Scientists suggest guidelines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission from deceased individuals

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

 

IMAGE: SARS-COV-2-INFECTED DEAD HAMSTERS HAD HIGH VIRUS TITERS. ANGEL CARE OR EMBALMING COULD PREVENT TRANSMISSION FROM INFECTED HAMSTERS' DEAD BODIES. PROPER TREATMENT OF SARS-COV-2-INFECTED CORPSES IS CRITICAL TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 INFECTION. view more 

CREDIT: YOSHIHIRO KAWAOKA FROM UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO, JAPAN.

Their findings highlight that embalming or "angel care" can effectively prevent virus transmission, to allow family members to say goodbye

During the pandemic, COVID-19 control measures in several countries prevented family members from coming into contact with loved ones who died from the infection. This had an impact on cremation practices and caused emotional distress. Researchers from Japan have now shown that, while deceased SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals may be a potential source of the virus, transmission can be stopped by using appropriate procedures. Their research provides evidence for national guidelines.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has presented unique challenges for clinicians, patients, and families. Of these, the death and loss of a loved one has been the one of the most painful and overwhelming. This psychological stress is compounded by the inability to see loved ones one last time and perform cremation rituals, due to the restrictions around exposure to the bodies of patients who died as a result of COVID-19. Many medical facilities still refuse to allow bereaved family members to perform cremation for those who died from the infection. However, there is a lack of evidence to support these restrictions, and their acceptability varies between countries.

There have been reports of infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) being found in individuals who died from the infection. However, it is unclear whether the virus can be transmitted from their bodies. In Japan, nurses perform postmortem care or "angel care" for deceased persons by wiping their surfaces and shaving or applying chemicals. In addition, the body openings are plugged with cotton pads to prevent bodily fluid leakage. In contrast, “embalming” or the treatment of a body to keep it from decaying, is common in the United States and Canada, and has recently become popular in Japan. How these practices impact the risk of infection from deceased persons, particularly for infection with SARS-CoV-2, is unknown.

To fill this knowledge gap, a research team from Japan has analyzed the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from a deceased individual's body by using a hamster model. They analyzed whether the virus can spread from COVID-19-infected dead hamsters, and whether this spread can be reduced by using angel care and embalming. Their recent work was published in mSphere on 10 January 2023. Sharing the motivation behind their investigation, Prof. Kawaoka states, “It has been two and a half years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 from the body of a deceased, infected person still remains unclear.”

The researchers infected Syrian hamsters with SARS-CoV-2/UT-NCGM02/human/2020 (the Wuhan strain of the virus) before euthanizing them and treating the bodies with either angel care or embalming (7% formaldehyde and 4% glutaraldehyde) treatment. As a control, one group of hamster bodies was treated with alcohol and wrapped in wire nets. Healthy hamsters were then co-housed with the bodies for 24 hours and their organs were collected to check for transmission of the virus.

high SARS-CoV-2 titers were found in the lungs and nasal turbinate of some hamsters who shared a house with a dead infected hamster, implying a risk of infection. In contrast, angel care was effective in preventing the leakage of gas and bodily fluid leakage from the bodies, effectively preventing infection of the co-housed hamsters. Embalming also prevented the transmission of virus to any of the live hamsters. Prof. Kawaoka explains, “Infectious viruses may be transmitted via postmortem gases produced during the decomposition process or other postmortem changes in the dead body. Angel care or embalming could prevent this transmission.”

In summary, these findings emphasize the importance of avoiding infection when handling the body of a deceased individual who had SARS-CoV-2 infection, and that sealing body cavities can control virus spread even if embalming is not performed. Prof. Kawaoka concludes by saying, "We do know that the virus remains in the bodies of deceased persons, but with appropriate precautions and guidelines, we can at least let the families see their loved ones once before they depart."

These findings could guide local and national guidelines on funerary rites and provide a modicum of solace to those who lose loved ones to COVID-19.

High virus titers were found in SARS-CoV-2-infected dead hamsters. Angel care or embalming could prevent transmission from dead bodies of infected hamsters. This suggests that preventing infection is critical when handling infected corpses, as is the proper treatment of SARS-CoV-2-infected corpses.

CREDIT

Yoshihiro Kawaoka from University of Tokyo, Japan.

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JOURNAL

mSphere

DOI

10.1128/msphere.00411-22 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

SARS-CoV-2 Transmission from Virus-Infected Dead Hamsters

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Jan-2023

COI STATEMENT

Kenichiro Hashizume and Kazuho Ushiwata are employed by GSI Co., LTD. The other authors declare no competing financial interests.

Do you see me? New study examines how women of colour experience invisibility in the workplace

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO, IVEY BUSINESS SCHOOL

“As a Black woman, I’m invisible. They just erase your humanity. You don’t exist in front of them.” (Tessa, 33-year-old Black research assistant)

“It wasn’t about disliking what I did or being judgmental of what I did. It was a different kind of problem, to not be acknowledged. They didn’t care. There was no curiosity. They didn’t give a f***. We were invisible.” (Brinda, 30-year-old South Asian consultant)

Invisibility is a salient and recurring experience of mistreatment for women of colour working in traditionally white and male professions, two researchers found in their recent landmark study. Barnini Bhattacharyya of the Ivey Business School at Western University and Jennifer Berdahl of University of British Columbia looked at a diverse sample of 65 women of colour in Canada and the U.S. for the study. Their paper, Do you see me? An Inductive Examination of Differences Between Women of Colour’s Experiences of and Responses to Invisibility at Work, was recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

The study  examines how differences in race, immigration status, age, and organizational status – which determined the women’s proximity to social power – informed the types of invisibility they experienced, as well as their responses to invisibility. Although there is much research examining workplace mistreatment experiences of women in general, very little research explores how women of colour experience and respond to workplace mistreatment.

“The study offers a more theoretically complete understanding of the experiences of invisibility for a variety of women of colour at work,” said Bhattacharyya. “By interviewing a diverse sample of women of colour, we identified distinct forms of invisibility that made them feel unseen for their true selves”

Powerful and revealing interviews show the experience of invisibility was common, painful, and dehumanizing for women of colour, and identified four distinct forms of invisibility:

1. Erasure, invisibility in its most literal sense, means being unheard or unseen. Ninety-five per cent of interviewees reported experiencing erasure at work. East/Southeast Asian women experienced erasure the most acutely frequently;
2. Homogenization is being treated like a homogenous and interchangeable member of an unrelatable out group. Eighty-six per cent of interviewees reported homogenization, often describing being treated as virtually indistinguishable from other women of colour. Even though Black women made up less than one-fifth of the sample, they represented one-third of those who experienced homogenization most acutely and frequently;
3. Exoticization is a unique race and gender-based sexualization that made women of colour feel reduced to foreign objects of fascination and fetishization. Seventy-eight per cent of interviewees experienced exoticization. Although most participants across racial groups reported exoticization, a disproportionate number of those women were younger and of lower organizational status. Further, every Latina woman and all but one Black woman noted being exoticized; and,
4. Whitening is when one’s similarities to white people are highlighted and complimented and non-white racial/ethnic identities and cultural backgrounds discounted and ignored. Fifty-one per cent of interviewees reported whitening, which was confusing because it was framed as inclusion and praise, but undermined the women’s racial and cultural identities, making them feel invisible. Most of the interviewees who reported whitening had grown up in Canada or the U.S., were older, and/or had high organizational status.

Importantly, the study identified three distinct responses to experiencing invisibility in the workplace. How women of colour attributed causes of their invisibility, combined with their social power, shaped whether they engaged in withdrawal, approach, or pragmatic responses.

In general, women of colour with less social power at work experienced invisibility most strongly. They were more likely to blame themselves for their invisibility, and were more likely to engage in withdrawal (e.g., further staying quiet, making themselves small), which intensified their invisibility and marginalization. Women with more social power experienced less invisibility. They were more likely to blame the perpetrator for their invisibility, and were more likely to engage in approach tactics (e.g. speaking up strongly against an invisibility experience, challenging the perpetrator), which risked backlash. Women who attributed their invisibility to structural causes (e.g. systemic racism, systemic sexism) were more likely to engage in pragmatic tactics. Although least common among the interviews, such tactics often empowered women to engage in radical honesty with those who had made them feel invisible.

“Our findings offer novel insights for organizational practices around diversity and inclusion by highlighting the complexity that exists within women of colour’s experiences at work,” said Bhattacharyya. “Some are more invisible than others, and women of colour experience, and respond to, invisibility in different ways depending on their identities and positions. This also gives women of colour legitimacy and language about subtle workplace mistreatment experiences.”

While the paper’s findings provide insight into the unique marginalization of women of colour in the workplace, they also highlight the need to design more sophisticated practices around Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) at work. In particular, there is a need to pay attention to different ways in which marginalized groups experience mistreatment at work, and design EDI policies and tools that address them accordingly. Typically, there is a blanket EDI approach and solution (e.g. gender bystander intervention training) that only serves a few. Organizations also need to create climates and conditions for dialogue, where radically honest conversations can occur in psychologically and socially safe environments that recognize structural barriers to women of colour’s visibility and inclusion in organizations.

The full text of the paper is available on the website of the Journal of Applied Psychology: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2023-45629-001.html

Authors:

Barnini Bhattacharyya, Assistant Professor, Organizational Behaviour, Ivey Business School at Western University

Jennifer L. Berdahl, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia

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JOURNAL

Journal of Applied Psychology

DOI

10.1037/apl0001072 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Do You See Me? An Inductive Examination of Differences Between Women of Color’s Experiences of and Responses to Invisibility at Work

Muffins that could be good for your health

Healthy and muffins are not usually two words we associate with each other. But a plant extract might help change that, at least a little bit

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS TESTED DIFFERENT FORMULATIONS OF MUFFINS CONTAINING A PLANT EXTRACT TO SEE WHICH VARIETY APPEALED MOST. view more 

CREDIT: SCREENSHOT FROM: NUTRITIONALLY ENRICHED MUFFINS FROM ROSELLE CALYX EXTRACT USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY. FOODS. 2022; 11(24):3982. HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.3390/FOODS11243982

Love muffins? We’re talking about a tasty, fluffy muffin that has no artificial additives and that simultaneously contains lots of beneficial nutrients. As remarkable as it might sound, a recently published study led describes the development of just such a new muffin in the journal Foods.

From muffins to functional food

The new super muffin has been named Roselle, because it contains calyx extract from the tropical plant Hibiscus sabdariffa, which is often referred to by the same name.

[caption id="attachment_79738" align="aligncenter" width="559"] Here's a look at the different formulations that researchers tested. Photo: Screenshot from Food article[/caption]

Hibiscus flowers have a beautiful red colour, and the calyx extract contains many valuable bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, betaine and hibiscus acid. All of these components can be used to develop new products and functional food that may offer positive health effects, possibly also reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

The study also shows that Roselle muffins maintain their freshness for up to six days at room temperature, but with so many beneficial qualities, chances are they will be long gone by then.

Health benefits

The study is part of Re-FOOD (see factbox), a Norwegian-Indian collaborative project focusing on using and enhancing the value of rest raw materials of food processing.[faktaboks="1" stillopp="hoyre" storrelse="liten"/]

Professor Nutan Kaushik at Amity University in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, points out the health benefits of antioxidants, especially when it comes to neutralizing free radicals, which can be an important contributing factor to serious illnesses.

Prefer natural food colouring

Roselle is also rich in anthocyanins. This is a dye that can be dissolved in water and yields a red, pink, purple, blue, blue violet or violet colour. The colour of food has a strong influence on how appetizing we think it is.

Artificial dyes are often clearer and more intense than natural substances. But the demand for natural dyes is increasing because of the concern that artificial dyes are harmful to our health.

Tasty, nutritional and long shelf-life

In the muffin study, 30 people tested a total of 17 recipe variants.

The aim was to find the best version of Roselle muffins relative to three important qualities:

• The muffin should should have a taste and texture that people like
• The muffin should have valuable nutritional properties
• The muffin should have the best possible shelf life without preservatives

Aim — the best possible response

The researchers measured and surveyed the test subjects' response to the pastry's colour, appearance, aroma, texture, fluffiness, elasticity, freshness and chewing resistance. The researchers used the Response Surface Methodology, to model and analyse how the test subjects’ reactions were affected by various factors. The aim of the method is to achieve the most positive response to what is tested.

Natural food colouring — good for our cells

[caption id="attachment_79737" align="alignright" width="352"] Hibiscus sabdariffa is frequently used in teas and juices. Photo: Colourbox.[/caption]

In terms of nutrition, the results suggest that the hibiscus extract provides muffins with high levels of antioxidants like phenolics.

These are substances believed to be able to prevent processes in the body that can damage cell membranes or the genetic material in our cells. There are several thousand different phenols, most of which are found in fruit, juice, wine, cocoa, tea, coffee, vegetables, flax seed, whole grains and legumes.[faktaboks="2" stillopp="hoyre" storrelse="liten"/]

Maybe not so healthy

The Roselle calyx extract obviously provides health benefits, but the muffin research is primarily good news for those of us who already eat muffins. Because there are some bitter tastes — figuratively speaking — in this muffin batter, in the form of unhealthy sugar, saturated fat and white flour.

Eva Falch is an associate professor at NTNU’s Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, and  a co-author on the study. She doubts that Roselle would be able to be classified as healthy in Norway.

[caption id="attachment_79735" align="alignright" width="100"] Eva Falch is an associate professor and head of the NTNU Food Forum. Photo: NTNU[/caption]

Underused resource

“Roselle calyx extract is an underutilized resource, and the  study primarily shows the potential of the plant extract. The researchers use the muffin as a model to say something about how ingredients and steps in the manufacturing process affect and change the properties of the final product,”Falch says.

New possiblities

Classifications and health recommendations, as well as taste and food culture, vary between countries.

“In food cultures where baked goods like this are part of the daily diet, Roselle muffins can contribute to increased nutritional value. To make a healthy version, the whole composition should be as good as possible, with little sugar, salt, saturated fat, and so on,” said Falch, who is also head of the NTNU Food Forum.

Animal models and a start-up

A next step could be to test this ingredient in products with a better nutritional profile, such as whole grain products, so that it can be part of a healthy diet.
Professor Nutan Kaushik, says the findings have helped in getting the acceptance among consumers as well as regulators.

“Next, we plan to  do study the health benefits on animal model and launch  a start-up company,” she says.

Moist muffins mould easily

Shelf life was the third factor the researchers investigated. When dry and semi-dry baked goods such as biscuits are left for too long, they can deterioriate both physically and chemically.  Muffins with a higher moisture content, on the other hand, are more vulnerable to bacteria, fermentation and mould. Mould and mould spores are destroyed by heat during baking, but as soon as the muffins are out of the oven, they are exposed to airborne mould spores.

… but Roselle keeps fresh without preservatives

Roselle muffins have no added preservatives. The beauty is that the antioxidant ascorbic acid is also found in the pastry. This is a chemical bond that can contribute to increased shelf life in food products. And when it comes to the effects of ascorbic acid on the human body, most of us know it by its common name, vitamin C. The tests showed that Roselle kept well for six days at room temperature, with no signs of mould or spores.

Reference: Marak, S.; Kaushik, N.; Dikiy, A.; Shumilina, E.; Falch, E.
Nutritionally Enriched Muffins from Roselle Calyx Extract Using Response Surface Methodology Foods 2022, 11, 3982.

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JOURNAL

Foods

DOI

10.3390/foods11243982 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Nutritionally Enriched Muffins from Roselle Calyx Extract Using Response Surface Methodology.

The colors on these ancient pots hint at the power of an empire

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FIELD MUSEUM

 

IMAGE: A CERAMIC VESSEL FROM THE MOCHE REGION OF NORTHERN PERU WITH WARI-INFLUENCED PIGMENTS AND DECORATION TECHNIQUES. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FIELD MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY COLLECTIONS (FM 2959.171668)

Color plays a huge role in our lives — the hues we wear and decorate with are a way for us to signal who we are, where we’re from, and what we care about. And it’s been that way for a long time. In a new study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, archaeologists compared the colors on pieces of ancient Peruvian pottery. They found that potters across the Wari empire all used the same rich black pigment to make ceramics used in rituals: a sign of the empire’s influence.

The Wari empire spread over Peru’s highlands and coastal areas from 600-1050 CE. “People sometimes think of the Inka as the first big empire in South America, but the Wari came first,” says Luis Muro Ynoñán, the study’s corresponding author and a research associate and former postdoctoral scientist at the Field Museum in Chicago. 

The Wari didn’t leave behind a written record (or at least a system similar to the one we use now). “Since they didn’t use writing, material culture — things like pottery — would have been an important means for conveying social and political messages,” says Muro Ynoñán. “The visual impact of these objects would have been super powerful.” Even little details, like using the correct shade of a color, could help signify an object’s importance and legitimacy as a part of the empire.

“I remember seeing some of these Wari-influenced pots as an undergraduate archaeology student in Peru, they're fascinating,” says Muro Ynoñán. “The rich black color on them is very distinctive, I’ve been obsessed with it for years.” Muro Ynoñán finally got to pursue his interest in the pigment in-depth during his postdoctoral position at the Field Museum. 

He and his co-authors, including Donna Nash, an adjunct curator at the Field and associate professor and head of anthropology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, examined pottery from different regions under Wari influence, focusing on the chemical makeup of the black pigment used. 

The exact formulation of pigments varied from site to site, but overall, there was one striking similarity: many of  the Wari pots examined in the study used black pigment made from minerals containing the element manganese. 

“Some of the sites, specifically in northern Peru,used a different recipe for black, using iron- and calcium-rich minerals, before the Wari arrived, but after the Wari took over, they switched to the manganese-based recipes,” says Muro Ynoñán. The shift makes the authors suspect that the Wari empire asserted some sort of “quality control” over the pottery produced in different regions, perhaps even supplying artisans with the “correct” black pigment. “In general, black minerals are relatively easy to obtain from the valleys we looked at,” says Muro Ynoñán. But just any old black mineral didn’t fit the official Wari look — instead, he thinks that artisans may have been supplied with the manganese-bearing minerals from the Wari capital to produce the right shade of black.

The changes in hue are subtle, but Muro Ynoñán says that the symbolic meaning of using “Wari black” may have been very important. “In general in the Andean region, the color black is related to the ancestors, to the night, to the passage of time. In Wari times, the color was likely important for imposing a specific Wari ideology to the communities they conquered.”

While the colors on Wari pottery might indicate imperial control, the ceramics from different regions do maintain their own local character. “Local potters had a lot of flexibility in producing hybrid material culture, combining the Wari imperial style and decoration with their own,” says Muro Ynoñán. The ceramics were unified by the use of black pigments that were controlled and put in circulatation  by the Wari empire through its imperial trade channels, but from there, artists could put their own spin on their work.

“One thing I hope people will take away from this study is that every beautiful artifact you see in a museum was made by real people who were very intelligent and possessed specific technologies to achieve their goals,” says Nash, co-author of the study. “Further, these people shared technologies and made choices. Artisans talked to each other and learned from each other, but sometimes multiple ways of doing things, such as creating black lines and decoration on a decorated pot, co-existed.These different approaches to the same problem may have persisted because of wealth or class differences, but it may have been that some people were willing to try new things, while others preferred their traditions.”

###

 

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JOURNAL

Journal of Archaeological Science

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The Colors of the Empire: Assessing techno-decorative innovations in local, hybrid and intrusive ceramic pigments within the sphere of Wari cultural interaction, Peru

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Mar-2023

As urban populations soar wastewater treatment struggles to find sustainable solutions

Activated sludge comes of age

Book Announcement

WORLD SCIENTIFIC

 

IMAGE: COVER OF "ACTIVATED SLUDGE: DEVELOPMENTS AND SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS" view more 

CREDIT: WORLD SCIENTIFIC

Globally, activated sludge treats the majority of urban wastewaters; yet it is one of the most complex biological processes used. It is a sophisticated microbial process fraught with operational problems leading to occasional failures in achieving required effluent quality standards. With the increasing problem of partially treated and raw sewage entering rivers and estuaries, the pressure on the process to cope with ever increasing volumes of wastewater has never been so great.

With increasing volumes of dilute wastewater entering treatment plants the high variability in hydraulic and organic loadings cause significant problems to operators of activated sludge plants, often resulting in untreated wastewater entering rivers. There is a long delay between design, funding and construction of wastewater treatment plants, including retrofitting, and so the problem of surface water pollution is on the rise, This is exacerbated by rapid housing developments in areas where there is insufficient wastewater treatment capacity or where receiving waters are insufficient to cope with increased loadings requiring increasingly higher levels of treatment. The better the effluent quality the more costly wastewater becomes to treat in terms of capital cost, energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. The challenge for operators, designers, consultants and researchers is to find novel solutions that are reliable, sustainable and able to rapidly increase treatment capacity at minimum cost. This is a tall order and requires a firm understanding of the process and, in particular, how bacterial flocs are formed, develop and respond to different operating conditions.

Activated Sludge: Developments and Sustainable Solutions explores in detail the microbial basis of activated sludge, especially the fascinating process of floc formation and development, the role of the organisms, and how a new understanding of the biology of the process has led to the creation of many new innovative process designs. Developments in basin design have created multiple reactor stages allowing a range of anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic zones to capitalize on a wider range of organisms able to remove nitrogen and phosphorus as well as organic matter. The high energy intensive conventional systems are now replaced with highly controlled reactors operating at low dissolved oxygen concentrations using a new generation of aeration devices. Underlying all this are the increasing challenges of ever-increasing loadings, climate change, nanoparticles, microplastics, pathogen removal and antibiotic gene transfer. The development of membrane bioreactors has removed the problems of settleability thereby increasing process reliability and effluent quality, while integrated fixed-film activated-sludge processes are more efficient and compact. Activated sludge is over a hundred years old as a process and is being reimagined into a highly efficient, reliable, and increasingly sustainable treatment process. The book concludes by exploring how activated sludge can become even more sustainable, for example, by carbon harvesting and by product recovery.

This interdisciplinary book is essential reading for both engineers and scientists whether training at university or practitioners and consultants in the wastewater industry. Activated Sludge: Developments and Sustainable Solutions retails for US$168 / £150 (hardcover) and is also available in electronic formats. To order or know more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/Q0408.

###

About the Author

Professor Nick Gray is a founding member and former Director of the Trinity Centre for the Environment, a hub for interdisciplinary research and teaching at Trinity College Dublin. He is an expert hydrobiologist specializing in biological wastewater treatment and water pollution control. He combines his research and experience as a consultant environmental engineer and scientist into his teaching and writing. He has written over 180 papers in 49 different journals and is the author of 15 books and numerous book chapters.

About World Scientific Publishing Co.

World Scientific Publishing is a leading international independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books and over 160 journals in various fields annually. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit www.worldscientific.com.

For more information, contact WSPC Communications at communications@wspc.com.

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DOI

10.1142/q0408 

Lowest Antarctic sea ice record broken for the second year in a row

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OCEAN-LAND-ATMOSPHERE RESEARCH (OLAR)

 

IMAGE: FIG. CHANGES IN ANTARCTIC SEA ICE. A) TIME SERIES OF ANNUAL MINIMUM ANTARCTIC SEA ICE EXTENT FOR THE 1979-2023 PERIOD [1] AND LINEAR TRENDS DURING 1979-2014, 1979-2017, 1979-2022, AND 1979-2023. B) AVERAGE ANOMALY OF ANTARCTIC SEA ICE CONCENTRATION FROM SEPTEMBER 2022 TO JANUARY 2023 [1]. view more 

CREDIT: JIPING LIU， ZHU ZHU

Antarctic sea ice extent dropped to its lowest level in 45 years of satellite observations on 21 February 2023 - the second year in a row with an area below 2 million km2. This occurrence raises the question of whether the recent change in Antarctic sea ice is a brief anomaly or an early precursor to a transition to a long-term decline.

 

Sea ice in the Southern Ocean shows large variability, both seasonally and interannually. On 21 February 2023, the Antarctic sea ice extent reached its seasonal minimum of 1.788 million km2, setting a new record low since the late 1970s [1] (Fig. 1a). It was set against the background of anomalously low ice extents since 2017, especially immediately after the previous record of 1.924 million km2 in 2022 [1]. After the 2022 minimum, strong heat waves in mid-March brought large warm anomalies to East Antarctica and coastal areas, which kept the ice extent well below the climatology in March (the second lowest for the month of March on record). Since late May, the pace of seasonal ice growth had slowed dramatically, partly due to anomalous northerly/northwesterly winds in the eastern Pacific, western Atlantic, and central Indian sectors that transported warmer air and pushed the sea ice edge southward. Antarctic sea ice experienced a rare event – the lowest for three consecutive months (June, July, and August) on record. Since October, the seasonal ice melt had been at a well-above-normal pace. In response to a stronger seasonal warming anomaly, the decline in sea ice in December was greatly accelerated. This acceleration led to the second lowest December extent on record, followed by the lowest for two consecutive months (January and February 2023) on record. Large polynyas were identified in the Ross, Amundsen, and Weddell Seas.

Several atmospheric drivers associated with modes of climate variability might contribute to the 2023 new record minimum. First, at mid- and high-latitudes, 2022 experienced a persistent positive Antarctic Oscillation (AAO, except June) [2]. Moreover, a very strong AAO occurred in September, November and December 2022, and the strongest AAO for the month of January during the satellite era was set in 2023. This occurrence led to a persistent, stronger, and southwestward shift in the Amundsen Sea Low (ASL), which greatly reduced the sea ice in the Bellingshausen Sea and east of the Antarctic Peninsula through onshore warm wind advection and increased sea ice in the marginal sea ice zone between the Amundsen Sea and the eastern Ross Sea (Fig. 1b). Second, in the tropics, there was a moderate La Niña event that occurred in 2022, but it had been unusually prolonged for three consecutive years [3], making it a rare triple-dip event. Atmospheric deep convection over the southwestern tropical Pacific associated with La Niña triggered southeastward propagating Rossby waves, further deepening the ASL. Third, the joint influence of the negative phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation and the positive phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation also favored strengthening of the ASL through stationary wave dynamics [4] but tended to have the opposite effect on atmospheric circulation in the central Indian sector.

However, unlike previous years, starting in June 2022, the Antarctic, beyond the control of the anomalous ASL, showed widespread negative sea ice concentration anomalies, particularly in spring and summer (Fig. 1b). The global ocean has absorbed most of the excess heat induced by anthropogenic forcing, and its temperature surged to a record high in 2022 [5]. The heat content of the Southern Ocean has increased faster than that of other oceans, and the subsurface south of ~55°S has been significantly warmer [6]. The circumpolar westerlies over the Southern Ocean have shown poleward intensification since satellite observations and are predicted to increase under anthropogenic forcing [7]. This can enhance Ekman suction, which facilitates warmer subsurface water being transferred upward. Recent research suggested that compared to the atmospheric circulation, the subsurface of the Southern Ocean had a smaller contribution to the extreme sea ice state before the unprecedented plunge during 2014-2017 but played a critical role in the persistent negative ice extent anomalies since 2016 [8]. Thus, human-caused global warming might act as a control valve through which subsurface ocean warming is being stirred into the surface.

More importantly, the new record low Antarctic sea ice extent in 2023 marks a reversal from the long-term positive trend to a negative trend for the time series of the minimum ice extent (Fig. 1a), indicating that Antarctic sea ice might enter a new regime. This finding further raises the question of whether changes in Antarctic sea ice in the past several years are a brief anomaly due largely to natural climate variability or early evidence of a robust transition from long-term increasing Antarctic sea ice to decreasing sea ice, in which anthropogenic forcing outweighs natural variability. Concern about a tipping point is enhanced by the fact that the latest generation of climate and earth system models projects a large decrease in Antarctic sea ice associated with increased greenhouse gases during the 21st century [9,10]. A large reduction in Antarctic sea ice would have profound impacts on the Antarctic climate and ecosystem, i.e., climate extremes, stability of ice shelves, the food chain and wildlife population, and global consequences, such as sea level rise and carbon cycle feedback. Thus, more research is needed to answer this question and improve our understanding of how future Antarctic sea ice change could interact with the broader earth system.

References

1. F. Fetterer, K. Knowles, W. Meier, M. Savoie, and A. Windnagel, Sea Ice Index, Version 3. Boulder, Colorado USA. National Snow and Ice Data Center (Accessed 22 February, 2023).
2. CPC - Antarctic Oscillation Index (Accessed 20 February, 2023).

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/daily_ao_index/aao/

1. CPC – Oceanic Nino Index (Accessed 20 February, 2023). https://origin.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ONI_v5.php
2. X. Li, et al., Tropical teleconnection impacts on Antarctic climate changes, Nat. Rev. Earth Environ., 2, 680-698, 2021.
3. L. Cheng, et al., Another year of record heat for the oceans, Adv. Atmos. Sci., https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-023-2385-2, 2023.
4. IPCC, IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. eds H.-O. Pörtner et al. Cambridge University Press, 755 pp. 2019.
5. R. Goyal, A. Gupta, M. Jucker, and M. England, Historical and projected changes in the Southern Hemisphere surface westerlies, Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2020GL090849, 2021.
6. L. Zhang, et al.,  The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021, Commun. Earth Environ., 3, 302, 2022.
7. J. Liu, and J. Curry, Accelerated warming of the Southern Ocean and its impacts on the hydrological cycle and sea ice, PNAS, 107, 14987-14992, 2010.
8. L. Roach, et al., Antarctic sea ice area in CMIP6, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2019GL086729, 2020.

 

Contributions: J.L. conceived the study and wrote the manuscript, Z.Z. and J.L. prepared the figure, and all authors contributed to the manuscript preparation and discussion.

Funding: None

Data Availability: The satellite-derived Antarctic sea ice data are available at ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/DATASETS/NOAA/G02135.

Competing Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

 

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JOURNAL

Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research

DOI

10.34133/olar.0007 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article

ARTICLE TITLE

Lowest Antarctic sea ice record broken for the second year in a row

Philippines to deploy underwater vehicle to pinpoint location of stricken oil tanker

MARCH 06, 2023

Spilled oil had been detected on the shore and in coastal waters near more than 60 villages close to the site where the vessel is thought to have sank.

Facebook/coastguardph

MANILA – The Philippine authorities believe they have found the location of a tanker that sank off a central province last week, the environment ministry said on Monday (March 6), amid a race to assess the extent of an oil spill and contain further environmental damage.

The tanker, the MT Princess Empress, is thought to be lying at about 366 metres below sea level, off Oriental Mindoro province, though the information still needed to be verified, the ministry said in a statement.

A remotely operated autonomous vehicle will be deployed to help determine the exact location of the tanker, it added.

Experts said that the authorities want to know how much oil is inside and how to pump the remainder out and stop any leaks.

The vessel was carrying about 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil when it suffered engine trouble on Feb 28 in rough seas, according to the coast guard.

It was not immediately clear what caused the Philippine-flagged vessel to sink, but all 20 crew members were rescued before it went down.

Spilled oil had been detected on the shore and in coastal waters near more than 60 villages close to the site where the vessel is thought to have sank, the Philippine disaster agency said.

About 36,000 hectares of coral reef, mangroves and sea-grass were potentially in danger of being affected by the oil slick, according to marine scientists at the University of the Philippines.

Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito Dolor vowed to seek compensation for the damage and other expenses.

"Let me assure you, the damage done directly on the environment and on our people's livelihood will be given corresponding compensation depending on what is stipulated in the compensation guidelines," he told a briefing.

The governor was speaking at a briefing together with representatives of the tanker owner, RDC Reield Marine Services, and contractors hired for the cleanup operations.

The tanker's owner has contracted local agencies, Harbor Star Shipping Services and Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp, for the cleanup.

"The situation is very difficult... because of the weather. If sea conditions are bad, it is also unsafe for our contractors to work," Rodrigo Bella, vice-president of Harbor Star, told the media briefing.

Dolor said the two contractors would shoulder all expenses initially, including paying residents hired for cleanup jobs.

The national government has also pledged to hire locals under a scheme to assist those whose livelihood has been affected by temporary fishing and swimming bans in affected areas. 

ALSO READ: Thai villagers take refiner Star Petroleum to court over oil spill

Source: Reuters

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/03/oil-from-sunken-tanker-swamps-central.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/03/spill-from-sunken-product-tanker.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/03/philippines-scrambles-to-contain-oil.html

Copenhagen has world’s best work-life balance, according to Forbes study

BEN HAMILTON 

 MARCH 7TH, 2023

Top seven almost totally dominated by Nordics

Copenhagen has the best work-life balance in the world, according to Forbes Advisor.

Its 2023 study assessed 128 major cities across the world, giving each a score out of 100. Copenhagen scored 70.5, placing it well ahead of Helsinki on 65.1.

Nordic cities dominated, taking six of the top seven places, with Stockholm, Oslo, Gothenburg and Reykjavik also featuring.

Only Auckland (NZ) in fifth and the European trio of Vienna, Edinburgh and Belfast (eighth to tenth) managed to penetrate the top ten from outside the region.

Strong emphasis on sustainability

Close to ten factors were assessed, including the World Happiness Index ranking, Gender Inequality Index ranking, average working hours, minimum legal annual leave, property price to income ratio, proportion of remote and hybrid working vacancies, maternity leave policy, parks and nature reserves per capita, unemployment rate, and sunlight hours.

“Copenhagen is ranked the best city for a work-life balance with its strong emphasis on sustainability and a high quality of life. This is reflected in its infrastructure, public transport and green spaces,” explained the report.

“Inhabitants of the Danish capital are known for their ‘hygge’ lifestyle, which focuses on taking time to care about oneself and others, relaxing and enjoying life’s quieter pleasures. Many companies in the Danish capital uphold these values within the workplace, offering flexible working hours and five week minimum annual leave.”

Additionally, it noted: “Unemployment rates are lower than many other parts of Europe (2.4 percent) and companies offer a fair parental leave split of 52 weeks for both parents.”

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