Air pollution is a silent menace that can subtly worsen the heart conditions that many patients battle daily. Often, we are not aware of the full extent of this danger.



Unlike viruses or bacterial infections, which are more tangible and typically easier to detect and manage, this invisible threat arises from the very air we breathe, infiltrating our bodies with harmful particles that can exacerbate chronic heart issues.



A new study by heart researchers at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City finds that patients with heart disease, particularly those who have suffered heart failure, are especially vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution and poor air quality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-air-pollution-and-heart-health">Air pollution and heart health</h2>



The results of the study were presented at the American Heart Association's 2024 Scientific Sessions international conference in Chicago.



The experts found that two inflammatory markers - CL27 (C-C motif chemokine ligand 27) and IL-18 (interleukin 18) - were elevated in heart failure patients who were exposed to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/poor-air-quality-linked-to-cognitive-problems-in-infants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">poor air quality</a>, but did not change in those without heart disease.



This suggests that air pollution places additional stress on the bodies of patients with pre-existing heart conditions.



“These biomarkers rose in response to air pollution in people who already had <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/more-research-proves-that-air-pollution-causes-heart-problems/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heart disease</a>, but not in patients who were heart disease free, showing that heart failure patients are not as able to adapt to changes in the environment,” said Dr. Benjamin Horne, the study's principal investigator, is a professor of research at Intermountain Health.



The findings emphasize the unique vulnerability of individuals with heart problems, and highlight the need for targeted protective measures to mitigate the harmful effects of poor air quality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unraveling-the-research-process">Unraveling the research process</h2>



The retrospective study involved collaboration between Intermountain Health researchers and scientists from <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanford University</a> and the <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harvard School of Public Health</a>. 



They analyzed blood samples from patients enrolled in the Intermountain INSPIRE registry, which collects blood, biological samples, medical information, and laboratory data from both healthy individuals and those with various medical conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-identifying-air-pollution-peaks">Identifying air pollution peaks</h2>



The researchers examined blood for 115 different proteins that are indicative of increased inflammation.



The samples came from 44 heart failure patients and 35 individuals without heart disease. 



Blood was drawn on days with low air pollution (PM2.5 levels under 7 μg/m3) and days on which pollution spiked (PM2.5 levels of 20 μg/m3 or higher). This allowed the researchers to compare the samples and determine the effects of pollution spikes.



The spikes were due either to summer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/preparing-for-disaster-raising-awareness-to-reduce-wildfire-risks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildfire</a> smoke or winter inversions, where warm air traps pollution close to the ground.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-proactive-measures-for-heart-patients">Proactive measures for heart patients</h2>



“It’s important that individuals with known heart disease, including those diagnosed with heart failure, need to be especially cautious during periods of poor air quality," said Dr. Horne.



"This includes exercising indoors, making sure to take their prescribed medications, and avoiding areas like roadways and highways where there’s a lot more traffic and pollution."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-air-quality-matters">Why air quality matters </h2>



The&nbsp;results&nbsp;of&nbsp;this study highlight a pressing need for enhanced public education and prevention among heart patients during times of adverse&nbsp;air quality.



Air pollution is an increasingly common problem, in both developed and developing countries. This is due, in part, to&nbsp;urbanization, industrial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-hit-a-record-high-in-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">emissions</a> and climate change. 



Individuals with heart diseases, along with many others, have increased susceptibility. The study reiterates the need for improved air quality monitoring and public health interventions that are centered on heart patients' needs. In terms of healthcare professionals, these findings pave the way for more focused education for patients with a comorbid condition. Physicians may advise that the suggested strategies be implemented, such as having <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bioengineered-super-plant-acts-as-natural-indoor-air-purifier/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">air purifiers</a> at home or not opening windows during days of poor air quality.



This proactive approach not only mitigates immediate health risks but also promotes long-term well-being for heart patients. In addition, policymakers may use research like this as the foundation for their advocacy of stronger air quality standards and environmentally conscious, sustainable urban planning that decreases pollution-emitting sources.



If&nbsp;stricter&nbsp;regulations&nbsp;on&nbsp;emissions&nbsp;are&nbsp;enacted,&nbsp;coupled&nbsp;with&nbsp;a focus on&nbsp;cleaner technologies, communities&nbsp;can&nbsp;protect&nbsp;more&nbsp;than&nbsp;just&nbsp;heart patients. The public in&nbsp;general&nbsp;will benefit by improving overall health, reducing healthcare burdens for governments.



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Heart disease patients have a unique vulnerability to air pollution

Air pollution is a silent menace that can subtly worsen the heart conditions that many patients battle daily. Often, we are not aware of the full extent of this danger. Unlike viruses or bacterial infections, which are more tangible and typically easier to detect and manage, this invisible threat arises from the very air we breathe, infiltrating our bodies with harmful particles that can exacerbate chronic heart issues. A new study by heart researchers at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City finds that patients with heart disease,...

It is well known that spending time in nature has benefits in terms of mental and physical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/natural-environments-play-an-overlooked-role-in-public-health/">health</a>, and yet we are not all drawn toward the natural world with the same passion. In trying to understand individual differences in the way we experience nature, environmental factors (such as parental attitudes and access to natural areas) have received the most attention. The potential role of genes in this variation between individuals has been overlooked.&nbsp;



For the first time, scientists have now investigated the contribution of genes and heritability to various aspects of our individual appreciation of nature. The research was focused on data from a large-scale study of UK twins and was led by Chia-Chen Chang at the National University of Singapore.&nbsp;



Researchers surveyed 1,153 pairs of twins listed on the TwinsUK registry. Some of the twins were monozygotic (identical), indicating that they would share almost 100 percent of their genes, while others were dizygotic twins (non-identical) who would share about 50 percent of their genes. The average age of the twins in the study was 60 years, and the participants ranged from 19 - 89 years of age.&nbsp;



The twins were asked to rate their familiarity with and desire to be in nature (termed nature orientation), as well as the frequency with which they visit natural spaces such as public parks and private gardens (termed nature opportunity). Both nature orientation and opportunity have been hypothesized to have a heritable component, but this has never been tested. In addition, the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors in explaining individual variation in nature experience remains unexplored.&nbsp;



The results of the study, published today in the open access journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/">PLoS Biology</a>, found that identical twins were more similar to each other than non-identical twins in their orientation towards nature and in their nature experience – how often they visited public open space, and their frequency and duration of visits to gardens.&nbsp;



Heritability ranged from 46 percent for nature orientation to 34 percent for frequency of garden visits, suggesting a moderate influence of genetics over how people experience nature.&nbsp;



However, environmental factors explained more than half of the differences between individuals. For example, people living in urban environments tended to have less frequent nature experiences due, probably, to their more limited access or greater travel times to gardens and public open spaces. This result highlights the importance of availability in shaping nature-seeking behaviors.&nbsp;



Heritability also declined with age, suggesting that genetics may become less influential as people age and experience a unique set of environmental conditions.



Spending time in natural spaces has been found to improve mental well-being, but different people experience and benefit from nature differently. This study provides the first evidence for a genetic component to both our predispositions towards nature and our tendency to visit natural spaces.&nbsp;



Nature-oriented people may actively seek out nature even if it means traveling from their home, but diverse urban planning is needed to provide access to natural spaces and the benefits they offer, the authors say.



“Spending time in nature links to better health and well-being,” adds Chang. “A twin study shows that a person’s desire to be in nature and how often they experience it are influenced by both genes and personal experiences.”



The authors conclude that their study demonstrates genetic contributions to the nature experiences of individuals and opens a new dimension for the study of human-nature interactions in future.&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

How we experience nature is partly hereditary

It is well known that spending time in nature has...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2021.737379/full">Frontiers in Environmental Science</a> has investigated the source of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/methane-emissions-are-higher-than-previously-estimated/">methane</a> emissions in coastal forests that are destroyed by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-levels-are-rising-at-an-alarming-rate/">rising sea levels</a> – the so-called “ghost forests.” The scientists have found that communities of microbes in the soils under dead trees (also called “snags”) are producing methane, while the snags act like filtering straws as the gas rises through the wood.



“We’re tracing where the methane is originally coming from, and what we’re finding is that it’s coming from the soils, and as it moves through the tree, it’s changing as well,” said study co-author Marcelo Ardón, an associate professor of Forestry and Environmental Resources at <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/">North Carolina State University</a>. “The methane is being processed as it moves through those snags.”



In order to localize the source of methane emissions, Professor Ardón and his colleagues analyzed methane gas samples from standing dead trees in ghost forests from five sites on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula on the North Carolina coast.&nbsp;



“It’s important to be able to understand how methane is moving through the ecosystem,” study lead author Melinda Martinez, a postdoctoral scholar at the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/">U.S. Geological Survey. </a>“These ghost forest regions are temporary ecosystems; they will become marshes. But even during the transient state, we want to know how ghost forests produce and move this greenhouse gas.”



By measuring concentrations of the gas in the soil, in the soil water, and inside the snags, the scientists found that methane concentrations generally decreased the higher they got from the ground in the dead trees. Afterwards, they also took samples from the trees and placed them in vials to see if they were producing any methane when isolated in oxygen-free environments.



“Only five out of 100 vial samples produced any significant results, which provides further evidence that the methane being emitted from standing dead trees originated in the soil,” said Dr. Martinez.



Since increasingly more scientists agree that methane has a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reducing-methane-is-the-fastest-way-to-slow-global-warming/">higher warming potential</a> than carbon dioxide, mapping methane fluxes in ghost forests is essential for better understanding the environmental impact of forest-to-ghost forest transition and building strategies for mitigating climate change.&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

Why are dead trees emitting methane?

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental...

Many models of climate change predict that hurricanes will increase in frequency and intensity in future, bringing devastating consequences for both human life and property. In this connection, the effects of both sea level rise and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-exposes-coastal-cities-to-more-deadly-storms/" data-type="news" data-id="1900470">storm</a> intensification have been well documented over the past decade, but always separately from one another. A new study from Princeton University now shows that the two sources of water, when acting jointly, can produce flooding events that will have far worse impacts than those from storm surge or rainfall alone.&nbsp;



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01272-7">study</a>, published today in the journal&nbsp;Nature Climate Change, is among the first to assess how climate change could impact the frequency of extreme rainfall-surge events.&nbsp;



“Most studies have looked at the hazards of rainfall and storm surge separately, but in this study, we looked at the joint hazards from the Gulf Coast up through New England,” said study senior author Professor &nbsp;<a href="https://engineering.princeton.edu/faculty/ning-lin">Ning Lin</a>.



In order to assess the effects of joint extreme events, the research team used eight different global climate models that simulate the way in which the world's climate is being altered due to increasing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.&nbsp;



Since each model weighs climate variables in different ways, the scientists calculated a reliable average. They did this by comparing each model’s predictions of past hurricane development and strength to historical simulations. The researchers then downscaled these models to generate tens of thousands of synthetic storms for the region of interest along the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.&nbsp;



“This way, by comparing the models’ predictions of the past, we know we have a reasonable basis for the models’ predictions of the future,” said Professor Lin.



The researchers next modeled the powerful winds produced by the hurricanes and the distances that the winds extend outward from the storm. It is these powerful winds that drive storm surges by pushing great volumes of water toward land. The storm winds also affect the amount of rainfall associated with a hurricane. If a storm has a slower translation speed (the speed with which it moves over land and water), then there will be more time for rain to fall in any particular area.&nbsp;



In these ways, the two hazards of storm surge and rainfall are intertwined and can add to the catastrophic effects. For example, increased rainfall can add to the local storm surge flooding, while slower storms may give gale-force winds more time to pile up higher, more damaging surges.



Using these climate models, along with physics-based hurricane hazard models and statistical analyses, the researchers predicted a dramatic rise in how often joint 100-year events – that usually only have a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year – will occur by the year 2100.



For example, along the Gulf of Mexico, extreme rainfall-surge events have historically occurred on average every 200–500 years. But by the end of the 21st century, the study predicts, these extreme events may occur on average every 10–30 years. And in New England, where extreme joint events historically occurred less than once in a thousand years on average, they are predicted to occur approximately every five years.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The analysis also enabled the researchers to gauge the relative contributions of sea level rise and storm changes to the joint rainfall-surge hazards. Sea level has risen dramatically in the past 30 years (by around 0.13 inches per year), and this has been considered a primary cause of more frequent floods. For the eastern seaboard of the US, though, the new study implicates increasing storm intensity and slowing translation speeds as the main reasons why joint extreme rainfall-surge events look set to spike.



“It's a surprising finding that says we should not neglect changes in storm climatology, with enhanced rainfall projected to play a bigger and bigger role in driving compound flooding," said Lin. She and her colleagues hope these findings will help better inform policymakers as well as bolster overall preparedness for the severe storms to come.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Thomas Wahl, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida who was not involved in the study, offered comments on its significance. “Based on the results presented in this study and others, it is paramount for decision-makers to properly account for compound flooding events in their coastal management and adaptation plans."



Wahl noted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), two agencies deeply involved in flood mitigation and disaster response, have both recently created task forces to better understand the impacts of compound flooding.



This growing awareness of the threat of compound flooding dovetails with Lin's own work on hurricane risk analysis, where the hazards of storm surge and rainfall are no longer being treated as separate phenomena.&nbsp;



“We've been learning that as joint hazards, surge and rainfall really should be studied together, and right now that's where my work is going,” said Professor Lin. “The current and future joint hazard posed by hurricanes has not been well-quantified, but with this study, we're now getting a clearer, and unfortunately sobering picture.”



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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

Rainfall-surge events are a growing threat on the East Coast

Many models of climate change predict that hurricanes will increase...

Approximately 51 trillion <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/understanding-the-effects-of-microplastics-on-our-environment/">microplastics</a> -&nbsp; tiny fragments measuring less than five millimeters in length and originating from various types of plastics - are floating in the surface waters of seas and oceans all over the globe, negatively impacting a large variety of ecosystems. While hundreds of scientific studies have surveyed the plastic debris on the surface or near the surface of oceans, they are still far from providing a full picture of marine microplastic pollution.



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.fau.edu/">Florida Atlantic University</a> (FAU) has found that microplastics are in fact present in the entire water column within the Southern Atlantic Ocean, suggesting that ocean interiors are just as polluted as their surfaces. According to the researchers, the study indicates that the ocean interior is a crucial pool of "missing" plastics.



Moreover, weak ocean current systems are shown to contribute to the formation of microplastic hotspots in the depths of the ocean, where they can significantly affect zooplankton populations.



“Our study highlights the urgency for more quantification of the deep-ocean microplastics, especially the smaller size fraction, to better understand ecosystem exposure and to predict the fate and impacts of these microplastics,” said&nbsp;study senior author Tracy Mincer, an assistant professor of Biology at FAU.&nbsp;



By sampling plastic particles in the South Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, Professor Mincer and her colleagues found that abundances and distribution patterns of small and large microplastics varied geographically and vertically due to complex and diverse redistribution processes.&nbsp;



“Small microplastics are different from large microplastics with respect to their high abundance, chemical nature, transport behavior, weathering stages, interactions with ambient environments, bioavailability, and the release efficiency of plastic additives,” explained study first author Shiye Zhao, a postdoctoral fellow at FAU. “These distinct characteristics impact their environmental fate and potential impacts on marine ecosystems.”&nbsp;



Compared to larger microplastics, the smaller ones are more highly oxidized and seem to have a longer lifetime in the water column, suggesting increased risks for ocean ecosystems. 



“As plastic particles disintegrate into smaller size fractions, they can become harmful in different and unpredictable ways that are only now beginning to be understood,” said Professor Mincer. 



“These micron-size microplastics can move across the gut epithelium, become trapped in biomass, and have the potential to transfer through marine food webs, posing an unknown ecological risk and biogeochemical impacts.” 



Further research focusing on smaller microplastics <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-discovered-in-the-blood-of-livestock/">ingestion</a> by various animals are urgently needed in order to assess the extent of plastic contamination in biomass.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.16089">Global Change Biology</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

Ocean interior has accumulated "missing" plastics

Approximately 51 trillion microplastics -&nbsp; tiny fragments measuring less than...

New research shows that microplastics can be found in human placentas and in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sugars-in-breast-milk-help-prevent-infections-in-newborns/">newborns</a>. This is especially important as plastics may have serious health consequences for people at any age.&nbsp;



“It’s quite possible that children are more exposed to microplastics than adults, similar to children’s greater exposure to many other environmental toxic chemicals,” explained Kam Sripada, a neuroscientist from the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> (NTNU).



Rather than degrading and decomposing, plastics just break down into smaller and smaller microplastics, which break down into even tinier nanoplastics. Plastic is ubiquitous in our world, from things we use daily to things quickly dominating our landfills, clogging our rivers and creating islands in our oceans.&nbsp;



Sripada is first author on a review paper in <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/">Environmental Health and Perspectives</a> that summarizes what is known about micro and nano plastics and their connection to pregnancy and child health.&nbsp;



“No one knows exactly how much microplastic a child ingests. But several studies now suggest that today's children absorb microplastics in their bodies as early as at foetal age. This is concerning,” said Sripada.



Research is especially lacking on children’s exposure and health problems caused by micro- and nanoplastics.&nbsp;



“Although a lot of research is being done on microplastics, studies on the health effects of these plastic particles are limited. This applies especially to the effects on children,” said Martin Wagner, an associate professor of biology at NTNU.



What is now understood is that, even before birth, children are exposed to these plastics throughout childhood and into adulthood. This is also true of toxic chemicals.



“Children do not have a fully developed immune system and are in a very important phase of their brain development. This makes them particularly vulnerable,” said Sripada.&nbsp;



While the researchers noted that it is almost impossible to prevent children from ingesting plastic, there are ways that parents can reduce the amount of plastic that their children are exposed to.&nbsp;



For example, parents should make sure that their child's food comes into as little contact with plastic as possible. The experts also advise to clean the house properly and regularly with soap and water because dust may contain microplastics.



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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

Babies are exposed to microplastics before they're even born

New research shows that microplastics can be found in human...

An unprecedented study led by scientists at <a href="https://www.swansea.ac.uk/">Swansea University</a> (UK) has used GPS collars to analyze the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dangerous-bee-behavior-may-be-linked-to-appearance/">behavior</a> of a group of baboons living on the edges of Cape Town, South Africa.&nbsp;



"Owing to the challenges involved in tracking the behaviors of many individuals simultaneously, we are only just beginning to understand the collective behavior of wild social groups and know little about whether and how it changes in anthropogenic environments," wrote the study authors.



"This is an important gap in knowledge given the critical influence collective behaviors exert on group dynamics, individual fitness and social evolution and the increasing spatial overlap between wildlife and humans worldwide."&nbsp;



The researchers collected GPS data every second to compare the behavior of urban baboons with those in more traditional settings.&nbsp;



The analysis showed that urban baboons were less likely to coordinate their behaviors with each other. Instead, each baboon acted as smaller groups and moved more quickly to escape threats of traffic and obtain high calorie foods.&nbsp;



Even though urban baboons did not coordinate their efforts as much, the same social hierarchy seemed to be in place, with dominant animals having greater influence.&nbsp;



"We expected dominant baboons to have less influence on others' movements in urban space because the troop social dynamics break down. But we were surprised that the males continued to play an important role," said study lead author Anna Bracken.



The research is important for baboon rangers, people who work minimizing conflict between baboons and people.&nbsp;



"The baboon rangers are tasked with keeping baboons out of the city, and by focusing on adult males, they indirectly deter most of the group from urban space, because these males tend to be followed," explained study co-author Professor Justin O'Riain of the University of Cape Town.



Now that the scientists have a basic understanding of baboon collective behavior in cities, where the social cohesion is loose but social hierarchy maintained, they want to use their data to understand why these wild animals move into cities in the first place.&nbsp;



The study is published in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</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

Baboons behave differently in urban areas

An unprecedented study led by scientists at Swansea University (UK)...

Climate change is progressing rapidly, leaving traces all over the planet. The impact of global warming is particularly dramatic in the Arctic: during the past decades, the sea-ice has declined massively in the face of rising temperatures. According to the latest simulations, by 2050 the Arctic could be consistently ice-free during summers.



Surprisingly though, on the other side of the planet, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-antarctic-sea-ice-has-fluctuated-over-the-past-century/">Antarctic sea-ice</a> seems to have evaded the global warming trend, and has remained largely unchanged since 1979. However, contrary to actual observations, existing climate model-based simulations indicate significant sea-ice loss in the Antarctic too. 



According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.awi.de/en/">Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research</a> (AWI), this Antarctic “sea-ice paradox” could be explained by the fact that current simulations fail to take into account the role of ocean eddies in delaying Antarctic sea-ice decline.



“This so-called Antarctic sea-ice paradox has preoccupied the scientific community for some time now,” said study first author Thomas Rackow, a senior scientist at AWI. “The current models cannot yet correctly describe the behavior of the Antarctic sea-ice; some key element seems to be missing.”&nbsp;



By employing the <a href="https://fesom.de/models/awi-cm/">AWI Climate Model</a> (AWI-CM), a high-resolution computer simulation used to model changes in climate, Dr. Rackow and his colleagues managed to map processes from the Southern Ocean in much more detail than previous researchers.



“We used a broad range of configurations for our simulations. In the process, it became clear that only those simulations with a high-resolution description of the Southern Ocean encircling the Antarctic produced delayed sea-ice loss similar to what we are seeing in reality,” explained Dr. Rackow. “When we then extended the model into the future, even under a highly unfavorable greenhouse-gas scenario the Antarctic sea-ice cover remains largely stable until mid-century. After that point the sea-ice retreats rather rapidly, just as the Arctic sea-ice has been doing for decades.”



According to the scientists, the delay in Antarctic sea-ice decline could be explained by the activity of ocean eddies – currents with diameters of 10 to 20 km - which allow the ocean to transport additional heat taken up from the atmosphere north, towards the Equator. This northward heat transport is closely linked to the underlying overturning circulation in the upper kilometer of the ocean, which in the Southern Ocean is influenced both by wind and these eddies. As a result, the ocean surrounding the Antarctic warms slower, and the sea ice remains stable for longer.



“Our study supports the hypothesis that climate models and projections of the Antarctic sea-ice will be far more reliable as soon as they are capable of realistically simulating a high-resolution ocean, complete with eddies. Thanks to the ever-increasing performance of parallel supercomputers and new, more efficient models, next-generation climate models should make this a routine task,” concluded Dr. Rackow.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28259-y">Nature Communications</a>.



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

Antarctic sea-ice decline is delayed by ocean eddies

Climate change is progressing rapidly, leaving traces all over the...

All of Earth’s wetlands, including lakes rivers, swamps, marshes, estuaries, deltas, mangroves and other coastal areas, are critically important biodiversity hotspots and carbon sinks. Furthermore, wetlands provide a buffer against the impacts of floods, droughts, and hurricanes, and support the livelihoods of millions of people. 



Despite this, wetlands are the most threatened ecosystems in the world.&nbsp;They are disappearing at an alarming rate - three times faster than forests - as a direct result of human activities and climate change.



Last year, the UN General Assembly proclaimed today (February 2nd) as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldwetlandsday.org/">World Wetlands Day</a> to call attention to the desperate need for wetland conservation and restoration.&nbsp;



On this day in 1971, the "Convention on Wetlands of International Importance" was held in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the Caspian Sea. The convention, which was adopted by 172 countries, empowers nations to take measures to protect their wetlands and out them to good use.



Coastal wetlands absorb and store carbon up to 55 times faster than tropical rainforests. Even though they cover only a small portion (6 percent) of Earth’s land surface, these marine and freshwater habitats support 40 percent of all plant and animal species.&nbsp;



According to the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/">United Nations</a>, more than a billion people across the world depend on wetlands for their livelihoods, which is about one in eight people on Earth. Over the last 50 years, 35 percent of the world’s wetlands have been lost. Human activities that are driving these losses include farming and agriculture; construction; pollution; overfishing and overexploitation of resources; invasive species; and climate change.



Ironically, wetlands offer a natural solution to the global threat of climate change. The UN notes that peatlands alone store twice as much carbon as all the world's forests combined. When these ecosystems are destroyed, however, they emit vast amounts of carbon.&nbsp;



There is an urgent need to raise national and global awareness about wetlands in order to reverse their rapid loss, says the UN, and today is the ideal time to increase people’s understanding of these critically important ecosystems.



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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

World Wetlands Day: an urgent call for awareness

All of Earth’s wetlands, including lakes rivers, swamps, marshes, estuaries,...

Using citizen science data stretching back as far as the mid 18th century, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coastal-wetlands-can-become-too-salty-for-some-resident-plants/">plants</a> in the UK are flowering a month earlier due to a warming climate.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We can use a wide range of environmental datasets to see how climate change is affecting different species, but most records we have only consider one or a handful of species in a relatively small area,” said study lead author Professor Ulf Büntgen. 



“To really understand what climate change is doing to our world, we need much larger datasets that look at whole ecosystems over a long period of time.”



The researchers analyzed 400,000 observations of 406 plant species in Nature’s Calendar, a database maintained by Woodland Trust. The flowering times were compared with temperatures, and the observations were categorized based on elevation and location.



“Anyone in the UK can submit a record to Nature’s Calendar, by logging their observations of plants and wildlife,” said Professor Büntgen. “It’s an incredibly rich and varied data source, and alongside temperature records, we can use it to quantify how climate change is affecting the functioning of various ecosystem components across the UK.”



The results showed a picture of drastic change. When compared to the time when the first blooms emerged each year from 1753 to 1986, plants were flowering a month later from 1987 to 2019.



“The results are truly alarming, because of the ecological risks associated with earlier flowering times,” said Professor Büntgen. “When plants flower too early, a late frost can kill them – a phenomenon that most gardeners will have experienced at some point. But the even bigger risk is ecological mismatch. Plants, insects, birds and other wildlife have co-evolved to a point that they’re synchronised in their development stages."&nbsp;



"A certain plant flowers, it attracts a particular type of insect, which attracts a particular type of bird, and so on. But if one component responds faster than the others, there’s a risk that they’ll be out of synch, which can lead species to collapse if they can’t adapt quickly enough.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</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

British plants are now flowering a month earlier

Using citizen science data stretching back as far as the...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/">Monterey Bay Aquarium</a> has revealed that extreme heat has become the "new normal" for the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/southern-ocean-outgassing-affects-the-global-carbon-budget/">ocean</a>. Based on 150 years of data, the researchers found that the majority of the ocean’s surface has regularly exceeded a historical heat extreme threshold for the last seven years.



Heat extremes can destroy critically important marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and kelp forests. Thermal stress alters the functioning of these ocean habitats, and gradually compromises their ability to adapt and survive.&nbsp;



“Climate change is not a future event,” said Dr. Kyle Van Houtan, who led the research team. “The reality is that it’s been affecting us for a while. Our research shows that for the last seven years more than half of the ocean has experienced extreme heat.”



“These dramatic changes we’ve recorded in the ocean are yet another piece of evidence that should be a wake-up call to act on climate change. We are experiencing it now, and it is speeding up.”



By mapping 150 years of sea surface temperatures, the experts established a historical benchmark for ocean heat extremes. The study revealed that 2014 was the first year that this threshold was exceeded throughout more than half of the ocean. By 2019, 57 percent of the ocean experienced excessive heat.



For comparison, only two percent of the ocean surface was experiencing extremely&nbsp; at the end of the 19th century.



“Today, the majority of the ocean’s surface has warmed to temperatures that only a century ago occurred as rare, once-in-50-year extreme warming events,” said Dr. Van Houtan.



According to the researchers, the new normal of extreme heat across the majority of the ocean’s surface is further evidence for the urgent need to drastically reduce emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, which are the driver of climate change.



“When marine ecosystems near the tropics experience intolerably high temperatures, key organisms such as corals, seagrass meadows, or kelp forests can collapse,” said Dr. Van Houtan.&nbsp;



“Altering ecosystem structure and function threatens their capacity to provide life-sustaining services to human communities like supporting healthy and sustainable fisheries, buffering low-lying coastal regions from extreme weather events, and serving as a carbon sink to store the excess carbon put in the atmosphere from human-generated greenhouse emissions.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/">PLOS Climate</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

Extreme heat is the "new normal" for the ocean

A new study led by the Monterey Bay Aquarium has...

Coral reefs all over the world are threatened by the warming oceans associated with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/caribou-help-rare-plants-survive-climate-change/">climate</a> change. Management of these iconic ecosystems often involves protecting climate refugia where cooler upwelling conditions or strong ocean currents help to maintain thermal safe havens for coral reef organisms, even when surrounding areas become inhospitable.&nbsp;



Predictions about the future of coral reefs have repeatedly stressed the importance of protecting these “thermal refugia," but climate change models are often too coarse to capture the smaller-scale oceanographic features that characterize these areas. In addition, it has not been clear whether these safe havens would actually persist as Earth continues to warm.&nbsp;



With this in mind, Adele Dixon of the University of Leeds, UK, and colleagues from the US and Australia, made use of the most up-to-date global climate projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) to investigate the projected changes to coral reef refuges at an unprecedented resolution.



Using a technique known as statistical downscaling, the team combined CMIP6 projections with one-kilometer resolution satellite data on daily sea surface temperatures around the world to identify the locations of refugia in the future.



The researchers found that, whereas about 84 percent of the world’s coral reefs currently lie within a thermal refuge, this will decrease to a mere 0.2 percent if temperatures rise 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.&nbsp;



The model also predicts that, if temperatures rise by 2°C, none of the current refuges will be suitable for coral reef ecosystems any more. Very small areas of refugia may remain, particularly in the East Indian Ocean Sumatra-Java region, but only rarely, suggesting that coral reef ecosystems are likely to suffer catastrophic or total losses.



This analysis, published today in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/">PLOS Climate</a>, highlights different effects in different regions. For instance, thermal refugia are predicted to disappear first from higher-latitude reefs. At 1.5°C of warming, thermal refuges will disappear from all but two of the twelve regions worldwide: Polynesia and the Coral Triangle in the western Pacific Ocean. Refugia will be lost from regions such as Oman, the Caribbean, Colombia, and Indonesia.



Although reef communities show various levels of tolerance to heat stress, most of them take a decade or more to recover from a warming event. As warm events are set to increase in frequency, it is unlikely that reef communities will be able to recover from them. And with the suitability of thermal refugia being compromised as ocean waters heat up, it is probable that coral reef species will experience catastrophic extinctions.



The findings provide new information that could help guide efforts to manage reefs and help them survive. In particular, efforts that focus on protecting thermal refugia alone may become less effective as climate change progresses and refugia disappear. Instead, the authors note, multiple types of efforts will be needed to help coral adapt to higher temperatures and migrate to more favorable locations. Prioritizing the management of current thermal refugia may, however, help them act as stepping stones for migrating corals to move to more suitable habitats.



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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

Coral reef refuges could soon be completely lost

Coral reefs all over the world are threatened by the...

Since it contains large amounts of carbon dioxide, the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica plays a highly important role in global climate. According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.gu.se/en">University of Gothenburg</a>, storms over the waters of this ocean drive a massive outgassing of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.&nbsp;



Studying in greater depth the complex processes driving air-sea fluxes of gases in the Southern Ocean can provide a better understanding of climate change and lead to more accurate global climate models.



"The Southern Ocean is a key component of the Earth’s carbon budget. It accounts for 40–50% of the total mean annual ocean uptake of anthropogenic CO2," wrote the study authors.



Since climate change causes increasingly frequent storms, it is vital to understand the storms’ impact on the outgassing of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.



“We show how the intense storms that often occur in the region increase ocean mixing and bring carbon dioxide-rich waters from the deep to the surface. This drives an outgassing of carbon dioxide from the ocean to the atmosphere. There has been a lack of knowledge about these complex processes, so the study is an important key to understanding the Southern Ocean's significance for the climate and the global carbon budget,” explained study co-author Sebastiaan Swart, a professor of Oceanography at the University of Gothenburg.



In order to measure the stormy, inaccessible waters surrounding Antarctica for a long period of time, the scientists used novel robot technology, including state-of-the-art drones and ocean gliders that collected data not only from the surface of the ocean but also through to depths of one kilometer.



“This pioneering technology gave us the opportunity to collect data with long endurance, which would not have been possible via a research vessel. Thanks to these ocean robots we can now fill important knowledge gaps and gain a better understanding of the importance of the ocean for the climate,” said Professor Swart.



“This knowledge is necessary to be able to make more accurate predictions about future climate change. Currently, these environmental processes are not captured by global climate models,” added study co-author Marcel du Plessis, an expert in Physical Oceanography at the University of Gothenburg.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27780-w#Sec5">Nature Communications</a>.



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

Southern Ocean outgassing affects the global carbon budget

Since it contains large amounts of carbon dioxide, the Southern...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

[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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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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



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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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