument will heat the soil in tiny ovens, checking the resulting vapors for water and carbon compounds. An on-board chemistry lab with dual microscopes will add water to the sample and analyze the spectral and electrochemical results to check acidity, salt levels, and ion concentrations...
...fitted with a movable scoop and what NASA calls "ripper tines," sharp teeth able to chew through a concrete-like permafrost a lot tougher than the powdery soil found at lower Martian latitudes. The scoop will be able to dig about 19 in. deep (.5 m), or about the depth at which NASA scientists believe the ice meets the soil. It will then transfer what it gouges out to the spacecraft itself, where the onboard science lab will examine it for organic materials, biochemical processes and other signs of life...
...Phoenix lander, which is set to land on Mars on May 25, will be looking at a region farther to the north where there is permafrost...
...Putin has not anointed yet another former member of the FSB to become President. The Russian stock exchange has applauded. The Russian Orthodox Patriarch has pitched in his blessing. Russian newspapers have exulted. Unfortunately, the basic reality of Russia's politics is likely to remain as unmeltable as Siberian permafrost...