Technologies

Antarctica Logs ‘Record-Smashing’ Low for Sea Ice, Says NASA

The bad news keeps coming as scientists monitor the levels of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice.

NASA may be famous for its space exploits, but it’s just as concerned with what’s happening on our own planet as it is with what’s going on out yonder. Researchers from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center are tracking sea ice levels on both ends of the globe. A report released this week shows some grim data.

Satellite observations show that Arctic sea ice most likely reached its annual minimum extent on Sept. 19, logging the sixth-lowest year based on records dating back to 1979. The news from the other pole was even more bleak.

«Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest maximum extent on record on Sept. 10 at a time when the ice cover should have been growing at a much faster pace during the darkest and coldest months,» said NASA in a statement. In short, both regions are lacking ice.

Sea ice is disappearing in the face of a warming world. Loss of sea ice affects the people who live in the Arctic as well as the animals and ecosystems at the polar regions. But it also plays a role in the global climate. Read a deep dive on the climate consequences of a «sea ice free» Arctic.

«While bright sea ice reflects most of the sun’s energy back to space, open ocean water absorbs 90% of it,» said NASA. «With greater areas of the ocean exposed to solar energy, more heat can be absorbed, which warms the ocean waters and further delays sea ice growth.»

Satellite data collected between March and September shows that Arctic ice cover shrank from 5.64 million square miles (14.62 million square kilometers) to 1.63 million square miles (4.23 million square kilometers). To put that in perspective, NASA said the lost sea ice could cover the entire continental US. Research points to a long-term decline in Arctic sea ice, with spring melting starting earlier and autumn freeze-up starting later. The ice has also become thinner over time.

NASA released a video with a visualization of the sea ice changes:

In Antarctica, satellite data shows that sea ice reached its lowest winter maximum extent on Sept. 10 with a coverage area of 6.5 million square miles (16.96 million square kilometers). That’s 398,000 square miles (1.03 million square kilometers) less than the previous record low, set in 1986. «It’s a record-smashing sea ice low in the Antarctic,» said NSIDC scientistWalt Meier.

NASA called out some potential factors for the lack of Antarctic sea ice, including warming ocean temperatures and the recurring natural weather pattern of El Niño. El Niño delivers higher than normal surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean. Earlier this month, NASA declared summer 2023 as the hottest on record, pointing to climate change and El Niño as culprits.

Human-caused climate change is fueled by greenhouse gas emissions. The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions traces the majority of these emissions — largely from the burning of fossil fuels for energy — to China, the US and the European Union. The highest per capita emissions come from the US and Russia.

The NSIDC notes that this year’s Antarctic and Arctic sea ice numbers are still preliminary and may be adjusted based on continued observations. Researchers are working on a full analysis while comparing this year’s data with historical records.

What’s key is this likely isn’t an anomaly. Meier said the Arctic changes represent a «fundamental, decades-long response to warming temperatures.»

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Oct. 22, #1586

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Oct. 22, No. 1,586.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle features some letters I don’t often guess, but it’s not terribly difficult. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with T.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to an action displaying spectacular skill and daring.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is STUNT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Oct. 21, No. 1,585 was DETOX.

Recent Wordle answers

Oct. 17, No. 1,581: GROSS
Oct. 18, No. 1,582: HAVEN
Oct. 19, No. 1,583: IDEAL
Oct. 20, No. 1,584: LIMBO

Quick tips for Wordle

#1: Check our list ranking the popularity of all the letters in the alphabet and choose your starter words accordingly. (TRAIN, STERN and AUDIO are good.)

#2: Don’t forget that letters can be used more than once.

#3: Many words are similar. You don’t want to use up multiple guesses that don’t advance your cause. So if the puzzle is STA_E, don’t guess STARE, STATE and STALE. Guess something that uses that R, T and L, like TWIRL.