The scorching heatwaves we experience, the wildfires that rage across nations, and the invisible carbon dioxide that fills the air are severely impacting our planet.



In 2023, the world saw extreme heatwaves that fueled substantial wildfires and induced severe droughts across the globe. 



What's more, these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fast-wildfires-are-gaining-even-more-speed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adverse conditions</a> significantly weakened the land's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon. 



The result? A notable surge in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, growing the scale of concern about accelerating climate change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heat-and-atmospheric-carbon">Heat and atmospheric carbon </h2>



Data from Hawaii's <a href="https://gml.noaa.gov/obop/mlo/aboutus/aboutus.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mauna Loa Observatory</a> showed that atmospheric carbon concentrations skyrocketed by an alarming 86% in 2023 compared to 2012. This increase sets a new record high since tracking of these levels began in 1958.



Interestingly, the rise in carbon dioxide levels cannot solely be pointed towards fossil fuel emissions. These, it seems, only rose by roughly 0.6 percent.



So, what's the primary culprit behind the spike in emissions? It's likely due to weakened <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-fire-risk-has-grown-exponentially-in-a-hotter-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">carbon absorption</a> by natural ecosystems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weakened-carbon-sink">Weakened carbon sink </h2>



An international team of scientists backed by the <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Extreme_heat_weakens_land_s_power_to_absorb_carbon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESA</a> Science for Society Near-Realtime Carbon Extremes project - along with the Climate Change Initiative RECCAP-2 project - set out to investigate the root causes of this event.



The experts used global vegetation models and satellite data to expedite a carbon budget report for 2023.



Land typically absorbs about one-third of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions. However, in 2023, this absorption capacity fell to a mere one-fifth of its usual level, marking the weakest performance by land carbon sink in two decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-extreme-heat-and-carbon-storage-capacity">Extreme heat and carbon storage capacity </h2>



“Our research shows that 30% of this decline was driven by the extreme heat of 2023, which fueled massive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ultrafine-particles-in-wildfire-smoke-change-weather-patterns/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildfires</a> that ravaged vast areas of Canadian forest and triggered severe drought across parts of the Amazon rainforest," said Philippe Ciais, a scientist from France’s Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences.



"These fires and droughts led to substantial vegetation loss, weakening the land ecosystem’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide. This was further compounded by a particularly strong El Niño, which historically reduces the carbon absorption capacity in the Tropics." 



The situation was made worse by a particularly potent El Niño, which historically reduces carbon absorption capacity in the tropics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-carbon-emitted-from-wildfires">Carbon emitted from wildfires</h2>



Widespread wildfires across Canada and droughts in the Amazon in 2023 released nearly the same amount of carbon to the atmosphere as North America's total fossil fuel emissions. 



This finding highlights the severe impact of climate change on natural ecosystems.



The Amazon rainforest, one of the planet's most essential carbon sinks, is showing signs of long-term distress. Some regions of the Amazon that no longer absorb carbon have shifted into net sources of carbon emissions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-s-declining-capacity-to-absorb-carbon">Earth's declining capacity to absorb carbon </h2>



The declining capacity of Earth's land ecosystems to absorb carbon dioxide may signify that these natural carbon sinks are nearing their limits. 



They won't be able to continue to provide the mitigation service of absorbing half of human-induced carbon dioxide emissions.



"Consequently, achieving safe global warming limits will require even more ambitious emission reductions than previously anticipated," Ciais adds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-saving-earth-s-carbon-cycle">Saving Earth's carbon cycle</h2>



The study also highlights that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-models-underestimate-sea-ice-melt-and-global-warming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">current climate models</a> might be underestimating the pace and impact of extreme events such as droughts and fires on the degradation of these crucial carbon reservoirs.



"Understanding the knock-on effects of climate change on the carbon cycle is imperative, and the two ESA study projects demonstrate the importance of Earth observation in developing methodologies to provide rapid assessment of these impacts globally," said Stephen Plummer, <a href="https://www.esa.int/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESA</a> Earth Observation Applications Scientist.



"These results are particularly alarming, especially considering the difficulty the world is having limiting warming to 1.5°C, as laid out in the Paris Agreement," noted Clement Albergel, ESA’s Acting Head of the Actionable Climate Information Section.



Given these alarming revelations, it's vital that we ask ourselves: how can we contribute to mitigating these effects? Can we consume less, recycle more, and seek out greener alternatives in our daily lives? The need for climate action could not be more urgent.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwae367/7831648?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Science Review</a>.



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Extreme heat of 2023  weakened Earth's carbon storage capacity

The scorching heatwaves we experience, the wildfires that rage across nations, and the invisible carbon dioxide that fills the air are severely impacting our planet. In 2023, the world saw extreme heatwaves that fueled substantial wildfires and induced severe droughts across the globe. What's more, these adverse conditions significantly weakened the land's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon. The result? A notable surge in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, growing the scale of concern about accelerating climate change. Heat and atmospheric carbon Data from Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory showed...

Despite the crucial role earthworms and other soil invertebrates play for healthy <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mountain-ecosystems-are-in-urgent-need-of-protection/">ecosystems</a> and fertile soils, there has historically been a lack of monitoring of their populations. Now, by collecting nearly 100 years of scientific studies on soil invertebrate abundance, a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.bto.org/">British Trust for Ornithology</a> (BTO) has found evidence that earthworm populations have significantly declined over the past decades.



&nbsp;“Changes in the UK countryside over the last century, such as extensive drainage, pesticide use, and inorganic fertilizer application, are likely to have negatively affected earthworm populations,” reported study lead author Ailidh Barnes, a research ecologist at BTO.



“Any large-scale decline in soil biodiversity - particularly the loss of earthworms - would sit alongside&nbsp;concerns about&nbsp;‘insectaggedon’ and the wider biodiversity crisis,” added James Pearce-Higgins, the Director of Science at the same organization. “We need to be concerned about what is happening to biodiversity below the ground in order to protect the biodiversity that we see above ground. We need to look after earthworms.”



According to the scientists, thrushes, starlings, and waders which rely on soil invertebrates are experiencing long-term declines, partly due to changes in the availability of their food sources. These declines appear to be greatest in southeast England, where hotter and drier summers are also likely to reduce the availability of earthworms to foraging birds.



&nbsp;“Whilst these data do not come from a proper monitoring scheme, our hope is that publishing this work will stimulate others to investigate what is happening to our soil invertebrates and establish proper monitoring. Given their importance, we need to monitor changes in the status of our soil invertebrates better than we have in the past,” Pearce-Higgins concluded.



The findings of this study will be presented by Professor Pearce-Higgins at the <a href="https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/">British Ecological Society</a>’s annual meeting in Edinburgh on Monday 19th&nbsp;December.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Scientists identify long-term declines in UK earthworms

Despite the crucial role earthworms and other soil invertebrates play...

The Arctic will soon receive more rain than snow, according to a new study published by the <a href="https://www.agu.org/">American Geophysical Union</a>. The experts report that as the planet heats up, the number of rainy days in the Arctic could double by the end of this century.



Study lead author Tingfeng Dou is a climate scientist at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He explained that as Arctic rainfall events spread farther toward the center of the Arctic Ocean and inland Greenland, we can expect "the arrival of a new Arctic."



“In the past, rainfall was primarily limited to the edges of the Greenland ice sheet,” said Dou. “In the future, this will radically change because rainfall will expand further into inland locations and be a catalyst for further ablation of the ice sheet.”



The experts used climate models to predict future changes in rainfall frequency and intensity under a high level of greenhouse gas emissions from 2015 to 2100.



The projected increase in rainfall across the Arctic will trigger widespread permafrost melt. This will release huge amounts of greenhouse gases and accelerate the rate of sea ice loss. Under a high-emissions scenario, Antarctica may transition to the same rainier conditions. The consequences will widespread, with direct impacts on Arctic ecology and Indigenous peoples, and cascading effects on communities all over the planet.&nbsp;



“Even ordinary rainfall can be regarded as an extreme event in polar regions,” said Dou. He noted that the number of reindeer deaths caused by a single rain-on-snow event could range from several hundred to thousands, as their food becomes trapped under an icy layer.&nbsp;



Local warming rates in the Arctic are “two to three times that of the global average,” said study co-author Cunde Xiao. “This is a serious cause for alarm.”



“Once the transition from snow to rainfall becomes common, it will have a far-reaching impact on the Arctic ice and snow process and hydrological ecology,” said Xiao. “This will also strongly amplify the warming of the Arctic, making it a major issue worthy of global attention as it can have global consequences.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002378">Earth's Future</a>.



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Arctic rainfall could soon double, with dramatic consequences

The Arctic will soon receive more rain than snow, according...

He,Is,The,Champ,.,Mixed,Media

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/blueberries-grown-grass/">Grass</a> is an extremely resilient plant in general. But a particular species of turfgrass - Paspalum vaginatum (colloquially known as seashore paspalum) – which has been used to pad soccer fields recently built in Qatar for the World Cup, can tolerate stresses diverse and lethal enough to rival cactuses or camels. Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.unl.edu/">University of Nebraska-Lincoln</a> has argued that seashore paspalum may soon assist another goal – growing crops which yield more food with less of the fertilizer that imposes significant costs on farmers, ecosystems, and water resources.



Since mid-20th century, the application of fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorous has skyrocketed, in order to boost plant growth. However, the seashore paspalum does not seem to need much of these nutrients, a surprising feature which sets it apart from its close relatives such as corn and sorghum.



By analyzing this plant’s genes and gene expression, the scientists discovered that it responds to a lack of nutrients by nearly doubling its production of a sugary molecule called trehalose. Although corn and sorghum naturally churn out some of the same molecule, the researchers saw no change in its production among these two nutrient-starved crops.



Unfortunately, trying to increase trehalose in corn proved ineffective. “So I thought about it in the opposite way,” said study lead author Guangchao Sun, a bioinformatician at the <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/">Mayo Clinic</a>. “If I cannot supply trehalose to the plants, what if I stopped its degradation in those plants?”



By using an antibiotic that can inhibit the enzyme responsible for degrading trehalose, the scientists finally succeeded in cranking up the trehalose levels in corn and, within days, the crops started growing more. According to Sun and his colleagues, these changes also relied on autophagy – a “recycling program” in plant cells that takes apart old or damaged proteins, then reassembles them into new, functioning ones.&nbsp;



Eventually, the team managed to develop a mutant of corn which lacked the ability to engage the final stage of recycling. Moreover, even with a surplus of trehalose, the mutant failed to thrive when deprived of essential nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorous, marking autophagy as an equally important facet of the resilience.



According to Sun, there are still other things to do before scientists will clearly understand seashore paspalum’s world-class tolerance. However, he hopes that very soon his team will manage to identify the genes that code for higher trehalose.



“And if you could (introduce) that genomic region into other elite corn varieties — say, some maize that has high yield but is really sensitive to nutrient stress — maybe now you get both a high yield and high resilience,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35507-8">Nature Communications</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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World Cup turfgrass may help make corn more resilient

Grass is an extremely resilient plant in general. But a...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Pennsylvania State University</a> has found that short-term, heavy feeding by adult spotted lanternflies on young maple <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-trees-are-vital-to-forest-survival/">trees</a> inhibits photosynthesis, and thus may impair the trees’ growth by up to 50 percent. These findings could help production nurseries and forest managers make better decisions on how to protect these types of trees.



“Spotted lanternfly will feed on important ornamental and forest trees such as silver and red maple, which are used to make products and are abundant across urban, suburban, and rural landscapes throughout Pennsylvania,” said study senior author Kelli Hoover, a professor of Entomology at Penn State.



This species of lanternfly, which originated in Asia, was first discovered in 2014 in the U.S. in Berks County and, since then, has spread to 45 Pennsylvania counties, as well as a few surrounding states. The pest uses its piercing-sucking mouth to feed on sap from over 100 plant species, with a strong preference for tree-of-heaven (which is also an invasive species), as well as both wild and cultivated grapes.



“While the spotted lanternfly likely co-evolved with its preferred host, tree-of-heaven, in its native range, the effects on the health and physiology of tree hosts native to the U.S. have not been investigated,” Hoover explained.



The scientists collected spotted lanternflies at two ages – adults and fourth instar nymphs (the last developmental stage before adulthood) – and placed them in different “densities” (number of insects per plant) on silver maple, red maple, tree-of-heaven, and black walnut saplings. Over a period of two years, they examined how insect density by life stage influenced physiological plant responses, such as photosynthesis.



“This process produces the nonstructural carbohydrates that trees need to grow and produce flowers or fruit,” Hoover said. “When plants are under stress, they use a variety of strategies to defend themselves; they may shift rates of photosynthesis and alter the allocation of carbon and nitrogen resources to growth or induced plant defenses.”



The analysis revealed that adult spotted lanternflies thwarted photosynthesis and reduced nitrogen concentrations in leaves, thus stunting the growth of the trees, while nymphs had less impact on tree development. These declines in tree growth were proportional to the density of the insects.



“The bottom line is that the older the insects, the more damaging they are. If spotted lanternfly is feeding on your rosebush, especially the nymphs, or if they are confined to the underside of the leaves of your maple trees, they’re probably not going to do much harm. But, when they are blanketing young trees, treatment with biopesticides or insecticides might be needed,” Hoover concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/finsc.2022.1080124">Frontiers in Insect Science</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Spotted lanternflies damage young maple trees

A new study led by Pennsylvania State University has found...

Dinosaurs dominated the land habitats of Earth for over 100 million years during the Mesozoic era. At the peak of their success, they included species that were herbivorous, like the long-necked <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giant-sauropods-walked-more-like-hippos-than-elephants/">sauropods</a>, and others that were dedicated carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex&nbsp;and its relatives. However, they were not always the grand and impressive reptiles with which we are so familiar.&nbsp;&nbsp;



When dinosaurs first evolved, way back in the early Triassic Period (some 230 million years ago), they were not initially very successful or diverse. They were mostly small and lived in the shadow of the much more successful crocodile-like archosaurs. Scientists do not know how diverse they were in terms of their diets and ecology, but they do know that something happened during their early evolution in the Triassic, that enabled them to adapt to a wide range of habitats and lifestyles.&nbsp;



At the end of the Triassic Period, a mass extinction event occurred that wiped out the crocodile-like competitors, but most of the early dinosaurs survived. After this event, the dinosaurs were able to adapt and evolve into a diverse array of species that dominated the earth until their extinction, 66 million years ago.&nbsp;



Significant ways in which the early dinosaurs changed involved the shapes of their skulls and the morphology of their teeth. This is thought to indicate that they began to diversify their diets and eat different foods. By looking at the tooth shapes of the earliest dinosaurs and simulating their tooth function with computational modelling, a team of researchers has now been able to compare them to living reptiles and their diets. Their findings are published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.



“Soon after their origin, dinosaurs start to show an interesting diversity of skull and tooth shapes. For decades, this has made paleontologists suspect that different species were already experimenting with different kinds of diets," explained study lead author&nbsp;Dr. Antonio Ballell&nbsp;from the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>.



The researchers compared the fossilized teeth of early dinosaurs to those of modern lizard species and tried to infer what the dinosaurs ate, based on the similarities with modern lizard species, for which the diets are known.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We investigated this by applying a set of computational methods to quantify the shape and function of the teeth of early dinosaurs and compare them to living reptiles that have different diets," said Dr. Ballell. "This included mathematically modeling their tooth shapes and simulating their mechanical responses to biting forces with engineering software.”



“With this battery of methods, we were able to numerically quantify how similar early dinosaurs were to modern animals, providing solid evidence for our inferences of diets. Theropod dinosaurs have pointy, curved and blade-like teeth with tiny serrations, which behaved like those of modern monitor lizards," explained study co-author Professor Mike Benton. "In contrast, the denticulated teeth of ornithischians and sauropodomorphs are more similar to modern omnivores and herbivores, like iguanas.”



The innovative study used machine learning models to classify the earliest dinosaurs into the different diet categories, based on their tooth shape and mechanics. The researchers found that some of the species, such as Thecodontosaurus (one of the earliest and oldest known dinosaurs), had teeth that were perfectly adapted for a diet of plants. However, many groups that ended up being herbivorous actually had ancestors that were omnivorous. And the long-necked herbivores, such as Diplodocus, had ancestors that ate meat.&nbsp;



The researchers suggest that this ability to diversify their diets early in their evolution likely explains the evolutionary and ecological success of the dinosaurs.



“Our analyses reveal that ornithischians - the group that includes many plant-eating species like the horned dinosaurs, the armored ankylosaurs and the duck-billed dinosaurs - started off as omnivores. And another interesting finding is that the earliest sauropodomorphs, ancestors of the veggie long-necked sauropods like&nbsp;Diplodocus, were carnivores. This shows that herbivory was not ancestral for any of these two lineages, countering traditional hypotheses, and that the diets of early dinosaurs were quite diverse," said study co-author Professor Emily Rayfield.



Dr. Ballell concluded: “It seems that one of the things that made the first dinosaurs special is that they evolved different diets throughout the Triassic, and we think this might have been key for their evolutionary and ecological success.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Dinosaurs' ability to adapt to new diets may explain their success

Dinosaurs dominated the land habitats of Earth for over 100...

The food that we get on our table travels long distances and undergoes various modifications – from production to processing to distribution and, finally, consumption. Now, an international team of researchers have produced digital maps detailing the pressures that the global food system is exerting on the environment and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-whales-help-mitigate-climate-change/">climate</a>.



“The food system is the biggest threat to biological diversity and one of the worst drivers of the climate crisis,” said study co-author Daniel Moran, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> (NTNU).



“There are lots of different foods on the planet and numerous ways to produce them. The environmental consequences are manifold and difficult to calculate. By gaining a better understanding of the negative impacts, we can achieve more environmentally efficient food production. Doing this will protect the environment and help ensure that we have enough food for the world's population.”



The scientists have gathered data on 99 percent of all food production in water and on land reported in 2017, while taking into account the main types of pressure that food production exerts on the environment, including CO2 emissions, water consumption, pollution, and habitat destruction. Moreover, they have also followed the entire “life cycle” of food – from the sowing of grain or birth of the piglet all the way to the bread and bacon on the consumers’ tables – in order to measure the total environmental impact.



The analysis revealed that five countries – China, India, the United States, Brazil, and Pakistan – account for nearly half of the global environmental impact from food production. In the current study, the countries with the smaller environmental footprint have not been “crowned,” since they are generally poor countries that live with severe food shortages and widespread hunger.&nbsp;



According to the scientists, 90 percent of all food production takes place on the ten percent of the Earth’s land area. Nevertheless, its environmental impact is highly variable according to the specific regions where processes related to food production occur. “In general, locally produced food is the most environmentally friendly option, but we were surprised at how much the production footprint of the same product varied in different countries,” Moran explained.



“A food product can be sustainable when it is produced in one country, but not in another. For example, it turned out that soy production in the USA is twice as environmentally efficient as in India.”



The researchers concluded that no particular diet can be considered best for protecting the environment, and can vary greatly from country to country. Moreover, they warned that, although local food is often sustainable, people should find a balance between their desire for self-sufficiency with all types of food and the most environmentally efficient production possible.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00965-x">Nature Sustainability</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Food production is one of the biggest drivers of climate change

The food that we get on our table travels long...

For the last 3.7 billion years, Earth’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-may-worsen-neurologic-conditions/">climate</a> has undergone drastic changes, and yet life has kept on beating. A new study from the <a href="https://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> has confirmed that the Earth has a “stabilizing feedback” mechanism that has pulled the climate back from the brink, keeping global temperatures within a steady, habitable range.



According to the experts, this phenomenon is likely caused by “silicate weathering” - the slow and steady weathering of silicate rocks involving chemical reactions that draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and into ocean sediments. The Earth’s enduring habitability points to some inherent, geologic check on extreme temperature swings.



“You have a planet whose climate was subjected to so many dramatic external changes. Why did life survive all this time? One argument is that we need some sort of stabilizing mechanism to keep temperatures suitable for life,” said study co-author Constantin Arnscheidt. “But it's never been demonstrated from data that such a mechanism has consistently controlled Earth's climate.”



Arnscheidt and Professor Daniel Rothman sought to confirm whether a stabilizing feedback has been at work by looking at data of global temperature fluctuations through geologic history. They worked with a range of global temperature records, from the chemical composition of ancient marine fossils and shells, as well as preserved Antarctic ice cores.



The team analyzed the history of average global temperatures over the last 66 million years, considering the entire period over different timescales to see whether any patterns of stabilizing feedback emerged.



Without stabilizing feedbacks, fluctuations of global temperature should grow with timescale. The study revealed a regime in which fluctuations did not grow, implying that a stabilizing mechanism reigned in the climate before fluctuations grew too extreme.&nbsp;



The timescale for this stabilizing effect — hundreds of thousands of years — coincides with what scientists predict for silicate weathering.



On longer timescales, the data did not reveal any stabilizing feedbacks. Over these longer timescales, then, what has kept global temperatures in check?



“There’s an idea that chance may have played a major role in determining why, after more than 3 billion years, life still exists,” said Professor Rothman.



As the Earth’s temperatures change, these fluctuations may just happen to be within a range that a stabilizing feedback, such as silicate weathering, could periodically keep the climate in check - and within a habitable zone.



“There are two camps: Some say random chance is a good enough explanation, and others say there must be a stabilizing feedback,” said Arnscheidt. “We’re able to show, directly from data, that the answer is probably somewhere in between. In other words, there was some stabilization, but pure luck likely also played a role in keeping Earth continuously habitable.”



The results of the study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adc9241">Science Advances</a>, imply that today’s global warming could be eventually canceled out by the stabilizing feedback. However, this would take hundreds of thousands of years to happen, and can’t be relied on to solve the climate crisis.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Earth has a stabilizing mechanism that keeps it habitable

For the last 3.7 billion years, Earth’s climate has undergone...

More than half of the global population currently lives in cities, and this is projected to increase significantly by the end of the century. As cities expand in size, their green spaces, including remnant natural areas, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-distance-between-humans-and-nature-is-growing/">nature</a> reserves and urban parks, will come under increasing pressure from human activities. Both managed and unmanaged green spaces are important as locations or people to exercise, get closer to nature, destress and improve their mental health. However, there is a delicate balance between allowing human access and conserving natural ecosystems.&nbsp;



Parks and other green spaces are also important for preserving ecosystem biodiversity and for providing services such as stormwater management and heat reduction. When people utilize green spaces, they can affect these functions, for example by disturbing wildlife and forging new trails that are then subject to erosion. It is therefore important for green space management strategies that the numbers and activities of visitors are measured in some way. This should not be invasive, but must be at a fine enough scale to inform management decisions.



Researchers from the University of Toronto and Conservation Halton have now partnered to test the usefulness of anonymized GPS data from peoples’ smartphones to quantify the extent to which green spaces are used, and for what purposes. Conservation Halton is a local conservation authority responsible for managing natural areas, protected reserves and urban parks in the regional municipality of Halton, Ontario. The various green spaces total around 1,000 km2 and include forests, riverside vegetation and grasslands. More than 1.2 million visitors use these spaces each year, most of them from nearby large urban centers.



Visitors to the green spaces often take part in activities such as hiking, dog walking, cross-country skiing and picnicking, and GPS data from visitors’ smartphones can be a powerful tool in understanding what activities are taking place and how many people are present.&nbsp;



The researchers in the current study used Mapbox Movement to obtain an anonymized activity index representing visitor density aggregated to 100 x 100 m grid cells and two-hour windows. They developed new methods for the synthesis, management and analysis of this GPS data from smart devices in the Conservation Halton green spaces in order to understand how this data compares with traditional measures of human access and activity, and to investigate whether the activity index can be used to infer human presence and activity in green spaces in future.&nbsp;



Alessandro Filazzola and colleagues present their findings in a paper in the open-access journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010725">PLOS Computational Biology</a>. They found that the GPS data did indeed capture insights about people’s use of these green spaces, showing, for instance, that mobile device activity was strongly correlated with data on reservations made by people to access parks.&nbsp;



The data also revealed which areas within green spaces had more or less human activity, with established trails being particularly popular. In addition, greater human presence was linked to certain types of land cover, such as rock formations, as well as certain tree species. These findings highlight the potential for anonymized GPS smartphone data to help inform management of green spaces, especially as cities grow worldwide. Such efforts could optimize the benefits of green spaces for people while also preserving biodiversity and other ecosystem services.



The experts note several challenges to this approach, such as some people’s tendency to disconnect from their mobile devices when visiting green spaces and the difficulty of distinguishing between a smart phone located within a green space and one that is in a car passing just outside the perimeter. Future research could address these issues and refine the methodology.



“Access to parks is important for city residents for recreation, connecting to nature, and socialization, but it’s challenging to understand how people use these green spaces," said the researchers. "Our study is using anonymized mobility data to help shed light on the relationship between people and nature in parks.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Smartphones track interactions between people and green spaces

More than half of the global population currently lives in...

The whitebark <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/high-altitudes-no-longer-protect-pine-trees-from-disease/">pine</a> is one of the few trees that can survive in the cold, wind-swept heights of the Rocky Mountains and other western mountain ranges, clinging to steep slopes for centuries, even in the most extreme environments. However, on Wednesday, December 14, the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</a> announced that they will protect this iconic tree under the Endangered Species Act, warning that the whitebark is currently facing a variety of menaces, including a deadly fungus, a hungry beetle, massive wildfires, and a changing climate.



“As a keystone species of the West, extending ESA protections to the whitebark pine is critical to not only the tree itself, but also the numerous plants, animals, and watersheds that it supports,” said Matt Hogan, a regional director at the agency.



The whitebark pine plays a major role in high-altitude ecosystems, slowing runoff from melting snow, and providing food for a variety of animals, ranging from squirrels to grizzly bears. Now, an invasive fungus called the white pine blister rust is sweeping through the tree’s range of over 80 million acres in the United States and Canada, greatly endangering the pines. In addition, other threats include a native beetle that burrows into its bark, as well as fiercer wildfires fueled by a warming climate.



“The listing means that whitebark pine is the first widely distributed tree that the federal government has clearly pegged as a climate casualty — sadly, as climate change worsens, it will not be the last,” said Sylvia Fallon, a senior director of the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>, an advocacy group that already petitioned the agency to protect the tree over a decade ago.



With this new listing, officials and scientists hope to spark new research into how to save this species and take protective measures against those who chop down the tree on federal lands. Moreover, by growing and planting seedlings which are resistant to the fungus, the pine could be restored in many areas of its range.



“We do have the tools to restore whitebark pine,”&nbsp;concluded Diana Tomback, the policy and outreach coordinator at the <a href="https://whitebarkfound.org/">Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Iconic whitebark pine trees are endangered

The whitebark pine is one of the few trees that...

The foods we choose to eat have environmental impacts in terms of their production, processing, transport and sale. Considering that humanity is facing increasingly dire consequences of global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forest-microclimates-impact-bird-species-diversity/">warming</a> and climate change, it is important to understand how our food choices contribute to environmental problems. Ideally, people should be encouraged to change their diets such that the environmental impacts are minimized, but many different barriers to change currently exist.&nbsp;



In a study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106388">Appetite</a>, researchers interviewed 21 British participants about their knowledge and understanding of what constitutes a sustainable diet, and whether they would be prepared to make the necessary changes. The participants were mostly young adults who cooked for themselves, or for others in the household.&nbsp;



According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), sustainable diets are “diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations.” Previous research has suggested that 20–30 percent of environmental impacts in Europe and the UK originate from supplying the foods that people choose to eat; these impacts arise from greenhouse gas emissions, the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and the use of water, among others.



Previous modeing studies have suggested that the negative impacts can be reduced through changes to dietary consumption. For example, it is commonly understood that the production of animals and animal products has significant negative consequences for environments and for the planet as a whole, and that eating a plant-based diet is less environmentally damaging.&nbsp;



In the current study, researchers from the <a href="https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/">Bournemouth University</a> took a qualitative approach and conducted in-depth interviews with the 21 participants. The participants were asked various questions about their understanding of a sustainable diet and their willingness to make changes in their own food choices. In this way, the researchers gained detailed, rich and personal responses from the participants. The interview transcripts were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.



Four themes were identified, in the participants’ responses, that related to understanding sustainable diets: ‘Consistent with the definition by the FAO,’ ‘Multiple benefits,’ ‘Unsure’ and ‘Competing Interests.’ Similarly, four themes were identified relating to making changes to one’s diet: ‘Willing, but unsure,’ ‘Small, easy changes,’ ‘Enablers’ and ‘Barriers.’



Within these themes, participants were able to define sustainable eating in a manner that was consistent with the definition by the FAO, could identify sustainable actions that they were undertaking or could undertake, and considered these to be beneficial. However, there was a lot of uncertainty expressed by the participants. Many did not know, or were very unsure of, what constituted a sustainable diet, and some admitted to choosing foods without considering the consequences for the environment or planet at all. Others thought their diet was sustainable to some degree already, that there was no need for them to change, and that they were content with the diet that they already had, for their lifestyle, pocket, and tastes.



“When thinking about how to live more sustainably, people seem to understand that this can mean taking fewer flights, using the car less, recycling more, but it seems that not everyone is aware of the difference that changing their diet can make as well,” explained Professor Katherine Appleton, who led the study.



Participants were also unclear on what would make their food choices more environmentally sustainable. When it came to making changes to their diet, participants explained that they would be willing to do that to help the environment, but there was significant uncertainty about what changes they should make. There is clearly a lot of contradictory information around concerning the best foods to eat in order to ensure a minimal environmental footprint.



Participants expressed the preference for making small, easy changes of high impact in their diets, but there was again considerable uncertainty as to exactly what changes to make. Their comments indicated hesitation and concern that any actions they may take could be sustainable from one perspective, but not from another. For example, eating tofu made from soy may be a suitable replacement for meat in a diet, but if forest has been cleared to plant that soy then its carbon footprint can be as much as twice that produced when raising chickens.&nbsp;



The researchers concluded that far more needs to be done to increase public awareness and knowledge of sustainable diets, and to educate people about the links between food production and environmental damage. They also recommend that sustainable foods need to be made more available and accessible to consumers, and that information concerning sustainable foods should be easy to access and should stem from credible, objective sources.&nbsp;



“We were surprised by our findings. We had originally intended looking at how we can encourage people to eat more foods such as beans and pulses, but we discovered that people still don’t know enough about why this is important, so to talk about increasing the consumption of specific foods is getting too far ahead for many,” explained Professor Appleton.



“We need to promote greater awareness and knowledge of how changes to eating habits can go some way to helping the planet, while also offering some suggested changes that are likely to be acceptable and acted upon,” she added.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Many people are unaware that food choices impact the environment

The foods we choose to eat have environmental impacts in...

A,View,Of,A,Meteor,Shower,And,The,Milky,Way

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-spectacular-geminid-meteor-shower-peaks-tonight/">Geminid meteor shower</a> occurs every year between late November and end of December, providing a spectacular celestial event for passionate stargazers. This year, the shower will peak on December 13 and 14, with up to 150 meteors expected to be visible each other during these two nights. Unfortunately, a bright moon may make the shooting stars more difficult to spot.&nbsp;



Unlike most meteors that we can notice from Earth, which are debris emerging from comets, the Geminids come from a rather small asteroid called 3200 Phaeton, which was first discovered by scientists in 1983, and has a comet-like orbit, leading many astronomers argue that it may in fact be a “dead comet” or a new type of “rock comet.”



The meteors, which are small pieces of debris from this strange asteroid, will appear to radiate from close to the star Castor in the constellation Gemini. Their glow is caused by friction with the upper atmosphere that heats them up, causing the air around them to shine brightly.



According to experts from the <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory">Royal Observatory</a> in Greenwich, the Geminids are quite unusual, and different from other meteors, since they can be multi-colored (white, yellow, green, red, and blue). These colors are mainly caused by the presence of traces of metals such as sodium and calcium – much like what makes fireworks colorful. Moreover, the Geminids also have a slower closing speed than many other meteors emanating from comets, as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere at an angle, travelling at about 79,200 miles per hour.



&nbsp;“For the best chances to spot the Geminids, find a dark area of clear sky and allow around 20 minutes to let your eyes adapt to the dark,” said Anna Gammon-Ross, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory. “It may also be advisable to lie down as you may be looking up for a long time.”



&nbsp;“Unfortunately, the waning gibbous moon will make it trickier to see the meteors during the peak night this year. The gibbous phases are when the near side of the moon is over halfway lit up by the Sun, meaning it will appear very bright in our skies. This will make it difficult to see any other celestial objects nearby,” she concluded.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Geminid shower set to shoot 150 meteors per hour at its peak

The Geminid meteor shower occurs every year between late November...

As food systems in the United States become more complex and interconnected, products such as beef often impact the environment in unpredictable ways. Now, a team of scientists from the <a href="https://www.pitt.edu/">University of Pittsburgh</a> has found that, although <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/water-supply-from-icy-mountains-will-become-less-reliable/">water</a> is needed throughout the entire food supply, the beef industry is the least efficient in using it.



The experts designed a model to investigate the beef industry’s impact on virtual water flows – the hidden movement of water in food production – by tracing supply chains from calf production to beef consumption across the entire U.S.



“Understanding beef demands and the spatial distribution of both feed and cattle production are key for evaluating the environmental sustainability of food systems and developing improvement strategies,” said Vikas Khanna, a civil and environmental engineer at Pittsburgh.&nbsp;



Scientists have long known that all food production requires vast amounts of water, most of it used to produce feed. The irrigation process for feed requires water found in surface and ground reservoirs (so-called “blue water”).&nbsp;However, using this type of water exclusively can lead to environmental problems such as water depletion, soil degradation, or salinization.



By using an optimization-based framework and datasets on supply and demand, the researchers discovered a marked disconnect between consumption and production counties, with over 22 billion cubic meters of blue water transferred in 2017 alone (thus, a higher quantity than the Great Salt Lake, which has about 19 billion cubic meters of water).



“Typically, real-world networks have a skewed degree of distributions with few connected intersections. We observed this in our network as the majority of counties have few connections, while a small number of counties have a large number of connections,” Khanna explained.



&nbsp;“This research reflects the complexity of environmental systems and how important it is to take that complexity into account with a systems perspective,” added Bruce Hamilton, a program director in National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Engineering.&nbsp;



In the future, the scientists aim to apply this framework to better understand the environmental impacts of other animal-based production practices, and to identify opportunities for improvement.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://beta.nsf.gov/now-leaving-b6080ec977d9f697b9b745cc03?external_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpubs.acs.org%2Fdoi%2F10.1021%2Facs.est.2c03986&amp;back_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbeta.nsf.gov%2Fnews%2Fimpact-us-beef-network-water-resources%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgovdelivery">Environmental Science and Technology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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US beef industry is inefficient in using water resources

As food systems in the United States become more complex...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes how Earth is unique in our solar system for its ability to sustain liquid water on its surface. But now, the water cycle is shifting as the climate warms, and scientists must find ways to predict how these changes will affect water availability.



Overall, 96 percent of Earth's water is saltwater, and nearly all of freshwater is found in ice and groundwater. These sources of water are linked as it passes through solid, liquid and gas phases.



In a warmer climate, the water cycle will be transformed. It will be easier for water to evaporate and form clouds, and storms will become more frequent and intense. Some regions will get too much water, while others will be left without enough water. In addition, soil moisture will be lost - which threatens food security.



Scientists are using satellite data from over the last 40 years to track changes that are happening in the water cycle. This will ultimately help us prepare for extreme events and better manage our water resources, according to ESA.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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Saturn,-,High,Resolution,3d,Images,Presents,Planets,Of,The

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> features images of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The photographs capture the start of the mysterious "spoke season" on Saturn - when unexplained features appear on its rings. 



According to NASA, both the cause of the spokes and their seasonal variability have yet to be fully explained by planetary scientists.



"Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun," explains NASA.



"The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn. (When the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere of a planet.) As the autumnal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, draws near, the spokes are expected to become increasingly prominent and observable."



Experts believe that the spokes may be a product of the planet's variable magnetic field. When magnetic fields interact with solar wind, an electrically charged environment is created. This phenomenon is visible on Earth as the northern lights.&nbsp;



"Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings," says NASA.



The spokes were first observed in the early 1980s by NASA's Voyager mission. Depending on the angle of the rings, the spokes can appear dark or light.



"Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn’s spokes this season than ever before," said NASA senior planetary scientist Amy Simon, head of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.



"Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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Closeup,Of,Fresh,Green,The,Napier,Bush,Grass,As,Animal

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/">NTU Singapore</a> reveals that some plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed samples of various tropical plant species to test for levels of heavy metals and metalloids. The study showed that there are existing plants with high levels of these contaminants, which means that these species are great candidates for drawing pollutants out of the soil.&nbsp;



Among the plants examined in the study, 12 species had accumulated several types of heavy metals and metalloids. These plants are widely available, including species that are native to Singapore.



“In a small nation like Singapore, land may be repurposed to support new development plans, so it is important that we have a green and sustainable way to remediate land that is contaminated," said Professor Lam Yeng Ming.



"We set out to uncover how to better make use of tropical plants to do phytoremediation and through advanced characterization techniques, we showed how some of these tropical plant species can be an environmentally friendly and literally a 'green' way to remove contaminants in soil."&nbsp;



"Phytoremediation also has benefits of cost effectiveness, simplicity of management, aesthetic advantages, and long-term applicability and sustainability. The strategy prevents erosion and metal leaching by stabilizing or accumulating heavy metals, so that helps reduce the risk of contaminant spread.”



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes why herbicides are not as effective in killing weeds anymore. In the 20th century, chemical companies developed thousands of herbicides. The most commonly used herbicide was glyphosate, which was introduced in 1974.



Over the past few decades, dozens of species of weeds have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Depending on the site of action, the part of the plant that an herbicide interacts with, weeds may even be resistant to herbicides that have not been developed yet.&nbsp;



With increasing resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides, weeds are - once again - becoming a major concern for farmers.&nbsp;



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) describes a dust storm on Mars that was nearly twice the size of the United States. As the storm covered the southern hemisphere of the planet, some of NASA’s explorers had to delay their normal activities.



NASA’s Insight lander put itself in a "safe mode" for 11 days to conserve battery power because solar power was disrupted by the dust. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter postponed flights until conditions improved.



"A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor Martian dust storms like this one and serve as lifelines to Earth by relaying data from the rovers and lander on the ground back to the team. This includes the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and Odyssey," reports JPL.



"Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they rise – warming the cold Martian atmosphere."



The images in the video were captured by NASA’s Curiosity as the dust rolled in. A fleet of orbiters monitored the dust storm from above, relaying data from Mars’ explorers back to scientists on Earth.



Video &amp; Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="http://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. This strait provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.



Qeshm is separated from the Iranian coast by the Clarence Strait, also known as Khuran.&nbsp;The Hara Forest Protected Area is a network of shallow waterways and forest located between the island and the mainland. This protected region is home to sea turtles, snakes, and more than 150 species of migrating birds.



Qeshm is famous for its wide range of&nbsp;ecotourist&nbsp;attractions, such as the&nbsp;Hara marine forests. According to environmentalists, about 1.5 percent of the world birds and 25 percent of Iran's native <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-hummingbirds-avoid-sexual-harassment-by-looking-like-males/">birds</a> annually migrate to the forests, which are the first national geo park in Iran.



Tourists are also drawn to the island to see an age-old Portuguese&nbsp;fort, historic mosques, the&nbsp;Seyyed Mozaffar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Bibi Maryam&nbsp;shrines, and the "Valley of Stars."



The average temperature on the island is 81 degress and the region is often hot and humid. From June to August, the island is described as being oppressively hot. The ideal time to visit is during the winter season. 



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique.&nbsp;



"Inhambane Bay is a deep inlet into which the small Mutamba River flows," says ESA. "On one side of the bay lies the historical city of Inhambane, capital of the Inhambane Province, while the sister city of Maxixe, the economic capital of Inhambane, sits across from it. The province is the second largest grower of cashews, after Nampula, and it also produces coconut and citrus fruits."



The beaches of Barra and Tofo are popular with tourists. There are also coral reefs along the long coastline of Inhambane, making it an ideal destination for scuba diving and snorkeling.



"Mozambique’s extensive coastline heightens the country’s vulnerability to tropical cyclones that develop in the Indian Ocean as well as storm surge flooding," says ESA.



"More than half of the population lives in low lying coastal areas, putting communities at risk. Inhambane Bay was dangerously close to where Cyclone Idai made landfall in 2019 causing widespread destruction to the country."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency </a>&nbsp;features the Kangerlussuaq Glacier, one of the largest tidewater outlet glaciers in Greenland. The glacier is located on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet.



As human-induced climate change continues to drive up temperatures, global ice loss is accelerating at an alarming rate. ESA reports that, over the past decade alone, 3.5 trillion tons of ice have melted from the Greenland ice sheet. This is enough to cover the UK with meltwater 15 meters deep.



Based on satellite imagery, researchers determined that Kangerlussuaq entered a new phase of rapid retreat and acceleration in 2017. In their study, published in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2019.00123/full">Frontiers in Earth Science</a>,&nbsp; the experts report that the glacier's ice front is now at its most retreated position since the early 20th century.



"Given Kangerlussuaq’s previous impacts on both the magnitude and pattern of ice sheet wide mass loss, we predict that its new phase of retreat, acceleration and thinning will markedly enhance the south-east region’s contribution to increasing discharge from the ice sheet," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"More broadly, accurate forecasting of the ice sheet’s contribution to sea level rise will require a deeper understanding of, and responses to, these non-linear ice dynamic processes."



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the complex relationship between ocean and climate. ESA's Climate Change Initiative will help us understand how oceans influence the climate and how climate change is impacting the oceans.&nbsp;



"Earth’s oceans are huge heat stores, soaking up 93% of the excess heat from human activity over the past 70 years. Ocean currents redistribute heat around the planet, from the Equator to the poles. Where this ocean heat goes influences weather patterns and regional climate," explains ESA.



"As well as absorbing heat, oceans are a natural carbon sink, absorbing a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions from human activity. This has led to the acidification of ocean water, threating marine life."



The amount of heat and carbon dioxide soaked up by the ocean depends on specific variables, including phytoplankton, temperatures, waves, salinity, and ice cover. Satellites can be used to measure these variables from space.



"From their unique vantage point, satellites provide key information for understanding the complexities of our planet and monitoring environmental issues," says ESA.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Ocean heat influences regional climate

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the importance of monitoring the shape of the sea surface, which is constantly changing. These observations have many applications, such as ship routing, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-modem-ocean-is-a-tough-place-for-whales-to-survive/">ocean</a> current forecasting, and debris tracking.



"A project supported by the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities recently investigated a new technique to measure sea surface topography very precisely," reports ESA.



"The technique involves looking at satellite navigation (GNSS) signals that have been reflected off of the sea surface at very low angles. At these so-called grazing angles, waves and surface roughness have very little impact on the reflection process; the sea surface acts as a very smooth mirror."



Estel Cardellach is the principal investigator at the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia, who first submitted the idea for the project.



“In a mirror-like reflection the phase of the signal can be tracked – it is continuous," said Cardellach. "Different surface heights result in different phase measurements. It gives a very precise measurement of the surface altitude at a few centimetres’ precision.”



The researchers developed a GNSS receiver and set up an experiment in the Balaeric Islands to collect signals from the receiver that were reflected off the sea surface. Ultimately, these signals will provide improved measurements of the shape of the sea surface.



Image/ Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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Aerial,Photo,Of,River,In,Amazon,Rainforest,Jungle,In,Peru

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center</a> describes how scientists are using autonomous sound sensors to monitor deforestation in the Amazon. By recording soundscapes, the experts can determine which animals are present through their distinct sounds.&nbsp;



Using this method, sounds can be used as scientific measurements to analyze the effects of deforestation. The researchers will gain a better understanding of how the acoustics of a forest can be used to measure its health.&nbsp;



"From space, parts of the Amazon rainforest that have previously been logged or burned may look lush and green, like a place buzzing with activity and full of sounds. But inside the rainforest, the animal life may tell a different story, of a harsh environment and a quieter soundscape," says NASA.



Video Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Monitoring deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

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