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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



This complexity highlights the challenge of forecasting future freshwater trends.



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



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



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



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



-----



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Satellites reveal a sudden drop in global freshwater levels

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

South Florida beaches have been almost unrecognizable with the amount of seaweed that has washed up on it’s shores this past summer. The culprit? A kind of seaweed called Sargassum. 

Since the beginning of summer 2018, the seaweed has spread more than three times the coverage than it’s entire record high year in 2015. 

“Right now there is still a lot of sargassum in the Caribbean, so I think these events will last for a while,” Mengqiu Wang, a researcher at the University of South Florida’s Optical Oceanography Laboratory, told the <a href="https://www.palmbeachpost.com/">Palm Beach Post</a>. The laboratory has been tracking sargassum since 2000 and suspects more is yet to come to the shores of Florida this year.

[caption id="attachment_1646661" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IMG_3940.jpeg"><img class="wp-image-1646661" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IMG_3940-1024x790.jpeg" alt="" width="700" height="540" /></a> Image Credit: Bianca Vierra[/caption]

On a recent visit to Boca Raton, Florida I was among many beachgoers who had a tough time swimming in the water due to the magnitude of sargassum floating. Beach walks along the shoreline were also often disrupted by needing to circumvent extra large mounds of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/seaweed-new-sustainable-superconductor/">seaweed</a> plopped on the beach by high tide. The smell of the seaweed rotting also made for an unpleasant beach day; the aesthetic toll needs not be mentioned after a glance at the photos. 

<a href="https://www.fau.edu/">Florida Atlantic University</a> research professor Brian LaPointe, who studies algae and seaweed at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, believes the high-nutrient river discharges from commercial fertilizers are feeding the seaweed.

LaPointe is about halfway through a three-year NASA grant to research how nutrient levels are changing in sargassum. His findings so far include much higher levels of nitrogen in the seaweed, likely from concentrated fertilizer and other sewage runoff. 

“We have altered the nitrogen cycle on our planet and it started with the invention of fertilizer,” LaPointe said. “We think this is what is behind the increased abundance of sargassum.”

Sargassum is not just a threat to South Florida, it is also posing serious problem for Caribbean islands. Barbados had to declare sargassum a national emergency in June. More and more governments are also realizing sargassum is a threat that may be here to stay and could pose lasting impacts on important economic industries like fisheries and tourism. 

"The same way we prepare for hurricanes, we have to prepare for sargassum," Antigua's environment minister said recently.

"In 2011 it was the first time we'd seen it," says Professor Hazel Oxenford, an expert in fisheries biology and management at the <a href="http://www.uwi.edu/">University of the West Indies</a>. "It came as a complete shock and no-one had a clue what to do with it."

[caption id="attachment_1646662" align="aligncenter" width="750"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/image.png"><img class="wp-image-1646662" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/image.png" alt="" width="750" height="382" /></a> Image Credit: University of South Florida’s Optical Oceanography Laboratory[/caption]

The seaweed has been returning years later and continues to grow as a threat. "On satellite images the quantity that's being picked up is greater than ever before," says Prof Oxenford, who is based in Barbados. 

In Mexico, sargassum has been piling up several feet deep on beaches along the Yucatan Peninsula. The <a href="https://mexiconewsdaily.com/">Mexico Daily News</a> reported that the government is spending the equivalent of $3.08 million this summer to clean up and maintain it’s beaches. 

Back in Florida, some cities are clearing beaches of excess seaweed with bulldozers but that is not feasible in certain counties that have a high density of sea turtle nests. So far, sargassum has not had an effect on the number of sea turtle nests. 

--

By <a href="mailto:bianca@earth.com">Bianca Vierra</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: <a href="mailto:bianca@earth.com">Bianca Vierra</a>

Chart Credit: <a href="https://www.usf.edu/">University of South Florida’s</a> Optical Oceanography Laboratory

Why so much seaweed has blanketed South Florida beaches this year

South Florida beaches have been almost unrecognizable with the amount...

The impact of rice farming on climate change and atmospheric greenhouse gas levels has been largely underestimated because reports on rice farming emissions leave out <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/peatlands-release-nitrous-oxide/">nitrous oxide</a>.

Nitrous oxide is longer lasting in the atmosphere than other emitted greenhouse gases like methane and traps more heat over time. 

Both methane and nitrous oxide are released as a result of rice farming flooding and other agricultural practices. But a new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.edf.org/">Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)</a> has shown just how much these farming and management strategies impact emissions. 

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Intermittent flooding of rice farms emits 45 more times nitrous oxide than continuously flooded rice farms which mostly emit methane. 

As a result, the impact of rice farming on climate change could be almost double what previous estimates had found. 

Rice is a key cereal and provides more calories to people around the world than any other crop. However, cultivation of rice requires a large amount of land and water and has the highest climate impact of any crop per unit calorie, according to an analysis released by the EDF. 

The analysis shows that nitrous oxide and methane emissions from rice farms could have the same long-term warming impact as 600 coal plants and in the long term. In the short term, it would be the equivalent of 1,200 coal plants in the short term because nitrous oxide emissions are so much more potent than other greenhouse gasses).

“The full climate impact of rice farming has been significantly underestimated because up to this point, nitrous dioxide emissions from intermittently flooded farms have not been included,” said K. Kritee, the lead author of the paper. “Increasing pressure on limited water resources under a changing climate could make additional rice-farming regions look to intermittent flooding to address water limitations and concerns about methane emissions.”

A major takeaway from the analysis is that nitrous oxide emissions need to monitored more closely and more accurately. While there have been studies on the climate impacts of rice farming before, these largely focused on methane emissions from continual flooding practices. 

Nitrous oxide emissions from rice farming are not reported in most rice-producing countries, and the researchers also found that mitigation strategies for reducing the environmental impact of rice farming deal with reducing methane emissions. 

The team has called for closer monitoring of nitrous oxide emissions and say that scientists need to map flooding regimes, countries need to report nitrous oxide emissions, and rice farms have to reduce emissions by optimizing water, nitrogen, and organic matter use. 

“It is essential for scientists to measure both nitrous oxide and methane emissions from rice fields in order to develop policies effective at meeting food demand while mitigating rice farming's climate impacts,” said Kritee.

The researchers found emissions from rice farming could be reduced by as much as 90 percent if farmers used shallow flooding and managed their use of nitrogen and organic matter. 

“We now know nitrous oxide emissions from rice farming can be large and impactful,” said Richie Ahuja, a co-author of this study. “We now also know how to manage the problem. Major rice producing nations in Asia are investing to improve the agriculture sector and could benefit from the suggested dual mitigation strategies that lead to water savings, better yields, and less climate pollution.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rice farming has a surprisingly harmful environmental impact

The impact of rice farming on climate change and atmospheric...

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A new study by an international team of 70 scientists has revealed that global warming will cause peatlands to absorb more carbon. However, this effect will weaken after the end of this century if warming persists.

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/peatlands-release-nitrous-oxide/">Peatlands</a> are important carbon sinks that currently store more carbon than all of the world's vegetation. The researchers, led by the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>, found that peatlands will store even more carbon in the future than what was previously realized.


Across environments such as forests, the carbon from dead plants is released back into the atmosphere during the process of decomposition. In peatlands, however, water slows this process and the carbon is not released.

“Plants living in cold-climate peatlands have it tough for most of the year, but rising global temperatures will give them a longer growing season,” explained study lead author Dr. Angela Gallego-Sala.


“Decomposition in peatlands will speed up as the climate warms - meaning more carbon and methane released - but the overall effect in these high-latitude regions will be increased storage of carbon.”

"However, as warming continues, tropical peatlands will store less carbon because decomposition will speed up but higher temperatures in these already warm regions will not boost plant growth."

The researchers simulated a range of estimates for future warming. Under all of the scenarios, peatlands were projected to store more carbon until around 2100. In addition, the experts confirmed that decomposition in the tropics will cancel out the gains in the higher latitudes due to lengthening of the growing season.


“We have detailed models to predict future climate change, but the models don't yet account for all of the effects of the biosphere (living things) on climate,” said co-lead author Prof Dan Charman.

“The biosphere will either slow or accelerate climate change in various ways. Our results show that peatlands are an ecosystem that could help slow future climate change, as long as we protect them from further damage.”

Study co-author  Professor Sue Page added, “Our work highlights the fact that peatlands store huge amounts of carbon and can play a vital role in global efforts to control climate change.”

“The study also highlights the vital importance of protecting intact peatlands and restoring drained peatlands, particularly in the tropics where the effects of future global warming are likely to lead to more rapid rates of peat decomposition.”

“Peatland restoration efforts, such as rewetting drained and degraded peatlands, can restore the waterlogged conditions needed to prevent the release of peat carbon. These efforts need to be intensified if we are to avoid accelerating peatland CO2 emissions into the future.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Alex Whittle

As temperatures rise, peatlands will store more carbon

A new study by an international team of 70 scientists...

North Carolina residents were greeted with a somber surprise when an underweight black bear was spotted wandering around with a plastic container stuck on its head.

Officials were first notified about the bear on August 24 and have been searching for the animal ever since. According to local news outlet<a href="https://wset.com/news/local/photo-of-endangered-bear-circulates-residents-asked-to-call-authorities-if-they-see-it"> 13 WSET</a>, Henderson County residents began seeing the bear as early as August 4. The plastic container obstructs the bear’s mouth likely preventing the animal from eating and causing its emaciated state. Wildlife officials believe the bear is able to fill the plastic container with water, preventing the bear from dehydrating.

[caption id="attachment_1646646" align="aligncenter" width="600"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/bear-credit-trevor-williams.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1646646" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/bear-credit-trevor-williams.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="338" /></a> Image Credit: Trevor Williams, WSET[/caption]

Despite the bear’s distressing state, it is on the run, making it difficult for wildlife officials to find the bear. Local residents have been doing their part to track down the bear by posting photo updates on social media when they spot the bear.

Sadly, this bear is hardly the first animal to get <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dying-whale-found-plastic-bags/">entangled in our trash</a>. In the same week North Carolina residents were scrambling to help the brown bear, it was<a href="https://www.wgal.com/article/cat-with-bag-stuck-on-head-rescued-from-side-of-road/22822874"> reported</a> that a cat was found in Pennsylvania with its head stuck in a bag. The cat received its happy ending when it was rescued by a local Good Samaritan and put up for adoption at a local rescue.

Situations like this often become more critical when the victim stuck in trash is a wild animal and not a domesticated pet. As illustrated in the case of the brown bear in North Carolina, wildlife officials have to first track down the wild animal before they can execute a rescue plan that ensures both the animal’s and rescuer’s welfare.

As people become more addicted to single-use plastics and continue to be flippant about their trash, the problem will only get worse. The <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a><a href="https://archive.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/web/html/"> estimates</a> that Americans generated 254 million tons of trash in 2013, of which only 34.3% was recycled. Recycling is one of the surest ways to ensure trash does not end up in vital ecosystems. Even if people are not directly littering outside, trash can become dislodged during the trash removal process, especially lightweight plastic items such as bags and straws.

During a 2017 ocean clean-up, the<a href="https://oceanconservancy.org/news/top-ten-items/"> Ocean Conservancy</a> found the most commonly collected items were cigarette butts, plastic beverage bottles, food wrappers, plastic bottle caps, straw stirrers and plastic bags.

It may seem inconsequential to drop one of these items on the sidewalk instead of searching for a garbage can, but it can quickly become deadly for the wild animals we share this planet with.

In addition to recycling trash, people can thoroughly wash out food containers before discarding them. If the food in the container was appetizing enough for people to eat, then wild animals are likely to be attracted to it as well. Washing the container out reduces the chances of an animal smelling the scent of the food and sticking their head in to investigate.

As for North Carolina residents who want to help save the bear, they are urged to call the Wildlife Enforcement Dispatch at 800-662-7137 with any information.

--

By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Source: <a href="https://wset.com/news/local/photo-of-endangered-bear-circulates-residents-asked-to-call-authorities-if-they-see-it">WSET</a>

Emaciated bear with container stuck on its head reveals trash crisis

North Carolina residents were greeted with a somber surprise when...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.awi.de/en.html">Alfred Wegener Institute</a> (AWI) has found that thawing permafrost in the Arctic could intensify global warming. The analysis of sediment samples from the eastern coast of Russia showed that Arctic permafrost loss at the end of the last glacial period triggered abrupt spikes in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).

A positive feedback loop between global warming and the release of CO2 from natural sources threatens to intensify future global warming. By studying climate records of the past, scientists can better assess the likelihood of such a threat.

The team led by AWI demonstrated that a rapid rise in sea levels thousands of years ago released massive amounts of CO2 from permafrost.


Some of the ground that makes up permafrost has been frozen since the last glacial period 20,000 years ago or even longer, and extends up to several hundreds of meters beneath the surface of the Earth. The permafrost soils preserve huge quantities of dead plants and other biomass, along with the carbon dioxide and methane that are contained in them.

While it was previously established that there were sudden spikes in CO2 levels around 11,500, 14,600 and 16,500 years ago, the driving forces have remained unclear. The research team, led by AWI geologists Dr. Maria Winterfeld and Dr. Gesine Mollenhauer, set out to investigate in the Sea of Okhotsk along the eastern coast of Russia.

“Originally we assumed that at the time, the vast Amur River carried tremendous quantities of plant material from the hinterland, which microorganisms in the water then broke down into carbon dioxide. So we collected sediment samples from the sea floor, which we then analyzed.”

The researchers were surprised to find that there was evidence of plant remains deep in the sediment that were several thousands of years older than the surrounding deposits. The team determined that they must have originated in extremely old permafrost that had abruptly thawed. Particularly large amounts of these plant remains were washed into the sea 11,500, 14,600 and 16,500 years ago.

The experts were able to determine that there was particularly intense melting of the ice sheets during these time periods, which led to extreme sea level rise of up to 20 meters within a few centuries.

“We assume that this resulted in severe erosion of the permafrost coast in the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific - a phenomenon that we can observe in the Arctic today.””

This allowed large amounts of ancient plant remains to enter the ocean, which were broken down into CO2 or deposited into the ocean floor.

The study also revealed that, 11,500 and 14,600 years ago, erosion of Arctic permafrost likely contributed to about 50 percent of the CO2 increase, and to around 25 percent of the CO2 spike 16,500 years ago.

Today, the Arctic's <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/thawing-permafrost-global-warming/">permafrost</a> coast is eroding severely due to rapid warming, which could have similar results. 

Dr. Mollenhauer said, “Our findings show that this coastal erosion is an important process, but to date it has not been sufficiently considered in climate models. Such effects need to be included in future models.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Boris Radosavljevic, Alfred-Wegener-Institzt

Arctic permafrost lost from erosion will worsen global warming

A new study from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) has...

How does soot form from fires and furnaces?. Soot, the black powdery substance left behind after fires and emitted from engines, poses a major risk to human health. Like other forms of pollution, soot particles <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/asia-exposed-air-pollution/">increase the risk of cardiovascular disease</a> and contribute to millions of deaths worldwide. 

Health risks from soot exposure disproportionately affect those in developing nations who don’t have access to clean cooking or heating options. In the US, atmospheric soot from emissions, also known as black carbon is responsible for thousands of deaths every year.

Researchers have been working to tackle the problems with soot for years but have been stumped by how soot forms. It’s unlike any other form of condensation where gasses form particles. 

But a new study may have finally figured out the mystery of soot formation which could help pave the way for decreasing soot exposure and black carbon in the atmosphere. 

The study was conducted by researchers from <a href="https://www.sandia.gov/">Sandia National Laboratories</a> and <a href="https://www.lbl.gov/">the Lawrence Berkeley Lab</a> and published in the journal Science. 

Soot formation requires a fast-chemical-reaction as the researchers found and the particles don’t condensate together like other gasses that form a liquid. 

“By understanding soot formation, we have a better chance of being able to reduce its dangerous emissions from engines, forest fires, and cookstoves and control its production and characteristics during industrial processes,” said Hope Michelsen, a researcher at Sandia labs. 

Soot is a byproduct of many crucial industrial processes which is why researchers have been working so long to understand it. Soot is formed during the burning of fuels like oil, natural gas, or wood and starts out as gaseous hydrocarbons that transition from a gas to a liquid to soot.

“Most people are familiar with how the gas phase of water -- water vapor -- condenses into droplets when it cools. Cooling it further will turn it into ice, the solid phase of water. Soot is different,” said Michelsen. “Making soot is more like baking a cake than it is like condensing water. Heating liquid cake batter too high temperatures turns it into a stable solid form.”

In order to understand how soot is formed, the researchers, as Michelsen put it, had to figure out the ingredients of the cake that combine together to create soot.

The team discovered that the secret to soot formation had to do with resonance-stabilized radicals which are reactive molecules with unpaired electrons. 

At the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, the researchers made measurements of the resonance stabilized radicals in different flames. 

“We figured out that these radicals can start a chain reaction,” said Michelsen.

As the radicals react with other molecules, they form new radicals and continue to react with other gaseous hydrocarbons. The snowball chain effect continues and eventually forms soot particles. 

“It's really pretty simple, well ... once you know the answer,” said Michelsen. “We are very excited about having unlocked the mystery of soot formation, the creation of carbon particles that are currently overwhelming some parts of the world as a result of forest fires and that can have such a devastating effect on human health.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

How does soot form from fires and furnaces?

How does soot form from fires and furnaces?. Soot, the...

Hedgehogs seem to be quickly disappearing from rural areas in England where the species was once abundant. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.reading.ac.uk/">University of Reading</a> recently conducted one of the most comprehensive surveys of hedgehogs in England in Wales in the first study of its kind. 

The results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, show that hedgehogs are not nearly abundant in rural areas as they once were and have disappeared from 80 percent of the countryside. 

Hedgehogs instead seem to be seeking refuge in urban landscapes because <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/north-american-species-extinction/">habitat degradation</a> and agricultural operations are disrupting their natural habitats. 

The researchers used “footprint tracking tunnels” to survey hedgehog and badger abundance in the 261 rural sites in England and Wales. 

Hedgehogs are prey to the badger, but both species rely on worms and bugs for food and so understanding how badger and hedgehog populations cohabitate areas is also important to understanding hedgehog declines. 

Tunnels with food at one end were set up in the different sites and the hedgehogs would then walk through the tunnel which had small ink pads and paper so that any animal that walked through the tunnel would leave little footprints. 

Hedgehogs were present in just 55 of the 261 sites surveyed which translates to 21 percent. 

“Although hedgehogs were generally widely distributed, they were actually found at a worryingly low number of sites,” said Ben Williams of the <a href="http://www.reading.ac.uk/">University of Reading</a>. “We also found hedgehogs were absent from 71 percent of sites that did not have badger setts either, indicating both hedgehogs and badgers may be absent from large portions of rural England and Wales.”

Badgers were found at 49 percent of the 55 sites that had hedgehog footprints showing that even though the two share a predator/prey relationship, they do live in the same habitats together. 

Because the two species have some of the same food preferences, the habitat degradation and agricultural activities contributing to food scarcity could be driving both the hedgehog and badger out of rural areas. 

Where are the hedgehogs going? According to the researchers, urban areas offer a refuge to the species. 

“Therefore, houses, villages, and towns bordering more rural landscapes are important areas for hedgehogs and may become increasingly so if we continue to see the rate of declines we are currently witnessing in rural Britain,” said Williams. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Major declines in hedgehog populations in the UK countryside

Hedgehogs seem to be quickly disappearing from rural areas in...

The plastics and chemicals that we use on land often find their way into the ocean, most notably in the Pacific garbage patch, which is an island of garbage the size of Texas floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This plastic garbage can get tangled up with and ingested by marine life, causing harm to the species that get entrapped by our trash. Additionally, chemicals that are commonly used by humans can be harmful to animals as well. 

Now, scientists have found that the chemical compounds used in a variety of household products – from cleaning supplies to cosmetics – have been discovered in the bodies of wild marine mammals. 

Scientists report that they have found the presence of phthalates in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dolphins-dive-deeper/">dolphins’</a> urine for the first time, which indicates that these chemicals are staying in the body long enough to be metabolized. Phthalates are known to be endocrine disruptors, which have been linked to hormonal and reproductive issues in humans. Known side effects include low sperm count and abnormal development of reproductive organs. But as of right now, it isn’t known how the presence of phthalates will affect dolphins.

The study that helped researchers determine all of this involved collecting urine samples from dolphins in Sarasota Bay, Florida between 2016 and 2017. Past research had shown the presence of phthalate metabolites in dolphins’ blubber and skin – but these new findings are more concerning. 

Analysis of urine samples from 17 wild dolphins revealed phthalate metabolites in 17 percent of the dolphins assessed, with researchers testing for nine specific phthalates. 

“We focused on urine in dolphins because, in previous studies of humans, that has been the most reliable matrix to indicate short-term exposure,” says Leslie Hart, a professor of public health at the <a href="http://www.cofc.edu/">College of Charleston</a>.

Despite this discovery, it’s still not known what the source of these phthalate levels could be. However, the researchers do point to plastic waste as the likely cause, since high concentrations of a specific compound commonly added to plastics for durability and lubrication was found in the dolphins’ urine. 

“These chemicals can enter marine waters from urban runoff and agricultural or industrial emissions, but we also know that there is a lot of plastic pollution in the environment,” Hart explains.

Unfortunately for the other marine life that lives in Sarasota Bay, these chemicals being found in dolphins likely means that other species have been exposed as well. It’s clear that what we do on land has impacts that are hard to see once they reach the ocean, but they’re present, and they likely have significant consequences.

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By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Harmful human-made chemical compounds found in dolphins

The plastics and chemicals that we use on land often...

Scientists from <a href="https://www.keele.ac.uk/">Keele University</a> are describing how experts can detect a sinkhole before it is visible. In an article written for <a href="http://theconversation.com/au">The Conversation</a>, Peter Styles and Jamie Pringle explain that measuring microgravity can provide evidence of a cavity that has formed beneath the Earth’s surface prior to a collapse.

Most sinkholes occur in areas where the bedrock is formed from soft minerals and carbonate rocks like limestone or dolostone. Sinkholes often happen naturally, but are also linked to human activities such as <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/coal-mining-aquatic-life/">mining</a>. 

“The geology of the rocks beneath you is a clue to the possibility of sinkholes. Limestone is prone to dissolution by groundwater which can, over time, create enormous networks of underground caves known as karst. These can collapse downwards due to gravity, leading to great surface depressions and subsidence damage and even the complete loss of houses,” wrote the study authors. 

The surface collapses can be gradual or happen overnight, according to the experts. They say that in regions where all of the surface rocks are limestone,  such as areas of China and Florida, there is little warning before sinkholes develop. 

The scientists have both examined sinkholes across the world, including in Australia, the Middle East, and in the Bahamas. Styles and Pringle have also investigated mining cavities in South Wales and Yorkshire.

“Over the years, we have become experts in measuring the Earth’s gravity at ultra-high precision to a few parts in a billion. This is known as microgravity,” wrote the researchers. “We can use this to detect a cavity, or even a partially-filled area with less density than the surrounding rocks, long before any collapse reaches the surface.”

“An additional innovation we have developed is to carry out what are known as 4-D, time-varying, repeated microgravity surveys at intervals of months to years. This enables us to detect changes in gravity, which suggest that the cavities are propagating towards the surface and potentially becoming unstable.”

The original report by the scientists can be accessed <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-detect-a-sinkhole-before-it-swallows-you-up-101543">here</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

Scientists are using microgravity to help predict sinkholes

Scientists from Keele University are describing how experts can detect...

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/prior-mass-extinction-dinosaurs/">Mass extinctions</a> have occurred throughout history, resulting in the disappearance of countless species through a variety of extinction events. Now, a new study published in <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a> has shed light on why these mass extinctions happen, and how we can use this information to possibly predict upcoming ecological disasters.

Massive changes in ecological systems can occur suddenly, and often result in the extinction of the species that are a part of them, as well as the loss of biodiversity as a whole. One of the main challenges in understanding why these changes happen is that they tend to occur under what seems to be steady environmental conditions – thus, they cannot be directly linked to a specific environmental change.

Researchers from the <a href="https://le.ac.uk/">University of Leicester</a> investigated sudden ecological transitions that have happened throughout history, ranging from mass mortality events in the distant past to more recent extinctions that we have witness in the last few decades. Through combining empirical data, mathematical models, and insights from ecological theory, the research team found that sudden transitions in an ecosystem can occur as a result of long-term transient dynamics, which include “ghost attractors” and “crawl-bys.”

A ghost attractor is described as a special configuration of an ecosystem that exhibits “end-state” behavior, but only for a finite period of time. After that time, the system usually goes through a fast evolution or transition to another state which may have very different properties. This transition would correspond to a catastrophe or major ecological shift.

Crawl-bys occur when changes to the dynamics of an ecosystem occur slowly over a long period of time. 

“An ecological catastrophe emerging from a ‘ghost attractor’ or a ‘crawl-by’ may be a debt that we have to pay for the actions or mistakes – for example unsustainable use of natural resources – made many generations ago,” explains Sergei Petrovskii, a professor at the University of Leicester. “Our research shows that a healthy ecosystem will not necessarily remain healthy, even in the absence of any significant environmental change. Therefore, better monitoring of the state of an ecosystem is required to mitigate potential disasters.”

Petrovskii also states that this research can help us look for signs of an upcoming catastrophe. 

“These findings create a new paradigm as well as a powerful theoretical framework for understanding – and potentially predicting – ecological catastrophes and for their efficient management.”

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By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why do mass extinctions occur?

Mass extinctions have occurred throughout history, resulting in the disappearance...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.mtu.edu/">Michigan Technological University</a> have found, for the first time, that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-coal-rules-poorer-air-quality/">coal-fired power plants</a> require 13 times more land to be made carbon neutral compared to the manufacturing of solar panels. To offset the harmful emissions from coal-fired plants using bio-sequestration, 89 percent of the United States would have to be covered with forests.

For example, a one-gigawatt coal-fired plant would require a new forest larger than the state of Maryland for all of its carbon emissions to be neutralized, according to the study.

The team investigated the amount of land required to offset greenhouse gases created by traditional coal-fired plants, as well as how much land would be needed for applying carbon sequestration and bio-sequestration to coal-fired plants. These approaches were then compared to the requirements for offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions that result from the production of solar panels.

Study co-author Joshua Pearce is a professor of Material Sciences and Electrical Engineering at Michigan Tech.


“We know that climate change is a reality, but we don't want to live like cavemen,” said Professor Pearce. “We need a method to make carbon neutral electricity. It just makes no sense whatsoever to use coal when you have solar available, especially with this data.”

Over 100 different data sources were used to compare the energy, greenhouse gas emissions and land transformation that would be needed to carbon neutralize each type of energy. Overall,  solar cells were found to require 13 times less land to become carbon neutral.

“If your goal is to make electricity without introducing any carbon into the atmosphere, you should absolutely not do a coal plant,” said Professor Pearce. “Not only is it not realistic to capture all the carbon dioxide they release, but burning coal also puts sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide and particulates in the air. They cause air pollution, which is already estimated to cause 52,000 premature deaths per year.”

According to Professor Pearce, resources should be dedicated to improving the efficiency of solar panels and solar farms instead of carbon capture at fossil fuel-powered plants to achieve zero-emission energy. 

The research is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">Scientific Reports</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

Offsetting coal plant emissions is unrealistic, study finds

Researchers at Michigan Technological University have found, for the first...

A large patch of ice in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/volcanic-activity-west-antarctic/">West Antarctica</a> is gaining ice and thickening, which is just the opposite of a growing trend of ice loss in the area. A team of experts led by the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> (UW) is gaining new insight into activity across this region after discovering a 5,700-year-record of the glacier’s behavior produced by a volcano under the ice sheet. 

Hidden in the middle of the ice sheet, the track indicates that the current thickening activity will not likely last or affect the glacier in the long term. The record also implies that similar clues to the past may be available deep inside the ice sheet.

“What's exciting about this study is that we show how the structure of the ice sheet acts as a powerful record of what has happened in the past,” said first author Nicholas Holschuh, a UW postdoctoral researcher in Earth and Space Sciences.

Mount Resnik is a mile-high inactive volcano that currently sits under 0.19 miles of ice. The volcano is located close to the thickening Kamb Ice Stream, which flowed quickly in the past but stalled over a century ago. This left the region's ice to drain through four other major ice streams, a transition that glaciologists theorize may happen every few hundred years. 

“The shutdown of Kamb Ice Stream started long before the satellite era,” said Holschuh. “We need some longer-term indicators for its behavior to understand how important this shutdown is for the future of the region's ice.”

The paper analyzes two radar surveys of the area's ice: one was collected in 2002 by study co-authors Robert Jacobel and Brian Welch and the other was collected in 2004 by study co-author Howard Conway. 

When Conway noticed some mysterious missing layers, he asked his colleagues to investigate.

“It wasn't until we had spent probably six months with this data set that we started to piece together the fact that this thing that we could see within the ice sheet was forming in response to the subglacial volcano,” said Holschuh.

The study authors believe that the volcano's height pushes the relatively thin ice sheet up so much that it changes the local wind fields and affects depositing of snow. As the ice sheet passes over the volcano, there is a section that missed out on a few annual layers of snow.

“These missing layers are common in East Antarctica, where there is less precipitation and strong winds can strip away the surface snow,” said Holschuh. “But this is really one of the first times we've seen these missing layers in West Antarctica. It's also the first time an unconformity has been used to reconstruct ice sheet motion of the past.”

The UW researchers have found previously that rapid retreat occurred at the edge of the ice sheet until about 3,400 years ago. The volcano track also shows a thinning of the ice at about this time.

“It means that the interior of the ice sheet is responding to the large-scale climate forcing from the last glacial maximum to today,” said Holschuh. “So the long-timescale climatic forcing is very consistent between the interior and the coast, but the shorter-timescale processes are really apparent in the coastal record but aren't visible in the interior.”

“These persistent tracers of historic ice flow are probably all over the place. The more we can tease apart the stories of past motion told by the structure of the ice sheet, the more realistic we can be in our predictions of how it will respond to future climate change.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.the-cryosphere.net/">The Cryosphere</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 

Image Credit: Nicholas Holschuh/<a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a>

Volcano under West Antarctic ice sheet shows history of activity

A large patch of ice in West Antarctica is gaining...

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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



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



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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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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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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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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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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



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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Saturn,-,High,Resolution,3d,Images,Presents,Planets,Of,The

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> features images of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The photographs capture the start of the mysterious "spoke season" on Saturn - when unexplained features appear on its rings. 



According to NASA, both the cause of the spokes and their seasonal variability have yet to be fully explained by planetary scientists.



"Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun," explains NASA.



"The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn. (When the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere of a planet.) As the autumnal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, draws near, the spokes are expected to become increasingly prominent and observable."



Experts believe that the spokes may be a product of the planet's variable magnetic field. When magnetic fields interact with solar wind, an electrically charged environment is created. This phenomenon is visible on Earth as the northern lights.&nbsp;



"Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings," says NASA.



The spokes were first observed in the early 1980s by NASA's Voyager mission. Depending on the angle of the rings, the spokes can appear dark or light.



"Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn’s spokes this season than ever before," said NASA senior planetary scientist Amy Simon, head of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.



"Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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Closeup,Of,Fresh,Green,The,Napier,Bush,Grass,As,Animal

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/">NTU Singapore</a> reveals that some plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed samples of various tropical plant species to test for levels of heavy metals and metalloids. The study showed that there are existing plants with high levels of these contaminants, which means that these species are great candidates for drawing pollutants out of the soil.&nbsp;



Among the plants examined in the study, 12 species had accumulated several types of heavy metals and metalloids. These plants are widely available, including species that are native to Singapore.



“In a small nation like Singapore, land may be repurposed to support new development plans, so it is important that we have a green and sustainable way to remediate land that is contaminated," said Professor Lam Yeng Ming.



"We set out to uncover how to better make use of tropical plants to do phytoremediation and through advanced characterization techniques, we showed how some of these tropical plant species can be an environmentally friendly and literally a 'green' way to remove contaminants in soil."&nbsp;



"Phytoremediation also has benefits of cost effectiveness, simplicity of management, aesthetic advantages, and long-term applicability and sustainability. The strategy prevents erosion and metal leaching by stabilizing or accumulating heavy metals, so that helps reduce the risk of contaminant spread.”



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes why herbicides are not as effective in killing weeds anymore. In the 20th century, chemical companies developed thousands of herbicides. The most commonly used herbicide was glyphosate, which was introduced in 1974.



Over the past few decades, dozens of species of weeds have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Depending on the site of action, the part of the plant that an herbicide interacts with, weeds may even be resistant to herbicides that have not been developed yet.&nbsp;



With increasing resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides, weeds are - once again - becoming a major concern for farmers.&nbsp;



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) describes a dust storm on Mars that was nearly twice the size of the United States. As the storm covered the southern hemisphere of the planet, some of NASA’s explorers had to delay their normal activities.



NASA’s Insight lander put itself in a "safe mode" for 11 days to conserve battery power because solar power was disrupted by the dust. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter postponed flights until conditions improved.



"A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor Martian dust storms like this one and serve as lifelines to Earth by relaying data from the rovers and lander on the ground back to the team. This includes the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and Odyssey," reports JPL.



"Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they rise – warming the cold Martian atmosphere."



The images in the video were captured by NASA’s Curiosity as the dust rolled in. A fleet of orbiters monitored the dust storm from above, relaying data from Mars’ explorers back to scientists on Earth.



Video &amp; Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS



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



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

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="http://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. This strait provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.



Qeshm is separated from the Iranian coast by the Clarence Strait, also known as Khuran.&nbsp;The Hara Forest Protected Area is a network of shallow waterways and forest located between the island and the mainland. This protected region is home to sea turtles, snakes, and more than 150 species of migrating birds.



Qeshm is famous for its wide range of&nbsp;ecotourist&nbsp;attractions, such as the&nbsp;Hara marine forests. According to environmentalists, about 1.5 percent of the world birds and 25 percent of Iran's native <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-hummingbirds-avoid-sexual-harassment-by-looking-like-males/">birds</a> annually migrate to the forests, which are the first national geo park in Iran.



Tourists are also drawn to the island to see an age-old Portuguese&nbsp;fort, historic mosques, the&nbsp;Seyyed Mozaffar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Bibi Maryam&nbsp;shrines, and the "Valley of Stars."



The average temperature on the island is 81 degress and the region is often hot and humid. From June to August, the island is described as being oppressively hot. The ideal time to visit is during the winter season. 



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique.&nbsp;



"Inhambane Bay is a deep inlet into which the small Mutamba River flows," says ESA. "On one side of the bay lies the historical city of Inhambane, capital of the Inhambane Province, while the sister city of Maxixe, the economic capital of Inhambane, sits across from it. The province is the second largest grower of cashews, after Nampula, and it also produces coconut and citrus fruits."



The beaches of Barra and Tofo are popular with tourists. There are also coral reefs along the long coastline of Inhambane, making it an ideal destination for scuba diving and snorkeling.



"Mozambique’s extensive coastline heightens the country’s vulnerability to tropical cyclones that develop in the Indian Ocean as well as storm surge flooding," says ESA.



"More than half of the population lives in low lying coastal areas, putting communities at risk. Inhambane Bay was dangerously close to where Cyclone Idai made landfall in 2019 causing widespread destruction to the country."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency </a>&nbsp;features the Kangerlussuaq Glacier, one of the largest tidewater outlet glaciers in Greenland. The glacier is located on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet.



As human-induced climate change continues to drive up temperatures, global ice loss is accelerating at an alarming rate. ESA reports that, over the past decade alone, 3.5 trillion tons of ice have melted from the Greenland ice sheet. This is enough to cover the UK with meltwater 15 meters deep.



Based on satellite imagery, researchers determined that Kangerlussuaq entered a new phase of rapid retreat and acceleration in 2017. In their study, published in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2019.00123/full">Frontiers in Earth Science</a>,&nbsp; the experts report that the glacier's ice front is now at its most retreated position since the early 20th century.



"Given Kangerlussuaq’s previous impacts on both the magnitude and pattern of ice sheet wide mass loss, we predict that its new phase of retreat, acceleration and thinning will markedly enhance the south-east region’s contribution to increasing discharge from the ice sheet," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"More broadly, accurate forecasting of the ice sheet’s contribution to sea level rise will require a deeper understanding of, and responses to, these non-linear ice dynamic processes."



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the complex relationship between ocean and climate. ESA's Climate Change Initiative will help us understand how oceans influence the climate and how climate change is impacting the oceans.&nbsp;



"Earth’s oceans are huge heat stores, soaking up 93% of the excess heat from human activity over the past 70 years. Ocean currents redistribute heat around the planet, from the Equator to the poles. Where this ocean heat goes influences weather patterns and regional climate," explains ESA.



"As well as absorbing heat, oceans are a natural carbon sink, absorbing a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions from human activity. This has led to the acidification of ocean water, threating marine life."



The amount of heat and carbon dioxide soaked up by the ocean depends on specific variables, including phytoplankton, temperatures, waves, salinity, and ice cover. Satellites can be used to measure these variables from space.



"From their unique vantage point, satellites provide key information for understanding the complexities of our planet and monitoring environmental issues," says ESA.



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Ocean heat influences regional climate

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the importance of monitoring the shape of the sea surface, which is constantly changing. These observations have many applications, such as ship routing, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-modem-ocean-is-a-tough-place-for-whales-to-survive/">ocean</a> current forecasting, and debris tracking.



"A project supported by the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities recently investigated a new technique to measure sea surface topography very precisely," reports ESA.



"The technique involves looking at satellite navigation (GNSS) signals that have been reflected off of the sea surface at very low angles. At these so-called grazing angles, waves and surface roughness have very little impact on the reflection process; the sea surface acts as a very smooth mirror."



Estel Cardellach is the principal investigator at the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia, who first submitted the idea for the project.



“In a mirror-like reflection the phase of the signal can be tracked – it is continuous," said Cardellach. "Different surface heights result in different phase measurements. It gives a very precise measurement of the surface altitude at a few centimetres’ precision.”



The researchers developed a GNSS receiver and set up an experiment in the Balaeric Islands to collect signals from the receiver that were reflected off the sea surface. Ultimately, these signals will provide improved measurements of the shape of the sea surface.



Image/ Video Credit: ESA



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

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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Aerial,Photo,Of,River,In,Amazon,Rainforest,Jungle,In,Peru

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center</a> describes how scientists are using autonomous sound sensors to monitor deforestation in the Amazon. By recording soundscapes, the experts can determine which animals are present through their distinct sounds.&nbsp;



Using this method, sounds can be used as scientific measurements to analyze the effects of deforestation. The researchers will gain a better understanding of how the acoustics of a forest can be used to measure its health.&nbsp;



"From space, parts of the Amazon rainforest that have previously been logged or burned may look lush and green, like a place buzzing with activity and full of sounds. But inside the rainforest, the animal life may tell a different story, of a harsh environment and a quieter soundscape," says NASA.



Video Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center&nbsp;



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

Monitoring deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

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