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,...

Archaeologists are often interested in the extent to which human populations are impacted by environmental perturbations, such as floods, famines, heat waves and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/avocados-substantially-reduce-the-risk-of-heart-disease/">disease</a>. They propose that events such as the Plague of 1347-1351, the 1815 eruption of Tambora in Indonesia, and the climatic downturns of the Little Ice Age affected human populations through changes in food availability, agriculture and population migrations. 



However, evaluating the long-term impacts of environmental change on past societies is often not possible through examination of the archaeological record because this usually lacks the temporal and spatial resolution to link such changes to exact historical events. We like the idea that climate change leads to social and cultural transformations, but there has not been a lot of evidence to support this.



Now, in a new study published today in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLoS ONE</a>, Gill Plunkett and Graeme Swindles of Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, challenge the perception that human societies have been vulnerable to past environmental change. The researchers investigated an upland site on the Antrim Plateau in the north of Ireland that was inhabited for over 1,000 years and, by reconstructing the paleoenvironmental and land use history of the site, show that human populations can be resilient in the face of environmental changes.



The researchers analyzed the uppermost horizons of a peat core, collected from a marginal site at the Slieveanorra bog in 2003. The core was 5mm in diameter and the section analysed spanned the past millennium in terms of time. They were able to infer past environmental and human occupation changes from the evidence of microbes and the pollen of natural plants and crop plants present in the peat. The experts were also able to use historically-dated volcanic ash markers and historical accounts to identify precisely the timing of past calamities such as the Black Death and the Great Potato Famine.&nbsp;



The last millennium was a difficult time for Irish people in this location. They experienced many climate swings, along with epidemics, famines, skirmishes and invasions. And yet the researchers’ record from the upland site reveals no evidence of long-term disruption to human occupation related to environmental changes.



Instead, the Slieveanorra pollen record shows a long tradition of land use in the Antrim uplands that extends as far back as the 12th century. According to the study authors, the occupation of the area continues through several major climate fluctuations, including the severest centuries of the Little Ice Age. This reveals that “the community occupying this seemingly remote and marginal environment in northeast Ireland was resilient to a range of climatic, environmental and social challenges during the last millennium,” they explained.



The results reflect a community that was able to either escape the effects of environmental change, or to rebound quickly. This surprising resilience from a relatively remote location was likely the result of social factors – such as agricultural and trade practices – which made the community flexible and adaptable.&nbsp;



The researchers suggest that, in the face of environmental change, not all human communities respond the same way, and this variation is likely to be linked to social conditions prevalent for each respective population. Understanding this complexity is key to understanding what conditions make communities vulnerable to cultural collapse in the face of environmental change.



“Ireland’s uplands today seem barren, but they were occupied and farmed for centuries, despite climate change, famines and plague," said the study authors.&nbsp;



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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

Irish community survived a thousand years of environmental change

Archaeologists are often interested in the extent to which human...

According to new research led by the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a>, anthropogenic climate change will make strong <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-reveal-the-hidden-death-burden-of-tropical-cyclones/">tropical cyclones</a> twice as frequent by 2050, putting many parts of the world at risk. Experts argue that maximum wind speeds associated with these cyclones could increase by about 20 percent.



Although they are among the world’s most destructive extreme weather events, tropical cyclones are relatively rare, with only about 80 to 100 forming annual around the globe. By combining historical data with global climate models, the scientists generated hundreds of thousands of “synthetic tropical cyclones” in order to predict the frequency with which such events may occur around the world over the next decades, while climate change intensifies.



The results suggest that the frequency of the most intense tropical cyclones (from Category 3 or higher) will double globally, while weaker tropical cyclones and storms will become less common in many areas of the world. An important exception may be the Bay of Bengal, where the scientists project a decrease in the frequency of intense cyclones.



Many of the areas highly at risk for such extreme events will be lower-income countries, such as Cambodia, Mozambique, Laos, and many Pacific Island Nations, including Tonga and the Solomon Islands. Asia will most probably see the largest increase in the number of people exposed to tropical cyclones, with millions of people facing severe risks in China, Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea.



“Of particular concern is that the results of our study highlight that some regions that don’t currently experience tropical cyclones are likely to in the near future with climate change,” said study co-author Ivan Haigh, an associated professor of Coastal Oceanography at the University of Southampton. “The new tropical cyclone dataset we have produced will greatly aid the mapping of changing flood risk in tropical cyclone regions.”



“Our results can help identify the locations prone to the largest increase in tropical cyclone risk,” added study lead author Nadia Bloemendaal, a postdoctoral fellow at the <a href="https://vu.nl/en">Free University of Amsterdam</a>. Local governments can then take measures to reduce risk in their region, so that damage and fatalities can be reduced. With our publicly available data, we can now analyse tropical cyclone risk more accurately for every individual coastal city or region,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm8438">Science Advances</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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Intense tropical cyclones are set to double by 2050

According to new research led by the University of Southampton,...

A new study published in the journal <a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abl7161?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D49172270223902357213481499257602856343%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1651047378&amp;_ga=2.150076022.1995947671.1650977792-2046344334.1629960599">Science Advances</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-are-the-carbon-costs-of-wildfires/">wildfires</a> occurring in the United States and Canada boreal forests between now and 2050 could increase by as much as 169 and 150 percent, respectively. This would release nearly 12 gigatons of net carbon emissions (the equivalent of the annual emissions of 2.6 billion cars) - which represents about three percent of the remaining global carbon budget.



“Wildfires in boreal forests can be especially harmful in terms of the amount of emissions they release into the atmosphere since they store about two-thirds of the world’s forest carbon, most of which is contained in the soil and has accumulated over hundreds or even thousands of years,” said study lead author Dr. Caryl Phillips, a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/about/programs/climate-energy">Climate &amp; Energy Program</a>. 



“If not properly contained, heat-trapping emissions from wildfires in boreal forests could dramatically increase, jeopardizing nations’ ability to limit warming in line with the Paris Agreement.”



According to study co-author Dr. Peter Frumhoff, a global change ecologist at <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>, while governments prioritize rapid suppression of wildfires that occur near heavily populated areas and crucial infrastructure, they often allow other regions that hold large amounts of carbon to burn unabated. This is a highly hazardous practice to the health and safety of Alaskan and Canadian communities. 



“Expanding fire management to keep wildfires near historical levels across boreal North America would provide multiple benefits and leave us far better positioned to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” said Dr. Frumhoff.



Although wildfires in the U.S. and Canadian boreal forests release a massive amount of carbon emissions, fire suppression efforts in these areas are given a disproportionate amount of funding. For instance, while Alaska accounts for roughly 20 percent of burned land area and half of U.S. fire emissions annually, it only receives four percent of federal fire management funding.



“Reducing boreal forest fires to near-historical levels and keeping carbon in the ground will require additional investments,” said&nbsp;study co-author Dr. Brendan Rogers, an associate scientist at the <a href="https://www.woodwellclimate.org/">Woodwell Climate Research Center</a>. 



“These funds are comparatively low and pale in comparison to the costs countries will face to cope with the growing health consequences exacerbated by worsening air quality and the more frequent and intense climate impacts that are expected if emissions continue to rise unabated. They can also ensure wildlife, tourism, jobs, and many other facets of our society can persevere in a warming world,” he concluded.



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

Wildfires will release massive amounts of carbon by mid-century

A new study published in the journal Science Advances has...

Experts at <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">UT Austin</a> have created an enzyme variant that has the potential to eliminate billions of tons of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microbes-in-landfills-produce-valuable-methane/">landfill</a> waste. In just 24 hours, the enzyme can break down plastics that typically take centuries to degrade.



According to the researchers, the enzyme could supercharge recycling on a large scale that would allow major industries to reduce their environmental impact by reusing plastics at the molecular level.



“The possibilities are endless across industries to leverage this leading-edge recycling process,” said Professor Hal Alper. “Beyond the obvious waste management industry, this also provides corporations from every sector the opportunity to take a lead in recycling their products. Through these more sustainable enzyme approaches, we can begin to envision a true circular plastics economy.”



Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a polymer found in most consumer packaging, such as soda bottles, that makes up 12 percent of all global waste.



A team of experts in the Cockrell School of Engineering and College of Natural Sciences used machine learning to develop a new variant of the natural enzyme PETase. The enzyme variant, called FAST-PETase, allows bacteria to degrade PET plastics.&nbsp;



The researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of FAST-PETase to help break down dozens of post-consumer plastic containers, five different polyester fibers and fabrics, and water bottles that were all made from PET.



“This work really demonstrates the power of bringing together different disciplines, from synthetic biology to chemical engineering to artificial intelligence,” said Professor Andrew Ellington.



Going forward, the team plans to scale up enzyme production to prepare for industrial and environmental application, such as cleaning up landfills and polluted sites.&nbsp;



“When considering environmental cleanup applications, you need an enzyme that can work in the environment at ambient temperature," said Alper. "This requirement is where our tech has a huge advantage in the future."



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

New enzyme has potential to supercharge plastic recycling

Experts at UT Austin have created an enzyme variant that...

New evidence has linked exposure to green space as a potential approach to improving overall cognitive function and helping to prevent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-dementia-cases-may-triple-by-2050/">dementia</a>.



Cognitive function at middle age is a strong predictor of whether a person may develop dementia later in life. A new study from the <a href="https://www.bu.edu/sph/">Boston University School of Public Health</a> (BUSPH) has found that increasing green space in residential areas could help improve cognition function in middle-aged women. Exposure to green space can also reduce depression, which is also a risk factor for dementia.



From 2014 to 2016, the researchers estimated residential green space and measured psychomotor speed, attention, learning, and working memory among 13,594 women aged 61.



Adjusting for age, race, and individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status, the experts found that green space exposure was associated with psychomotor speed and attention.



To understand the association between greenspace and cognitive function, air pollution and physical activity was also examined. The team was surprised to find evidence of depression as the only mediating factor.



“We theorize that depression might be an important mechanism through which green space may slow down cognitive decline, particularly among women, but our research is ongoing to better understand these mechanisms,” said study co-author Dr. Marcia Pescador Jimenez.&nbsp;



“Based on these results, clinicians and public health authorities should consider green space exposure as a potential factor to reduce depression, and thus, boost cognition. Policymakers and urban planners should focus on adding more green space in everyday life to improve cognitive function.”



Overall, the study found that exposure to green space near homes and neighborhoods could improve processing speed and attention, and boost overall cognitive function. This aligns with previous research that has linked exposure to parks, community gardens, and other greenery with improved mental health.



“Some of the primary ways that nature may improve health is by helping people recover from psychological stress and by encouraging people to be outside socializing with friends, both of which boost mental health,” says Dr. Pescador Jimenez. “This study is among the few to provide evidence that greenspace may benefit cognitive function in older ages. Our findings suggest that greenspace should be investigated as a potential population-level approach to improve cognitive function.”



For this study, the green space metric used did not differentiate between specific types of vegetation. In a new project, Dr. Pescador Jimenez will apply deep learning algorithms to Google Street View images to better understand the elements of greenery, such as trees or grass, that could be the driving factors for health.



To further assess associations with cognitive decline, the research team hopes that their study is replicated among other ethnic populations. This is because green spaces in cities are not distributed equally, especially in urban cities.&nbsp;



“Increasing everyday access to vegetation across vulnerable groups in urban cities is a crucial next step to achieve health equity,” said Dr. Pescador Jimenez.&nbsp;&nbsp;



This study is published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen">JAMA Network Open</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

Living near green space could prevent cognitive decline

New evidence has linked exposure to green space as a...

A new study funded by <a href="https://fapesp.br/en">FAPESP</a> has concluded that the very species integral to seed dispersal and tree reproduction are among the first to disappear as a result of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-in-the-amazon-hits-a-new-record/">deforestation</a>.



For example, guapeva-vermelha, a tree endemic to Brazil and listed as "vulnerable" under the IUCN, depends on animals such as the brown howlers, southern muriqui monkeys, and the South American tapir to disperse their seeds. Unfortunately, as these animals were killed or chased out of their habitat, the P. bullata vanished as well.&nbsp;



"Seed dispersal is a complex process involving many types of vertebrates at the same time. Deforestation leads to the extinction of animals, which lose food, and plants, which can no longer disperse their seeds," explained study first author Lisieux Fuzessy.



When the researchers began to explore seed dispersal in the Atlantic Rainforest, they didn't realize they would be digging so deep into vertebrate seed dispersal.



"We set out initially to investigate the role of primates in seed dispersal, but it soon became evident that we needed to analyze the roles played by all vertebrates," said Fuzessy.



The team decided to complete a wide-ranging analysis of seed dispersal. They examined the role of primates, birds, bats, carnivores, marsupials, rodents, and ungulates in this critical process.



The researchers focused on two forests. One was Serra de Paranapiacaba, which includes 120,000 hectares of highly preserved forests. The area contains elusive jaguars, bush dogs, the white-lipped peccary, and a large frugivorous bird known as the black-fronted piping guan. The researchers documented 1,588 interactions between 133 animals and 315 plants in Serra de Paranapiacaba.



The second study area was Reserva de Santa Genebra. This forest is only 250 hectares, fragmented, and surrounded by human disturbance. The area was also heavily deforested before it gained protected status in 1984. Most of the animals in Reserva de Santa Genebra are notably smaller. The animals found here include the spotted paca, American opossum, and the Brazilian squirrel. Here,&nbsp; researchers recorded 21 interactions between 54 animals and 58 plants.



"The difference was highly significant. Key species such as muriquis and tapirs eat a far greater diversity of fruit than birds, for example," said Fuzessy. "In addition to their strong demand for calories, they have a wide gape or gullet, which enables them to swallow large fruit and disperse plants that without them simply disappear in a cascade effect."



The results of the study further illustrate that species conservation is not enough. When considering reforestation projects, conservationists need to analyze the ecology of an area and aim to conserve functional diversity.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/btp.13065">Biotropica</a>.&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

Animals needed for seed dispersal are the first victims of deforestation

A new study funded by FAPESP has concluded that the...

The oceans are complex systems, with mechanisms that can absorb, circulate, sequester, and release carbon dioxide. Understanding how these tightly interlinked processes are functioning can give scientists a better idea of what to expect as the climate changes. Since the oceans are the Earth’s largest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-sinks-are-a-powerful-weapon-against-climate-change/">carbon sink</a> - sequestering roughly 10 petagrams per year - clarifying the mechanisms of ocean carbon sequestration is an important step forward in tackling the pressing issue of global warming.



Recently, geochemist and geobiologist Morgan Raven, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara has received a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2143817&amp;HistoricalAwards=false">Faculty Early CAREER award</a>&nbsp;from the National Science Foundation (<a href="https://www.nsf.gov/index.jsp">NSF</a>) in order to explore a cryptic, lesser-known mechanism of ocean carbon sequestration, which could become more conspicuous as the oceans warm: particle-hosted sulfurization and its impact on sedimentary carbon burial.&nbsp;



Most of carbon sequestration occurs as a result of the oceans’ “biological pumps.” Tiny phytoplankton at the surface of the ocean absorb carbon dioxide from the air and dissolved carbon from the water during the process of photosynthesis. Afterwards, they get eaten by zooplankton which conduct a massive migration to the oceans’ depths where they deposit organic carbon and respire carbon dioxide before returning to the surface the following night to repeat the process.&nbsp;



However, these mechanisms cannot explain the abundance of carbon in the sediments at the bottom of ocean anoxic zones, where there is not enough oxygen to support zooplankton or other animals. Recently, Professor Raven and her colleagues have discovered another mechanism playing a fundamental role in carbon sequestration. Large particles – sticky blobs of organic matter consisting of dead phytoplankton, fecal matter, and various small organisms – host microenvironments which are crucial for microbial sulfur cycling, a process that impacts deeply the carbon cycle.



“I’m particularly interested in how sulfides can effectively pickle organic matter,” explained Molly Crotteau, one of Professor Raven’s doctoral students, who will also be involved in the project. “So if you get a little bit of sulfide in the middle of these particles, you can change the carbon in those particles to a form that’s more likely to survive on these geologic time scales, more likely to make it all the way to the mud in the first place.”



According to the scientists, this mechanism is an ancient one, being much more widespread during the Cretaceous Period, when oceans were warmer and contained less oxygen (145.5 to 65.5 million year ago). Such low-oxygen conditions led to the buildup of organic matter on the anoxic sea floor, in deposits of black shale. Nowadays, as the oceans warm again, they will once more hold lesser amounts of oxygen, which could make particle-hosting sulfurization more prevalent. In this new project, Professor Raven and her team aim to investigate in greater detail this fascinating process.&nbsp;



“We want to know in finer detail how much carbon gets preserved on the seafloor, and how significant it is. And how other factors will come into play, such as ocean temperatures, circulation and storms,” concluded Professor Raven.&nbsp;&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

Study reveals a new ocean carbon sequestration process

The oceans are complex systems, with mechanisms that can absorb,...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predators-help-prevent-biodiversity-loss/">Biodiversity loss</a> and climate change are the two most urgent environmental challenges that humanity faces nowadays. Although these two issues have been largely addressed separately, a new study published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16109">Global Change Biology</a> argues that many conservation actions which slow, halt, or reverse biodiversity loss could also benefit climate change.



According to the first draft of the “<a href="https://www.cbd.int/article/draft-1-global-biodiversity-framework">Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework</a>,” released by the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (<a href="https://www.cbd.int/">CBD</a>), there are 21 targets that should be implemented by 2030 in order to reduce potential threats to biodiversity by implementing tools and solutions to protect the amazing richness of our planet’s life forms. Now experts found that 14 of these targets could also slow climate change.



One of these, for instance, is creating protected areas and connecting already existing ones via natural corridors.&nbsp;



“There is growing evidence that the creation of new protected areas and the adequate management of existing ones on land and in the sea help to mitigate climate change through capture and storage of carbon,” said study co-author Josef Settele, an expert in biodiversity and conservation at the <a href="https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=33573">Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research</a>.&nbsp;



Previous studies have shown that terrestrial protected areas around the world store 12 to 16 percent of the total global carbon stock, while deep-sea ecosystems also act as important carbon sinks.



Other biodiversity targets that could help mitigating climate change too include: restoring degraded ecosystems (e.g. tropical or subtropical forests) or coastal habitats (e.g. coral reefs or sea grass beds); expanding green and blue infrastructures in cities (e.g. parks, lakes, or green roofs); dealing with waste in a more sustainable way, by separating biodegradable products from recyclable ones; reducing pollution from excess nutrients; or increasing the sustainability of food production and supply chains.



However, there may also be conflicting goals between the protection of biodiversity and that of the climate. For example, although imitating traditional land use systems (instead of intensifying or even abandoning land use) has clear advantages for the conservation of biodiversity by preserving a high diversity of pollinators, it can negatively impact the climate by reducing the expanse of global forests, which can sequester much more carbon than agricultural lands.&nbsp;



In addition, the farming of cattle or sheep releases methane, which is harmful for the climate. Thus, slowing climate change while implementing adaptation measures without losing biodiversity is often possible only through compromises, emphasized Professor Settele.



“There is also the risk that nature is discussed as a vehicle for solving the climate problem; this is quite problematic,” added study co-author Hans-Otto Pörtner, a climate researcher at the <a href="https://www.awi.de/en/">Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research</a> (AWI).&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The capacity of ecosystems to slow climate change is overestimated, and climate change is damaging this capacity. Only when we succeed in drastically reducing emissions from fossil fuels nature can help us to stabilize the climate,” he concluded.



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

Wildlife conservation can help stabilize the climate

Biodiversity loss and climate change are the two most urgent...

As I’ve<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eat-for-a-healthy-planet-reduce-the-demand-for-animal-agriculture/"> reported before</a>, meat consumption comes with a high environmental cost. In fact, a new study shows that to meet climate goals and avoid ecological destruction, meat consumption must be reduced by 75 percent or more globally. The research was carried out by scientists at the <a href="https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/university/">University of Bonn</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"If all humans consumed as much meat as Europeans or North Americans, we would certainly miss the international climate targets and many ecosystems would collapse," explained study co-author Dr. Matin Qaim. "We therefore need to significantly reduce our meat consumption, ideally to 20 kilograms or less annually. The war in Ukraine and the resulting shortages in international markets for cereal grains also underline that less grain should be fed to animals in order to support food security.”



The scientists don’t think that everyone abstaining from meat is the answer to the problem. They note that vegetables and legumes are not universally available and can’t be grown everywhere.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"We can't live on grass, but ruminants can," said lead author Dr. Martin Parlasca. "Therefore, if grassland cannot be used in any other way, it makes perfect sense to keep livestock on it."&nbsp;



It’s especially true that people in poor countries might rely on livestock for an important part of their diet. However, it’s also important to note that those living in poor countries also eat less meat than those in rich nations like the US and Australia, where there is more access to a diverse array of foods, including vegetarian options.



Although there are more vegetarians now in rich nations than in the past, it’s not enough. Meat consumption has leveled off in the EU, but levels are still incredibly high in the US and Australia. The researchers argue that the solution is to implement a hefty meat tax in rich nations.



"That's certainly unpopular, especially since a ten- or twenty-percent surcharge probably wouldn't be enough, if it's supposed to have a steering effect," said Dr. Quaim. "Meat, however, has a high environmental cost that is not reflected in current prices. It would be entirely reasonable and fair to have consumers share more of these costs."



Another way to tackle the problem is to implement educational standards that tell students about the ecological impact of consumption habits.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"We need to become more sensitive to the global impact of our decisions," said Dr. Qaim. "This is true not only with food, but also with the shirt we buy at the discount store to wear for a single evening at a party."



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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

Meat consumption must be reduced by 75 percent or more

As I’ve reported before, meat consumption comes with a high...

Red tides are gradually becoming an annual occurrence off the west coast of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/floridas-horse-conch-is-closer-to-extinction-than-expected/">Florida</a>. They are caused by massive blooms of the algae species Karenia brevis, which are partly fueled by the presence of excess nutrients in the ocean. These algal blooms turn the ocean surface red and produce a large variety of toxins that are harmful to marine animals, seabirds, and even humans. The presence of these toxins can lead not only to localized fish kills, but also to large-scale massive mortalities to marine life.&nbsp;



According to a new study led by the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a>, these problems are quite frequently compounded by the emergence of low-oxygen regions known as “dead zones” or “hypoxic areas,” which occur when red tides begin in early summer and continue into the fall.



“These events are so disruptive they are being incorporated in population assessments of some grouper species for use in fishery management decisions. During the 2005 red tide that also had hypoxia, it was estimated that about 30 percent of the red grouper population was killed,” said study lead author Brendan Turley, an ecosystem oceanographer at the University of Miami. “There are also concerns that the conditions favorable for combined red tide and hypoxia events will increase with climate change projections into the future.”



In order to determine the frequency of hypoxia events and their association with red tides, Dr. Turley and his colleagues examined nearly 20 years of oceanographic data, which included temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen from the surface to the seafloor across the West Florida Shelf. They found that hypoxia events emerged in five of the 16 years examined. In 2005, 2014, and 2018, these events occurred simultaneously with extreme red tides.&nbsp;



The scientists now aim to collaborate with commercial fishermen in Southwest Florida to monitor the occurrence of red tide blooms and hypoxic events and to better understand the relationship between these harmful processes. Further research is needed to clarify whether there is a causal linkage between the two, and to assess the impact of climate change on their occurrence.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1568988322000518?via%3Dihub">Harmful Algae</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

Red tides and dead zones threaten Florida's west coast

Red tides are gradually becoming an annual occurrence off the...

We’ve long known that nature is good for us. And now, a study published in the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35382562/">American Journal of Health Promotion</a> further reinforces this idea. The research suggests that feeling connected to nature can positively affect our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-have-nutritional-wisdom-we-eat-what-our-body-needs/">diet</a>.



Study lead author Dr. Brandy-Joe Milliron is an associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions at <a href="https://drexel.edu/">Drexel University</a>.



“Nature relatedness has been associated with better cognitive, psychological and physical health and greater levels of environmental stewardship. Our findings extend this list of benefits to include dietary intake," said Dr. Milliron.



“We found people with higher nature relatedness were more likely to report healthful dietary intake, including greater dietary variety and higher fruit and vegetable consumption.”



To conduct the study, the research team surveyed approximately 300 adults in Philadelphia between May and August 2017. The team asked participants how close they felt to nature and what they ate the previous day to determine how many fruits and vegetables they consumed.&nbsp;



The study represented Philadelphia’s different socio-economic and racial demographics based on the 2010 census. The researchers believe the results of the study have profound implications for healthcare, lifestyle, and city planning.&nbsp;



“This work can impact health promotion practices in two ways," said Dr. Milliron. "First, nature-based health promotion interventions may increase nature-relatedness across the lifespan and potentially improve dietary intake. And second, augmenting dietary interventions with nature-based activities may lead to greater improvements in dietary quality.”



However, the researchers emphasize that further research is necessary to understand the intricacy of these findings.



“Future research should explore the ways different communities experience and value nature," said study co-author Dr. Diane Ward. “It needs to include how the intersections of environment, culture, race, history (including connection to land), social cohesion and other social and economic factors influence community identity relative to nature relatedness and dietary intake.”&nbsp;



In the meantime, perhaps we should consider ways to build a closer connection to nature. We could do this by advocating for more green spaces, encouraging schools to include nature in their curriculum, and prescribing time outdoors to those that suffer from mental and physical illness. 



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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

A daily dose of nature can improve your diet

We’ve long known that nature is good for us. And...

With extreme precipitation set to become more frequent in many locations, it has become critical to understand what drives these events. They can bring hazards such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/financial-toll-caused-by-flooding-will-soar-by-mid-century/">floods</a> and landslides, which cause untold devastation to individuals and communities, and make the exploration of these rainfall patterns, on a global scale, an issue of great societal importance.



Researchers in Germany have developed a system that uses a complex-network-based clustering workflow to search for synchronized structures of extreme rainfall events within the context of atmospheric chaos. Using this approach, they were able to reconstruct a functional climate network to characterize underlying interactions within the climate system.&nbsp;



Clusters on the network revealed regions of similar climatological behaviors and allowed the scientists to identify the climatic interdependence of extreme-rainfall events around the globe. Their findings are published by the American Institute of Physics in the journal <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/journal/cha">Chaos </a>.&nbsp;



The researchers identified that extreme rainfall events in different locations around the globe are not independent of each other, but tend to occur in clusters with a certain degree of similarity. For example, monsoons describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and, while they are distributed on different continents, monsoons are usually accompanied by extremes in precipitation.



“Although global-scale atmospheric circulation within the tropics and subtropics forms connections between different monsoons, they are essentially driven, synchronized, and coordinated by the annual cycle of solar radiation,” said Zhen Su at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. “Synchronization can also occur between extreme rainfalls, even when they are not occurring within monsoon regions.”



The way in which extreme rainfall is synchronized, globally, has two main patterns that differ with time and spatial distribution. “One occurs mainly from early June to mid-July,” said Su. “The other happens primarily from mid-July to late August.”



Between these periods there is a northward shift in the rain belt and, therefore, a spatial change in the distribution of monsoons. The researchers noticed both of the spatial distributions cover monsoon regions and also oceanic and inland areas.



“The synchronization structure of extreme rainfall tells us how the climate system is interconnected on a global scale,” said Su. “It also provides insights for improving corresponding interaction processes in general circulation models, which are mostly used for estimating the state of our future climate.”



"However, it still remains unclear what the global-scale synchronization pattern of extreme rainfall will look like, for example, during the summer season of the Northern Hemisphere,” Su said. “We aim to find the answer from observational precipitation data.”



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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

Extreme rainfall events are interconnected around the globe

With extreme precipitation set to become more frequent in many...

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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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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



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Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

[sendtonews key="Ccjk8KEMzv-2550719-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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

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