ECHOES OF THE LAST MIND

ORIGIN: https://www.yourweather.co.uk/news/

Researchers from the University of Washington have used tiny grains of space dust trapped by ancient ice to map Arctic Ocean shrinking

A University of Washington-led team says they’ve used tiny grains trapped by ancient ice to tell them how Arctic Ocean ice has opened and closed over the last 30,000 years

Scientists have warned for decades that Arctic sea ice is shrinking fast, and perhaps even more worryingly is that earth’s satellites only show a modern snapshot and not the full picture.

So, to work out just how bad things have got – and what might happen next – researchers have dug up a surprisingly handy yet unexpected clue: space dust.

The team, from University of Washington, says they’ve used tiny grains trapped by ancient ice and carrying a rare form of helium to map where Arctic Ocean ice has opened and closed over the last 30,000 years.

What that does is offer the researchers a clearer timeline of ice cover that links melt to changes in nutrients and the wider food web – the sort