Just as I was getting impressed with the praiseworthy quality of an artice about Antartica,
a questionable word usage jumped out at me:
" Yet it is hard to guage what these dramatic developments portend, for despite scientists'
best efforts, Anarctica - highest, dryest, coldest continent on the planet - remains
a climatological cipher.

What in hell does that mean? I think it was supposed to mean "a puzzle" "a mystery"
"a conundrum" or something of the sort. In simpest terms "cipher" means "zero".
I cannot think of any way in which "cipher" makes sense. Can you?

cipher
n.
5ME cifre < OFr cyfre < ML cifra < Ar Rifr, Refr, a cipher, nothing < Rafara, to be empty6
1 the symbol 0, indicating a value of naught; zero
2 a person or thing of no importance or value; nonentity
3 a) a system of secret writing based on a key, or set of predetermined rules or symbols b) a message in such writing c) the key to such a system (see also CODE)
4 an intricate weaving together of letters, as a monogram
5 an Arabic numeral
vi.
1 [Now Rare] to solve arithmetic problems
2 to use secret writing
vt.
1 [Now Rare] to solve by arithmetic
2 to express in secret writing