Another Alarm Call from the Arctic: Its Rivers Are Turning Orange

Monday, February 02, 2026

The rusty influx comes from iron, once trapped in frozen ground but now released by warming earth and flooding into the watershed. Alongside it, scientists have detected toxic levels of metals like copper and zinc -- all of which are threatening wildlife, people, and ways of life that have persisted for millennia.

Posted by reinheitsgebot at 02:31 PM | 15 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Colorful changes are unfolding in the Arctic. As permafrost melts, plant growth turns the glacial north green while metals like iron leach into hundreds of rivers, turning them orange. This @bipisci.bsky.social episode explores what happens when we go Cold to Hot. ðŸ§ª Listen: bit.ly/3ZxzkuF

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-- SETI Institute (@setiinstitute.bsky.social) Jan 26, 2026 at 3:00 PM

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... The rusty influx comes from iron, once trapped in frozen ground but now released by warming earth and flooding into the watershed. ...

Not the only instance of ~stuff~ that had been trapped in frozen earth, but now seems to be escaping due to a warming climate.

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-02-02 12:16 AM | Reply

Arctic tundra becoming source of carbon dioxide emissions: 2024 Arctic Report Card released (December 2024)
globalocean.noaa.gov

... After storing carbon dioxide in frozen soil for millennia, the Arctic tundra is being transformed by frequent wildfires into an overall source of carbon to the atmosphere, which is already absorbing record levels of heat-trapping fossil fuel pollution.

The transition of the Arctic from a carbon sink to a carbon source is one of the dramatic changes in the Arctic that are documented in NOAA's 2024 Arctic Report Card. Climatic shifts are forcing plants, wildlife and the people that depend on them to rapidly adapt to a warmer, wetter and less certain world. ...

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-02-02 02:43 AM | Reply

Pres Trump seems to acknowledge that the Arctic is now a threat to US security due to ice melting.

But, does he also acknowledge the other effects of that ice melting?

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-02-02 02:46 AM | Reply

But, does he also acknowledge the other effects of that ice melting?

#3 | POSTED BY LAMPLIGHTER

No. But he does know what a giraffe looks like so we all will be just fine.

#4 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-02-03 11:08 AM | Reply

When Rivers flood, they run rich with sediments, changing the color of the water. Most people know this.

#5 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-02-03 10:36 PM | Reply

Wow. You are so smart.
Can you figure out why that's a problem?
Come on - at most there are 4 pieces to this jigsaw puzzle!
Put 'em together and you get orange rivers in Antarctica

#6 | Posted by YAV at 2026-02-03 10:53 PM | Reply

Cos February in the Arctic is flood season.

Most people know this is because of Global Warming.

#7 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-02-03 10:53 PM | Reply

Most people know this is because of Global Warming.

#7 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-02-03 10:53 PM | Reply | Flag:

OK, I agree that climate change is very real. Earth has gone through many changes in the 4.5 billion years in its (estimated) existence. It's been really hot and been through ice ages as well, with some mass extinctions thrown in the mix. Exactly who was responsible for all that? Dinosaur farts?

#8 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-02-04 01:51 PM | Reply

We pretty much know the causes.
It's quite an interesting exploration to find out.
As we know why we're experiencing what we are right now.

I guess you aren't part of that "we" group, though.

#9 | Posted by YAV at 2026-02-04 02:29 PM | Reply

#8 | Posted by lfthndthrds

How do you know that it's been through past cycles?

#10 | Posted by jpw at 2026-02-04 02:45 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

#10 - oh! he's a cafeteria "scientist" lol
That was a brilliant question!

#11 | Posted by YAV at 2026-02-04 02:53 PM | Reply

excuse me - a "cafeteria science 'believer'" - not a scientist.

#12 | Posted by YAV at 2026-02-04 02:54 PM | Reply

Let me guess, lfthndcuck could only FF that because he realizes the answer makes him look like an a&&...

#13 | Posted by jpw at 2026-02-05 09:52 AM | Reply

Let me guess, lfthndcuck could only FF that because he realizes the answer makes him look like an a&&...

#13 | Posted by jpw at 2026-02-05 09:52 AM | Reply | Flag:

As if I'm going to sit here and write you an essay on past cycles the Earth has been through. Are that fkkn retarded? Don't answer that...

#14 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-02-05 12:41 PM | Reply

"OK, I agree that climate change is very real."

No, not really.
The climate of the dinosaurs isn't the topic here.
You ideologically reject that manmade climate change could even be a thing that happens.
This is because of the oil in your blood, it keeps you alive. You're not about to bite the hand that feeds you.
So you turn off your brain.

#15 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-02-05 12:45 PM | Reply