Atlantic

An “invisible” Russian submarine has set off alarms in the Arctic. Europe’s response: Atlantic Bastion

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The launching of the Khabarovskthe new and ultra-quiet Russian submarine capable of deploying nuclear torpedoes Poseidonhas reactivated a fear that had been latent for decades in cities like London: the possibility that the naval balance of the Atlantic is once again tilting in favor of Moscow. The response from the United Kingdom has been forceful, and it is called Atlantic Bastion. Submarine warfare. Although the public image of the Russian threat usually revolves around research vessels like Yantarsuspected of mapping and potentially manipulating underwater cables and pipes, European specialists know that what is truly disturbing lies much further down. Russia has spent decades reducing the acoustic signature of its submarines to levels that they border on invisibilitycombining new propulsion systems, composite coatings and virtually undetectable cooling pumps. In this environment, where silence is power, a ghost submarine with nuclear capacity alters not only the sea routes, but the very heart of the strategic infrastructures that connect Europe with the world. UK reinvents itself. Faced with the resurgent threat from Khabarovskthe Royal Navy has launched what they have called as Atlantic Bastiona plan designed to restore British strategic advantage in its own and allied waters. Its origin is not new and it we have counted before: the United Kingdom has been monitoring the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap (GIUK gap) since before the creation of NATO, and the Second World War already demonstrated that controlling that maritime corridor was essential to prevent enemy forces from slipping into the North Atlantic. But what used to be destroyers and acoustic sweeps is becoming a hybrid framework that combines Type 26 frigates equipped with new generation sonar, aircraft P-8 Poseidon capable of patrolling thousands of kilometers and, above all, swarms of underwater drones equipped with artificial intelligence. According to the Ministry of Defensethis architecture aims to detect, classify and follow any enemy submarine that tries to penetrate British or Irish waters, and to do so constantly, autonomously and with an unprecedented range. The algorithms arrive. The core of the project will be Atlantic Neta distributed network of autonomous underwater gliders equipped with acoustic sensors and guided by artificial intelligence systems capable of recognize sound signatures with a level of precision that until a few years ago was little less than the preserve of science fiction. Unlike the SOSUS of the Cold War, based on gigantic fixed hydrophones placed on the seabed, the new generation will be mobile, expandable and adaptable to the routes and behaviors of increasingly soundproof submarines. The ultimate ambition is to deploy hundreds of cheap, persistent units that together create aa surveillance mesh much harder to evade. The metaphor is revealing: if finding a silent submarine is like searching for a needle in an oceanic haystack, modern technology makes it possible to exponentially multiply the number of searching hands. Khabarovk The technological challenge of hunting shadows. However, even with this technological revolution, experts warn that detecting new Russian submarines will continue to be an extremely complex undertaking. Since the 1980s, Moscow has drastically reduced lacoustic emissions of its fleet, which requires combining passive and active sensors and complex configurations such as bistatic sonar, where one vessel emits a pulse and another collects the echo. These techniques require coordination, multiple platforms, and significant sensor density, something that Atlantic Bastionaims to provide but it is still far from being deployed on a full scale. The arrival of the Type 26 frigates, designed to be the flagship of British anti-submarine warfare, is fundamental to this purpose, as is the cooperation with Norway and other allies that are also strengthening their capabilities in the North Atlantic. The Russian Bastion Puzzle. Even if Atlantic Bastion managed to limit the presence of Russian attack submarines in the Atlantic, there is one dimension that no Western system can solve: Russian strategic submarines already they don’t need to abandon its own bastion in the Arctic to threaten Europe or the United States. Its intercontinental ballistic missiles can hit targets thousands of kilometers without moving from the Barents Sea or the White Sea, protected by layers of defenses and favorable geographical conditions. There they play a hiding place lethal where the West cannot penetrate without significantly escalating the conflict. The paradox is clear: the United Kingdom can reinforce its waters and monitor every meter of the GIUK gapbut it cannot deny the Russian nuclear capacity deployed in its natural refuge, a reality that frames the entire British effort within a logic of containment rather than domination. An underwater chess. If you want, Atlantic Bastion ultimately represents the recognition that underwater competition has returned with a vengeance, now fueled for digital capabilitiesdistributed sensors and autonomous platforms that transform the nature of ocean surveillance. The North Atlantic once again becomes a stage silent maneuvers where Russia and the United Kingdom measure their technological resistance in an environment reminiscent of the Cold War, but with algorithms and autonomy as new weapons. A career that is not decided by great battles, but by the ability to listen better, process faster and anticipate invisible movements. In this theater of shadows, the advantage is not whoever shoots the most, but rather whoever is able to detect first (already happens in Ukraine). Thus, Atlantic Bastion aspires to return that capacity to the British, although the contest that is opening now does not look like it will be brief nor simple: In the depths of the Atlantic, the prelude to the next era of strategic rivalry between Russia and the West is underway. Image | SEVMASH/VKONTAKTE In Xataka | A Russian submarine has appeared off the coast of France. And Europe’s reaction has been surprising: have a laugh In Xataka | Russia’s most advanced nuclear submarine was a secret. Until Ukraine has revealed everything, including its failures

In 2001, a yacht took refuge on a remote island in the Atlantic. Days later its inhabitants breaded fish with coca

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To the island of Sao Miguelthe largest and most populated of the Azores archipelago, is known as the ‘Green Island’ for its lush meadows. In 2001, however, the most appropriate thing was to refer to it as the white island. In one of those pirouettes of destiny that usually inspire Netflix scriptwriters (and in this case that’s how it was) began to arrive on the coasts of São Miguel, more specifically on those of the freguesia of Fish Taildozens and dozens of uncut bales of cocaine of extraordinary purity. The Atlantic brought them by surprise and without anyone in Rabo de Peixe being able to explain very well why or where they came from. What there is little doubt about more than 20 years later is that that episode changed history of the island. Not only because Rabo de Peixe was forever associated with surrealist images (it is counted that on the island there were families who they breaded mackerel with cocaine instead of flour), but for the mark it has left on a population of humble fishermen in which until then white powder was a luxury available to an elitist minority. Twenty-four years later, his story is back in the news thanks to streaming. Netflix has just released a new documentary about that episode, ‘White Tide: The surreal story of Rabo de Peixe’a launch that coincides with the premiere of the second season of a series inspired by the same event, the successful ‘Rabo de Peixe’. A drifting sailboat The Azores are a paradise on earth, but even the greatest of paradises can turn into hell. Antonino Quinzi saw this for himself at the beginning of June 2001, while steering a yacht of 12 meters across the Atlantic towards Spain. Although he was an experienced sailor and had recently completed the Canary Islands-Venezuela route, near the Azores he was surprised by a strong storm that damaged his ship’s rudder and threatened to set him adrift. Faced with such a panorama, Quinzi decided to postpone his original plan, which was to sail back from Venezuela to Spain, and seek refuge in some discreet cove of São Miguel. The word ‘discreet’ is not a minor nuance. To the residents of the parish of Pilar da Bretanha who saw how his yacht appeared on the horizon and sought shelter among the cliffs, Quinzi it seemed to them one more amateur sailor. One of the many sailboat owners who set out to sail the ocean without enough boards and end up finding themselves in trouble. In this case they were wrong. Quinzi was a hard-working Sicilian navigator and if he seemed to be stumbling along the coast of São Miguel it was because he was actually looking for a secluded place in which to hide the cargo he was transporting. On board his yacht, in addition to food and everything necessary for his long voyage, he hid hundreds and hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Venezuela. How many? Officially there is talk of half tonalthough there are those who remember that the ship could carry up to 3,000 kg and it would be strange for the Sicilian to embark on its ocean voyage without taking advantage of that cargo capacity. The fact is that Quinzi needed to reach a port where he could repair his yacht, but for obvious reasons he could not do so with the holds full of bales. To get out of trouble he decided to get rid of drugs. Some versions they count who used a boat to take part of the load to a cave, but had to abort the mission when he was surprised by some fishermen. Whether or not it is true, the fact is that to get rid of a large part of his cargo, Quinzi chose to another more radical solution. A wave of bundles Which? After ensuring that the bales would not be damaged by water, he placed them in fishing nets and then lowered them off the coast with the help of heavy chains and an anchor. Once he finished the task, he set sail towards the port of Rabo de Peixea humble and discreet fishing town located just over 20 kilometers from where he had hidden the shipment. The plan seemed perfect, if it weren’t for the fact that the same waves that had forced Quinzi to seek shelter ended up destroying the net that hid the coca bales. The result: dozens and dozens of packages began to emerge and the waves dragged them towards the coast. Guardian account how the first official notice was recorded on June 7, 2001, just one day after Quinzi’s yacht was seen lurking around the cliffs. While walking through a cove, a local came across a large black plastic sheet that hid what looked like dozens of packed bricks. He notified the police, who soon found that there were 270 bales that weighed nearly 300 kilos. Over the next few days, the authorities received similar notices from people who found bundles while walking along the coast. It is said that in just two weeks the agents seized more than 400 kg of drugs, which is not a bad balance if you take into account that the police estimated that the total shipment It was around 500 kg. But… And the rest? And above all, was the yacht actually transporting more drugs, as one of the Portuguese journalists who covered the event suspects? “The ship could carry up to 3,000 kg and no one would cross the Atlantic with only a small part of what it can carry,” argues Nuno Mendes, a reporter who traveled from Lisbon to cover the news. There was more or less drug, almost a hundred kilos or many more, what seems evident is that most of that unseized cocaine ended up in the hands of the inhabitants of São Miguel, where they barely live. 140,000 people. The focus is placed above all on the population of Rabo de Peixe, one … Read more

Levante’s floods point out that we are not prepared before an increasingly dangerous Atlantic

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Corted roads, trains delays, canceled flights rescue in three provinces. “The neighbors are panic“, said the mayor of Aldaia.” A few weeks after one year after the Dana tragedy, it seems that the phenomenon will be repeated, ” We could read In social networks. Gabrielle has been more than the remains of a hurricane, has been a reminder of all the pain of recent months and a promise: it will not be the last time. But are we prepared? A fact that seems curious, but it is something else. The 2025 hurricanes season has been very quiet, but something that has not happened for 90 years has happened. As Philip Klotzbach explainedwith “Humberto (…) the Atlantic would have a record of 3 of 3 hurricanes that became important in 2025 (Erin and Gabrielle were the others). The last time the first 3 hurricanes of a hurricane season in the Atlantic were important was in 1935”. But, in addition, none has touched earth (Gabrielle has already done it in the form of a postropical storm). That is, are the great Atlantic hurricane factory changing? Martín León has a good summary of the situation. The three cyclones “(1) have been formed from tropical waves of the east coming from Africa, (2) have moved through warm open waters, (3) have quickly intensified over very warm waters in the western Atlantic, (4) have recurred, or resort to the east to experience an extroatropical transition and (5) they will reach or reach the European coasts (transformed into the European coast postropical). It is true that it is early to draw conclusions. Until now (and despite the forecasts that it was going to be much stronger) “the 2025 hurricane station It is still close of the normal. “This was commented on by Martín León is curious, but is far from becoming a trend. And none of that changes the real problem. What problem? The current situation has taught us three things: the first one, a year ago, we were not prepared to support a blow like that of the Dana; The second, during this year, is that our institutional system does not seem capable of preparing quickly; And the third, these days, is that Valencia was not an isolated event, but a systemic risk in dozens of points of the country. Whether or not the change in tendency in the Atlantic, the situation is clear: climate change It exposes us to increasingly extreme meteorological phenomena. And our approach is the same as that of the last decades: nothing. But is this really new? Yes and no. As Emilio Rey explained to us“This type of phenomena has a period of recurrence of a certain time. Some occur every 20 years, another 50 or 100 years. But we know that it will happen again. It has always passed and will continue to happen in the future because our situation on the planet and the circumstances of this time of the year allow it. It will not pass every year but it will happen.” In any case, with climate change the frequency with which the strongest phenomena affects us will be modified. What the infrastructure of Castellón, TarragonaValencia or Saragossa There is much to do. Image | Via Stormyalert In Xataka | Google has demonstrated with its AI that the prediction of storms and hurricanes is outdated. This is how your new model works

An Atlantic trough looks out to the Mediterranean coast

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Autumn has arrived and does it hard. So much so that the Mediterranean coast begins to prepare for an intense episode of rainfall. The culprit (at least in part) is a Atlantic trough that travels the peninsula. Extreme risk.This situation has led to the State Meteorology Agency (AEMET) to Issue several noticesincluding numerous orange warnings due to important risk and two red notices due to extreme risk. The latter affect a good part of the province of Tarragona, specifically in the southern prelitral and in the southern coast of the Catalan province. Accumulated rainfall is expected to reach 90 mm in an hour. The red notices will take effect at 15:00 and end at 9:00 p.m., but it must be taken into account that orange notices will last in this area throughout today, as well as during part of tomorrow. Beyond Tarragona. Aemet yellow and orange notices extend by almost the entire Levante, also covering interior areas, such as the areas of Gúdar and the teacher; Hellín and Almansa; or the safe basin, among others. Yellow and orange notices not only alert the risk derived from rains but also storm risk. As of tomorrow, orange notices will also reach the Balearic Islands. What is happening? The agency itself Explain in an informative note that the origin of this event is in an Atlantic trough that Since yesterday we travel our territory. This trough, they explain will originate “a growing instability in the Mediterranean area” during the first days of this week. However, extreme rains will be the result of the interaction between this trough and “the formation of a bosom of low pressures between the southeast Peninsular and Balearic Islands.” This new formation, continues to explain Aemet, will cause a “wet flow of the east” that will spread through the Mediterranean area. “The presence of high humidity at low levels together with thermal and dynamic instability, will propitiate the formation of showers and intense storms, in areas of the Eastern Peninsular and Balearic Islands,” concludes the agency in its informative note. Uncertainty. There is a remarkable uncertainty about the future of this extreme phenomenon, although the models indicate that the situation will come between today and tomorrow, improving from Wednesday. It should be remembered that the notices derived from the situation will still affect the Balearic Islands, so it is convenient to be aware of the evolution of the trough. In Xataka | Google has demonstrated with its AI that the prediction of storms and hurricanes is outdated. This is how your new model works Image | ECMWF / Aemet

The “cold stain” of the North Atlantic is one of the greatest enigmas in the oceanic climate. We may have already solved it

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There is a region of the North Atlantic that for years intrigue to experts in weather and oceanography. They call her The “cold stain” of the Atlantic And it is a small oasis in an ocean whose waters have been tempered over the years. In a matter of weeks, two studies bring us closer to the resolution of this enigma. Two studies. The two new research published in recent weeks, one in the magazine Communications Earth & Environment And the other in Sciences Advances They address the enigmatic stain and give differentiated but complicitary explanations of the oceanographic dynamics behind this cold spot on the surface of the sea. One of the central axes for both studies is The southern overturning circulation of the Atlantic (AMOC)one of the most important sea currents for the climate on both sides of the “puddle.” A cold stain. The cold stain of the Atlantic is a relatively small region of the ocean surface whose average temperature has dropped (about 0.3º Celsius) instead of ascending as has happened with most surface waters. La Mancha is located south of Greenland, not far from the coasts of Newfoundland, near the waters of the Arctic Ocean. AMOC. Both works indicated directly to the AMOC current as the centerpiece of this climate puzzle. But what is exactly AMOC? The southern overturn circulation of the Atlantic is a current connected to the thermhaline circulation that transports water from north to south and from south to north in the Atlantic Ocean. The North Atlantic the current transports through the surface layers of the ocean the warm waters of tropical latitudes towards high latitudes and the border with the Arctic. Arrival to these latitudes, the water cools and descends to the deepest layers of the ocean, where it is dragged into a current back towards the South Atlantic. This current not only transports water masses of different temperature but also of different salinity: the water of the tropics is warmer more salty than the water in the Arctic environment. A weakened current. He first of the studies He focused on the weakening of this current observed in recent years. In its analysis, the team used direct observations of the current in the last two decades with indirect measures taken throughout the last century in order to “rebuild” the changes in this circulation. They contrasted these data With predictions that different oceanographic models generated under different assumptions. According to its analysis, only a weakened AMOC current could be linked to the data corresponding to compiled observations. “It’s a very robust correlation,” explained in a press release Yuan Li, co -author of the study. “If you look at the observations and compare them with all simulations, only a monoc-debilitated scenario reproduces the cooling in this unique region.” By sea and by air. He Second study He pointed out, however, the weakening of the AMOC current may not be the only relevant factor in the appearance of the Atlantic cold stain. According to this study, the weakening would have been The initial triggerbut the cooling of the stain would have reduced in turn evaporation and moisture in the atmosphere of the region. Since water vapor is a greenhouse gas, this would have been in turn in the reduction of this effect and therefore a regional cooling. “Reduce the greenhouse effect, so to speak, it will feed back the surface and amplify the existing cold anomaly,” also pointed to a press release Yifei Fan, co -author of this second study. In Xataka | 200,000 abandoned radioactive barrels are sought off the coast of Galicia: we have only found 1,000 Image | NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

A giant armed has set for the Atlantic … from the US

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The first rumor jumped a few hours ago. Within the framework of the G7 Leaders Summit in Canada, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, He hinted that the president of the United States had left the meeting in advance to work in a high fire between Israel and Iran. Trump’s response It has been fast: The reason for his exit was “much more important” than a high fire. Now, a Recognition software He has made the alarms jump. An armed and a sea of ​​speculation. In an unexpectedly coordinated operation, more than 28 cistern aircraft KC-135R and KC-46A of the United States Air Force have taken off from different bases of the country to the Atlantic, in a massive migration detected by air tracking enthusiasts through a Follow -up software. Although the movement of cisterns to the east is not unusual in itself, the scale, synchrony and moment of the deployment (in full climax of tensions between Israel and Iran) has aroused Speculations on a possible strategic turn in American involvement in the conflict. The absence of clear indications about the accompaniment of fighters or bombers adds opacity, but one thing seems clear: the deployment is not linked to routine exercises, such as the multinational that is coming in Norway, whose logistics scope is much lower than the level observed. In that context, They outline four hypothesesall potentially interconnected, about the purpose of the maneuver. Offensive support. The most immediate and logical explanation would be for the United States to be preparing air logistics support to allow Israel to expand and accelerate its offensive about Iran. The limited Israeli refueling fleet, composed of just seven old Boeing 707drastically restricts the frequency, duration and scope of its incursions on Iranian territory. The presence of US cisterns would significantly increase the ability to Generate sustained outputseven allowing the use of penetrating pumps that require proximity to underground targets. That said, the most crucial impact would be strategic: allow Israeli fighters to patrol wide areas of Iranian airspace for prolonged periodshunting mobile ballistic missile pitchers before they can shoot. These types of missions, extremely difficult, gain efficacy only if aircraft do not have to withdraw continuously to recharge fuel. If Israeli and American interceptors are exhausting their stocks, As they suggest Various sources, the cisterns would allow to extend operations without compromising critical resources. A KC-135E refueling in flight to an F-16 Fighting Falcon Direct intervention. The second of the hypotheses is, no doubt, more disturbing: That the movement indicate preparations for a direct entry of the United States into the Air War. The cisterns They would be essential both to support Israel and to keep American fighters and bombers in the air in case kinetic operations are authorized. This intervention, although it would radically transform the Official position From Washington, it could be precipitated by an Iranian attack on US interests in the region or by a political decision in response to a critical escalation. The preposition of tank grants flexibility and speed of reaction, which reinforces this hypothesis, although, for the moment, there is no confirmation of such a drastic change in American doctrine. The software that captured the image that the alarms have jumped Close the Strait. A third plausible explanation is the preparation of the possibility that I will try to block he Ormuz narrowa play that would transform the conflict into an event of global impact immediate. Reopening the maritime step would require a large -scale sustained aerial operation: neutralizing radars, coastal defense systems, mobile anti -man -missing pitchers, and even patrols of small boats. They counted the The War Zone analysts that this requires continuous surveillance and attack missions, supported by constant refueling From, again, cisterns. Before a Strait blockThe United States would need to keep hundreds of aircraft operating without interruption in a hostile airspace, something unfeasible without a support chain like the one that seems to be forming now. Strait satellite view An air bridge. Finally, the most functional and less confrontational hypothesis would be the creation of a robust air bridge that facilitates the flow of military assets to the region. This bridge would allow not only the deployment of combat planes, but also global operations such as those of the b-2 bombersonly conventional assets capable of penetrate and destroy Nuclear facilities deeply buried in Iran. These aircraft, with an extremely heavy weaponry, need multiple refueling to cross the Atlantic, attack and return. The air bridge would also serve as evacuation route of the most vulnerable American bases in case of Iranian mass bombings, an increasingly contemplated option in contingency scenarios. Indications of something else. The maneuver does not happen alone. In addition to the movement of cisterns, other signals have signed up for a Military accumulation American in the theater of operations. Yes, apparently, the combat group headed by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt It moves to the Indian Ocean from the South China Sea, increasing the naval projection against Iran. Although US authorities have not yet made official statements about the purpose of these movements, open sources and analysts agree that a deployment is being configured with multiple purposes: Dysmasion, logistical support, tactical flexibility and preparation for a possible direct escalation. And something much bigger. Plus: It also seems that the United States is sending to the aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and your attack group (including four destroyers Arleight Burke class and a combat submarine) to reinforce its defensive and offensive abilities in full climb of the conflict. Although officially it is a programmed relief of the USS Carl VinsonAmerican sources indicate that the operation has beenFewest several monthsand both naval groups will live in the region for a while. Although at this time there is no official confirmation of a doctrine change, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, He has recognized That these maneuvers seek to strengthen regional defensive position and protect US personnel, in the midst of growing political pressures for Washington to get more actively involved in … Read more

Why the Atlantic heated so much

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In March 2023 the average temperature of the Atlantic Ocean began to beat records. During the following months, the thermal average of the oceanic surface remained above any record, but It would be in summer of that year When the situation would become absolutely anomalous, with the average temperature reaching 25.37º Celsius. Almost two years. A new study has passed almost two years and now He has revealed What were the ingredients of that extraordinary situation. Although climate change would have played an important role, the study points to a combination between anomalous winds and high solar radiation. August 31. For Understand anomalywe can start from a date: on August 31, 2023. That day the average temperature of the North Atlantic was 25.37º Celsius According to the database of Climate Resanalyzer from the University of Maine. This is 1.15º above the average temperature on the same day during the period 1991-2020; and 1.39º above the average of August 31 between 1982 and 2010. The second most warm August in this context would be 2024. That year the maximum average temperature reached by the waters would be 25.1º, on August 27. That day the thermal anomaly was 0.88º or 1.12º according to the reference used. Different layers. To understand what happened we must take into account that the ocean water is not uniform in terms of temperature, density and salinity. In this sense, we can distinguish a superficial layer from the rest of the ocean. This layer would be warmer as a direct consequence of solar radiation, but the degree to which temperature accumulates depends on other factors beyond the energy it receives from our star. Normally, this layer expands to depths of between 20 and 40 meters, Explain the team responsible for the study. In 2023, the layer was very fine, about 10 meters. The layer, less water to “distribute” solar energy, and with it, more heat. Ok but why did the superficial layer diminish so much? This is where the winds come into play or, rather, their absence. The wind is partly responsible for moving the ocean waters, stirring them and thus favoring the interaction between the layers. In the summer months of 2023 the winds in the Atlantic were, according to the team responsible for the study, weaker than usual. The weight of climate change. The team indicates that, although this “maritime heat wave” was an extraordinary event, climate change could increase the frequency with which events of this type occur. As they explain, this phenomenon could slow the winds, which would facilitate the accumulation of heat on the ocean surface. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Nature. Sulfur and its effect. There is another factor that, although it was not central to the study, must also be included in the list of factors that contributed to this thermal anomaly, and is sulfur or, again, its absence. In 2020 there was a change in the regulations for maritime transport that limited sulfur emissions from this sector. The problem occurred because, when the presence of this pollutant in the atmosphere was reduced, the number of particles around which the atmospheric humidity can be condensed, thus forming less clouds and increasing the solar radiation that reaches the surface of our planet can also be reduced. Consequences beyond the coast. The North Atlantic temperature affects millions of people. One of the currents of this region, the circulation of southern overturning of the Atlantic (AMOC) plays a fundamental role in maintaining fresh and non -icy European winters as in latitudes similar to the other side of the Atlantic. Although it is precisely in the American area where the effect of a warm Atlantic more concern generates, and it is Due to hurricanes. One of the key ingredients of these tropical storms is a warm oceanic surface that allows them to capture energy, which implies that events such as 2023 can lead to uniquely destructive hurricane seasons. In Xataka | We are going to the collapse of the Atlantic Oceanic Current, but we are not communicating its death date well Image | NOAA/VIIRS

Between 1946 and 1990, Europe sank 200,000 radioactive barrels in the Atlantic Ocean. France prepares to recover them

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France will undertake this month of June a mission to map and study the state of the more than 200,000 drums with radioactive material that several European countries sank at the bottom of the sea. The objective: evaluate their environmental impact and study if it is viable to recover them. A practice today unthinkable. For more than four decades, between 1946 and 1990, the norm for several European countries was to pour radioactive waste of very low activity in the oceanic depths. More than 200,000 barrels loaded with gloves, laboratory materials and nuclear samples were sunk in the northeast Atlantic abyssal plains, more than 4,000 meters under the surface of the oceanan internationally prohibited custom by the 1993 London Convention. Better late than never. Although a good part of the radioactivity has disappeared thanks to the short half-life of the CESIO-134 or iron-55 isotopes, so far there has been no state-level effort to recover them. The National Center for Scientific Research in France (CNRS) will be launched at the middle of June With the nodssum missionwhich does not have as its immediate objective the recovery of the 200,000 barrels (a task of titanic proportions), but an exhaustive analysis of the containers, the behavior of the radionuces in the deep ocean and their interaction with the marine ecosystems to make a decision on which one to recover and how to recover them. A robot submarine and fishing networks. The Nodssum project will take place in two major campaigns. The first phase will be a recognition mission that will sail on June 15 and will run until July 11. The protagonist will be the ULYX Submarine Autonomous Robot of the French oceanographic fleet, capable of descending up to 6,000 meters. In its first scientific dives, Ulyx will navigate about 70 meters above the seabed to map with a high resolution Sónar the main discharge zone and identify the location of barrels. Then, it will approach up to 10 meters to photograph them. This phase also includes the initial shot of water samples, sediments and fauna, but without approaching the drums. Scientists will use nasas to capture fish and crustaceans with which to determine the effect of waste on marine life. The barrels will not move until 2026. Taking advantage of the data collected in the first phase, the second mission will use a robot with remotely operated arms, Victor or Nautile, to directly observe the barrels and take samples around it for a more detailed analysis. These data will be those used to determine if necessary, and feasible, selective recovery operations in the future. Security will be the axis of the entire project, which includes a robust radioprotection protocol supervised by the France Nuclear Safety Agency. In addition to amending past errors, the mission will be a unique opportunity to measure the long -term consequences of storing at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of thousands of radioactive waste. Image | CNRS, Greenpeace (1978) In Xataka | Thus, radioactive waste is “buried”: how are nuclear cemeteries inside

In case they have not been rare enough in recent weeks, now a record storm is being formed in the middle of the Atlantic

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While the next Nuria front already causes problems on the peninsula, meteorologists begin to focus on what comes next. And what comes next is, As González Alemán saysa great Atlantic storm. But a very rare: possibly the deepest ever registered on these dates. A very strange Atlantic. As we have been in a couple of years of rain, our conversations have focused on accumulated, overflows and reservoirs. However, we have paid little attention to the cause of all this: a circulation and an atmospheric dynamic in the Atlantic that are “really interesting and worthy of study.” Another rarity. In the next few days, According to the models“We will see the formation of a great very rare Atlantic storm, with its 969 hpa.” That is, a storm that could “be recorded (depth) for the time we are.” What does this mean? In the same way that an anticyclone is a high -pressing area, a storm is essentially a low pressures zone. That, for practical purposes, means that there is what is called “Convergence of air on the ground”; That is, the surrounding air goes to these areas to “fill” the hole and generate surface currents that, ultimately, are what gives that characteristic shaped shape. In weather jargon, more “depth”, less pressure. And “lower pressure”, more numerous and powerful currents. Do we have to worry? It is the key question because, as we know, Everything seems to indicate That as of April 11 the rain will be present in Spain yes or yes. That could square with the arrival of fronts linked to this storm. However, it is not so clear. In the first place, because the fact that it will rain more than normal during Holy Week does not tell us how to rain. We already know that, roughly, in Spain we have two types of storms: those caused by the Danas (which are not very useful) and cause them the deep storms (which, as has happened this March, are fantastic for the reservoirs). There is more, of course; But this scheme is worth understanding that we do not talk about the tables of the law. Will it rain? It seems that. But we don’t know how. And secondly? That the effect of storms on Europe depends on the rest of the pieces on the board. The best example is the map that heads this piece: according to the model, there is a dorsal that blocks its arrival to the peninsula. This does not mean anything, really. They can almost pass a dozen different scenarios. However, most likely right now is that storm becomes a curious fact without serious effects in the country. And as we are, it would not be bad. Image | Polarvx In Xataka | After the rains of March and with the reservoirs of Media Spain to overflow, another battle begins: who stays that water

The worst nightmare of the Atlantic Alliance is more than an investment issue

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That Donald Trump is not a NATO enthusiast is nothing new. He already showed him during His first mandatewhen he slid the possibility that the US took a step back in the Atlantic Alliance, and has underlined it several times since then, like candidate and elected president. But as the relationship It is tense With Europe and within its own team Voices are raised in favor of Washington to break with the Treaty of 1949a question arises, increasingly stronger: what would happen if the US is detached from NATO? To answer it, you need to review a little recent history, geostrategy … and also mathematics. An NATO without the US? Only the fact that The question this On the table It is already significant. Especially since the clouds that overshadow the future of the US in NATO do not arise from speculation or rumors, but from comments from high positions of Washington, including Trump himself, who in December, still as elected president, He complained that the Atlantic Alliance is “taking advantage of the US.” “They take advantage of us in trade, our cars or our foods are not taken. They do not wear anything. It’s a shame. And we defend them, so the blow is double,” Trump charged during An interview In NBC News. And when the journalist asked him if she would consider excluding NATO US in case she concludes that her treatment towards the US is not “fair,” repliedresounding: “Yes, of course.” The continuity in the alliance, he stressed, is conditioned to the whole of its members “pay their bills.” A background rumor. It was not the first time that there was talk of NATO’s departure. It hasn’t been the last. Six years ago The New York Times public that in 2018 Trump already threatened with the withdrawal of NATO. And that was during his first term. The second has started just a month And it is already marked by distancing between Washington and some of its historical allies, such as Canada or the EU. The clearest (and graphic) test was the negotiating table created by the US and Russia to end the Ukraine War without reserving a seat for Ukraine or the Union. The trend seems to also go in Crescendo, without visos that it will break. In the last days We have seen Europe closing rows Around Ukraine, Trump and Zelenski showing Prime Time Your total lack of harmony Already Elon Musk, Trump’s great ally, Chairing the debate on the output of the US USA. Yesterday the businessman shared a tweet that he said “it’s time to leave NATO and UN” next to the next harvest message: “I Agree”. An NATO without the US? The same question of the principle, but with a different sense, that of viability: Is a NATO with Washington in profile or in which the US directly step back? A few days ago, during An interview In the BBC, the NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, asked if the rest of the allies could replace the US hole in case he withdraws his military support from Ukraine, his response was revealing: that scenario is not raised. Click on the image to go to Tweet. A “100%risk”. After insisting that the US “wants to bring Ukraine to a lasting peace”, the high position of NATO slid: “We go beyond this issue. It is crucial that we all remain together in this: USA, Ukraine, Europe, that we take Ukraine to Peace. That is exactly why Trump struggles, so we all fight.” Zelenski, who It has been ambitioning for some time The adhesion of your country to NATO, a perspective that seems farther today, after contacts between Moscow and Washington, is even clearer. In Another talk Recent with journalists, he warned of the consequences that Trump would have to step back in NATO, not only for his country, but for the whole of the continent: “The risk of Russia from occupying Europe is one hundred percent if the United States withdraws from NATO.” Weight question. The key is the weight that Washington has in NATO. The agency’s estimates by 2024 provided that the US be The third country of the alliance that higher percentage of its GDP allocated to defense, 3.4%, only behind Poland and Estonia. Washington’s commitments go beyond the North Atlantic Treaty and given the size of its economy, it is estimated that US defense spending represents near two thirds of NATO total. As for costs, the body applies A cast Based on national income and the US stands out again as one of the greatest taxpayers, with almost 16%, like Germany. The United Kingdom is in third place with 11% and France occupies fourth place, with just over 10%. Of percentages to dollars. World Population Review has created A map in which the contribution of each country attached to NATO in 2023 is even more graphic, both in the percentage of GDP and in funds dedicated to investment in defense. The US stands out with 3.49% and 860,000 million of dollars, well above From the second country, Germany. As a picture is worth a thousand words, it is good to take a look at the graphic prepared in 2024 by Visual Capitalist to understand the weight of US investment in defense compared to the other 31 countries of the Alliance. The other approach. It matters what the United States contributes, but it also matters to what extent the rest of the countries attached to NATO contribute. Trump has already publicly demanded the rest of the nations that raise their contribution until reaching 5% of his GDP, even above what the US himself allocates. And he does not seem willing to change his strategy. “I told the countries ‘I will not protect them unless you pay,’ and they started paying. That amounted to more than 600,000 million dollars,” He presumed In December. The 5% barrier is well above the 2% that NATO itself has been marked, the latter percentage that probably not to … Read more

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