The world watches as the Great Salt Lake, one of Earth's largest saline lakes, deteriorates. 



Over the past 30 years, the lake has lost a staggering 15 billion cubic yards (11.4 billion cubic meters) of water. It has grown shallower at the rate of 4 inches (10 cm) each year.



This rapid depletion isn't a natural mystery. Decades of unsustainable water diversion, combined with increasing demand and a changing climate, have pushed the lake to a breaking point.



Agriculture is a major contributor to this dire situation, particularly in the case of livestock feed crops.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rapid-depletion-of-great-salt-lake">Rapid depletion of Great Salt Lake </h2>



A recent study published in the journal Environmental Challenges reveals a shocking statistic. Approximately 62% of the river water heading towards Great Salt Lake gets diverted for human usage.



Agricultural activities are the primary culprits, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the water diverted.



“The research highlights the alarming role of water consumption for feeding livestock in driving the lake’s rapid depletion," explained William Ripple, a professor of ecology at <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oregon State University</a> and co-author of the study.



Almost 80% of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/agricultural-water-scarcity-is-about-to-get-much-worse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">agricultural water</a> use is for irrigating alfalfa and hay crops - the primary feed for livestock.



This level of diversion not only depletes the lake's vital inflows but also raises questions about the long-term sustainability of current agricultural practices in the region.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-significance-of-great-salt-lake">Significance of Great Salt Lake</h2>



The importance of Great Salt Lake extends far beyond its beauty or agricultural use.



As one of the world's largest saline lakes, it plays important ecological, economic, cultural, and spiritual roles - all of which are in grave danger due to the dramatic <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/the-great-salt-lake-has-reached-historically-low-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">decline in lake levels</a> during the past decades.



Data from the Utah Division of Water Resources shows a disturbing trend. From 1989 to 2022, consumption and evaporation consistently outpaced inflows from river water and precipitation.



This imbalance has created an annual deficit of approximately 500 million cubic yards (380 cubic meters), which has further accelerated the lake's decline.



The water budget has faced a persistent deficit for most of the past century. The situation has been exacerbated by the growing impacts of climate change and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-drought-has-caused-crisis-levels-of-food-and-water-scarcity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">prolonged drought</a>, according to the researchers.



“Abnormally large <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/snowmelt-changes-may-greatly-affect-farmers-in-western-u-s/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">snowmelt</a> inflow during the 1980s and 1990s served to temporarily obscure the long-term decline in lake levels, and the lake actually reached its highest level in more than a century in 1987,” explained Professor Ripple. “But it has been dropping by roughly 4 inches per year on average since then.”



Great Salt Lake is the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere and ranks eighth globally. Its 21,000-square-mile drainage basin, which includes the Wasatch Mountains, relies heavily on snowfall for water replenishment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-threats-from-declining-lake-levels">Threats from declining lake levels</h2>



Great Salt Lake is also a biodiversity hotspot, hosting over 10 million migrating birds and an estimated 350 different species of birds. These habitats are threatened by declining lake levels.



In addition, the lake creates $2.5 billion in annual economic activity. Recreation, mining, and the harvesting of brine shrimp support more than 9,000 jobs. As salinity levels increase, however, brine shrimp experience extreme stress.



Human health also suffers as the Lake shrinks, with wind-carried <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/great-salt-lake-drying-up-causing-major-dust-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dust from the exposed saline lakebed</a> causing a range of pulmonary problems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-saving-great-salt-lake">Saving Great Salt Lake</h2>



To halt this alarming trend and start refilling the lake, a 35% reduction of human water consumption in the Great Salt Lake watershed by 35% has been proposed.



This includes a significant cut in irrigated alfalfa production, a fallowing of much of the region’s irrigated grass hay fields, and taxpayer-funded compensation for affected farmers and ranchers.



Conservation measures such as crop shifting, reducing municipal and industrial use, and leasing water rights from irrigators have also been proposed.



The impacts of these changes will be significant, and will affect as many as 20,000 farmers and ranchers in the basin. However, the situation presents an opportunity to set a precedent for addressing water scarcity globally.



“The economic and cultural adjustments required are significant but not insurmountable. With the right policies and public support, we can secure a sustainable future for the Great Salt Lake and set a precedent for addressing water scarcity globally,” concluded Professor Ripple.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2667010024002312" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Environmental Challenges</a>.



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Great Salt Lake: Agriculture is draining a natural wonder

The world watches as the Great Salt Lake, one of Earth's largest saline lakes, deteriorates. Over the past 30 years, the lake has lost a staggering 15 billion cubic yards (11.4 billion cubic meters) of water. It has grown shallower at the rate of 4 inches (10 cm) each year. This rapid depletion isn't a natural mystery. Decades of unsustainable water diversion, combined with increasing demand and a changing climate, have pushed the lake to a breaking point. Agriculture is a major contributor to this dire situation,...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/">University of Queensland</a> and the <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/">Carnegie Mellon University</a> has found that sharing real-time air quality readings in developing countries could help reduce air <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-reveals-link-between-air-pollution-and-obesity/">pollution</a> and lead to lower mortality rates.



This research was prompted by live air quality updates being posted on Twitter by US diplomatic sites around the world. “In 2008, the US Embassy in Beijing began tweeting hourly air quality information from a new pollution monitor, which dramatically increased attention to air pollution in China,” said study co-author Andrea La Nauze, an environmental economist at the University of Queensland.



“US embassies now tweet live air quality readings in 38 non-OECD countries worldwide. We looked at 36&nbsp;of those countries and found the sharing of real-time data increased local public interest in air quality and led to reduced air pollution levels.”



The scientists used air pollution measurements taken from satellite data in order to evaluate pollution levels both before and after the US embassy in a city started posting on Twitter air quality readings, and compared them with measurements from non-OECD cities without such live monitoring. The analysis revealed that sharing real-time air quality information led to an average reduction in fine particulate matter concentration levels of two to four micrograms per cubic meter each year.&nbsp;



“Poor air quality is a leading cause of premature death worldwide, responsible for one out of every nine deaths,” said study lead author Akshaya Jha, an assistant professor of Economics and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon. “Sharing credible air quality information can highlight this issue and have huge health and economic benefits that far outweigh the costs of the monitoring technology.”



Unfortunately, according to the researchers, the state of air quality monitoring is currently “inadequate” in many less developed countries. “Around 30 per cent of countries had at least some form of monitoring by 2018, but that includes monitoring that is intermittent, only covers a small part of the country or isn’t available publicly,” Dr. La Nauze explained.



“Even Australia – where state governments monitor air quality and provide access to real-time data – could benefit substantially from a denser monitoring network. Policymakers, diplomats and community organizations worldwide should push for the rapid deployment of credible, real-time air quality monitoring and reporting,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201092119">Proceedings of the National Academy of 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

Real-time air quality monitoring can save lives

A new study led by the University of Queensland and...

For so long, the world has been focused on the impacts of carbon dioxide (CO2) <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unchecked-emissions-could-kill-90-percent-of-marine-species/">emissions</a> on global warming and subsequent changes in climate. But CO2 is not the sole product released as a result of industrial processes or the combustion of fossil fuels. There is an array of other airborne pollutants that enter the atmosphere along with CO2 that behave very differently from the greenhouse gases. A new study finds that the impacts of these other pollutants on human health, economies, and agriculture differ drastically depending on where the pollutants are emitted.



Led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin</a> and the University of California San Diego, the study is the first to simulate how aerosol pollution affects both climate and air quality for locations around the globe. Although the atmosphere is made up largely of gases, there are also tiny solid particles and droplets of liquid that are present, suspended in the air. These small suspended droplets and particles are known as aerosols. They originate from natural sources, such as ocean spray and mineral dust from deserts, and also from human activities, including the combustion of fossil fuels.&nbsp;



Unlike CO2, which is a long-lived gas that spreads out through the atmosphere globally, aerosols are short-lived and tend to have more local and regional effects. Aerosols can absorb incident sunlight and scatter it back into the atmosphere, meaning that they actually have a cooling effect that is opposite to the effect of greenhouse gases. However, if they occur at high densities, the aerosols can also prevent light from reaching the leaves of crops where photosynthesis takes place. They are also involved in the formation of smog. In these ways, aerosols can impact human health and agricultural and economic productivity.



Although CO2&nbsp;and aerosols are often emitted at the same time during the combustion of fuels, the two substances behave differently in Earth’s atmosphere, said co-lead author Geeta Persad, an assistant professor at the UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences. “Carbon dioxide has the same impact on climate no matter who emits it,” said Persad. “But for these aerosol pollutants, they tend to stay concentrated near where they're emitted, so the effect that they have on the climate system is very patchy and very dependent on where they’re coming from.”



The researchers investigated the influence of aerosols in worsening the social costs of carbon (a measure of the economic costs of greenhouse gases on society) in eight key regions of the world: Brazil, China, East Africa, Western Europe, India, Indonesia, United States and South Africa. They considered these costs both for the region producing the aerosols and for neighboring countries.&nbsp;



In order to do this, the researchers created a set of climate simulations using the Community Earth System Model version 1 developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. They then ran simulations in which each of the eight regions produced identical aerosol emissions and mapped how temperature, precipitation, and surface air quality were affected in these regions and across the globe.



The experts connected this data with known relationships between climate and air quality and infant mortality, crop productivity, and gross domestic product across the eight regions. In a final step, they compared the total societal costs of these aerosol-driven impacts against the societal costs of co-emitted CO2&nbsp;in each of the eight regions, and produced global maps of the combined effects of aerosols and CO2 emissions. The researchers said the study is a big step forward from previous work, which either only estimated the air quality impacts of aerosols or didn’t consider their diverse global climate effects.



The findings showed that, depending on the geographic location of the emissions, aerosols can increase the social costs of carbon emissions by as much as 66 percent. Aerosols can directly affect human health and the climate independently of CO2. They are associated with negative health impacts when inhaled, and can affect the climate by influencing temperature, precipitation patterns and how much sunlight reaches the Earth’s surface.



“This research highlights how the harmful effects of our emissions are generally underestimated,” said Jennifer Burney, co-lead author and the Marshall Saunders Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Global Climate Policy and Research at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. “CO2&nbsp;is making the planet warmer, but it also gets emitted with a bunch of other compounds that impact people and plants directly and cause climate changes in their own right.”



The outcome paints a fairly complicated picture. Emissions from some regions produce climate and air quality effects that are between two and 10 times more severe as those seen in other regions. In addition, the social costs of this pollution can sometimes affect neighboring regions more than the region that produced the aerosol emissions. For example, in Europe local emissions result in four times as many infant deaths outside Europe as within its borders. Despite the complex relationships that emerge from the modelling exercise, the researchers note that aerosol emissions are always bad for both the emitter and the planet overall.



“While we might think about aerosols, which cool the climate, as having the silver lining of counteracting CO2-driven warming, when we look at all these effects in combination, we find that no region experiences overall local benefits or generates overall global benefits by emitting aerosols,” said Persad.



For example, the study found that adding aerosol costs to CO2&nbsp;costs could double China’s incentive to mitigate emissions. And it switches the impact of local emissions in Europe from a net local benefit to a net cost. The study also shows that some emerging economies, like in East African nations and India, might be motivated to collaborate on emission cuts since they are strongly impacted by each other’s emissions.&nbsp;



Overall, the findings indicate that individual countries would often benefit from working together with their neighbors to cut emissions since regional emissions affect everyone, not just the country doing the emitting. Researchers also said the findings create potentially new motivations for countries to cut emissions – and to care about other countries cutting their own emissions.



The framework developed in this study can also be applied to maximize societal benefits from current mitigation strategies being considered by policy makers. For example, the researchers applied it to the “fair-share” approach laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement in which all countries target the same per-capita CO2&nbsp;emissions. They found the approach, while beneficial for climate stability, does not improve the mortality and crop impacts from combined aerosol and CO2&nbsp;emissions because it focuses mitigation in regions that already have fairly low aerosol impacts, like the U.S. and Europe.



“By expanding societal cost calculations to include the geographically-resolved societal impacts of co-emitted aerosols, we’re showing that the incentive for individual countries to mitigate and collaborate on mitigation is much higher than if we only think about greenhouse gases,” Burney said.



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



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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

Airborne pollutants amplify the effects of climate change

For so long, the world has been focused on the...

As the world’s cities grow, it becomes increasingly important to find ways of making them greener and more sustainable. A popular option for achieving this goal are rooftop gardens and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/noise-from-wind-farms-could-affect-marine-mammal-behavior/">farms</a> which take advantage of underutilized roof space, providing new food resources, while at the same time cooling the surrounding area, increasing building insulation, and improving air quality. Yet, conditions on rooftops such as higher solar radiation, more wind exposure, and lesser soil moisture often make plants grow smaller and be less healthy. 



Now, a research team led by Sarabeth Buckley, an expert in Plant Sciences at the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a>, has found that repurposing the CO2 from building exhaust as a kind of fertilizer may help counter some of these challenges.



“We wanted to test whether there is an untapped resource inside buildings that could be used to make plants grow larger in rooftop farms. Creating more favorable conditions that increase growth could help make rooftop farms more successful and therefore more viable options for installation on buildings,” said Dr. Buckley.



The researchers chose corn and spinach as a test case, since they are edible plants that use different pathways to photosynthesize, one of which – called “C3” and used by spinach but not by corn – being highly sensitive to elevated CO2 levels, and grew them on the roof of a campus building at <a href="https://www.bu.edu/">Boston University</a>. Thus, corn acted as a control used to explore how other aspects of placement close to the exhaust vents, such as different temperatures, affected plant growth.&nbsp;



Moreover, the rooftop garden also featured controls that were fanned by large fans without any exhaust air, to check whether air movement from the vents was a contributing factor. The concentrations of CO2 in the classrooms and on the roof were regularly measured to see how much extra CO2 is reaching the plants.



The scientists monitored the plants during their growth for size, number of leaves, and – after harvesting – for wet and dry biomass. The examination revealed that spinach grown next to the exhaust vents had four times the biomass of spinach grown next to a control fan and, even when high winds decreased the size advantage, these plants were still twice as large as the ones in the control group.



“We are hoping this could lead to the further development of this system and eventual implementation in rooftop gardens and farms. If that happens, then hopefully more rooftop farms will be installed. They could provide a multitude of environmental and social benefits such as energy savings for the building, carbon drawdown, climate mitigation, urban heat reduction, local food production, community building opportunities, and aesthetic and mental health benefits,” Dr. Buckley concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.918027">Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems</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

How building exhaust could boost rooftop gardens

As the world’s cities grow, it becomes increasingly important to...

During evolution, when there are limited resources available, plants and animals often compete for nutrients, mates, and habitats. This makes the flower-covered meadows of China’s Hengduan mountains an evolutionary mystery, sporting dozens of species of closely-related rhododendrons – a family of flowering shrubs – which all live in harmony. Now, a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum</a> in Chicago has found that these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mountain-formation-led-to-an-explosion-in-plant-diversity/">plants</a> are able to co-exist because they burst into bloom at different times of the season, and thus, don’t have to compete for pollinators.&nbsp;



“There’s this basic idea in ecology of the niche, that a species’ lifestyle, like what it eats and how it fits into the environment, cannot be replicated in the same community. If two species with the same lifestyle are living in the same space, they’ll compete with each other, so either one or both of them will adapt to have different, non-overlapping lifestyles, or they’ll go extinct,” explained study lead author Rick Ree, a curator at the Field Museum. “Since there are so many closely-related species of&nbsp;rhododendrons all living together in these mountains, we wanted to figure out how they were able to co-exist.”



According to Ree, the rhododendron diversity in this area is partly caused by speciation – the divergence of new ecologically-similar species from a common ancestor. This process, however, would theoretically increase the likelihood that the various species will need to compete with one another. Thus, in order to survive, they need to adapt so they can co-exist, by using different strategies.



“They can become very different in terms of their preferences for soil, light, and moisture, very basic physiological functional traits,” Ree said. “They can also evolve differences to reduce this potential for cross pollination or competing for pollinators. That would be manifested through differences in flower shape, size, or color, or could be manifested in when they make their flowers available for pollinators. By partitioning that timeline, they can reduce their chances of wasting their pollen and the resources that go into reproduction.”



By examining over 100 sites in the Hengduan mountains four times throughout the season, the scientists discovered that the key factor in allowing these plants to co-exist was that they all flower at different times. Unfortunately, while this strategy allows them to survive and share resources, it also makes the highly sensitive to climate change.



“There’s abundant evidence that the pace of climate change is messing with plants’ flowering times, causing population declines and extinctions. The question is, how are plant communities around the globe going to respond? Weather is part of what signals them to blossom, and since climate change affects the weather, it’s likely to shift that competitive landscape. When the environment changes, species have three choices: you move, you adapt, or you die. Climate change is accelerating that dynamic,”&nbsp;Ree concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14002">Journal of Ecology</a>.&nbsp;



Image Credit: Qin Li



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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

Flowers share resources by blooming at different times

During evolution, when there are limited resources available, plants and...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-confirms-microplastics-have-entered-our-food-chain/">Microplastics</a> are tiny pieces of plastic which can get into our bodies through our food, drinks, or even the air that we breathe. Although scientists are not yet sure what is the effect of these compounds on human health, increasingly more studies have provided clear evidence that exposure to microplastics can lead to oxidative stress, inflammation, and even DNA damage.&nbsp;



A research team led by <a href="https://en.scu.edu.cn/">Sichuan University</a> in China has now found that drinking a single cup of takeaway coffee per week could expose a person to over 90,000 microplastic particles each year.



The scientists examined three different types of plastic cups in which takeaway coffee is usually served: polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyethylene (PE). They filled each of the three kinds of cups with 400 milliliters of water, sealed them with foil to avoid airborne microplastics entering the cups, and shook them for one minute. These procedures were carried out on a clean glass beaker, in order to avoid potential procedural contaminations.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that, in about five minutes, the number of microplastic particles in the water reached between 723 and 1,489 particles per cup. Polypropylene cups produced the highest numbers of particles, which is highly concerning, considering the widespread use of such materials all over the world.&nbsp;



Moreover, cups containing hot liquids released significantly more microplastics than those with cold ones. Finally, shaking of the cups – which is common in the case of takeaway coffee – further promoted the release of microplastics.



“Based on the results, we estimated that people may unconsciously ingest 37,613–89,294 microplastics a year due to the use of one plastic cup every 4–5 days. Considering the potential harm of microplastics, the contamination of microplastics resulting from the use of plastic cups for drinks needs to be taken seriously,” the authors warned.



The study is published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129982">Journal of Hazardous Materials</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

One carryout coffee could expose you to 1,500 plastic particles

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic which can get into...

With a population of over 7,000 individuals spread across the Carpathian Mountains and neighboring areas, Romania has the highest density of brown <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/untangling-the-history-of-polar-bears-and-brown-bears/">bears</a> in Europe. However, as they often inhabit human-populated areas, conflicts with people are not uncommon. Recently, a team of researchers led by the&nbsp;<a href="https://unibuc.ro/?lang=en">University of Bucharest</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.asociacionchelonia.org/inicio">Chelonia Romania</a> has explored how Romanian media depict human-bear interactions, and found that media depictions are largely negative, thus hindering conservation efforts.



“The media play an influential role in how the public perceives brown bears, thus, it can promote human-wildlife coexistence or exacerbate future conflicts,” the scientists explained. Their investigations revealed that news stories related to brown bears became common only after 2016, following a one-year ban on culling, and increased dramatically in 2021, after the whistleblowing of an alleged trophy hunting event.&nbsp;



Most of the media reports were about human-bear interactions, hunting, and poaching, offering to the public very little context and information on how to avoid conflicts. Moreover, articles focusing on the biology and ecology of brown bear were scarce, indicating less consideration of the ecological significance and impact of human activities on bears’ conservation status.



These articles’ attitude toward brown bears was predominantly negative (in 53 percent of the cases), using phrases such as: “At any moment the people can find themselves in front of a hungry bear;” “Beyond the horror they live with every day, they have lost their patience and trust in the authorities;” and “People are afraid of the worst.”&nbsp;



Even when reporting encounters with bears with no casualties, Romanian media continued to promote a negative image of the bears to their audiences. “Focusing on alarming messages without offering evidence or advice can increase fear and undermine efforts to protect the species and the welfare of society,” the researchers wrote.



Most importantly, the experts discovered that media outlets failed to consult wildlife and conservation biologists when reporting on human-bear interactions. According to the scientists, this could be because the experts are reluctant to take part in these debates, or because the media is not interested in bringing more scientific context to their reports.



“In conclusion, increasing the frequency of reporting interaction events with alarming messages can only lower the level of tolerance for wildlife and negatively influence political decisions regarding the management of the brown bear population. Evidence-informed news can help authorities better understand conflicts and create bottom-up pathways toward an optimistic future for brown bears and Romanian society,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.50.86019">Nature Conservation</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

How are brown bears depicted by Romanian media?

With a population of over 7,000 individuals spread across the...

The Southern Ocean is important to the health of the planet. The waters around Antarctica play key roles in global temperature and sea levels. This frigid <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/open-water-is-accelerating-ocean-acidification-in-the-arctic/">ocean</a> is also teeming with a surprising amount of life, including sea lions, penguins, and whales. 



While the international community has long afforded the Southern Ocean some protection, a new paper published in the journal <a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add9480?adobe_mc=MCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1666364390&amp;_ga=2.171266976.1096385489.1666364390-737731294.1666364390">Science</a> shows that this protection isn’t enough. Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> and other institutions are calling on the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources (CCAMLR) and other nations to do more.



“With no Indigenous Peoples in Antarctica, and no local fishing communities, exploitation of the waters surrounding Antarctica has always been the result of industrial distant water activities,” explained study lead author Dr. Cassandra Brooks, professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.&nbsp;



“Species such as toothfish, the region’s top fish predator, Antarctic krill, and mackerel are being overexploited by fishers, to the detriment of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, including local fauna, such as whales and native seabirds.”&nbsp;



Dr. Brooks pointed out that the krill fishing industry in the area killed three young humpback whales, 16 seals, and 59 seabirds over the period of two seasons.



Climate change will make the situation worse, and with warming oceans, it may be possible for the area to host year-round fishing, increasing the pressure on wildlife. Fishing in such remote areas also creates a much bigger carbon footprint than in many regions.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Antarctic fish have been easily overexploited, and many of these fisheries continue to be economically viable only on account of government subsidies which, as has been shown, contribute to overfishing,” said study senior author Dr. Rashid Sumaila, professor at the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF).&nbsp;



“The remoteness of the Antarctic means that fuel use is high, leaving a disproportionate carbon footprint for fishing. Further, some fisheries are still targeted by illegal, unregulated, and unreported fisheries.”



The researchers hope that protected areas can be expanded and more strict fishing regulations implemented during the CCAMLR meetings over this week and the next.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Experts are calling to halt fishing in Antarctica

The Southern Ocean is important to the health of the...

Scientists have long debated when the majestic Yosemite Valley in California formed. While some argue that it all started 50 million years ago, when the granite through which the valley cuts was first exposed to the elements, others believe that canyons in the southern Sierra Nevada began to form only about 30 million years ago. Still others claim that the valley only began to form after the Sierra tilted toward the west some five million years ago, or when <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/melting-glaciers-could-unleash-dangerous-viruses/">glaciers</a> formed in a cooling climate two to three million years ago.



Now, a team of geologists from the University of California, Berkeley employed a novel technique of rock analysis to get a more precise answer. Their analysis revealed that much of Yosemite Valley’s impressive depth was carved since ten million years ago, or most likely even more recently, about five million years ago, with rivers performing the initial carving in a preexistent shallow valley.&nbsp;



“Yosemite Valley is one of the most famous topographic features on the planet,” said study lead author&nbsp;Kurt Cuffey, a professor of Geography and of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley. “And of course, if you go to Yosemite Park and read the signage, they will give you numbers for when it became a deep canyon. But up until this project, every single claim about how old this valley is, when it formed a deep canyon, was just based on assumptions and speculation.”



“We know that the Sierra was a high mountain range 100 million years ago, when the granite was forming at depth. It was a chain of volcanoes that might have looked a bit like the Andes Mountains in South America,” added study co-author Greg Stock, a Yosemite National Park geologist. “The question really is whether the elevation has just been coming down through erosion since that time or whether it came down some and then was uplifted again more recently. At this point, based on studies I’ve done for most of my career and supported by this study, I see a lot of evidence for recent uplift happening sometime in the last five million years.”



According to the researchers, this uplift – which occurred around the same time that earthquake faulting in the eastern Sierra Nevada gave rise to an escarpment several kilometers high – steepened the western slopes and rivers, causing them to incise valleys more quickly.



Although there was some kind of valley in place for tens of millions of years — a river-carved canyon associated with the ancient Sierra Nevada - only in the last five million years renewed uplift of the range through westward tilting caused rivers to steepen and deepen the canyons that they passed through, carving out more of Yosemite Valley and forming the Tenaya Canyon. 



Afterward, during the last two to three million years, as the climate cooled and glaciers descended through the Tenaya Canyon and into Yosemite Valley, they further sculpted the rock, deepening and widening the valley. “So, there’s some component of an old Yosemite Valley. But I think this recent work shows that much more of that topography is younger, rather than older,” Stock concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/B36497.1">Geological Society of America Bulletin</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

How old is the Yosemite Valley?

Scientists have long debated when the majestic Yosemite Valley in...

Scientists have long been puzzled by the fact that, across the North American continent, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wolves-improve-the-genetic-fitness-of-moose-populations/">wolves</a> tend to change their coat color: while in the Arctic Canada and other northern areas wolves tend to be grey, in the south, most of them are black. Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> has found that patterns of infectious diseases can drive coat coloring in wolf populations.&nbsp;



Coat color in wolves is determined by a gene called CPD103: depending on the variant of this gene that a specific wolf has, its coat can be either grey or black. By examining 12 wolf populations across North America, the scientists discovered that this gene also plays a major role in protecting against respiratory diseases such as the canine distemper virus (CDV) disease. The analyses revealed that most of the black wolves had CDV antibodies (suggesting that they contracted the disease in the past and survived), and that this coloring was more frequent in areas where CDV outbreaks occurred. Thus, black wolves appeared to be more likely to survive CDV outbreaks compared to grey wolves.



By analyzing 20 years-worth of data from the wolf population at the Yellowstone National Park, the scientists found that, in areas where CDV outbreaks occur, wolves would often choose mates of the opposite color in order to maximize the chance that their cubs would have black coats.



“It’s intriguing that the gene for protection against CDV came from domestic dogs brought by the first humans entering North America, and the CDV disease virus emerged in North America many thousands of years later, once again from dogs,” said study co-author Peter Hudson, a professor of Biology at the <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Pennsylvania State University</a>.



“What I love about this study is how we have been able to bring together experts from so many fields and a range of approaches to show how disease can have remarkable impacts on wolf morphology and behavior. We are learning that disease is a major evolutionary driver that impacts so many aspect aspects of animal populations.”



According to the scientists, other animal species – such as insects, amphibians, birds, and some non-human mammals – may also have evolved associations between color patterns and disease resistance, leading them to conclude that the presence of a disease, or the frequency of disease outbreaks, are major factors affecting the color of mate an animal prefers.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abi8745">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

Disease has influenced wolf colors across North America

Scientists have long been puzzled by the fact that, across...

No-fishing zones can help restore fish, including iconic species like yellowfin <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mercury-levels-in-bluefin-tuna-reveal-patterns-of-ocean-pollution/">tuna</a>, according to a new study from the <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/">University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa</a>. It has been well established that sedentary animals, such as corals or lobster, benefit from no-fishing zones. However, it has remained unclear whether these protected areas are large enough to support migratory species that travel across long distances.



"Previous research has cast doubt on the potential for marine protected areas (MPAs) to provide refuge and fishery spillover benefits for migratory species as most MPAs are small relative to the geographic range of these species," explained the study authors.



The researchers analyzed data collected on fishing boats by scientific observers. The analysis revealed that the world’s largest no-fishing zone, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, has increased the catch rate of yellowfin tuna by 54 percent in nearby waters. Furthermore, catch rates for all fish species combined have increased by eight percent. 



“We show for the first time that a no-fishing zone can lead to the recovery and spillover of a migratory species like bigeye tuna,” said study co-author Professor John Lynham.



The experts noted that this recovery is particularly good for the global tuna fishing industry, which generates $40 billion in revenues each year and supports millions of jobs across the world.



“Over the past 30 years, we have learned that tunas do not venture as far away from home as we once thought. The Hawaiian Islands are a nursery for baby yellowfin tuna, and it turns out that many of these fish stay in the region," explained study co-author Professor Jennifer Raynor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.&nbsp;



Papahānaumokuākea is almost four times the size of all the land in California. This massive no-fishing zone was created in 2006 to protect biological and cultural resources. The area is considered sacred to Native Hawaiians, who co-manage the protected area with the state of Hawaii and the federal government.&nbsp;



Kekuewa Kikiloi is an associate professor in the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, who was not involved in the research. According to Professor Kikiloi, the study reaffirms the value of large scale marine protected areas in the Pacific. "The protections that were fought for by Native Hawaiians and other stakeholders for Papahānaumokuākea serve to benefit everyone, including fishing interests.”



The research was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Science Foundation. The results are published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abn0098">Science</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

No-fishing zones help iconic fish species recover

No-fishing zones can help restore fish, including iconic species like...

The equatorial Pacific is a key oceanographic region in the Earth’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-testing-the-resilience-of-wheat-yields/">climate</a> system. According to a new study led by <a href="https://www.rutgers.edu/">Rutgers University</a>, warming of the upper ocean layers and stronger winds have been linked to increased rainfall in eastern China



Ocean heat content is a term that represents the amount of energy absorbed by seawater. Recent increases in ocean heat content have been implicated in the intensification of tropical storms - which draw their energy from the surface of the ocean.&nbsp;



The link between ocean heating and rainfall on land is unclear. The Rutgers study, which is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>, provides new insight into this link.



“Our study suggests variations in ocean thermal structure affect the delivery of moisture, latent heat, and what happens when they arrive on land,” said Yair Rosenthal, professor at the Rutgers’ School of Art and Sciences and School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.



The latitudinal temperature gradient is the difference in sea-surface temperature between low and high latitudes. Temperature changes control how energy is absorbed by the equatorial upper ocean but also how wind carries moisture onto land.



The researchers found that over the past 360,000 years, there has been a correlation between monsoon rainfall in eastern China and the heat content of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool. In this region, sea surface temperatures remain above 82°F year-round due to transport of moisture and latent heat absorbed in the water vapor from the ocean to the continent.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study revealed that changes in upper ocean heat respond to shifts in the Earth’s orbit that occur about every 23,000 years. This alters the distribution of solar radiation at each latitude.



By using two marine species - a surface dweller and an organism found 200 meters below the surface - the scientists reconstructed how the upper ocean thermal structure gets its heat and energy. The results were compared with climate model simulations and reconstructions of the monsoonal precipitation in eastern China.



The results have shown that the coupling of ocean heat content and monsoon variations is critical for regulating the global hydroclimate.



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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

Extreme rainfall in eastern China linked to ocean warming

The equatorial Pacific is a key oceanographic region in the...

The City of Angels is known for many things, but some may not know that the Los Angeles hills support one of the city’s most captivating stars - the mountain lion. A recent study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.082">Current Biology</a> has revealed that the 2018 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-ash-traps-mercury/">Woolsey fire</a> put the future of Los Angeles’ mountain lions at risk.



"We found that after a large fire, in a fragmented urban landscape, a population of mountain lions who were already at risk of extinction increased behaviors that would put them at risk of negative encounters with humans and other mountain lions," said Rachel Blakey of UCLA. "These risky behaviors indicate the ongoing negative effects of a large fire disturbance in a population already grappling with the multiple stressors of living within a megacity."



Many reports on the Woolsey Fire focus on the human impact; however, the fire burned approximately half of the mountain lions' habitat. Unfortunately, there is no FEMA for these "miraculous" cats. Blakey worked with UCLA and the National Park Service to see what this destruction means for the lions.&nbsp;



The researchers tracked 17 mountain lions before and after the fire, and consulted scientists with decades of experience studying the cats. The results were not promising. The experts discovered that because lions avoid burned areas, they have been forced to risk their lives by crossing roads more often.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Before the fire, mountain lions crossed roads an average of three times per month. Now, they are crossing an average of five times per month. These roads include ten laned freeways like the 101, where crossings have increased from once every two years to once every four months since the fire. Still, they are avoiding urban areas.



"The idea that mountain lions will run across freeways, rather than take their chances in urban areas, really reinforces how strongly mountain lions avoid humans," Blakey said. "I think this is an important point, because people who live in the urban-wildland interface often worry that large disturbances like this could increase human-wildlife conflict."



The researchers will continue their research and hope that their study underscores the importance of habitat connectivity. They are encouraged by a plan to build a wildlife crossing in the area.



"We are lucky that, thanks to decades of science by the National Park Service and tireless campaigning by the National Wildlife Federation, our mountain lion population in LA will soon receive a much-needed boost to their connectivity via the Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing," said Blakey.



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Mountain lions are taking more risks after Woolsey fire

The City of Angels is known for many things, but...

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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



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.

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



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.

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 



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.

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



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.

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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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.

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://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



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.

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



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.

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



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.

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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