In the “Holy crap, this is a big deal” department, scientists have discovered that phytoplankton under the Arctic Ice bloom much earlier than we thought. Much, much earlier.
This is a big deal, because until now, we basically thought the Arctic was dead, or at least almost completely dormant, for a good chunk of the year. Now, thanks to climate change, the plankton are blooming much, much earlier.
This changes pretty much everything about what we understand about the Arctic, and will pretty much entirely change the ecosystem.
The bad news is that this could screw certain species while benefiting others, but we don’t know what that will be just yet.
Still, it’s interesting, and it might at least consume more carbon. Or possibly unleash more super-evil geniuses on the world.
image courtesy Nickelodeon