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The Officials in charge of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault have reported that water from melting permafrost and heavy rain, brought about by record-high temperatures in the Arctic over the past winter, has leaked into the entrance tunnel leading to the underground stronghold. The water subsequently froze on the floor of the tunnel, prompting the vault’s caretakers to chip the ice away from the tunnel floor.
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An engineering research team in Japan has developed a new solar cell that may be able to raise the efficiency of photovoltaic cells above 50 percent, and theoretically as high as 63 percent under certain conditions. This is important as consumer-grade cells are hindered by a lower maximum efficiency of around 26 percent, with most cells on the market only boasting an efficiency of 12 to 18 percent. If that value can be improved, it will make for greater accessibility for consumers looking toward renewable energy sources, and drastically improve the output of commercial solar farms.
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Scientists have announced that a river in northern Canada has been dramatically re-routed due to the effects of global warming. Meltwater from the Yukon territory’s Kaskawulsh glacier, formerly flowing north into the Yukon River via the Slims River, now flows south into the Alsek River, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The event underscores how rapidly potential changes can happen when systems that are affected by climate change reach their tipping points.
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The continued thawing of Arctic permafrost is causing the accelerated release of previously-trapped methane deposits, as evidenced by both satellite imagery and findings made by field researchers in Siberia. Accumulated after having been produced by biological activity, these methane deposits have been frozen in the permafrost for millennia and are being released as the Arctic steadily warms due to climate change.
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