cold

The Arctic cold was the ideal barrier against invasive species. Now that barrier is falling

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The Arctic Ocean is one of the hot points as far as climate change is concerned. Separated from the surface by polar ice, this ocean is a place with its own characteristics that go beyond its icy temperature. The barrier falls. A new study headed by researchers at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) He has found evidence of the arrival of an invasive species of Percebe to the waters of the Canadian Antarctic. This has led the team to conclude that the barrier that previously represented the low temperatures of the polar ocean is falling. Amphibalanus Impherevisus. The species in question is a type of Balánido sometimes known as bay’s percebe (Amphibalanus Impherevisus). These crustaceans are disturbed in a distant way with the common perclabes (Cornucopia policipes), but its presence is considered a problem and not A food source. The species has already become a regular of the waters of Europe and the Pacific Ocean, where it causes problems when attached to ships, pipes and infrastructure of different types. However, until now it had remained absent in the waters of the Canadian Arctic. EADN. The detection of the invasive species was carried out thanks to the study of the bars coding of the Environmental DNA (Edna). Living beings are leaving our genetic imprint in our environment: detached cells, waste and other biological remains. This technique allows to detect the presence of a species (or several) without finding a single specimen, only through environmental samples, in this case, water. The details of the study were Published in an article In the magazine Global Change Biology. Climate change, the great suspect. The Arctic is one of the regions most affected by climate change. There are two factors, both related to the increase in temperatures in this region, which have contributed to the expansion of this percebe. The first factor is the increase in maritime traffic of the Arctic associated with the thaw and the opening of new routes. Generally, the team explains, these invasive species usually arrive in the ships of the ships or in their ballast tanks. The second factor is that the waters of the Canadian Arctic no longer present such hostile conditions for the proliferation of foreign species. “Climate change is really in the nucleus of this problem. The ships are increasing in number because the reduction of sea ice has opened new nautical routes. It adds to this that the invasive species that the ships bring to the Arctic also are more likely to survive and establish populations due to the warmest temperatures of the water,” explained in a press release Elizabeth Boyse, who led the study. An issue to clarify. According to the team responsible for the study, there are still details to corroborate with respect to the spread of this species in the Canadian Arctic, starting to know if the DNA detected responded to larvae in transit or a more stable and fruitful population. To know this type of detail, it will be necessary to complement the study with other techniques, such as direct observation of animals. In Xataka | A group of Dutch came up with watering the Arctic could be a good antidote against thaw. It is working Image | Ansgar Walk, CC by-SA 3.0

Aemet has already concluded the heat wave. Now experts look at Hurricane Erin to know if the cold will endure

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After a heat wave long and intenseSpain begins to travel a few days of thermal relief. However, after several warm episodes, it is worth asking whether the stabilization of temperatures will last over time or if on the contrary the heat will return. Days of calm ahead. Everything seems to indicate that we have several days in which temperatures will remain within normality. We will even see several days in which these will be something below the usual for these summer dates, According to the forecasts of the State Meteorology Agency (Aemet). So much so that even the rebound of temperatures that are expected towards the end of this week and beginnings of the next will not lead us to a particularly warm situation. The cold thermal anomalies At some points they could be below the nine degrees in some areas of the peninsular center, according to expert predictions. Gone is therefore the last heat wave, an episode that has not only been intense but also Looking at the western Atlantic. At the beginning of the week we pointed out that experts looked closely at what happened these days in places as far from our territory as the Western Atlantic and the Antilles archipelago. The reason was in the tropical storm Erin, a storm that reached the category of hurricane and whose journey seemed to turn to the north first and northeast later, undertaking a direction that would take her from the tropical waters to middle latitudes. Why interest? The key is on the impact that this storm could have on atmospheric circulation in these latitudes. According to explained a few days ago The physicist, disseminator and researcher at Aemet, German JJ, the emergence of this cyclone into medium latitudes could complicate the average weather prediction in Europe. Erin regroups. Erin seems to follow the established script and is already in the north direction. The storm has restructured in the last hours, so it can be expected that its progress will continue during the next few days. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States, the hurricane is off the coast of Florida. If the forecasts are completed, the storm will run in parallel to the east coast of the US during the next few days and between Friday and Saturday will reach the 40th parallel, already standing in our latitude. This, details German In another publicationimplies an important change in both atmospheric circulation and in the Jet Stream On the Atlantic, which will strengthen the cooling effect we are now seeing. “Thanks to this, atmospheric dynamics in our region will give a radical change, seem more like that of autumn,” he says. Uncertainty. We will have to wait to learn more about Erin’s course and its impacts, direct or indirect, about Europe. This hurricane reached category 5, becoming the first significant hurricane in a relatively meek season in Atlantic waters. The good news is that, if we can reach our environment, it will already do so as a subtropical storm or post-tropical cyclone, probably entering the continent to higher latitudes than ours. In Xataka | We have centuries studying the different types of clouds. What tells us the shape and color of these atmospheric phenomena Image | NHC / ECMWF

A large mass of cold air on our heads

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The first half of the summer of 2025 was of intense heat. Now, those days seem distant for many: temperatures have descended significantly and everything indicates that they will remain for a while. The responsible: a large mass of cold air. A cold dough. Temperatures this week They will continue to be low In a good part of the country, according to expert forecasts. At least for what would correspond to this time of the year: the last days of July and early August is precisely where the cannula is usually given, the summer point in which the temperature peak is reached. The reason is in a large mass of cold air located on Western Europe and that also covers part of the Iberian Peninsula. Behind this situation are the undulations of the polar jet. A more undulating jet current of what is usually common is responsible for bringing to our latitudes this mass of cold air and the consequent atmospheric instability. More than fresh air. The low temperatures at this time of the year are striking in themselves, but they are not alone: in some areas it is expected that rainfall and storms continue during this week, although for now it is not expected to reach the intensity of The episodes seen last week. The forecasts From the State Meteorology Agency (Aemet) they talk about “abundant” rainfall today in the Eastern Cantabrian and North of the Pyrenees, With yellow warnings activated in eastern Catalonia. A situation that will be similar tomorrow, with rainfall also in the area of Cabo de la Nao and again with notices for rains activated on the Catalan coast. On the border. The situation will not be homogeneous. Not much less. While the north of the Peninsula and the Mediterranean basin experience a thermal decrease, temperatures will exceed the fork of the 34º to 36º in the southwest quadrant, especially inside. Aemet has activated various notices due to high temperatures in these areas, among which orange notices (important risk) in the valleys of Guadiana and Guadalquivir. The maximum could reach 41º in areas such as the Cordoba countryside. A warm August. We do not know exactly when this “cold episode” will end but Medium -term reviews indicate A second half of August in which temperatures could be warmer again than usual. We will have to wait to verify the evolution, but for now what seems safe is that this year’s canicle will not be how we could have anticipated a few weeks ago. In Xataka | What came fast, fast is going: the big basins already have their reservoirs less than 80% of their capacity Image | ECMWF

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

The heat arrives and you want to drink cold water. Science has a much more effective idea: drink hot water

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Summer arrives and with it staying well hydrated becomes an imperative. The heat will surely make a glass of cold water even more appealing, but it is likely that we have ever heard that the water, better hot. Is it a myth or is there a reason behind? Drink water. Drinking water is the important, hot or cold, keeping our body hydrated is the main objective. Despite this, drinking hot water or cold water is not exactly the same: our body can react differently Before the stimulus. This is what science tells us about it. Better digestion. Hot infusions are a desktop classic. Coffee, tea or chamomile are usual choices to close the food, especially if it has been copious. When consuming these drinks we are, indeed, Drinking hot water. In doing so we are moisturizing our body and allowing water to help the flow of food in our digestive system. Part of the effect we owe it to the mere fact of being drinking water, but there are some studies that suggest that the temperature could play an important role in the digestive effect of this desktop habit. A Study published in 2016 Focused on newly operated patients, he observed that the consumption of hot water in recently operated in the colon had a “positive impact” on subsequent intestinal movements. Do you lose weight drinking water? In 2023, a group of researchers conducted An experiment in which a group of participants had to consume a certain amount of warm or hot water after meals, while the rest had to consume the same amount of water at a temperature without specifying the temperature. As reported by the team, the group that consumed hot water lost body mass more speed than the control group. This could explain why we associate drinks such as tea are associated with weight loss. The diuretic potential of some infusions and the benefits that others have on intestinal transit could be related to the mere act of drinking hot water, but the truth is that the tests we have are very limited, so we still cannot add the hot water to the eternal list of candidates for “miracle diet”. Cool ourselves with hot water. It may seem Little appealingbut hot infusions are a classic in some of the most scorching environments in the world. Our body is about 37º Celsius: if we consume something at a higher temperature, our body will absorb that heat. It doesn’t seem like a good plan. And yet it works (although not always). The key, The experts point outis how our body dissipates heat through sweat. A hot drink can activate nervous receptors by sending the signal that the temperature is greater than what is actually, which in turn does that our body begins to sweat and thus begin to dissipate heat through the water we expel by the skin. To sweat, of course, it should also be hydrated. When may not work? Drinking hot water to reduce our body heat can be a bad idea in some contexts, mainly When moisture is high. Moisture makes sweat dissipated, with it, avoiding it heat. Temperature and hydration. Hot or cold, we began by saying that the most important property of water is that it hydrates: our body needs this liquid to stay alive and drinks are the main source to obtain it. Now, we know that Not all drinks hydrate the sameDoes the water do it indistinctly of its temperature? Maybe not. A Study published in 2013 He calculated how the water temperature affected the rehydration process. A too hot water could induce sweat, causing us to lose some water at the same time we rehydrate. By contrast, water too cold or too hot can also make us drink less. The team observed that a better rehydration was achieved when consuming fresh water, about 16º, a temperature similar to that offered by tap water. In Xataka | It’s time to banish the myth of drinking “eight water vessels per day”, but we have a problem to do it Image | Pixabay

An engine that the United States tried to build without success in the Cold War

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The new space race has brought back the attempts to develop rocket engines much faster. And it is not NASA, but the European Space Agency who is chasing the old dream. Context. The thermal Nuclear Propulsion Motor (NTP) is an almost as old idea as the space race itself. In the same 1961 speech with which John F. Kennedy promised to take a man to the moon, he also requested funds for the Nuclear Rover rocket with the promise of “an even more exciting and ambitious exploration of space.” More than 60 years later, space nuclear dream is still a unfulfilled promise. Europe wants to try. Interplanetary trips twice as fast. That is the central promise of nuclear propulsion, and ESA believes that it is an attainable future to reduce the nine months of earth-marte travel to half. With the help of the heavyweights of the French space and nuclear industry (CEA, Arianegroup and Framatome), ESA has concluded in his study alumni that technology offers “huge increases in performance” and “can be operated safely.” Meanwhile, in the United States. NASA has had to end its last attempt to develop an NTP engine. He Draco projectdirect heir to the initiatives of the 60s (the Rover and Nerva projects), has fallen into the Trump administration cuts. The justification of the White House for cutting is that they are “expensive investments” and “there are other alternatives.” The news has fallen as a jug of cold water for those involved. Bhavya Lal, former associated administrator of the NASA, He said to Spacenews: “We have spent almost 20,000 million dollars in space nuclear energy since the 50s and the only system we currently have is a radioisotope generator the size of a 100 watt bulb.” Many possibilities. One thing is the generators of the Martian Rovers or the Voyager and New Horizons probes, which use the heat of passive disintegration of the plutonium to generate some electricity with their small radioisotope generators (RTG), and a very different one is an active fission reactor to generate a massive thrust (a NTP rocket engine). New Horizons illustrates the difference well. It was one Mission to explore Plutobut it passed through the dwarf planet without the capacity to enter its orbit, obtaining just 24 hours of data. With nuclear propulsion, I could have orbized for years, and the scientific return would have been immensely superior. Oh, irony. Jared Isaacman, Trump’s nominated to direct NASA that was removed when Elon Musk lost its influence on the White Househe was a supporter of the development of this type of engines. The NTP are “exactly the type of thing in which NASA should concentrate its resources,” he said on one occasion. Now, Without Isaacman And with the Canceled Draco project, Europe embarks cautiously on the path of nuclear propulsion while the United States step back. Kennedy’s promise is still waiting. Of course, the things of space go slowly, and there are still a few viability studies before the European thermal nuclear propulsion engine takes shape. Image | POT In Xataka | Electronuclear and Nuclear Fusion Propulsion are the options of science to take us to deep space

It is a cold war relic

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In the month of March, the United States announced a strategic turn for Boeing’s military arm to Boomo and saucer: they gave him the device contract that must replace Washington in the highest drawer of military technologies. It was called F-47aspiring to replace the F-22 and overcome its scope. In other words: since then, if someone wanted to face the United States should have the new hunt among their thoughts. China does not have it so clear. What infuses them “fear” is more than 70 years old. Technological hierarchy. The result comes through an analysis prepared by researchers from the Early Alert Academy of the Air Force of the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) in Wuhan, where they have identified the strategic bomber B-52 Stratofortress (A relic of The cold war With more than 70 years of service) as the nuclear attack platform most threatening in the United Stateseven surpassing modern poachers like The F-35a and invisible bombers such as B-2 Spirit. The study, published in the magazine Modern Defense Technologywas based on simulations of a penetrating air operation against naval or land objectives in China, within the conceptual framework of an American air counterattack campaign (PCA). Against all forecast, the analysis concluded that the B-52H represents the greatest danger in the phases of deployment, penetration and attack. The key? Your ability to carry four nuclear bombs Tactics B61-12 already its constant modernizations in radar and electronic war. Obsolete only in appearance. There are more, of course, since the study highlights that B61-12 bombswith a power equivalent to 300 tons of TNT, they are designed mainly for deterrence, but could be used to neutralize critical nodes and access denial systems (A2/AD) In case of conflict. Despite its longevity, the B-52H stands out in front of more modern platforms for its load capacity, its operational scope and the robustness of its updated systems. Consequently, Chinese researchers conclude that, in a limited nuclear attack scenario, this veteran bomber would offer the greater “strategic value” For Washington. Moreover. The report even refers to a motion from the US Congress to restore the nuclear capacity of about 30 units of the B-52H, which reinforces its tactical relevance in the current context. B61 bombs on a portabombas Deterrence from the air. The EPL team was not limited to identifying threats: proposed concrete response measures, such as strengthening surveillance, interception and air defense capabilities along strategic routes. In addition, he stressed the need for INtensify military intelligence To discern if air attacks are conventional or nuclear, given the dual nature of many American platforms. In front of poachers such as the F-35A or bombers such as B-2, the researchers recommended the intensive use of Electronic War and Cyber ​​attacks as tools to disturb your navigation and communications. A list of priority objectives was also established based on their relative threat, being the plane of Early alert E-3 Sentry considered key in conventional scenarios, while airplanes as the C-17 or the B-1b Strategic Bombarder They were classified as minor threats for their limited roles and outdated systems. Tactical precision. Finally, the work tells that he avoided predictive models Based on artificial intelligence. He did, as they explain, for the concerns about their opacity (“Black Box”), opting for methods based on games and human judgment assisted by objective data. The assessment of threats was developed from sensitive technical information on US and Chinese systems, although at this point the sources were not specified. For example, it is mentioned that furtive aircraft such as B-2 and F-22 have transverse radar sections of only 0.1 m², this means that, a priori, it would allow its detection by Chinese radars at 400 km. This technical precision is framed in the context of the rapid development Chinese of Hypersonic missiles Antiacereos, which could intercept white to more than 1,000 km away, and reflects a regional denial strategy that Beijing has expanded in sensitive areas Like Taiwan and the sea of South China. Nuclear and Taiwan. In fact, the report does not seem that it has been commissioned just becauseof course. In a recent essay, former Undersecretary of Defense of the United States, James Anderson, already He warned That any future crisis in Taiwan would probably imply nuclear threats (implicit or explicit) by China, despite its official “not first use.” Under that prism, and in this framework of growing tension and bilateral technological sophistication, the recognition of B-52 such as the more serious nuclear threat Not only redefines strategic perceptions about the military balance between great powers, but also underlines how, in the era of drones (Ukraine) and the Cybernetic wara colossus From the twentieth century it can continue, even today, the biggest carrier of the Apocalypse. Image | US Air Force, United States Department of Defense In Xataka | If the Russian nuclear doctrine needed a signal, Ukraine has just tightened the button: it’s called Storm Shadow and comes from the United Kingdom In Xataka | In the middle of the Cold War, France designed a nuclear rearme plan for Europe. Now sound strongly

In the middle of the cold war, the yoke had the honor of becoming “the worst car in history.” Threat with returning as electric

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It was manufactured for almost thirty years and those who remember it do so with that half smile that only brings you the nostalgia and paternalism of those who love a child knowing that his brother is much smarter. It will return in 2027 in electrical format and retain some of its hallmarks. Hopefully, for the good of all, that it does not retain all its hallmarks. We talk about the yoke, a car that became famous in the Soviet Yugoslavia and that will return to life in 2027 in purely electric format. At least That is what Serbian businessman Aleksandar Bjelić wants. Congratulations, has created the worst car in history Small, simple, affordable … Soviet. The yoke was one of those cars that went down in history on the other side of the steel curtain for its proposal to motorize the masses. Like the Riva Lada in Russia or the Trabant in the Berlin and Communist Germany, the Yugo was part of the history of Yugoslavia during the 80s. In fact the car survived the country itself as eThe yoke remained in production until 2008. His secret resided in the simple of the proposal. Fiat 128 shortened variant, the car was a small utility that was manufactured in Serbia. A three doors that set everything to sit the passengers on top of four wheels and in front of a steering wheel. Its origin must be sought in Kragujevac, Serbia. Over there, Zastava Automobili He assembled cars that exploded a Fiat license. That is, the same as I was doing Seat before Volkswagen passed. Among those licensed cars was the Fiat 128 that the company exploded in Yugoslavia with the novel name of Zastava 128. Jokes apart, the car was a success that added 1.5 million units sold by adding its different bodies between 1971 and 2008 when the car stopped selling. In the 80s, Zastava He decides that he has to offer a cheaper version and puts on the market the Zastava Yugo or Zastava Koral, a cut version derived from Fiat 127. The car is a success in Eastern Europe in part because of its iconic image. It has logic taking into account that the car looks like Volkswagen Golf. In fact, if we observe the first generations of both, it looks a lot at Volkswagen Golf. As much as to affirm that Giorgetto Giugiaro He should not have given the concept many turns when he was commissioned to look for a form to the yoke. Thus, with the firm of Giugiaro and the promise to put on the market a simple car the Zastava Yugo began to make a name. Under his hood he set up a simple Fiat engine of 908 cc and 45 hp. A power that gave the last name to the car when it was exported out of Serbia as a yoke 45. Later a slightly more powerful version of 1.1 liters and 55 hp would arrive. A 1.3 -liter and 65 hp option was even put on the market. As we see, it didn’t seem The car you would buy to travel large kilometers. In spite of everything, you have to understand the time and that, of course, neither Yugoslavia first nor Serbia later had to invite those kilometers. That was what Malcolm Bricklin should not have understood, the businessman who in 1985 wanted to introduce the yoke into the US market. Let’s review, a small, simplistic car and with a dwarf engine on a highway in the United States. It didn’t seem the best of ideas. And it wasn’t. “Cheap to buy. Terrible to drive”. With these words they define Hagerty from the United Kingdom to the healthy yoke that was sold in the United States as a Florida yoke. And that was a version above the aforementioned yoke 45. A car, the healthy one, which mounted a more powerful engine, in versions of 1.4 and 1.6 liters to get a better performance on the road. The lower version, that yoke 45 was sold in the United States with the name of Yugo GV. It was, by far, the cheapest car on the market. But the rolling quality was as bad that it was considered the worst car in the world. The criticisms were so bad that it quickly became a joke, it would have been a meme with wheels if at that time The word “meme” would have existed. Almost immediately, the car was made a hole in the hearts of the fans. In fact, you can find a book written by Jason Vuic entitled exactly like this: Yoke. Boom and fall of the worst car in history. The fascination was huge by a car that simply accounted for breakdowns due to pairs and offered poor results in security tests. So bad was the experience that was the car with the worst note of customer satisfaction in the prestigious JD Power in 1986. Precisely In JD Power they explain that in the Consumer Reports analysis it was specified that “the car dragged up to 100 km/h” and that in the best case the peak speed reached 86 mph (about 138 km/h). But those criticisms arrived after many buyers had already done with the car. A yoke giving everything Its price was so low that they sold more than 1,000 units on the first day. Then, the nightmare of the owners began. The spark plugs collapsed Because the United States gasoline was not adequate, the distribution strap had to be repaired at 30,000 miles (about 48,000 kilometers). Little by little, the ear mouth extended and the lawsuit plummeted. So plumme that according to the American portal they were sold with 2×1 offers despite its low price, with the idea of ​​the concessionaire to take them off as soon as possible. The performance was so bad that in 1992 the American subsidiary of the company broke. However, the car continued its performance in Serbia. The company came to 2008 When it … Read more

Where we had heat waves before, Aemet only expects rain and cold

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Although there are many areas that have not noticed, the first weekend has been starring large storms in much of the country. And, according to weather models, The thing is not going to stay there. Throughout this week, a new anticyclonic block in the British islands will be consolidated. It is not clear if this is going to open, again, the doors of the Atlantic (some models draw a ‘bridge’ between the Azores and Ireland), but right now the probability that vaguada or cold strokes will begin to get off the cold or storms is very high. So much so that Monday we already have rains. Catalonia, the north of the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and the interior of the plateau will have rains, hailstorms and strong winds throughout Monday. During Tuesday the storms will be primarily paid in the northwest third of the country. On Wednesday, According to Samuel Bienerthe storms will be reinforced in “The East Castilla-La Mancha, Sierras de Granada, Jaén and Almería, interior of the region of Murcia, Teruel and the Valencian Community.” But, as I say, that’s just the appetizer. Because if the models get right We will have a Dana (or a cold storm, it is not yet clear) near the peninsula at the end of the week. Be that as it may, this assures us a very unstable first Miad: unstable skies, water and Reasonable temperatures – Well below normal ,. A rare spring. If we lift the view and look at a couple more weeks, the forecasts are quite clear: everything seems to indicate that a long storm period awaits us. As they explain in CazatorentasIt is a direct consequence of the blockade. That draws a spring very different from the previous ones. Different? Not so much because of the temperatures that, with nuances, are within normal in most of the country. The nuances are that, on the coasts, they will be “slightly warmer than normal” and that, at the southwest end, they will be “slightly colder than normal.” This, already, gives us a good track of the expected rains. Except the Canary Islands and the Northwest Third, The models wait that rainfall in May is more intense than normal. Everything seems to indicate that summer can more and the tap will end up closing, but all this planets interesting things. The most important is what will happen now. Change of trend or simply an extremely weird year? Image | ECMWF In Xataka | May is putting a March face: Aemet’s great question is if 2025 will definitely end the drought

In the Norwegian cold war he devised a plan underground to detain the Soviet. Invasion to Ukraine has reactivated it

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The story took place at some point in The cold war. The plan started from a premise: how to contain a more than likely Soviet naval attack by one of the key maritime corridors in the Arctic Ocean? Thus the Term Bear Gap and a plan that germinated in a series of underground constructions with which Norway would put its grain of sand. Today, and after the Russian invasion in Ukraine, these secret constructions have reactivated. The origin of the bases. As we said, during the Cold War, the strategic location of Norway, close to the then Soviet Union, carried out the country to carry out a plan: build approximately 3,000 underground facilities destined to protect aircraft, submarines and troops both Norwegians and allies before a possible attack by Moscowand thus placate the offensive. Many of these structures, camouflaged in mountains and fjords, remained in secret even for the local population. Among them, the Bardufoss Air Base and the Naval Base of Olavsvernauthentic fortified complexes excavated in rock which had hangars, command centers, maintenance areas, fuel storage and underground exits designed to resist nuclear attacks. The reactivation. As I counted The BBC weekenddecades after the collapse of the USSR, Norway has decided to reactivate Bardufoss and Olavsvern due to the deterioration of regional security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the increased activity Russian military in the Arctic since the mid -2000s. The Bardufoss Air Base, opened in 1938 and Used by Germans During World War II to protect TIRPITZ battleshipwas adapted in the postwar to protect combat planes against a possible Soviet offensive. Today, modernized and equipped to accommodate F-35 Lightning IIits main function is guarantee survival of these aircraft before threats such as kamikaze drones, whose effectiveness It has been tested In the Ukrainian conflict. Unlike improvised solutions in battlefields, such as networks or tire covers, Bardufoss offers real protection thanks to their hardened shelters under the mountain. One of the underground bases used in the past by the United States Olavsvern and its importance. It We explained recently. The Naval Base of Olavsvern, built from the 50s With strong financial support from NATO, it was conceived to control The so -called Bear Gapa vital maritime step between the Norwegian coast, the island of the bear and Svalbard, where they traditionally travel Russian submarines towards the Atlantic. Olavsvern has an underground port with direct exit to the sea, dry dock, control center and large logistics facilities, protected by thick layers of Gabbro and a monumental anti-explosion door. Although Its closure in 2009 and its subsequent private sale (in A controversial operation that even allowed access to Russian vessels), in 2020 the company Wilnor Governmental Services, linked to the Norwegian Defense Ministry, He regained his control And he began his rehabilitation. Currently, the base has once again received active military presence and, As we countthe United States Navy has shown great interest in using it for its nuclear submarines. Bear Gap. It is of a strategic term used to describe that maritime corridor between the coast of Norway, the Bear Island (Bear Island) and the Svalbard archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean. The area is considered a key step or natural strangulation (Chokepoint) where Russian submarines and warships that seek to leave from the base of the fleet of northern Russia, located on the Kola Peninsula, towards the North Atlantic. During the cold war and even today, NATO considers this corridor a Critical point to monitordetect and, if necessary, block Russian naval forces, since it is one of the most accessible routes that connects the Barents Sea with the Atlantic. Hence, bases such as Olavsvern and other Norwegian facilities in the Arctic have so much strategic importance. Controlling or monitoring this step is essential to prevent Russian submarines with strategic (nuclear or conventional) missiles can operate freely in the Atlantic. The Arctic Resurgence. Far from being an isolated phenomenon, the reactivation of these bases is part of a broader trend. Russia He has reopened nearly 50 military facilities Arctic of the Soviet era, while countries like Sweden They have reactivated its underground naval base of Muskö and China has built New underground complexes For submarines and command centers. They will, meanwhile, too has followed this path with his “Missile City” In the Persian Gulf. Norway, aware of the intensification of Russian military exercises in the Arctic and their renewed interest in exploiting natural resources in the region, has resumed its defensive logic of dispersion and protection undergroundnot only for its strength, but also as an essential point of support for NATO. Utility and limitations of bunkers. It is the last of the legs to be treated. Despite their apparent strategic value, experts warn that Reactivate old bunkers presents Important challenges. Many have been dismantled, flooded or present degraded structures, making their modernization expensive and complex. In addition, the truth is that facilities such as Olavsvern have already been identified by satellites as a potential objective for decades, reducing any type of surprise factor. Thus, analysts also agree that underground facilities are still One of the best defenses Faced with modern aerial threats, including guided missiles, provided that their vulnerabilities are correctly updated. Norway seems to bet on resilience and deterrence, accepting that, given strategic uncertainty, underground security remains a prudent and effective option, especially in a region where Russia seems determined to project all its can. Image | Rawpixel, Marine In Xataka | The US plan B in the Arctic is an underwater cave in Norway. The only drawback is that it is not for sale In Xataka | Trump wants to keep Greenland. There are two countries for which it would be a serious problem: China and Russia

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