Historical,House,With,Wind,Towers,In,Abarkuh,,Iran

Our buildings usually remain comfortable during warm days because of constant air conditioning, sealed windows, and an assumption that power never fails. But as large parts of the country have learned, blackouts can hit at the worst possible moment. 



When that happens, glass towers and sealed-off homes can quickly become stiflingly hot, showing why passive cooling methods are essential.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-builders-had-better-cooling-methods">Ancient builders had better cooling methods</h2>



Ancient builders had no electricity, yet they made structures that protected people from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2024-confirmed-as-earths-hottest-year-in-recorded-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">worst heat</a>. Some devised thick walls that absorbed heat by day and released it at night.&nbsp;



Others planned entire neighborhoods to maximize shade. These time-tested ideas remain relevant for anyone who wants to stay cooler without cranking up the air conditioner.



This view is shared by Dr. Pablo La Roche, an architecture professor at <a href="https://www.cpp.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">California State Polytechnic University, Pomona</a>, and sustainable design director at <a href="https://www.arcadis.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arcadis</a>.&nbsp;



With decades of research on passive cooling systems and low-energy architecture, his work highlights how historical construction techniques effectively addressed the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2024-shatters-heat-records-earths-hottest-year-is-here/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">challenges of harsh climates</a> with intense summer heat.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-ancient-iraq-managed-scorching-heat">How ancient Iraq managed scorching heat</h2>



Archaeologists have <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=xpTkEAAAQBAJ&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PA3#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">documented</a> the Sumerians’ buildings in what is now southern Iraq. Walls made of mud brick or adobe were thick and had only small windows. This design helped reduce heat inside during the sun’s intense hours. 



In some places, homes were built side by side, so fewer walls were directly hit by sunlight. The neighborhoods also included narrow streets that created cooling shade as people walked through the city.



That compact arrangement worked when indoor temperatures had to stay tolerable. Families gathered in inner courtyards where light and breezes could get in but the scorching rays had trouble reaching the seating areas.



Some of these principles might still be practical in hot, urban environments today.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-cities-can-learn-from-passive-cooling">Modern cities can learn from passive cooling</h2>



Major power failures can be disastrous during a heat wave. In <a href="https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2024/07/22/784992.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">July 2024</a>, the Houston area lost electricity for several days. When air conditioning shut off, many high-rises became uncomfortable in a hurry.&nbsp;



Some designers suggest that reintroducing features like operable windows, thicker walls, or rooftop shade structures might help with indoor temperature control and lower energy consumption at the same time.



Studies indicate that extremely hot summers are occurring more <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2822854" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">frequently</a>. Placing more emphasis on passive cooling could reduce the stress on power grids and keep people safer when the grid goes down.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-egypt-s-simple-but-clever-wind-catchers">Egypt’s simple but clever wind catchers</h2>



In ancient Egypt, builders knew that porous materials such as mud brick would block intense sunlight and slow the movement of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mapping-2024s-record-heat-unveiling-earths-climate-danger-zones/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heat</a> indoors. Residents also slept outdoors on rooftops at night, taking advantage of the cooler air.&nbsp;



One striking invention was the <a href="https://www.egyptianarch.com/post/mulqaf-origin-language-design-and-development" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mulqaf</a>, which used a tall opening to catch breezes and push them downward into a building. 



That airflow let hot indoor air escape through other vents. This system is still used in parts of the Middle East, where tall <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/971216/what-is-a-traditional-windcatcher" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wind catchers</a> provide fresh air without the need for electricity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-secrets-from-the-ancient-puebloans">Secrets from the ancient Puebloans</h2>



In the U.S. Southwest, the ancestral <a href="https://blog.nativehope.org/pueblo-native-americans-their-history-culture-and-traditions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Puebloans</a> built with mud brick and stone for many centuries. They placed dwellings close together and used smaller windows to limit excessive heat. Cliffs provided natural shade in places like <a href="https://greenpassivesolar.com/2010/04/mesa-verde-cliff-dwellings/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mesa Verde</a>.&nbsp;



The layout took advantage of the sun’s angle to block the harsh summer rays and let in lower winter sunlight that warmed the interior.



These older methods still guide some modern builders who adopt adobe for its ability to moderate indoor temperatures.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preserving-water-for-passive-cooling">Preserving water for passive cooling</h2>



Many cities today send rainwater away as quickly as possible through storm drains. Old societies in arid regions did the opposite. 



During the eighth century, the Muslim caliphates in northern Africa and southern Spain put a high value on every drop of rain. Their structures often had <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38028-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">systems</a> that channeled water from rooftops and courtyards into underground cisterns. That water cooled patios and irrigated gardens during scorching months.



In other parts of the world, societies like the Mayans in Mexico built huge <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/9783031577307" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reservoirs</a> to store the wet-season rainfall. Modern <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301479721002851?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">researchers</a> are exploring ways to adopt or improve rainwater harvesting, especially in places threatened by droughts or limited water supplies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-adapting-passive-cooling-ideas-today">Adapting passive cooling ideas today</h2>



Some architects believe that new designs should rely more on passive cooling and water collection. Orienting buildings in the northern hemisphere to take advantage of south-facing windows can help regulate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scorching-summer-of-2024-could-make-it-the-hottest-year-on-record/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heat</a> gain and loss (International Association of Certified Home Inspectors). 



Rainwater captured onsite can be <a href="https://www.energy.gov/femp/rainwater-harvesting-systems-technology-review" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reused</a> for landscape needs, thus reducing the burden on public water supplies.



Larger cities that hope to reduce their energy usage and keep people safe during emergencies could integrate these techniques into upcoming developments. Some methods might look old-fashioned compared to modern high-rises.&nbsp;



Yet people who live in the world’s driest and hottest places have been testing these approaches for a long time, and their successes can offer strong guidance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-moving-forward-with-less-power-dependence">Moving forward with less power dependence</h2>



There is a growing call to learn from strategies that rely on local resources. Converting entire cities will take effort, but these ideas do not belong in the distant past.&nbsp;



There is a need to reconsider glassy towers and single-purpose rooftops, especially as blackouts become an increasing risk in regions experiencing more frequent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-added-41-extra-days-of-dangerous-heat-in-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heat waves</a>. 



Historical knowledge of staying cool in extreme heat could provide valuable solutions for maintaining comfort when air conditioning is not an option.



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Ancient buildings used passive cooling methods to reduce heat with out air conditioning

Our buildings usually remain comfortable during warm days because of constant air conditioning, sealed windows, and an assumption that power never fails. But as large parts of the country have learned, blackouts can hit at the worst possible moment. When that happens, glass towers and sealed-off homes can quickly become stiflingly hot, showing why passive cooling methods are essential. Ancient builders had better cooling methods Ancient builders had no electricity, yet they made structures that protected people from the worst heat. Some devised thick walls that absorbed...

The first <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/geminid-shower-set-to-shoot-150-meteors-per-hour-at-its-peak/">meteor</a> shower of the year will light up the skies tonight, producing more than 100 shooting stars per hour. The Quadrantids are most active during their peak which will last for just a few hours leading up until dawn. By comparison, most meteor showers have a peak that lasts about two days.



"The reason the peak is so short is due to the shower's thin stream of particles and the fact that the Earth crosses the stream at a perpendicular angle," explained <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a>.



The Quadrantid shower is known for its "fireballs," which appear as brilliant explosions that leave behind long-lasting trails. According to astronomers, this is among the strongest and most consistent of all meteor showers.



While most shooting star events occur as Earth moves through debris left behind by a comet, the Quadrantids come from asteroid 2003 EH1. This near-Earth asteroid was first observed by Chinese astronomers more than 500 years ago



Because the moon is approaching a full phase, it may be difficult to see all of the shooting stars in tonight's sky. The moonlight will potentially outshine all but the brightest meteors.



The best way to locate the Quadrantids is to look north for the Big Dipper and follow the handle across the sky to the red giant star Arcturus. This star forms the bottom of the constellation Bootes - the region of the sky where the Quadrantids will appear.&nbsp;



"For the best conditions, you want to find a safe location away from street lights and other sources of light pollution," said the <a href="https://ras.ac.uk/">Royal Astronomical Society</a>. "The meteors can be seen in all parts of the sky, so it's good to be in a wide open space where you can scan the night sky with your eyes."



"In 2023, the maximum of the shower occurs just before the Full Moon, so moonlight will cause some interference."



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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 Quadrantid meteor shower peaks tonight

The first meteor shower of the year will light up...

According to a recent study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.064">Current Biology</a>, the ascendancy of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaurs-were-going-strong-when-the-deadly-asteroid-struck/">dinosaurs</a> through the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods was primarily driven by climate change, rather than inter-species competition.



The experts argue that changes in global climate linked to the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction - which wiped out many large terrestrial vertebrates such as the armadillo-like aetosaurs – in fact benefited the earliest dinosaurs.



For instance, sauropod-like dinosaurs, which later on evolved into the giant herbivore species of the late Jurassic (such as Diplodocus or Brachiosaurus) were able to thrive and expand their territories as the Earth warmed substantially after the mass extinction event, about 210 million years ago.



By comparing computer models of prehistoric global climate conditions like temperature and rainfall with data on the different locations of dinosaurs, the scientists showed how the sauropods and related creatures ended up being the success story of a turbulent period of evolution.



“What we see in the data suggests that instead of dinosaurs being outcompeted by other large vertebrates, it was variations in climate conditions that were restricting their diversity. But once these conditions changed across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, they were able to flourish,” said study lead author Emma Dunne, a lecturer in Paleontology at <a href="https://www.fau.eu/">Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg</a> (FAU).



“The results were somewhat surprising, because it turns out that sauropods were really fussy from the get-go: later in their evolution they continue to stay in warmer areas and avoid polar regions.”



“Climate change appears to have been really important in driving the evolution of early dinosaurs. What we want to do next is use the same techniques to understand the role of climate in the next 120 million years of the dinosaur story,” concluded study co-author Richard Butler, a professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</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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Early dinosaurs benefited from changes in global climate

According to a recent study published in the journal Current...

Marimo are fluffy, squishy green balls of underwater <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brown-algae-absorb-half-a-billion-tons-of-co2-each-year/">algae</a> that can be found in just a few countries and have recently become highly popular with tourists, aquarium owners, and nature enthusiasts. They range in size from a pea to a basketball, and form when floating strands of Aegagropila linnaei&nbsp;are bundled together through the rolling motion of lake waters. In Japan, they have become so popular that they have their own yearly festival, merchandise, and even a mascot.



Unfortunately, recent years have witnessed significant declines in their population, mainly due to human intervention altering or polluting their freshwater habitats. However, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/">University of Tokyo</a>, climate change could also play a significant role in their decline, by overexposing them to sunlight.



“We know that marimo can survive bright sunlight in warm summer waters, but the photosynthetic properties in marimo at low winter temperatures have not been studied, so we were fascinated by this point,” said study senior author Masaru Kono, a biologist at the University of Tokyo. “We wanted to find out whether marimo could tolerate it and how they respond to a low-temperature, high light-intensity environment.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



By analyzing how exposure to extreme light affected samples of marimo algae collected from Lake Akan in Japan, the researchers found that they could survive bright light for up to four hours and would recover if placed afterwards under a moderate light for half an hour. However, when exposed to bright light for six hours or more, the algae died.



“We demonstrated that damaged cells in marimo can repair themselves even after exposure to simulated strong daylight for up to four hours at cold temperatures (two-four degrees Celsius), when followed by moderate light exposure for just 30 minutes. This moderate light had a restorative effect which did not occur in the dark,” Kono explained.&nbsp;



“However, when exposed to strong daylight for six hours or more, certain cells involved in photosynthesis were damaged and the algae died, even after being treated with moderate light. These results suggest that photoinhibition (the inability to photosynthesize due to cell damage) would be a serious threat to marimo in Lake Akan, which receives more than 10 hours of sunlight a day in winter, if global warming proceeds and ice cover recedes.”



In future studies, the scientists aim to investigate what would happen to whole marimo balls if exposed to bright light for an extended period of time, and whether the outcome would be similar to that observed in the smaller threads. “In the present study, we used dissected filamentous cells, so we did not consider the effects of the structure of the spherical marimo and how it might protect against exposure to bright light. However, if damage to the surface cells increases under longer exposure to the direct sunlight, in an extreme case, this may affect the maintenance of their round bodies and lead to the disappearance of giant marimo. So, we need to constantly monitor the conditions at Lake Akan in the future,” Kono concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms24010060">International Journal of Molecular Sciences</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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Marimo algae balls threatened by climate change

Marimo are fluffy, squishy green balls of underwater algae that...

According to a new global quantitative study based on data collected from research articles and databases, most reservoirs of rodent-borne diseases tend to live exclusively or occasionally in or near human dwellings, show large fluctuations in their population numbers, and are often hunted by humans for their fur or meat, thus increasing the risk of new <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/the-terrifying-biology-of-zoonotic-diseases/">zoonotic diseases</a> to emerge.



“Most rodents that spread zoonotic pathogens, meaning pathogens spreading between animals and humans, show large population fluctuations, move at least occasionally indoors, or are hunted for meat or fur. Our results were consistent among pathogen types, i.e., virus, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. And with transmission modes, i.e., intermediate, involvement of vectors or non-close and close contact, with close contact including inhalation of contaminated aerosols,” said study lead author Frauke Ecke, a professor of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology at the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a> in Finland.



In order to clarify the interplay between natural and human-driven factors in the risk of pathogen transmission from animals to humans, the scientists focused on&nbsp;436 rodent species (of which 282 are well-known reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens), and investigated the linkage among the rodents’ choice of habitat, population fluctuations, humans’ hunting activities, and the status of rodents as potential reservoirs.



The analysis revealed that certain regions in the world – including large parts of Europe (especially central and northern Europe), a wide stretch of land extending from eastern Europe to eastern Asia, eastern China, parts of South America, southeast Australia, and eastern parts of North America – are at high risk of pathogen spillovers from rodents to humans. “If people encounter a rodent in these regions, there is a high risk that this rodent carries zoonotic pathogens,” Ecke warned.



Some examples of such pathogen-carrying rodents include the bank vole in Europe, the North American deer mouse, and the South American Azara’s grass mouse. These species exhibit large population fluctuations and can often live inside human dwellings.



“It is especially the large population fluctuations together with the disturbance of the rodents’ natural habitat that can explain why rodents move nearby and into human dwellings. This movement behavior is typical for so-called generalists, which are species that can cope with many different environments. These generalists are the most important reservoirs of pathogens,” Ecke concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35273-7">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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Why rodent-borne diseases spill over into humans?

According to a new global quantitative study based on data...

Icy mountains, with their snow, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/melting-glaciers-could-unleash-dangerous-viruses/">glaciers</a> and permafrost, are important sources of water for downstream communities in many parts of the world. Some scientists refer to these frozen bodies as the ‘water towers of the world,’ since they store water during the cold winter months and release it slowly as meltwater during spring and summer, meeting the needs of people and ecosystems in lower lying areas.&nbsp;



However, as global warming takes effect, glacial ice and permafrost are receding or disappearing from these mountain regions, necessitating new water management strategies to ensure the continued stable supply of fresh water. Essentially, as ice melts in mountainous regions throughout the world, the glaciers, snow and permafrost no longer act as storage reservoirs, meaning that water supply in these regions will be provided solely by precipitation. Previous research has suggested that, by 2100 up to half of the world’s population could be living with water scarcity.&nbsp;



A recent study led by researchers from the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> suggests that there is a lack of integrated water security knowledge for communities that depend on water supply from snow and ice. This is due to the fact that, in these regions, there is often limited understanding of what happens ‘beyond the cryosphere’ – that is the contribution from water sources other than frozen water, such as hillslopes, wetlands, and groundwater. Communities have just always depended on melting ice as a reliable supply of water.



Emerging research is showing that the effects of global warming and climate change are enhanced in mountainous areas, where glacier-related disasters such as ice avalanches and glacial lake outburst floods are becoming more commonplace. This highlights the fact that there are likely to be serious and life-threatening implications for the millions of people who depend on mountain water supply in these regions.&nbsp;



The study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00996-4">Nature Sustainability</a>, finds that there are huge gaps in available data on how communities use water from glaciers and mountain snow in combination with other water sources. This information will be crucial in formulating management plans for sustainable water use in future, as meltwater becomes less available. The picture is especially difficult to construct, say the researchers, because of complex mountain landscapes, differences in localized weather systems and a low density of data station records.



“In mountains, there are complex interconnections between the cryosphere [snow and ice] and other water sources, as well as with humans," said Professor David Hannah. "We need to identify the gaps in our understanding and rethink strategies for water security in the context of climate change adaptation and shifting human needs.”



The lack of data is exacerbated by low uptake of new monitoring technologies and approaches, particularly in lower income countries with limited institutional capacities. This further hampers the understanding of water use in high-altitude, data sparse regions in many parts of the world, and makes it very difficult to create models for future water management that can be scaled up accurately across watersheds.



Furthermore, the picture is complicated by uncertainties about future water needs. Information on population growth and likely adaptation to water security threats is limited, as are data on the future expansion of irrigated agriculture and hydropower, all of which will have substantial impacts on water access and allocation. In the light of these concerning gaps in understanding and knowledge, the research team have called for a fundamental rethink of the methods and technologies used to assess current water availability and to model future scenarios.



Study lead author Dr. Fabian Drenkhan conducted the research while at Imperial and now works at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. “The future is likely to lead to a more variable water supply and growing water demand, which is a real threat to water security in many mountain regions. Our current incomplete picture is hampering the design and implementation of effective climate change adaptation," said Dr. Drenkhan.



"A holistic perspective based on improved data and process understanding is urgently needed to guide robust, locally tailored adaptation approaches in view of increasingly adverse impacts from climate change and other human interferences.”



What is clear is that climate change will impact the availability of fresh water over the coming decades, centuries and even millennia, making serious impacts inevitable for current communities and for generations to come. Adaptation to these changes will require comprehensive data sets and an understanding of how global warming may affect the cryosphere in order to develop management strategies that enhance water security in future.&nbsp;



“Our study highlights the need for scientists to work on the ground with stakeholders. A thorough understanding of the local water security context is essential to co-produce integrated local and scientific knowledge that can support local water management decisions and adaptation strategies," concluded study senior author Professor Wouter Buytaert.



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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

Water supply from icy mountains will become less reliable

Icy mountains, with their snow, glaciers and permafrost, are important...

India is one of the ten most forest-rich countries in the world, with about 80.9 million hectares of trees covering it (nearly 25 percent of the entire country). However, between the 1890s and the 1990s, a combination of rapid economic development and overexploitation of resources led India losing almost 80 percent of its forest area. Now, as the country’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/diverse-forests-are-more-resilient-and-productive/">forests</a> continue to disappear, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> has developed a deep learning algorithm that, by using satellite data, could provide real-time monthly land use and land cover maps of India.



“Our work was done in an effort to help India’s government and industries improve the country’s attempts at forest sustainability,” said study lead author Ying Zuo, a graduate student in Earth Sciences at OSU.



This land monitoring system was trained by using data from <a href="https://www.norad.no/en/front/thematic-areas/climate-change-and-environment/norways-international-climate-and-forest-initiative-nicfi/">Norway’s International Climate and Forests Initiative</a> (NICFI), an enterprise of the Norwegian government aiming to reduce the destruction of tropical forests by providing high-resolution satellite images of the tropics. By combining this data with a global land cover map produced by <a href="https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/">Tsinghua University</a> in China, the deep learning algorithm was able to develop more detailed maps of Indian forests.



“In an effort to combine two datasets into the same system, we resampled them into the same spatial resolution and aligned each pixel to create an image-labeled paired training dataset,” Zuo explained. “The process helps us to assimilate the two datasets so they can be used to train our deep learning model.”&nbsp;



After training the model through these methods, the scientists processed ten base monthly maps of the area, from January to October 2022. These maps allowed researchers to detect seasonal shifts across India, including changes to barren land, the way monsoons affected crop land, and the distribution of forests in mountainous regions.



The experts concluded that it is vital for ecologists to more comprehensively investigate the seasonal impact of monsoons on India’s forest cover. “As the average temperature of our Earth increases, natural hazards will become a lot more frequent, so having these maps at our disposal benefits everyone’s understanding of how this problem affects life on Earth,” Zuo said.



In future research, the scientists aim to expand the timespan of these base maps over several years instead of just a few months to study other annual changes around the world, such as the effects of floods on forests.



“The characteristics of local forests and their surrounding habitats might likely be different in other regions. But with the help of more detailed datasets, our work could easily be used in areas of the world where detecting and alerting the public to forest degradation and its side effects need to become a priority,” Zuo concluded.



The study was presented at the annual meeting of the <a href="https://www.agu.org/Fall-Meeting">American Geophysical Union</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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Deep learning can help track changes in forest cover

India is one of the ten most forest-rich countries in...

Each year, nearly eight million <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/environmentally-friendly-christmas-tree/">Christmas trees</a> are sold in the United Kingdom, with an estimated seven million ending up in landfills after the holidays. Besides being costly, once in a landfill, each tree will release 16 kg of greenhouse gases as it decomposes, producing methane, which is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 



However, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/">University of Sheffield</a> and the <a href="https://universityofvalladolid.uva.es/">University of Valladolid</a> has found that pine needles from discarded Christmas trees could be turned into renewable fuels and other products that could be used as food preservatives or in agricultural and industrial manufacturing.



In previous studies, researchers have argued that pine needles could be processed with the aid of heat and solvents, breaking them down into a liquid product (bio-oil) - that could be used in the production of sweeteners, pain, adhesives and vinegar – and a solid by-product (bio-char), which could be used in other industrial processes.



Building upon this research, the new study showed that pine needles could also help producing formic acid, which could be used in hydrogen fuel cells, as well as a food preservative and a critical ingredient in agriculture and industry.



“One of the things that we do when reacting carbon dioxide to capture CO2 is to use a metal to promote the reaction. This can be inefficient and expensive, so we went back to some of the work we’ve done previously with pine needles, because we realized that we could potentially use these to promote turning the carbon dioxide into formic acid,” explained study co-author James McGregor, a senior lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Sheffield.



“We found that instead of the metal and the carbon dioxide reacting, we could react carbon dioxide with pine needles and water at high temperatures and a fraction of the pine needles would turn into the same product as the CO2,” added lead author María Andérez-Fernández, a doctoral student at the University of Valladolid.



“Carbon dioxide is introduced as sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda. This co-conversion with captured carbon dioxide, that we didn’t have before in the previous pine needles research, has found that the two things enhance the conversion of each other, making it more efficient and in this case, making more of the end product - formic acid.”



According to the scientists, formic acid has many applications. For instance, it can be used in fuel cells to store and transport hydrogen, which can then be employed as renewable energy source. In addition, it can also play an important role as a food preservative or antibacterial agent in livestock feed, or can be used in the manufacture of leather and rubble.



If pine needles were collected and processed in this way, the chemicals obtained would replace less sustainable industrial chemicals, leading to a decrease in the UK’s carbon footprint and amount of biomass waste ending up in landfills, and potentially saving up to 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases that are currently released every year by landfilled Christmas trees.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c06218">ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering</a>.



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By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer



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Old Christmas trees could be used to produce fuels

Each year, nearly eight million Christmas trees are sold in...

A new study has confirmed that primate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vanilla-cultivation-can-boost-biodiversity-in-madagascar/">diversity</a> is greater in areas that are managed by Indigenous peoples. The experts determined that primates such as monkeys and apes are less likely to be classified as vulnerable, threatened or endangered when they live in territories that overlap with Indigenous lands.&nbsp;



The research was led by Paul A. Garber, a professor of Anthropology at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a>, and Alejandro Estrada, a professor in the Institute of Biology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.&nbsp;



“There is an impending extinction crisis among the world’s 521 primate species,” said Professor Garber. “We know that 68% of these species are vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered and many of them may not survive to the end of the century. Worldwide, 93% of primate populations are declining.”



Understanding the conditions that allow primate populations to survive and even thrive is critical to preventing their extinction and preserving their special contributions to healthy forest ecosystems, explained Professor Garber.



“Most primates exploit forests, where they serve as agents of pollination and seed dispersal. They’re involved in important predator-prey relationships. They consume insects and small vertebrates. They play a very important role in the regeneration of forests.”



Professor Garber noted that primates are one of the first indicator species if there’s a dramatic change in the environment, as they are relatively large-bodied animals with a slow reproductive rate.



For the investigation, the study authors set out to evaluate the relationship between Indigenous lands and primate biodiversity. “We found that Indigenous peoples’ lands account for 30% of the primate range, and 71% of primate species inhabit these lands. As their range on these lands increases, primate species are less likely to be classified as threatened or have declining populations.” wrote the researchers.



The study also compared Indigenous lands to regions with roughly the same human population density immediately outside of the territories.&nbsp;



“The results were that the human footprint – a measure of infrastructure development and habitat conversion – was significantly greater immediately outside Indigenous peoples’ lands than inside,” said Professor Garber.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.



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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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Primates have greater diversity on Indigenous lands

A new study has confirmed that primate diversity is greater...

Water pollution caused by the rapid development of the chemical industry is currently a major problem worldwide, making scientists struggle to develop various <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/breakthrough-technology-uses-sunlight-to-purify-water/">water purification</a> technologies and materials. However, carbon-based porous materials using existing adsorption mechanisms have significant limitations, since the adsorption rate is slow and high thermal energy is needed for recycling. Although experts have developed a variety of materials to improve contaminant removal efficiency, it has been extremely difficult to construct materials that simultaneously satisfy excellent recyclability, high efficiency, economic efficiency of raw materials, and industrialization potential.



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.dgist.ac.kr/en/">Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology</a> (DGIST) in South Korea has successfully developed an “atypical porous polymer material,” which can completely remove phenolic organic contaminants in water at extremely high speeds. This material can efficiently remove not only microplastics, but also small-sized volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Moreover, scientists expect it to be utilized as a high-efficiency adsorption material which can be commercialized widely due to the low costs of its raw materials and the fact that it uses solar power in the water purification process.



Several experiments confirmed that this polymer does not require high thermal energy for recycling and can be used multiple times without loss of performance. Since the material has the capacity to absorb light broadly and convert it into heat, the researchers were able to produce a water treatment membrane that can evaporate water using solar energy.



“The technology we developed here is an unrivaled water purification technology with the world’s highest purification efficiency, removing more than 99.9 percent of phenolic microplastics and VOC contaminants in water at ultra-high speeds,” said study senior author Chiyoung Park, an expert in Energy Science and Engineering at DGIST. “We expected that it will be a universal technology with high economic efficiency that can purify contaminated water and supply drinking water even in areas where there is no power supply.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202206982">Advanced Materials</a>.



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By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer



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Scientists develop an eco-friendly material to purify water

Water pollution caused by the rapid development of the chemical...

On Friday, December 30, 2022, the Biden administration imposed a new rule expanding the definition of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quality-waterways-changes-season/">waterways</a> that the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a> (EPA) has authority to regulate. This important move reverses a Trump-era change, while seeking to overcome almost a decade of challenges to EPA powers and to strike a balance aiming to protect both waterways and commerce.



In 2015, the Obama administration significantly and controversially widened the scope of the Clean Water Act – a landmark 1972 law aiming to gradually improve the health of polluted and degraded rivers and lakes – to cover even ephemeral streams and ponds. After four years, the Trump administration dramatically weakened EPA’s water pollution authority with a rule of its own that sparked major debates among environmentalists.



Now, in broadening once more EPA’s powers - by covering “traditional navigable waters,” including interstate waterways and upstream water sources which impact the health and quality of those waterways - the agency hopes “to deliver a durable definition of WOTUS [“Waters of the United States”] that safeguards our nation’s waters, strengthens economic opportunity, and protects people’s health while providing greater certainty for farmers, ranchers, and landowners,” as EPA administrator Michael Regan put it.



According to environmental scientists and activists, this change is central to restore the health of impaired waterways and fragile wildlife habitats, since it gives federal and state governments the authority to significantly limit the flow of water pollutants, including industrial effluents, livestock waste, and construction runoff.



“The rule’s clear and supportable definition of waters of the United States will allow for more efficient and effective implementation and provide the clarity long desired by farmers, industry, environmental organizations, and other stakeholders,” said Michael L. Connor, the U.S. Army’s assistant secretary for civil works.



However, the new rule has already drawn a significant amount of criticism too, particularly from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – which argued that the rule would only add to regulatory uncertainty and unpredictability, and could hinder the planning and construction of major government-funded infrastructures – as well as by several Republican officials claiming that the rule will unfairly burden farmers, miners, ranchers, infrastructure builders, and landowners.



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Biden administration broadens protection for U.S. waterways

On Friday, December 30, 2022, the Biden administration imposed a...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/black-carbon-emissions-arctic/">Black carbon</a> aerosols arise due to an incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, and are characterized by their strong capacity for light absorption. Moreover, this carbon’s deposition in snow and ice reduces the albedo of frozen surfaces, which can accelerate the melting of glaciers and snow cover, thus changing the hydrological processes and water resources in these regions. The South Asia areas close to the Tibetan Plateau have among the highest levels of black carbon emissions on our planet, with many scientists warning that black carbon aerosols from South Asia can be transported across the Himalayan Mountains to inland regions of the Plateau.&nbsp;



Now, by analyzing the influence of black carbon aerosols on regional precipitation and glaciers over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, an international team of scientists has found that, since the 21st century, these aerosols have indirectly affected the mass gain of the Tibetan Plateau, by changing long-range water vapor transport from the South Asian monsoon region.



“Black carbon aerosols in South Asia heat up the middle and upper atmosphere, thus increasing the North–South temperature gradient,” explained study corresponding author Shichang Kang, an expert in Environmental Studies at the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>.&nbsp;“Accordingly, the convective activity in South Asia is enhanced, which causes&nbsp;convergence of water vapor in South Asia. Meanwhile, black carbon also increases the number of cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere.”



Such changes in the meteorological conditions caused by black carbon aerosols make more water vapor form precipitation in South Asia, weakening the northward transport to the Tibetan Plateau. As a result, precipitation in the southern and central parts of the plateau decreases during the monsoon, leading to a slower rate of mass gain of glaciers. According to the scientists, from 2007 to 2016, this reduced mass gain accounted for 11 percent of the average glacial mass loss on the Tibetan Plateau and 22.1 percent in the Himalayas.



“The transboundary transport and deposition of black carbon aerosols from South Asia accelerate glacier ablation over the Tibetan Plateau. Meanwhile, the reduction of summer precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau will reduce the mass gain of plateau glaciers, which will increase the amount of glacier mass deficit,” Kang concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35128-1">Nature Communications</a>.



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Black carbon fuels glacial loss on the Tibetan Plateau

Black carbon aerosols arise due to an incomplete combustion of...

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-humans-may-have-begun-to-stand-upright-in-trees/">human</a> “experience of nature” is declining worldwide, according to a study led by the <a href="https://www.idiv.de/en/index.html">German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research</a>. The researchers set out to examine trends in the human-nature connection by conducting a systematic review. They found that there is very little empirical evidence available to study.&nbsp;



"The ongoing destruction and degradation of natural systems, along with biodiversity loss, are largely attributable to human activities," wrote the researchers. "In order to reduce human impacts on global biodiversity, there is growing interest in identifying the factors that increase people's concern for environmental issues and promote pro-environmental behaviors."



"Among these factors, 'experience of nature' (EoN) is known to affect human values and attitudes by reinforcing individuals’ psychological and emotional connection with nature. For instance, a high level of EoN in childhood strongly shapes people's knowledge of, values toward, and emotional attachment to nature."



The team wanted to analyze how much the distance between humans and nature has changed in the last decade. To investigate, the scientists measured the average distance from an individual’s home to the closest natural area with low human impact.&nbsp;



The study revealed that humans currently live an average of 9.7 kilometers away from a natural area, which is seven percent farther away compared to the year 2000. The greatest average distance between humans and natural areas was found in Europe and East Asia, including 22 kilometers in Germany and 16 kilometers in France. “What is striking is that all other countries in the world are following a similar pattern,” said study first author Dr. Victor Cazalis.



The researchers determined that tree cover has declined in cities worldwide since 2000, especially in Central Africa and Southeast Asia. “This finding suggests that the possibility for the urban population to access green spaces is reducing as well,” said study co-author Dr Gladys Barragan-Jason.&nbsp;



“Indeed, the study reveals that the destruction of natural areas combined with a strong increase in urban population is leading to a growing spatial distance between humans and nature, especially in Asia, Africa and South America.”



The experts also found that there has been a decline in visits to nature parks in the US and Japan, a decrease in camping activities in the US, and a decrease in the number of flower species observed by Japanese children.&nbsp;



“The knowledge about these human-nature interactions is crucial, as they are key in the construction of our relationship with nature and our behaviors,” said study co-author Victor Cazalis.&nbsp;



"We need to maintain a good connection with nature in order to enable the necessary societal transformations of the 21st century. Only then can humanity ‘live in harmony with nature by 2050’ as ambitioned by our governments through the Global Biodiversity Framework that is being discussed currently in the COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/fee.2540">Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</a>.



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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 distance between humans and nature is growing

The human “experience of nature” is declining worldwide, according to...

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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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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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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

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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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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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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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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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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



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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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

[sendtonews key="gRpsplpwpe-2251464-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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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

[sendtonews key="sFFhiK9OOn-1720418-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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

[sendtonews key="yPSXGZek1I-2312529-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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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

[sendtonews key="u0TYxxqfF7-2186404-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA’s...