Narwhals Wearing Sensors Reveal Something Troubling Beneath Greenland's Glaciers - ScienceAlert

Nearly five decades of satellite observations reveal a troubling transformation in the Arctic, where sea ice is shrinking in both summer and winter, and much of the remaining ice is becoming younger and thinner. The Arctic Ocean is covered by a vast expanse of frozen seawater that expands and contracts with the seasons. Ice typically builds up throughout the long, dark winter, reaching its greatest extent in March before retreating during the warmer months to a September minimum. This seasonal cycle has continued for thousands of years, but satellite measurements reveal that the amount of ice covering the ocean has declined substantially at both ends of the cycle.

The remains of two Ramesses II statues — one of which would have originally stood around 28 feet tall — were found by a villager in Egypt.

Deploying sensors on local marine wildlife provides practical data for understanding polar climate trends. By measuring underwater temperatures across remote fjords, scientists can build more reliable models of future sea-level rise. Gathering continuous environmental readings from living ocean navigators opens an unprecedented window into hidden marine habitats. Researchers worked alongside local hunters near Scoresby Sound to attach small tracking tags to six wild narwhals. These compact instruments recorded position, water temperature, conductivity, and depth whenever the animals surfaced to breathe.

ScienceGlaciers in Switzerland lost 5.5 per cent of their ice volume this year, the second-biggest percentage drop on record. It's part of a trend that could have big impacts in a country reliant on hydropower and which acts as the 'water tower of Europe,' feeding its major rivers. Water lost so far this year is 4 times Switzerland's annual consumptionThomson Reuters · Posted: Oct 01, 2026 11:24 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 1Listen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results. Tourists gather at the glacier-feed Oeschinensee lake near Kandersteg, Switzerland, on Aug. 4. The country's glacier-monitoring service says Switzerland lost the second-highest percentage of glacier ice on record this year. (Hernan Munoz/The Associated Press)Glaciers in Switzerland — the home to the most in the Alps — lost 5.5 per cent of their ice volume this year, the second-biggest percentage drop on record due to heat waves and low winter snowfall, experts report.