Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Announces Evidence of Rapid Climate Change

WOODS HOLE – Scientists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have announced surprising evidence of rapid climate change in the Arctic.

Researchers discovered that the levels of radium-228 in the middle of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole have almost doubled over the last decade.

The finding indicates that large-scale changes are happening along the coast, because the source of the radium is the land and shallow continental shelves surrounding the ocean.

These coastal changes, in turn, could also be delivering more nutrients, carbon, and other chemicals into the Arctic Ocean and lead to dramatic impacts on Arctic food webs and animal populations.

The WHOI team suspects that melting sea ice has left more open water near the coast for winds to create waves.

The wave action reaches down to the shallow shelves and stirs up sediments, releasing radium that is carried to the surface and away into the open ocean.

The study was published last week in the journal Science Advances.

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