Right now, well over half of the world’s population regularly uses the World Wide Web. More people would undoubtedly use the Internet on a regular basis if high-speed Internet access, affordable computers, and low-cost smartphones were available to people in developing countries.
The Internet is known as one of the most substantial developments made by humankind in the entire history of our species. We use it to share breaking news stories in the blink of an eye, securely store information and safeguard it from a multitude of threats, keep in touch with people who mean the most to us, and countless other applications.
One thing about the Internet, however, is that it’s inherently weirder than real life.
Take, for example, when the Natural Environment Research Council held a public poll to name one of the world’s most advanced marine research vessel geared to operate in the icy waters of the Antarctic Circle. You may remember that the World Wide Web collectively chose to name the ship “RRS Boaty McBoatface” back in 2017, garnering a whopping 124,109 votes.
What makes the outcome of the public poll even more hilarious is that the Natural Environment Research Council’s vessel was worth some $300 million at the time.
Just over two years after RSS Boaty McBoatface took its first plunge into the frigid Antarctic waters, traveling some 112 miles just above the ocean floor, the research team that operated the vessel published landmark findings in the world-renowned, peer-reviewed, academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The findings were published just yesterday, on Monday, June 17, 2019. Put simply, the research found meaningful links between a rise in sea temperatures and a similar increase in winds across the Antarctic region. Thanks to the research published, climatologists will be able to better predict changes in sea level rises as a result of climate change.
Over the past few decades, the Southern Ocean has been home to winds that have blown faster and faster as the years have passed. Two of the most important reasons why these winds have increased in speed so consistently and by such large margins is because of the depletion of the ozone layer hovering directly above the continent of Antarctica and the global rise in greenhouse gases. These winds over the Southern Ocean have allowed warmer water at the top of the water to mix with the extremely cold water that usually isn’t exposed to waters near the surface.
