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What is the News?
According to a study, the Blue blob may have helped temporarily stall the melting of Arctic sea ice. However, the study has also stated that the effects of climate change will catch up to the massive ice chunks if temperatures are not kept in check.
What is Blue Bob?
It is a cold patch located south of Iceland and Greenland and little is known about it.
The cold patch was most prominent during the winter of 2014-2015 when the sea surface temperature was about 1.4 degrees Celsius colder than normal.
How has Blue Bob helped in slowing down the melting of Arctic Sea Ice?
Between 1995 and 2010, the Arctic region was reportedly warming four times faster than the global average and Iceland’s glaciers steadily shrank losing an average of 11 billion tons of ice per year.
However, starting in 2011, the speed of Iceland’s melting slowed resulting in about half as much ice loss annually.
Blue Blob has been linked to this temporary stall in the melting of Arctic sea ice.
Source: This post is based on the article “What is the Blue Blob?” published in The Hindu on 16th February 2022.
