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About an eighth of a University of Alberta collection of ice cores has melted due to a freezer malfunction:
A precious collection of ice cores from the Canadian Arctic has suffered a catastrophic meltdown. A freezer failure at a cold storage facility in Edmonton run by the University of Alberta (UA) caused 180 of the meter-long ice cylinders to melt, depriving scientists of some of the oldest records of climate change in Canada's far north.
The 2 April failure left "pools of water all over the floor and steam in the room," UA glaciologist Martin Sharp told ScienceInsider. "It was like a changing room in a swimming pool."
The melted cores represented 12.8% of the collection, which held 1408 samples taken from across the Canadian Arctic. The cores hold air bubbles, dust grains, pollen, and other evidence that can provide crucial information about past climates and environments, and inform predictions about the future.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Tuesday April 11 2017, @05:30PM (2 children)
Sounds like they tested the freezer during the coldest months of the year instead of the warmest months of the year. Isn't that Bass-ackwards?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday April 12 2017, @01:26AM (1 child)
If it fails when it's really hot outside you got trouble. If it fails when it's cold there's some time before it starts to be critical. Thus test when it's cold outside.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday April 12 2017, @02:48AM
They tested with water buckets they did not particularly care about.