No 9 (2020)

Glaciers and ice sheets store over two-thirds of Earth’s freshwater and are presently greatly contributing to rising sea levels. The main discharge from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets is drained through fast-moving ice streams and outlet glaciers. Understanding the behavior of these ice masses, including why a huge mass of ice moves at such high speeds, is essential to predicting their future evolution and future sea-level rises. A deep drilling project at the upper part of the largest ice stream in Greenland, Northeast Greenland Ice Stream, was started in 2015, with the main objective of studying the dynamics of ice flow in an ice stream via ice rheology and deformation studies of the ice core and via borehole observations of basal sliding and borehole deformation. Recently, this borehole reached as deep as 2122.4 m, and the drilling process was often not in the routine mode. The project Steering Committee has decided to cancel the 2020 season in light of the global Coronavirus situation. Drilling to the bedrock at the target depth of ~2550 m is planned for the next one or two field seasons.

Hydronyms of the southern part of the Volga-Don interfluve reflect the cultural, historical, ethnographic, and natural features of the region. The names of the rivers contain information about nature and characteristics of a water body, about the features of the relief and coastal sediments, about plant and animal species inhabiting the banks, about the quality and color of river water, or about the occupations and culture of the local population. Almost all the considered hydronyms come from the Old Slavic language, and only a small part belongs to the Sarmatian-Alan toponymic layer. This indicates the originality and diversity of peoples who once lived on the territory of the modern Volgograd region.

The article discusses the relationship between two prominent physicists of the 19th century - J.PJoule and M.Faraday. Faraday’s lack of interest in Joule’s work is noted. Faraday’s review on Joule’s article is analyzed. It is shown that scientists put different meanings into the “principle of conservation of force" and answered the question about the nature of heat in different ways. The article also discusses the general scientific views of Faraday and Joule in the context of a possible connection with their religious worldview.