Arctic Ice August 2010 - Update #2Since I last posted an update, many things have happened in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.
In my last update -
Arctic Ice August 2010 - Update #1 - I noted that there were no floes in the main pack bigger than 35km2. I invited my readers to find a floe bigger than that anywhere in the main ice pack. Nobody did. Yes, there were a few bigger floes - even big enough to be called ice islands - but they were not in the main pack.
A multiplet is a simple thing to describe: it is a collection of several identical or nearly identical things. Here, however, a difficulty arises because a "multiplet" is a manifestation of symmetry groups, and symmetry groups are tough objects to discuss. So if in a scientific paper you write "the new hadron might belong to a SU(3) multiplet", you have the additional trouble that you need to avoid discussing group theory to an unwilling listener. What is SU(3) ? Do we actually care?
Thus wrote Tommaso Dorigo in
The Language Barrier on 26th May this year.
Petermann Glacier Calving 2010 - Update
Before I discuss the recent calving of the Petermann Glacier ice tongue, I want to give credit to the many scientists who were studying, predicting and observing this event. If I miss anyone out, please advise by email or comment and I will edit this article accordingly.
The scientists who deserve credit, in no particular order:
Humfrey Melling at DFO submitted a detailed science article to the Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans just a few weeks before the event, and so missed the chance of including the calving in his article.
