Ice in Bering Sea Declines to Lowest Level in 5,500 Years

 Ice breaks up early on the Kuskokwim River beside the Bering
Sea and near the climate change-affected Yupik Eskimo village of
Quinhagak on the Yukon Delta in Alaska, April 12, 2019. (AFP Photo)
Ice breaks up early on the Kuskokwim River beside the Bering Sea and near the climate change-affected Yupik Eskimo village of Quinhagak on the Yukon Delta in Alaska, April 12, 2019. (AFP Photo)
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Ice in Bering Sea Declines to Lowest Level in 5,500 Years

 Ice breaks up early on the Kuskokwim River beside the Bering
Sea and near the climate change-affected Yupik Eskimo village of
Quinhagak on the Yukon Delta in Alaska, April 12, 2019. (AFP Photo)
Ice breaks up early on the Kuskokwim River beside the Bering Sea and near the climate change-affected Yupik Eskimo village of Quinhagak on the Yukon Delta in Alaska, April 12, 2019. (AFP Photo)

Winter ice in the Bering Sea, in the northern Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Russia, is at its lowest level in the past 5,500 years.

Researchers analyzed vegetation that accumulated on the uninhabited island of Saint Matthew over the last five millennia.

According to AFP, they looked at variations in peat layers of oxygen atoms called isotopes 16 and 18, whose proportions over time correlate with atmospheric and oceanic changes and precipitation.

The 1.45-meter peat core, taken from Saint Matthew in 2012, represented 5,500 years of accumulation.

"It's a small island in the middle of the Bering Sea, and it's essentially been recording what's happening in the ocean and atmosphere around it," said Miriam Jones, the researcher who conducted the study at the University of Alaska and then at the US Geological Survey.

The ice in the Arctic and Bering Seas melts in summer and freezes anew in winter, but satellite observations only date back to 1979. The advantage of the new analysis, published in the journal Science Advances, is that it goes back much further in time.

For the Arctic, the reduction of winter ice in recent decades is clear and rapid, in parallel with global warming and the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But the Bering Sea in recent decades has seemed stable, the authors of the study say, with the exception of 2018 and 2019, when a strong reduction was observed. In this study, researchers tried to establish whether the current levels are an anomaly or a trend.

"What we've seen most recently is unprecedented in the last 5,500 years," writes Matthew Wooller, director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, who participated in the analysis.

At this rate, conditions are now favorable for a completely ice-free Bering Sea, the authors conclude, highlighting an effect of consequences on the ecosystem.



Large Sinkhole Appears in English Village, Forces Evacuations 

18 February 2025, United Kingdom, Godstone: A view of the scene in Godstone after a sinkhole appeared on Monday night. (Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa)
18 February 2025, United Kingdom, Godstone: A view of the scene in Godstone after a sinkhole appeared on Monday night. (Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa)
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Large Sinkhole Appears in English Village, Forces Evacuations 

18 February 2025, United Kingdom, Godstone: A view of the scene in Godstone after a sinkhole appeared on Monday night. (Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa)
18 February 2025, United Kingdom, Godstone: A view of the scene in Godstone after a sinkhole appeared on Monday night. (Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa)

A large sinkhole has appeared in a southern English village, swallowing up at least one garden and forcing authorities to evacuate residents from around 30 homes.

The development of the sinkhole in the Surrey village of Godstone, which appeared on Monday and had grown to at least 20 meters on Tuesday, has been declared a major incident by local agencies.

The BBC said the evacuated properties were built about three years ago, on the site of a former sand quarry. One of the residents, Noosh Miri, said her family was among those evacuated.

"We got a violent knocking on the door," Miri said. "As I opened the door, it sounded like I was in a waterfall because the sinkhole was right in front of my doorstep."

Another resident, Rez Mira, told the BBC his garden fell into the sinkhole: "It's collapsed, the wall will come down, for sure... we're terrified."

Surrey County Council (SCC) said investigations were ongoing, and asked people to avoid the area while work was carried out. Residents from within the cordon were being supported with advice around accommodation, the council said.

"The Local Resilience Forum will continue to meet throughout this incident to ensure everything is being done to resolve the situation as quickly and safely as possible," said SCC's Carl Bussey.

SES Water said in the early hours of Tuesday it was aware of a burst water main pipe in Godstone High Street. It said on Wednesday it had been able to restore supplies to affected properties. Electricity has also been restored.