None of us can live without freshwater. It is, arguably, the most crucial natural resource we have. 



But recent findings have set off alarm bells around the world. Scientists are gravely concerned. Once abundant, our global freshwater levels are now at serious risk.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-s-total-freshwater-levels">Earth's total freshwater levels</h2>



An international group of scientists analyzed data from NASA-German satellites and discovered that Earth's total freshwater levels experienced a sudden drop beginning in May 2014, with no signs of recovery since.



The researchers propose that this decline might indicate that Earth's continents have shifted into an enduringly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hotter-drier-deadlier-how-much-can-forests-tolerate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">drier state</a>.



Matthew Rodell is a hydrologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.



“The average amount of freshwater stored on land - that includes liquid surface water like lakes and rivers, plus water in aquifers underground - was 290 cubic miles (1,200 cubic km) lower than the average levels from 2002 through 2014,” said Rodell. 



"That’s two and a half times the volume of Lake Erie lost.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-satellite-data-exposed-water-loss">Satellite data exposed water loss</h2>



The team used observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, a joint effort by NASA and the German Aerospace Center, to identify this significant global decrease in freshwater. 



The GRACE satellites, which operated from 2002 to 2017, measured changes in Earth's gravity monthly, unveiling the shifts in water mass on and beneath the surface. The mission was succeeded by the GRACE–Follow On (GRACE–FO) satellites, which have been operational since May 2018. 



These satellites revealed that the drop in freshwater began with a <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/severe-drought-in-portugal-has-left-reservoirs-at-extreme-lows/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">severe drought</a> in northern and central Brazil, quickly followed by major droughts in Australasia, South America, North America, Europe, and Africa. 



Warmer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-temperatures-were-a-driving-force-behind-2023s-record-heat/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ocean temperatures</a> in the tropical Pacific during the 2014–2016 El Niño, one of the most intense since 1950, played a critical role in shifting atmospheric jet streams and altering global weather and rainfall patterns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-freshwater-levels-did-not-rebound">Freshwater levels did not rebound </h2>



However, the most troubling finding came after the El Niño event subsided: global freshwater levels did not rebound. Rodell noted that 13 of the world’s 30 most intense droughts observed by GRACE occurred since January 2015. 



This pattern raises concerns about whether global warming could be contributing to the sustained freshwater depletion. 



“Warming temperatures increase both the evaporation of water from the surface to the atmosphere and the water-holding capacity of the atmosphere, increasing the frequency and intensity of drought conditions,” said NASA meteorologist Michael Bosilovich.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-freshwater-decline-and-global-warming">Freshwater decline and global warming</h2>



The relationship between global warming and freshwater loss becomes clearer when considering the impact of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-predicts-global-warmings-impact-on-extreme-weather/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extreme weather</a>. 



“Global warming leads the atmosphere to hold more water vapor, which results in more extreme precipitation,” Bosilovich explained. 



Although annual rain and snowfall totals may not change significantly, the time between these intense precipitation events can grow, causing the soil to dry out and become compact. 



“The problem when you have extreme precipitation is the water ends up running off,” Bosilovich added, meaning it doesn’t soak into the ground and replenish critical groundwater reserves.



This vicious cycle poses significant threats to agriculture, communities, and global stability. During prolonged droughts, the strain on water supplies forces cities and farms to rely heavily on groundwater, creating a loop of unsustainable extraction. 



The resulting depletion impacts farmers and communities, exacerbating poverty, health risks, and potential conflicts. 



A 2024 UN report on water stress highlights that people facing severe <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-drought-has-caused-crisis-levels-of-food-and-water-scarcity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">water shortages</a> may resort to contaminated water sources, increasing the risk of disease and famine.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-our-water-resources">The future of our water resources</h2>



While scientists suspect global warming plays a significant role in these shifts, definitive links remain complex due to uncertainties in climate predictions and models. 



Susanna Werth, a hydrologist and remote sensing scientist at Virginia Tech who was not involved in the study, noted: “There are uncertainties in climate predictions. Measurements and models always come with errors.” 



This complexity highlights the challenge of forecasting future freshwater trends.



The pressing question remains: will global freshwater levels recover, stabilize, or continue to decline? 



Nine of the warmest years in recorded history coincided with this sharp drop in freshwater. “We don’t think this is a coincidence, and it could be a harbinger of what’s to come," said Rodell.



The data emphasizes the urgent need for action and adaptation strategies as we face a potentially drier future.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10712-024-09860-w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Surveys in Geophysics</a>.



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Satellites reveal a sudden drop in global freshwater levels

None of us can live without freshwater. It is, arguably, the most crucial natural resource we have. But recent findings have set off alarm bells around the world. Scientists are gravely concerned. Once abundant, our global freshwater levels are now at serious risk. Earth's total freshwater levels An international group of scientists analyzed data from NASA-German satellites and discovered that Earth's total freshwater levels experienced a sudden drop beginning in May 2014, with no signs of recovery since. The researchers propose that this decline might indicate that...

In recent winters, Northeast China has experienced more frequently persistent cold events with very low temperatures lasting for over three consecutive days. Such <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-hot-and-cold-weather-events-may-share-the-same-mechanism/">extreme weather events</a> had devastating effects on agriculture, transportation, power infrastructure, and health. 



For instance, the prolonged cold event of -30°C to -40°C observed in Northeast China and eastern Inner Mongolia Province from mid-January to mid-February, 2012, affected 41 thousand people, damaged 25 thousand houses, and led to $1.8 million in economic losses. Thus, understanding what drives the occurrence of such events is crucial for both scientists and the larger public.



While previously, scientists have argued that these persistent cold events are triggered by cold air from the polar regions, a recent study led by the <a href="https://en.nuist.edu.cn/">Nanjing University of Information Science &amp; Technology</a> (NUIST) has identified another crucial factor driving the occurrence of such events: the tropical thunderstorms related to eastward-propagating low-frequency cloud clusters (known in the meteorological community as the Madden-Julian oscillation).&nbsp;



“We found that occurrence probabilities of persistent extreme cold events over Northeast China are significantly increased when cloud clusters are located over the eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific,” explained study lead author Yitian Qian, a postdoctoral fellow at NUIST. “But the triggering mechanisms of tropical cloud clusters in the two basins (Indian Ocean vs. western Pacific) on the Northeast China’s cold events are distinct.”



According to the scientists, when the cloud clusters of Madden-Julian oscillation are located over the Indian Ocean, a cooling effect induced by ascending motion over Northeast China emerges, leading to the occurrence of persistent extreme cold events. However, when the tropical cloud clusters propagate toward the western Pacific region, extreme cold in Northeast China is caused by cold air transportation from northern regions.



“Understanding the influential factors of persistent extreme cold events in Northeast China may help us to better assess the model prediction skill and thus improve the models’ accuracy in predicting the disastrous extreme cold events in Northeast China in a few weeks ahead,” concluded study corresponding author Pang-chi Hsu, an expert in Atmospheric Science at NUIST.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/atmospheric-and-oceanic-science-letters">Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters</a>.



---



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

Tropical thunderstorms trigger extreme cold events in China

In recent winters, Northeast China has experienced more frequently persistent...

The importance of coral reefs in aquatic ecosystems cannot be underestimated. They are the engineers of the deep sea, creating habitat and helping to secure the survival of many species on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/how-the-ocean-and-climate-influence-each-other/">ocean</a> floor.&nbsp;



Yet, these heroes of the ocean are not invincible. Coral survival is impacted by changes in their environment, such as fluctuations in temperature, acidity, oxygen, and food availability. Any of these factors can affect the health of corals and the survival of the creatures who depend on them.&nbsp;



Researchers at the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences of the University of Bremen (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/university-of-bremen-marum">MARUM</a>) wanted to know more about how corals are affected by environmental change. To investigate, they examined the cold-water coral species Lophelia pertusa.&nbsp;



“We looked back into the past to understand how Lophelia pertusa reacted to environmental changes," said study first author Rodrigo da Costa Portilho-Ramos.



The study considered the most crucial environmental parameters over the last 20,000 years. This time period represents the warming of the planet since the last glaciation.&nbsp;



The experts found that L. pertusa would disappear and then reappear from an area when the oxygen content or food supply changed. They also discovered that temperature and salinity did not seem to affect the ability of the coral to survive or reproduce.&nbsp;



“We therefore assume that food supply and availability of oxygen are the primary factors that determine the life or death of cold-water corals," said Portilho-Ramos.



The research team could not determine the effect of acidification over the long term because it was not possible to measure the history of acidification in the ocean.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Deep-sea corals affect many aspects of the marine ecosystem, from nutrient cycles to fish reproductive success. The team believes the information gathered in their study will help inform future marine conservation in an ever-changing climate.&nbsp;



"Here, we present the synthesis of 6 case studies from the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, revealing that food supply controlled by export production and turbulent hydrodynamics at the seabed exerted the strongest impact on coral vitality during the past 20,000 years, whereas locally low oxygen concentrations in the bottom water can act as an additional relevant stressor," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



"The fate of cold-water corals in a changing ocean will largely depend on how these oceanographic processes will be modulated. Future ocean deoxygenation may be compensated regionally where the food delivery and food quality are optimal."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/">PLoS Biology</a>.



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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

Global warming and corals: How the past informs the present

The importance of coral reefs in aquatic ecosystems cannot be...

In winter and early spring, freezing rain is an increasingly frequent weather disaster in many regions of the world, sometimes occurring even in the tropics. Since it has a significant negative impact on electrical transmission infrastructure, transportation systems, and the general public, understanding the causes triggering this phenomenon is essential. A research team led by the <a href="http://english.iap.cas.cn/">Institute of Atmospheric Physics</a> (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has now investigated the relation between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/skin-hair-products-air-pollution/">air pollution</a> and the emergence of such weather events.



In order for freezing rain to occur, raindrops need to remain supercooled (below 0°C) in the atmosphere. While previous studies have attributed the presence of supercooled drops in the atmosphere to the lack of ice nuclei, recent research has found that this is in fact not the case, since ice nuclei remain in supercooled drops when snow melts and forms these drops at even higher and warmer atmospheric levels. According to the IAP researchers, elevated soluble chemicals help the drops stay supercooled through a chemical effect known as “freezing point depression.”



The scientists reached this conclusion by conducting a long-term measurement of the physical and chemical composition of freezing rain at Mount Heng in southcentral China. Since the elevation of the sampling site is 1265.9 meters, above the top of the atmospheric boundary layer, low temperatures in the winter favor the occurrence of supercooled fog and freezing rain. However, chemical analyses over a seven-year period have found that the freezing rain at Mount Heng was acidic, with higher concentrations of soluble ions and organic matter than those in rain. The study revealed that, as the concentrations of soluble ions (particularly ammonium nitrate) increase, the ambient temperatures of freezing rain showed decreasing trends.



“This study presented the first chemical view on freezing rain, a physical phenomenon in traditional belief,” said study co-author Ronald Stewart, an expert in Atmospheric Physics at the <a href="https://umanitoba.ca/">University of Manitoba</a> in Canada. “The higher ionic concentration may depress the temperature needed to freeze raindrops and this process prolongs the existence of freezing rain.”



“Against the background of global warming, the influencing area of the freezing rain will shift northward, and the effect of freezing point depression induced by air pollution in northern China may be amplified,” concluded co-author Xiaying Zhu, a climate scientist at the <a href="http://bcc.ncc-cma.net/">Beijing Climate Center</a>.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352231022002059?via%3Dihub#!">Atmospheric Environment</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

Air pollution increases freezing rain in the Northern Hemisphere

In winter and early spring, freezing rain is an increasingly...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.izw-berlin.de/en/home.html">Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research</a> (Leibniz-IZW) has found that the numerous deaths of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bats-play-an-active-role-in-plant-pollination/">bats</a> caused by wind turbines (WT) in Germany have a negative impact on the populations of affected species, as well as far-reaching consequences for the biodiversity of rural areas. According to the experts, since bats play an important role in the natural regulation of insect populations, their loss makes ecosystems more vulnerable to disturbances and has negative effects on agriculture and forestry.&nbsp;



The researchers investigated the prey spectrum of the common noctule (Nyctalus noctula), a bat species that frequently dies at wind turbines in Germany. By analyzing the stomach content of 17 common noctules killed at wind turbines, they found DNA traces of 46 insect species from nine orders (most of them beetles and moths). Twenty percent of these insects – including, for example, the chestnut weevil (Curculio elephas) or the chestnut fruit moth (Cydia splendana) - are considered pests in agriculture and forestry. Thus, the loss of bats disrupts existing food chains and can lead to higher numbers of pests and nuisance species.



“We have to reckon with more than 200,000 bats per year dying at WTs,” said study co-author Christian Voigt, a wildlife biologist at Leibniz-IZW. “If we continue to tolerate this high number of victims at WTs, fewer and fewer insect pests will be consumed by bats.”&nbsp;



While energy production from wind power indisputably contributes to reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, the disruptions to food-webs caused by bat casualties can have major, unpredictable ecological side-effects for a variety of animal species. “We do not know the consequences of this current land use intensification for biodiversity and the resilience of these habitats. This is all the more regrettable because this transformation is currently being carried out on a grand scale in our landscapes,” explained Dr. Voigt.



“We still need to understand in much greater detail which effects the energy transition has on the biological diversity in these habitats. There is no question that the installed wind turbines contribute to the protection of the global climate and thus also to the conservation of biodiversity.”&nbsp;



However, according to study lead author Carolin Scholtz - a doctoral student in Ecological Dynamics at Leibniz-IZW - the numerous casualties of bats, “is often difficult for the populations to buffer, as the affected species have low reproduction rates. Unfortunately, not only do individuals disappear from the landscape, their interactions in complex food webs are also lost.”



According to the scientists, an important first step towards the conservation of bats and their crucial role in their habitats is the implementation of mandatory shutdowns of wind turbines during periods of high bat activity. Such actions would limit the negative consequences on ecosystems of the intensification of land use caused by the energy transition to wind power.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.12744">Conservation Science and Practice</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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Bat deaths caused by wind turbines disrupt natural food chains

A new study led by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo...

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eating-vegetables-can-protect-us-against-air-pollutants/">pollutants</a> (POPs) that are distributed globally, from the high Arctic and Antarctic to the Mariana Trench in the deep Pacific Ocean. Once used in dielectric fluids to reduce the risk of explosion in capacitors and transformers, and also used as plasticizers and flame retardants in products such as building materials and paints, the production of these chemicals was banned in most countries in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, the remaining stocks are managed globally under the Stockholm Convention on POPs, which requires signatory countries to have strategies for environmentally sound management (ESM) of PCBs by 2028.&nbsp;



In a new analysis of the progress towards environmentally sound management of PCBs, researchers from Masaryk University, the University of Toronto, and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) have found that considerable impediments still exist in many countries, making the achievement of the goal of removing all stocks of these highly hazardous chemicals by the 2028 deadline almost unattainable.&nbsp;



The report, published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c01204">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</a>, states that an estimated 1.3 million tons of pure PCBs were manufactured between 1930 and 1993 in at least 10 countries, primarily in the USA, followed by West Germany, the USSR, and France. These PCBs were widely exported from manufacturing countries, resulting in their use in at least 114 countries.&nbsp;



Through use and subsequent poor management, the 1.3 million tons initially produced expanded to 17 million tons of PCB-contaminated materials and waste. It is estimated that 20–35 percent of PCBs have already been released into the environment while more than 10 million tons of PCB-containing materials remain and pose public health and environmental threats globally.



The Stockholm Convention on POPs currently has 185 signatories (184 countries plus the European Union). It aims to ban the production of PCBs totally, and to phase out in-use PCBs by 2025. It also requires that signatory countries introduce inventories of their current stocks of the chemicals and establish strategies to ensure environmentally sound management (ESM) of materials with &gt;0.005% (50 mg/kg) PCB content by 2028. ESM largely consists of chemical destruction by high-temperature combustion methods for waste with high PCB content and burial in specially engineered landfills or underground mines for waste with low PCB content.&nbsp;



The purpose of the current report was primarily to understand the extent of the future threat still posed by PCBs to human and ecosystem health. In addition, it sought to assess the successes and failures of the world’s countries in managing PCBs and in moving towards environmentally sound management and permanent removal of these hazardous substances.&nbsp;



Some of the most important findings from the report, titled Persistent Problem: Global Challenges to Managing PCBs, include the following:&nbsp;



<ul><li>forty-two percent of signatories to the Stockholm Convention have no PCB inventories and are unaware of the amounts and locations of PCB stocks in their countries;</li><li>only 30 percent of signatories to the Stockholm Convention are on track to meet the target of environmentally sound management of all PCBs by 2028;&nbsp;</li><li>a lack of administrative, financial, and political capacities are key impediments to successfully managing PCB stocks, especially in low-income countries, despite these countries not being responsible for most PCB production or use;</li><li>the U.S., the world’s largest producer and user of PCBs, was found to have decreased its sizable stocks by only about 3 percent since 2006. Despite having the financial capacity to responsibly eliminate PCBs, the U.S. has no regulatory deadlines to do so, is not a party to the Stockholm Convention, and its PCB inventory is poorly documented compared to those of Canada and Czechia;</li><li>Canada and Czechia, both parties to the Stockholm Convention, are close to achieving the 2028 goal, having reduced their stocks of pure PCBs by 99% in the past ten years.</li></ul>



The analysis of progress towards ESM showed that, of the 174 signatory countries that have submitted reports, 72 national PCB inventories (42 percent) are partial or preliminary. Many inventories are limited to transformers and/or only to the public electricity sector, which may capture only half of the uses of PCBs (considering 48 percent of the chemicals produced were used in transformers). An additional 23 countries (13 percent) reported complete PCB inventories but no capacity to achieve ESM, while 11 countries had inventories and capacity to manage PCBs but had made no significant progress toward ESM. One country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), still manufactures PCBs.&nbsp;



The number of countries achieving or progressing toward ESM was small; 34 countries (18 percent) are progressing toward ESM through removal from use and destruction of PCB materials. Only 23 countries (13 percent) have achieved ESM of PCBs and, with three exceptions (Nepal, Kenya, and Micronesia), all of these 23 countries are classified as “high income” countries by the World Bank. Only three countries classified as “low development”/“low income” are currently making substantial progress toward ESM of PCBs: Benin, Rwanda, and Uganda.



The authors of the report state that their analysis has limitations and may therefore not be fully accurate. They say they may be presenting the worst-case scenario since countries may have made unreported progress toward PCB elimination. But conversely, many countries reported incomplete inventories (e.g., only inventories of transformers owned by a national electricity provider), and thus most may have under-recorded true stocks.



They conclude that the failure to manage global PCB stocks more than 30 years after the end of production highlights the possibility that similar problems may well plague the future control and management of other POPs. There is thus an urgent need to prioritize the reduction of manufacture and use of newer, more widely distributed POPs such as chlorinated paraffins and per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, as these management challenges are unlikely to be resolved in the coming decades.



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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

Long-banned toxic chemicals remain a global threat

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are...

New research shows that the red panda, despite having fans everywhere, is being pushed closer to the precipice of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unchecked-emissions-may-lead-to-marine-mass-extinction/">extinction</a>. When PhD researcher Damber Bista of the University of Queensland tracked red pandas using GPS collars, he discovered that their habitat is being fragmented.



“Our research findings show that current patterns of habitat fragmentation and forest exploitation, from infrastructure projects such as new roads, are placing the red panda under increased threat,” said Bista.



“Because of this, red pandas are changing their activity to minimize their interactions with disturbances, such as humans, dogs, or livestock, and this is drastically interfering with natural interactions between the animals, resulting in population isolation.”



Bista traveled to Nepal to tag and collar pandas, which allowed him to track the animals remotely from Queensland on his computer. COVID restrictions made it impossible for him to return to Nepal, as was the original plan.&nbsp;



“The satellite tracking allowed me to monitor the red pandas remotely here in Brisbane, while I relied on my friends and colleagues in Nepal to install cameras and conduct the field surveys," said Bista. "It was a surreal experience, I would spend many hours a day during COVID lockdowns in my home, watching the movement of red pandas in Nepal on my computer.”



This study is only the fifth of its kind to be conducted on wild red pandas, and the second carried out in Nepal.&nbsp;



“It’s difficult to know how many red pandas are left in the world, but it is estimated that 10,000 are left in the wild, and between 500 to 1000 are in Nepal,” said Bista.“With the findings from this study showing fragmentation of their habitat, together with a previous study on the impacts of poaching, I am concerned about the future of this species."



“While red pandas can adapt to habitat impacts to some extent, they may be susceptible to local extinction under these conditions, placing the wider population of the species at risk.”



The shrinking forest habitat of the panda forces the animals to make hard decisions. For instance, they have to decide whether to live closer to predators or adapt to life near encroaching humans.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“As you’d expect, it’s in an animal’s best interest to avoid its predators, but as we continue to build more roads and infrastructure, that drastically reduces the capacity for red pandas to do this,” Bista said, “As the availability of suitable forests shrink, it’s up to the red panda to weigh up its options on how to best survive.



Unfortunately, these types of compromises can lead towards a decline in red panda populations and possibly to eventual extinction.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/10980">Landscape Ecology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Red pandas face shrinking habitats and tough decisions

New research shows that the red panda, despite having fans...

Humans often engage with natural biodiversity because it is beautiful, be this on the species level or in terms of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dog-feces-can-harm-the-environment-and-disrupt-ecosystems/">ecosystems</a> or habitats. It seems that people value this beauty and are more likely to support conservation efforts when the subject has an intrinsic aesthetic value, irrespective of its ecological role or conservation needs. This does not bode well for the “ugly” animals of this world, despite the fact that they may be crucial in maintaining functional ecosystems or that they may be highly endangered and threatened with extinction.&nbsp;



In a new study led by Nicolas Mouquet from the University of Montpellier, this approach by the public was found to apply to reef fishes. The study reveals that reef fish which are considered to be the most ugly also tend to be the species most in need of conservation support.&nbsp;



The research involved an online survey that was completed by 13,000 members of the public. The respondents were asked to evaluate the aesthetic attractiveness of the ray-finned reef fishes in 481 photographs, and this data was used to train a convolutional neural network. The researchers then used this machine learning to generate predictions for an additional 4,400 photographs that featured 2,417 of the most encountered reef fish species.&nbsp;



When the experts combined the public’s ratings with the neural network’s predictions, they found that bright, colorful fish species with rounder bodies tended to be rated as the most beautiful. In addition, the most attractive species tended to be closely related in phylogenetic terms, and to have broadly similar ecological roles in the ecosystem. They also tended to be categorized as species of “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List, and therefore less in need of conservation support.



In contrast, less attractive or unattractive species were more likely to be listed on the IUCN Red List as “Threatened.” This was despite the fact that they had more diverse roles in ecosystem functioning and were from diverse evolutionary backgrounds. Unattractive species were also of greater commercial interest, whereas aesthetic value was not correlated with a species’ importance for subsistence fisheries.



Biases in research and conservation efforts have been documented for many taxa. For example, vertebrates are more commonly the subjects of scientific articles in conservation journals and of records in biodiversity data sets. More than half of the billions of records reported in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) are for birds, despite the fact that birds represent only one percent of all the species on the GBIF. Humans prefer the groups and species that are aesthetically appealing.



We have innate preferences for shape and color that are probably a consequence of the way the human brain processes colors and patterns, the authors say, but mismatches between aesthetic value, ecological function, and extinction vulnerability may mean that the species most in need of public support are the least likely to receive it. The ecological and evolutionary distinctiveness of unattractive fishes makes them important for the functioning of the whole reef, and their loss could have a disproportionate impact on these high-biodiversity ecosystems.



While it is easy to understand that certain species have a higher aesthetic value to people, this phenomenon is also applicable to communities and ecosystems. Less research has been done on understanding the value that people attribute to communities and ecosystems and the impact that this has on conservation efforts. However, measuring a species’ aesthetic value helps understand and predict the willingness of the public to protect that species, or even the reasons behind the success or failure of conservation efforts.&nbsp;



“Our study provides, for the first time, the aesthetic value of 2,417 reef fish species. We found that less beautiful fishes are the most ecologically and evolutionary distinct species and those recognized as threatened," said Mouquet. "Our study highlights likely important mismatches between potential public support for conservation and the species most in need of this support.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001640">PLoS Biology</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

Public is less likely to support conservation for “ugly” reef fishes

Humans often engage with natural biodiversity because it is beautiful,...

As an attempt to mitigate anthropogenic climate change, planted forests have become a widespread <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/intense-nature-restoration-needed-to-address-the-climate-crisis/">restoration</a> strategy across the globe. However, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> in the UK and the <a href="http://www.ufopa.edu.br/ufopa/">Federal University of Western Pará</a> in Brazil has found that restoration initiatives using non-native tree species can have a significant impact on tropical insects in neighboring forests, disrupting their distribution and behavior. Thus, while well-intended, exotic tree plantations can have wider, unforeseen influences on the native biodiversity of hyper-diverse tropical forests.



In ecology, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/edge-effects">edge effect</a> research focuses on how biological populations change at the boundary of two or more different habitats. In order to investigate the edge effects of newly planted Eucalyptus trees on native ecosystems in the Amazonian rainforest, the scientists collected over 3,700 dung beetles from 49 species.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our findings for dung beetles offer new insights into the importance of considering how proximity to exotic tree plantations can affect tropical forest biodiversity,” said Filipe França, a lecturer in Biology at the University of Bristol. “Importantly, edge effects varied across dung beetle responses and were species-specific. For example, we found more dung beetle species far away from Eucalyptus plantations, but some species also thrived and had higher abundances closer to plantation edges.”



These findings suggest that some dung beetles may be more sensitive to the introduction of new plant species close to their territories, while other, edge-affiliate and more generalist species, are able to thrive in novel environments.



“Understanding multi-species responses to anthropogenic disturbances is crucial to tackle the current biodiversity crisis and our findings are vital for forest managers and conservation planners aiming to maintain forest-specialist biodiversity in native ecosystems across the tropics,” concluded study senior author Rodrigo Ferreira Fadini, an expert in biodiversity at the Federal University of Western Pará.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/forest-ecology-and-management">Forest Ecology and Management</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

Exotic tree plantations often disturb local wildlife

As an attempt to mitigate anthropogenic climate change, planted forests...

A noisy songbird from subtropical Asia could soon dominate the morning chorus of native warblers, robins, and blackbirds in Britain, according to a new study led by <a href="https://www.ceh.ac.uk/">UK Centre for Ecology &amp; Hydrology</a> (UKCEH). The experts report that the red-billed leiothrix could become as familiar in Britain as ring-necked parakeets, whose numbers have risen rapidly in the UK in recent decades.



The red-billed leiothrix has already become established in several other parts of Europe, and recent sightings in Britain indicate that the species is gaining momentum there as well.&nbsp;



The leiothrix sings a song that is similar to that of blackbirds and robins.&nbsp;Just like parakeets, the non-native birds are kept as pets and have either escaped or been released into the wild. 



“If the red-billed leiothrix becomes established in Britain, they could soon be a familiar sight in our gardens, parks and woodland, with their rich song altering the dawn chorus as we know it today," said Dr Richard Broughton, who led the study.



“Our study is the very first assessment of this species in Britain, and raises awareness of the fact that the birds have been sighted in Britain. The potential for the red-billed leiothrix to become established here had seemed very low, but the cluster of records in southern England suggest we need to take it seriously as a potentially new invasive species.”



According to the researchers, milder winters as a result of climate change will make it easier for the red-billed leiothrix to become established throughout Britain.&nbsp;Native to southern China and the Himalayas, the species already has a strong presence in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Japan and Hawaii.



While the invasive birds may pose a threat to native species through competition for food, further research is needed to investigate the potential long-term effects.&nbsp;



Dr. Broughton said that monitoring of the red-billed leiothrix in Britain will be crucial in determining its prevalence in this country, and has asked the public to report sightings via the British Trust for Ornithology’s BirdTrack app or the iRecord app.&nbsp;



Image Credit: P Mumby



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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

Invasive bird may change Britain's morning soundscape

A noisy songbird from subtropical Asia could soon dominate the...

In the Paris Agreement from 2015, countries all over the world pledged to limit global warming to 1.5 or, at most, 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, by significantly curbing greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unchecked-emissions-may-lead-to-marine-mass-extinction/">emissions</a> and switching to sustainable energy sources. Now, as emissions rates gradually begin to decline, scientists ponder what quantity of gases could still be emitted while remaining below these temperature targets.&nbsp;



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> (UW) has calculated how much warming is already guaranteed by past emissions. While previous studies focused almost exclusively on carbon dioxide emissions, this new work takes into consideration other types of emissions, such as methane, nitrogen oxide, and aerosols like sulfur or soot.



“It’s important for us to look at how much future global warming can be avoided by our actions and policies, and how much warming is inevitable because of past emissions,” said study lead author&nbsp;Michelle Dvorak, a doctoral student in Oceanography at UW. “I think that hasn’t been clearly disentangled before – how much future warming will occur just based on what we’ve already emitted.”



The researchers found that, under a moderate future emissions scenario, by 2029 the Earth has a two-thirds chance of at least temporarily surpassing the 1.5°C&nbsp;target, even if all emissions will cease on that date. However, if humans continue on a moderate emissions track, by 2057 there will be a two-thirds chance that the planet will at least temporarily exceed warming of 2°C above pre-industrial levels.&nbsp;



While earlier studies that focused on carbon dioxide emissions argued that, if emissions cease, temperature rises will also stop, this new study – which also takes into account shorter-lived gases such as methane and nitrogen oxide, and particulate pollution like sulfur or soot – shows that the situation is more complex than previously thought, with past emissions continuing to cause warming for a considerable period of time after being stopped.



“This paper looks at the temporary warming that can’t be avoided, and that’s important if you think about components of the climate system that respond quickly to global temperature changes, including Arctic sea ice, extreme events such as heat waves or floods, and many ecosystems,” said study co-author Kyle Armour, an associate professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Oceanography at UW. “Our study found that in all cases, we are committed by past emissions to reaching peak temperatures about five to 10 years before we experience them.”



If countries aim to achieve their goal of maintaining global temperatures well below 2°C, emissions should be quickly and drastically reduced.&nbsp;“Our findings make it all the more pressing that we need to rapidly reduce emissions,” Dvorak concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01372-y">Nature Climate Change</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 much warming is inevitable based on past emissions?

In the Paris Agreement from 2015, countries all over the...

Decades of climate change has caused species to shift between the better and worse parts of their climatic niches, especially in higher altitudes.&nbsp;



Climate change is occurring at unprecedented rates, particularly in northern regions, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. A new study led by researchers of the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a> reveals just how large the impacts of climate change have been.&nbsp;



The study is the first to combine long-term data for various groups of species in an effort to evaluate overall biodiversity change in Finland. By combining data from different sources on such a large number of species, the researchers were able to reveal the extent and causes of change.



Over the past four decades, the world’s climate has drastically changed, leading to impacts such as increasing temperatures and shorter duration of snow cover. The study results show that in Finland, climate change has resulted in northward ecosystem shifts.&nbsp;



For example, conditions in the middle of Finland resemble past conditions in the south, while the north has inherited the climate of the mid-country. These changes, which are particularly pronounced in the far North, have a direct impact on biodiversity.



Many species have shifted between the “good,” “ideal” and “worse” parts of their climatic niches. Some species have benefited from a warming climate, while others cannot withstand hotter temperatures. As climate change progresses, conditions are turning more or less advantageous for individual species.



“Our results reveal a clear signal of more species responses towards the pole, where changes in climate have also been stronger,” said study co-lead author Laura Antão. “We also showed that the importance of temperature and snow duration varied between the different groups of species.”



The researchers are concerned about the future integrity of these ecosystems. “If species which depend on one another respond in different directions, or to different variables, then this can affect entire communities and ecosystems,” said study co-lead author Benjamin Weigel.



The research provides important insight into the effects of climate change on biodiversity. “In our study, community changes were mainly driven by species being favored or disfavored by the changes in climate, and thereby occurring more or less frequently in local species combinations. This seems to be another key effect of fast climate change - that now needs to be accounted for,” explained study senior author Anna-Liisa Laine.



The research is the first output of a unique collaboration between the <a href="https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/research-centre-for-ecological-change">Research Centre for Ecological Change</a> (REC), University of Helsinki, and other key national institutes, namely the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS).&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>.



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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

Animal communities are being reshuffled by climate change

Decades of climate change has caused species to shift between...

In recent decades, giant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-ocean-temperatures-lower-giant-kelps-nutritional-value/">kelp</a> forests have struggled to stay healthy, while some have vanished altogether. This however is not the case in Patagonia, where giant kelp are thriving along the southwestern coast, and have been for almost 200 years.&nbsp;



<a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021JC017801">New research</a> published by the American Geophysical Union suggests that frequent marine cold spells in the Patagonian region could be keeping kelp happy.



Giant kelp forests are critical species within their ecosystems, and are among the world’s <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-69238-x">most productive</a> and biodiverse. Some impacts facing these species include unregulated harvesting, and heat wave induced changes in other species' diets, such as urchin, who are left to feed on kelp when other sources of food disappear. These threats have led to losses of two percent of kelp forests each year.&nbsp;



Despite these impacts, Patagonia’s giant kelp forests look the same as they did in the early twentieth century. “It’s a very persistent ecosystem, so the question was, ‘Why has this particular kelp forest survived so long?’” said study lead author and marine geographer Alejandra Mora-Soto.



To answer this question, the research team analyzed sea surface temperatures from the southernmost 800 miles of South America’s coastlines from 1981 to 2020. They were looking for marine heat waves and cold spells.&nbsp;



“Glacial melting means more cold water entering the ocean environment. This can create very short peaks in cool temperatures, from a few days to two to three weeks,” said Mora-Soto.&nbsp;



Along the coast of Patagonia, the climate is not warming as rapidly as in other regions. Cool waters, like air conditioning, regulate the kelp’s environment and keep the temperature at levels that kelp can tolerate.&nbsp;



In the immediate future, the outlook of kelp forests is a positive one. Current climate and ocean models predict the Southern Ocean, where thriving kelp forests live, will avoid warming dramatically. But as glacial melt increases, freshwater can bring sunlight-blocking sediment, different nutrients, and cold temperatures.



“If there’s ice in the system, that could be very stressful for kelp,” said Mora-Soto. Scientists don’t yet know how long kelp species can tolerate extremely cold water. This emphasizes the need to protect these resilient and unique forests.&nbsp;



“In Southern Patagonia, most of the lands surrounding the kelp forests are protected, but not necessarily the waters,” explained Mora-Soto. "And in the northern regions of Chile, kelp forests are harvested for the alginate industry, creating underwater deserts in environmentally favorable conditions. I hope environmentalists, NGOs, local communities and the current government can help make the protection of kelp something real.”



A growing collection of research demonstrates the value of kelp forests in reducing the effects of climate change, which means that they are worthy of protection.&nbsp;



The research was published in the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21699291">Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans</a>.



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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

Giant kelp are struggling, but not in Patagonia

In recent decades, giant kelp forests have struggled to stay...

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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

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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



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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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