Human litter has now infiltrated the deepest parts of Earth's oceans and seas. Debris and trash produced by human activity was spotted at a depth of 5,112 meters (3.2 miles) in the Mediterranean Sea. 



The site, which is the deepest point in the Mediterranean, is known as Calypso Deep, and is located off the south-western coast of Greece in the Ionian Sea.



In a new study, researchers have identified 167 objects at the bottom. Of these, 148 were clearly marine debris, while 19 were believed to be of human origin, though less definitively.



According to the authors, this represents one of the highest concentrations of litter documented at great depths in any sea.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-debris-in-the-bottom-of-the-sea">Debris in the bottom of the sea </h2>



To investigate the Calypso Deep, scientists used a crewed submersible called the Limiting Factor, a deep-submergence vehicle capable of withstanding extreme pressure.



Images captured by the Limiting Factor confirm that besides accumulating on coasts, surface waters and shallower bottoms, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/is-it-still-possible-to-save-the-ocean-from-plastic-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">marine waste</a> also reaches the deepest, most remote points of the Mediterranean Sea.&nbsp;



Given the heavy impact of human activities on this nearly enclosed sea, the discovery emphasizes the urgency of global actions to reduce marine debris and a need for lifestyle changes that cut waste and protect marine environments worldwide.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-calypso-deep-as-a-debris-trap">The Calypso Deep as a debris trap</h2>



Located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south west of the Peloponnese coast in Greece, the Calypso Deep is a depression within the Hellenic Trench system. 



Surrounded by steep terrain in an area with active faults, it has slopes measuring thousands of meters and a mostly flat floor at its lowest point. 



Its deeper, kidney-shaped portion extends over approximately 20 by 5 kilometers (12 by 3 miles) at depths surpassing 5,000 meters (3 miles).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-litter-s-journey-to-the-bottom">Litter's journey to the bottom</h2>



But how does rubbish collect so far down?



According to Miquel Canals from the University of Barcelona’s <a href="https://www.ub.edu/portal/web/earth-sciences" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Faculty of Earth Sciences</a>, the debris comes from various sources, both terrestrial and marine. 



It could have arrived by various routes, including both long-distance transport by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/weakening-ocean-currents-could-cost-trillions-of-dollars/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ocean currents</a> and direct dumping. 



Canals explains that plastic items, for instance, can drift from coastal waters. 



Some light waste, such as plastics, comes from the coast, from where it escapes to the Calypso Deep, just 60 kilometers [37 miles] away. 



Some plastics, such as bags, drift just above the bottom until they are partially or completely buried, or disintegrate into smaller fragments.



“We have also found evidence of the boats’ dumping of bags full of rubbish, as revealed by the pile-up of different types of waste followed by an almost rectilinear furrow," Canals continued.



"Unfortunately, as far as the Mediterranean is concerned, it would not be wrong to say that ‘not a single inch of it is clean.'"



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-debris-transport-across-the-sea">Debris transport across the sea</h2>



Canals noted that the Calypso Deep is a closed depression, which favors the accumulation of debris inside it. He pointed out that the weak currents in the trench also facilitate the deposition of light debris at the bottom.



Floating debris originates mostly in the southern Ionian Sea or further south, and drifting eddies bring it toward the Calypso Deep.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/marine-litter-debris_bottom-seafloor_Mediterranean-Sea_montage_credit-Caladan-Oceanic_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/marine-litter-debris_bottom-seafloor_Mediterranean-Sea_montage_credit-Caladan-Oceanic_1s.webp" alt="The debris identified by the international team in the Calypso Deep warns of the need to implement global policy actions to reduce ocean waste, as well as to encourage changes in citizens’ consumption habits and waste reduction in order to protect seas and oceans around the world. Credit: Caladan Oceanic" class="wp-image-1962233"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The debris identified by the international team in the Calypso Deep warns of the need to implement global policy actions to reduce ocean waste, as well as to encourage changes in citizens’ consumption habits and waste reduction in order to protect seas and oceans around the world. Credit: Caladan Oceanic</figcaption></figure>



“When these eddies are located over the Calypso Trench, some debris tends to fall slowly to the bottom, aided by degradation mechanisms and ballasting processes that increase its density," explained Canals 



"Surface currents can also transport debris from the Adriatic Sea to the north, through the Strait of Otranto, and from the waters off north-western Greece."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-technology-to-explore-the-abyss">Technology to explore the abyss</h2>



Investigating such extreme depths demands cutting-edge tools. In this case, the Limiting Factor submarine, built by Triton Submarines, allowed a small crew of two to descend. 



Moving at about 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) per hour to obtain clear images, the Limiting Factor covered roughly 650 meters (0.4 miles) in a straight line over a 43-minute window on the bottom.&nbsp;



“On each dive, more time is usually spent descending and ascending the vehicle back to the surface than inspecting the bottom. Each complete dive usually takes a few hours,” Canals noted.



The expedition revealed no substantial impact on local marine life, likely due to the area’s low biodiversity. 



Only a few species - namely, the fish Coryphaenoides mediterraneus and the crustacean Acanthephyra eximia - appeared in the footage. 



“However, in places with more <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-ocean-day-a-unified-approach-to-protect-biodiversity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biodiversity</a>, there are different types of interaction between the debris deposited on the bottom and the organisms, such as ghost fishing, burial, hooking or ingestion, but also the use of debris as a substrate where animals can grow, hide or lay their eggs,” Canals said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mediterranean-s-pollution-problem">Mediterranean’s pollution problem</h2>



Scientists first documented trash on the ocean floor in 1975, in the North Atlantic’s Skagerrak Strait. Areas like canyons and seamounts are especially prone to accumulating garbage, either from settling, burial, or erosion processes. 



Now, the Mediterranean ranks among the worst-affected seas. In 2021, research identified the Strait of Messina as the global hot spot for seafloor litter. 



This highlights broader concerns about intensifying human influence on an enclosed region subject to heavy maritime traffic and fishing.



“The Mediterranean is an enclosed sea, surrounded by humanity, with intense maritime traffic and widespread fishing activity," noted Canals. 



"The evidence provided by our research should shake up global efforts, and in particular in the Mediterranean, to mitigate waste dumping, especially plastics, in the natural environment and ultimately in the sea, in line with the <a href="https://www.unep.org/inc-plastic-pollution" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UN Global Plastics Treaty</a> against plastic pollution, which is still pending approval."



Canals emphasized that the ocean floor is still largely unknown to society as a whole, which makes it difficult to raise social and political awareness about the conservation of these spaces. 



"It is necessary to make a joint effort between scientists, communicators, journalists, the media, influencers and other people with social impact. The problem is there, and it has an enormous scope, even if it is not directly visible. We should not forget about it."



Details of the study are published in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X25000852?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marine Pollution Bulletin</a>.



Image Credit: Caladan Oceanic



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Human trash has found its way to the deepest parts of Earth's seas and oceans

Human litter has now infiltrated the deepest parts of Earth's oceans and seas. Debris and trash produced by human activity was spotted at a depth of 5,112 meters (3.2 miles) in the Mediterranean Sea. The site, which is the deepest point in the Mediterranean, is known as Calypso Deep, and is located off the south-western coast of Greece in the Ionian Sea. In a new study, researchers have identified 167 objects at the bottom. Of these, 148 were clearly marine debris, while 19 were believed to be...

New evidence published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a> reveals that the threats of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/humans-driving-climate-change/">climate change</a> on society are greater than what previous studies have suggested. This latest study is the most comprehensive evaluation of how humanity is being impacted by the multiple climate change factors being bolstered by increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The team, which hails from the <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/">University of Hawaii at Manoa</a>, peer reviewed scientific papers that enlightened them to 467 ways human health, food, water, economy, infrastructure, and security have already been impacted by climate changes like drought, floods, wildfires, heat waves, storms, sea level rise, and changes in ocean chemistry.

Before this study, climate change hazards were studied individually. However, doing this has masked the impacts of such hazards on other climate change factors and vice versa. Therefore, the true impact of climate change on humanity has been underscored until now.

Lead author Camilo Mora, associate professor of geography in the <a href="http://www.socialsciences.hawaii.edu/departments/index.cfm">College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa</a>, said, "Greenhouse gas emissions pose a broad threat to humanity by simultaneously intensifying many hazards that have proven harmful in the past. Further, we predict that by 2100 the number of hazards occurring concurrently will increase, making it even more difficult for people to cope."

The study outlines in great detail how society has already been impacted by climate change hazards including, but not limited to, death and disease, food supply from animals, quantity and quality of fresh water, infrastructure, and economy. <a href="https://maps.esri.com/MoraLab/CumulativeChange/index.html">These results can be viewed via interactive map here</a>. One can also explore what these hazards will look like in future years to come if nothing is done to ease their impacts.

“This new research provides rigorous, quantitative support for a point we have emphasized for some time: the costs of inaction greatly outweigh the costs of taking action on climate change,” said Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Penn State University</a>, who was not involved in the study. “It also provides robust support for another key point: we can still reduce future damage and suffering if we act quickly and dramatically to reduce carbon emissions."

Mora continued, “The collision of cumulative climate hazards is not something on the horizon, it is already here.” And if we continue to stand still and not act on these hazards, humanity will be in more trouble than we already are within the next few decades.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Study: Greenhouse gases to trigger chain reaction threat to humanity

New evidence published in the journal Nature Climate Change reveals...

On November 10, 2018, as the deadliest wildfires in California’s history destroyed entire neighborhoods and claimed lives, President Donald Trump weighed in, tweeting:

“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”

Another tweet in the same vein followed on November 11, with Trump writing,

“With proper Forest Management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California. Get Smart!”

The tweets stirred up an enormous backlash, and Trump’s response has been called ill-informed and downright callous.  <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/us/california-fires/index.html">CNN</a> reported that as of November 16th the death toll from California’s fires has reached 63, with more than 1,000 people still missing.  The fire dubbed the Camp Fire in Butte County is California’s most destructive and deadliest on record. With 9,700 homes destroyed and 142,000 acres burned, 45% of the fire was contained early on November 16.  

There’s no doubt that Californians deserve sympathy and aid, the question then becomes whether there was some forest mismanagement contributing to the fire and if so, who is truly to blame?

Wildfires are complex with no single cause to blame for their intensity and destruction, but how we manage forests is one of the important aspects under human control.  In 2016, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/surge-in-wildfires-from-climate-change-will-increase-air-pollution/">Earth.com</a> reported on research showing a connection between climate change and a surge in wildfires which in turn increase air pollution.  This study also pointed out that as climate change creates a new reality for wildfires, management systems will need to be revamped to keep up.  

Earlier this year, I reported on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-western-united-states/">Earth.com</a> how wildfires in the western US are sometimes connected to the politicization of and poor scientific basis of land management by the federal government.  Connected to forest fires in many parts of the U.S. is the government response to pine beetles and other native species that kill trees as well as the use of public forests for logging.  Often, controlled burns aren’t carried out regularly enough to limit beetles or uncontrolled fires which in turn leave large stands of trees waiting to burn in massive fires. 

That said, there is still a certain aspect of forests and fires that will always be outside of human control.  In the case of California’s Camp Fire, we don’t know the immediate cause, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/us/camp-fire-paradise-cause.html">The New York Times</a> reports that the fires are still being investigated in a process that could take months.  A downed powerline is a possible suspect in the cause of the fires though, and with that possibility comes criticism against California’s governor, Jerry Brown. 

<a href="https://www.politifact.com/california/article/2018/nov/16/examining-jerry-browns-veto-2016-wildfire-legislat/">Politifact</a> reports that in 2016, Jerry Brown vetoed legislation that looked to limit the potential problem of wildfires caused by powerlines.  Politifact quotes Brown’s reason for the veto of the 2016 bill (<a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1463">Senate Bill 1463</a>):

“This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission to prioritize areas that have increased fire hazard associated with overhead utility facilities. Since May of last year, the Commission and CalFire have been doing just that through the existing proceeding on fire-threat maps and fire-safety regulations. This deliberative process should continue and the issues this bill seeks to address should be raised in that forum.” 

The Politifact article also quoted an email from Bill Stewart, a forest management expert with UC Berkeley,

“I do not think it would have made much of a difference, as the amount of funds was not that great… and, more importantly, no new advances would have been made.”

It’s worth noting that Jerry Brown’s office has also undertaken other efforts to deal with the problem of wildfires in California but Stewart noted that more could be done, pointing to low funding for risk assessment and mitigation, a problem that started long before Jerry Brown’s tenure.  Chuck Devore, a former California Legislator, wrote on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckdevore/2018/11/16/californias-deadliest-fires-could-have-been-mitigated-by-prevention/#741e6fd3341b">Forbes</a> that the fires could’ve been ‘mitigated by prevention’.  Elaborating on the problem, Devore writes:

“CAL FIRE experts expanded on the problem by blaming decades of policy that discouraged controlled burns to reduce the fuel load in the now-burning forests in the north and hillsides in the south, creating tinderbox conditions.”

Management is certainly part of the cause of California’s horrendous Camp Fire, and despite Trump’s hard words, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trumps-administration-providing-support-fight-california-wildfires-help-affected/">White House</a> reports that the federal government is offering support of up to 75% of the cost of debris removal, emergency activities, etc.  Trump himself is visiting the site of the fires. Taking a much softer tone on the official website than Twitter, Trump is quoted, 

“We will do everything in our power to support and protect our fellow citizens in harm’s way.”

These are fine words and a better tone than the initial response on Twitter.  Considering this administration’s use <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/24/epa-department-agriculture-social-media-gag-order-trump">of gag orders</a> on staff of the USDA and EPA, as well as burying scientific evidence of climate change, how serious could Trump be about scientific forest management?  

Trump didn’t consider other contributing effects to California’s Camp Fire, including climate change, urban sprawl and frankly, bad luck.  Beyond these other contributing factors, what role does the federal government play in forest management? An article on <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/416317-swalwell-trump-owns-a-lot-of-the-problem-on-forest-management">The Hill</a> points out that the federal government actually plays a huge role in the management of forests in California (as well as the rest of the western United States).

Almost 60% of California’s forests are under the oversight of the federal government.  Last year in California, 742,050 acres of <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/">U.S. Forest Service</a> land burned compared with 505,956 acres of land managed by the government of California.  Trump’s administration has also wanted to cut funding to the Department of Interior and Forest Service, including money that could be used for fire mitigation.  At the same time, Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1026587142989008897?lang=en">tweeted</a> this August about California’s fires saying fires were,

“…being magnified &amp; made so much worse by the bad environmental laws...Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!”

An article in the <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article216160995.html">Sacramento Bee</a> from August 7 highlights how much of the forest mismanagement is the fault of Trump and his anti-science anti-environment administration.  The truth is, if Trump was serious about improving forest management, he could. In fact, Trump has tried to cut budgets that would’ve contributed to fire management.  Luckily, Congress struck a deal making fire management and suppression without borrowing money a reality for federal lands. 

So far, with incompetence and corruption as hallmarks of Trump’s head of the Department of the Interior, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/conservation-ryan-zinke/">Ryan Zinke</a> and Department of Agriculture <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/some-sketchy-things-trunps-usda-pick-did-while-governor-georgia/">Sonny Purdue</a>, how can we expect more?  It’s clear that rather than contributing to real solutions to California’s ongoing fire crisis, Trump is using it to his political advantage.   

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer               

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

California’s wildfires and Trump: What was the real cause?

On November 10, 2018, as the deadliest wildfires in California’s...

Researchers have made an astonishing discovery in the soil at the <a href="https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/">Harvard Forest</a> in Petersham, Massachusetts. The team found giant viruses that were up to hundreds of times larger than other viruses. 

Viruses are typically thought to be tiny infectious agents that are smaller than <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/body-protects-bacteria-inhale/">bacteria</a> and human cells. But now, researchers including biologist Jeff Blanchard and Ph.D. student Lauren Alteio at the <a href="https://www.umass.edu/">University of Massachusetts Amherst</a> are reporting otherwise. 

“We were not looking for giant viruses,” said Blanchard. “Our goal was to isolate bacteria directly from the environment to understand how microbial communities are changing in response to soil warming.”

According to Blanchard, the work involved suspending microbial cells from the soil in a mild detergent solution, adding a non-toxic DNA-binding dye, and then using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to isolate individual cells. He explained that giant viruses, which have extremely large genomes, are captured by this method because of their similarity in size to bacteria.

Tanja Woyke is a senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) <a href="https://jgi.doe.gov/">Joint Genome Institute</a> (JGI) who also collaborated in the study. Woyke suggested that the team use mini-metagenomics, a new strategy which places cells into small pools before genome sequencing.

As a result of this approach, the researchers acquired DNA sequences from over 2,000 individual cells and particles. They discovered 16 new giant viruses within the pools, which Blanchard said was “a wonderful surprise and very exciting new science.”

Frederik Schulz, a bioinformatics expert at JGI and co-first author of the study, said: “The fact that we found all these giant virus genomes in soil was especially intriguing, as most of the previously described giant viruses were discovered in aquatic habitats. The metagenomic data generated here from a single sampling site contained far more new giant virus genomes than any other data set I have seen to date.”

Schulz added: “We recovered 16 distinct giant virus genomes in this study, but we are merely scratching the surface. If we sample more at the same site this number would easily double, triple or even quadruple.” 

The giant virus discovery is part of a series of soil-warming experiments that have been carried out for many years at the research forest, which is located about 28 miles northeast of the UMass Amherst campus.

“Not only did we just discover many new giant viruses, but we did it using a thimbleful of soil,” said Blanchard. “It would be nice to characterize these viruses one at a time, there's a lot of skill and art in that. But it would be a years-long project. Finding 16 at once is kind of overwhelming, and none of them are the same. If you think of all the soil in the world, if there are 10,000 species of bacteria in a gram of soil, about a teaspoon, imagine how many new giant viruses are out there.”

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

Scientists discover rare, giant viruses in forest soil

Researchers have made an astonishing discovery in the soil at...

An active supervolcano in southern Italy is building up large magma reserves, as many experts warn that it may be shifting into a pre-eruption phase. The Campi Flegrei volcano, which is made up of 24 craters, has been showing signs of activity that may represent a “reawakening.”

A research team led by Dr. Francesca Forni from the <a href="http://www.geopetro.ethz.ch/">Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology</a> in Switzerland has been analyzing past eruptions at the Campi Flegrei caldera. The researchers concluded that the underlying magma reservoir, which they called “one of the most hazardous regions on Earth,” may be accumulating magma in advance of a massive <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/vesuvius-eruption-skulls-explode/">explosion</a>. 

The experts analyzed rocks, minerals, and glass samples from each of 23 previous eruptions. They were hoping to detect changes in water content and magmatic temperature that were associated with seismic activity in the past. 

The caldera of Campi Flegrei is about nine miles to the west of Naples and is one of the few active supervolcanoes in the world. It has not erupted since 1538, yet it is believed the volcano is capable of creating a “super-colossal” eruption. Evidence has been found of one such eruption from 40,000 years ago.

Volcanologist Christopher Kilburn from the <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a> explained, “Should an eruption occur, the best guess is that it will have a size and behavior…  ranging from the size of the last eruption (Monte Nuovo, 1538) to something similar to the eruption of Vesuvius that overwhelmed Pompeii and Herculaneum.”

Dr. Forni’s team found that there have been changes to the temperature and water content of the magma since the 1538 Monte Nuovo eruption. Scientists fear that an eruption of the Camp Flegrei supervolcano could cause even more widespread devastation than that of the infamous Mount Vesuvius.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists fear that a supervolcano in Italy is reawakening

An active supervolcano in southern Italy is building up large...

A new study supported by the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/">National Science Foundation</a> (NSF) has found that slow-motion collisions of underwater tectonic plates are pulling about three times as much water deep into the Earth than what was previously calculated.  

“People knew that subduction zones could bring down water, but they didn't know how much water,” explained study lead author Chen Cai, who is an expert in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at <a href="https://wustl.edu/">Washington University in St. Louis</a>.

According to the researchers, the discovery has important implications for the global water cycle. Candace Major is a program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences.

“This research shows that subduction zones move far more water into Earth's deep interior - many miles below the surface - than previously thought,” said Major. “The results highlight the important role of subduction zones in Earth's water cycle.”

The investigation was focused on seismic activity across the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mariana-trench-plastic-trash/">Mariana Trench</a> in the Western Pacific. Measuring 1,500 miles long, this ocean trench is the deepest in the world. 

The team listened to more than a year's worth of recordings, ranging from ambient noise to actual earthquakes, using a network of seismographs.

“Previous estimates vary widely on the amount of water that is subducted deeper than 60 miles,” said study co-author Doug Wiens. “The main source of uncertainty in these calculations was the initial water content of the subducting uppermost mantle.”


While it was already known that subducting plates could hold water, it was not clear how much water could be held. Seismic images obtained in the current study show that the area of hydrated rock at the Mariana Trench extends almost 20 miles beneath the seafloor.

In the Mariana Trench region alone, four times more water is held within the hydrated rocks than what was estimated. These results can be applied to other ocean trenches as well.

“If other old, cold subducting slabs contain similarly thick layers of hydrous mantle, then estimates of the global water flux into the mantle at depths greater than 60 miles must be increased by a factor of about three,” explained Wiens.

Scientists speculate that most of the water dragged down into a trench comes back into the atmosphere as water vapor when volcanoes erupt. However, the new study indicates that the amount of water going in greatly exceeds the amount of water coming out.

“The estimates of water coming back out through the volcanic arc are probably very uncertain,” said Wiens. “Does the amount of water vary substantially from one subduction zone to another, based on the kind of faulting where the plate bends? There have been suggestions of that in Alaska and in Central America. But no one has yet looked at deeper structures like we were able to do in the Mariana Trench.”


The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Deep ocean trenches are holding much more water than had been thought

A new study supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF)...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.uu.se/en">Uppsala University</a> has revealed that the construction and expansion of dams and reservoirs can actually contribute to the issues that they are designed to resolve. The researchers determined that increasing reservoir storage capacity can have unintended long term consequences by worsening <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/water-shortages-reservoir-levels/">water shortages</a>.

According to the study authors, there are two counterintuitive phenomena that should be considered while planning reservoirs: the supply-demand cycle and the reservoir effect.

The supply-demand cycle describes instances where increasing the water supply leads to higher demand, which can quickly negate the benefits of reservoirs. This promotes a vicious cycle where a new water shortage is addressed by further expansion of reservoir storage, enabling more water consumption until the next shortage. For this reason, the supply-demand cycle can ultimately lead to unsustainable exploitation of water resources. 

The reservoir effect refers to cases where too much dependence on reservoirs increases the potential damage caused by drought and water shortage. By continuously expanding reservoirs, the motivation for preparedness and adaptation is reduced, which worsens the water shortage. Furthermore, the abundant water supply supported by reservoirs can generate higher dependence on water resources, which leaves everyone much more vulnerable when water shortages occur.

The study authors argue that increasing water supply in response to growing water demand is not sustainable. They recommend less reliance on large water infrastructure, such as dams and reservoirs, and more efforts in water conservation measures. Most water experts would agree, but yet numerous dams and reservoirs are still being built around the world.

The researchers also propose an interdisciplinary research agenda to identify the long-term effects and unintended consequences of reservoirs and other types of water infrastructure.

The study is published in the journal 
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0138-5">Nature Sustainability</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: Michelangelo Brandimarte

Increasing supply to meet demand contributes to water shortages

A new study led by Uppsala University has revealed that...

Nine out of ten people worldwide breathe air with high levels of pollutants, according to recent data from the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/02-05-2018-9-out-of-10-people-worldwide-breathe-polluted-air-but-more-countries-are-taking-action">World Health Organization</a> (WHO). 

Air pollution is a leading cause of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-kills-infants/">mortality worldwide</a>, and in 2016 alone, 4.2 million deaths were caused by ambient air pollution. 

As a result, many countries are working on new strategies to improve air quality. For example, in the UK, London implemented a city-wide Low Emissions Zone (LEZ) in an attempt to reduce vehicle pollution. 

But how well do these initiatives work and what is being done to protect children, the most vulnerable in a population, from developing breathing disorders and cardiovascular disease? 

A new study from researchers at <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University of London</a>, <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/">King’s College London</a>, and the <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/">University of Edinburgh</a> has revealed that children in London have poor lung capacity despite the LEZs.

“If children's lungs don't develop properly as a result of air pollution it can increase their likelihood of developing asthma, leaving them coughing, wheezing and at risk of a life-threatening asthma attack,” said Samantha Walker, the Director of Research and Policy at <a href="https://www.asthma.org.uk/">Asthma UK</a>. 

The study was published in The Lancet Public Health Journal, and the results call for more stringent traffic pollution regulations. 

Even though there are some improvements within the LEZs, and traffic pollution in general has decreased in the UK, children exposed to diesel pollution are still at risk, especially those that attend schools near busy motorways. 

“Despite air quality improvements in London, this study shows that diesel-dominated air pollution in cities is damaging lung development in children, putting them at risk of lung disease in adult life and early death,” said Chris Griffiths, an author of the study.  

The LEZ introduced in 2008 in London encompassed 8.5 million residents, but the researchers wanted to find out if there were any marked improvements to children's health in the area. 

2,164 children from 28 primary schools across London were monitored for five years for the study. The researchers recorded the children’s health and air pollution exposure. 

After the five year period, the team found that nitrogen dioxide (found in diesel emissions) and particulate matter exposure correlated with smaller lung volume for the children. 

There were only minor improvements in nitrogen dioxide levels after the LEZ was implemented, but particulate matter levels stayed the same. The children who lived within the LEZ showed no improvements in lung capacity or breathing disorders over the five year period, even with the marginal improvements in air quality. 

“It is disappointing that the Low Emission Zone in London has not helped to improve children's lung capacity and shows that a piecemeal approach to reducing air pollution does not work,” said  Walker. “The Government needs to tackle toxic air by putting in place a new Clean Air Act to keep everyone, especially children, safe.”

Unless more is done to meet the European Union’s nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter limits, the researchers say that children will remain at risk of respiratory problems. 

“There is an urgent need to improve our air quality, especially within our congested cities,” said Ian Mudway, a co-author of the study. “Policies such as the Low Emission Zone strive to do this, but their effectiveness needs careful and objective evaluation, not only in terms of whether they improve air quality, but more importantly, whether they deliver better health.”

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Poor lung capacity in UK children linked to diesel emissions

Nine out of ten people worldwide breathe air with high...

A team of international researchers assembled by the <a href="https://geogenetics.ku.dk/">Centre for GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen</a> unearthed a massive impact crater beneath northern <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/lakes-greenland-ice-sheet/">Greenland’s ice sheet</a>. The crater measures about 31-kilometers (19.3-miles) wide — an expanse greater than Paris. This is the first time a crater has ever been found under a continental ice sheet.

Researchers made their initial discovery in July 2015, and have been working to verify it for the past three years. Now, they are able to publish their findings in the journal Science Advances. The team predicts that the crater was formed when a kilometer-sized meteorite crash landed in Greenland and has been concealed by about a kilometer of ice.

[caption id="attachment_1861874" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/crater.png"><img class="wp-image-1861874" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/crater-1024x719.png" alt="" width="700" height="492" /></a> Map of the bedrock beneath the ice sheet, Image Credit: The Natural History Museum of Denmark[/caption]

Professor Kurt H. Kjær from the Center for GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum of Denmark said, “The crater is exceptionally well-preserved, and that is surprising, because glacier ice is an incredibly efficient erosive agent that would have quickly removed traces of the impact. But that means the crater must be rather young from a geological perspective.”

He continued, “So far, it has not been possible to date the crater directly, but its condition strongly suggests that it formed after ice began to cover Greenland, so younger than 3 million years old and possibly as recently as 12,000 years ago — toward the end of the last ice age.”

The impact occurred near the Hiawatha Glacier in northern Greenland, and is large enough to have affected the Earth’s climate and species at the time. Once the team is able to accurate the date the meteorite, they can move on to determining how exactly the impact affected the world around it.

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: The Natural History Museum of Denmark

First ever impact crater to be found under Greenland ice sheet

A team of international researchers assembled by the Centre for...

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A study led by the <a href="https://ku.edu/">University of Kansas</a> is describing how a unique island ecosystem evolved 43 million years ago during the Eocene Epoch. The research is focused on two new fossil relatives of marsupials that inhabited the Pontide region of modern-day Turkey.

“Evolution in many ways is easier to study in an island context than on a large continent like North America because it's a simpler ecosystem,” said study co-author Professor K. Christopher Beard. 

“Evolutionary biologists have been focusing on islands ever since Darwin and Wallace independently formulated their ideas about evolution based on their observations of plants and animals living on the Galapagos and the Malay archipelago, which is modern Indonesia.”

According to Professor Beard, however, the lack of a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fossils-modern-birds-dinosaurs/">fossil record</a> for animals living on islands across a multimillion-year timeframe  has largely prevented the opportunity to understand how island ecosystems are constructed.

“No other ecosystem on the face of the planet from any time period matches what we're finding in the Eocene of Turkey - it's a completely unique mammalian ecosystem much like Madagascar is today.”

“But how did this island biota develop over time? You need fossils and time depth to see that. We're able here to study in great detail how this ancient island evolved - where the different animals came from, how they got there and when they got there. Once they got there, some of these mammals, including one of the new marsupial lineages we've discovered, were able to diversify on the island. Most of the Eocene mammals on the Pontide island seem to have gotten there by swimming or rafting across parts of the Tethys Sea, instead of getting stranded on the island when it got separated from adjacent parts of Eurasia.”

The team found evidence among the Pontide marsupial fossils that distinctive forms of life on islands are ill-fated in general, given enough time.

“One thing we know for sure is that the incredibly interesting and unique Eocene biota that occurred on this island in what is now Turkey at some point was totally eradicated,” said Professor Beard. “It was eradicated when the island was re-connected to mainland Eurasia and more cosmopolitan animals were able to access it for the first time, driving the weird island biota to extinction.” 

“The message for conservation biology today is that island ecosystems are inherently ephemeral on the grand scale of macroevolutionary time. Today, conservation biologists are concerned about many endangered taxa on islands. The ugly truth that paleontology provides is that, given enough time, most island faunas are doomed to extinction. They're cul-de-sacs of evolution - even though they're wonderful places to study processes of evolution.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</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: Oscar Sanisidro | University of Kansas

Marsupial fossils reveal evolution of unique island ecosystem

A study led by the University of Kansas is describing...

Nearly ten years after the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/long-term-damage-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill/">Deepwater Horizon Oil spill</a>, an estimated 10 million gallons of crude oil remains buried in the seafloor sediment across the Gulf of Mexico. This pollution may continue to cause severe damage to marine life, including the impairment of sensory systems.

The effective functioning of sensory systems is critical to the survival of marine fish. However, beyond the obvious importance of their olfactory system, the impact of crude oil exposure on sensory function remains largely unclear.

A study from <a href="https://www.fau.edu/">Florida Atlantic University</a> is the first of its kind to quantify the physiological effects of crude oil on the olfactory function of a marine vertebrate. The investigation, which was focused on the Atlantic stingray, confirmed that exposure to crude oil can significantly impair the sense of smell after just 48 hours of exposure. 

The results of the analysis also suggest that exposure to crude oil could have a negative impact on fitness, lead to premature death, and cause additional cascading effects through lower trophic levels.

Study co-author Dr. Stephen M. Kajiura is a professor of Biological Sciences at <a href="https://www.fau.edu/">Florida Atlantic University</a>.

“Elasmobranchs are renowned for their well-developed sensory systems, which are critical to alert them of the presence of predators, prey, mates, and unfavorable environmental conditions. Any impairment of these sensory systems could have a damaging effect on their survival and fitness,” said Dr. Kajiura.

[caption id="attachment_1861903" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/atlantic-stingray.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1861903" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/atlantic-stingray-1024x677.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="463" /></a> Atlantic stingray, Image Credit: Stephen M. Kajiura, Ph.D./Florida Atlantic University[/caption]

Study lead author Eloise J. Cave conducted the research as part of her master's degree in Dr. Kajiura's lab, and is now a PhD student at the Florida Institute of Technology. 

After exposing stingrays to clean or oil-treated water, Cave found that the animals exposed to oil exhibited a smaller response, with a slower onset and longer duration.

“Unlike other sensory systems in which the receptor cells are not in immediate contact with the environment such as the eye, inner ear, lateral line, and electroreceptors, the chemo-sensory cells of the olfactory organ are directly exposed, through the mucus, to the seawater,” said Dr. Kajiura. “As a result, environmental pollutants have the ability to directly damage the receptor cells and affect olfactory function.”

The study 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 

Image Credit: Stephen M. Kajiura, Ph.D./Florida Atlantic University

The Deepwater Horizon spill continues to affect animals today

Nearly ten years after the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill, an...

Sea level rise, an onslaught of life-threatening storms, and increasing global temperatures have caused society to become more aware of the effects of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/droughts-costly-global-warming/">global warming</a> in recent decades. However, a new study from the <a href="http://english.iap.cas.cn/">Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> shows that global warming has been constant since 1870, the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Researchers found that global warming, that being the influx of CO2 and other atmospheric greenhouse gasses in our air, has never ceased since the late 19th century. The maximum rate of change occurred after WWII and has been at a stable change rate of .08-degrees Celsius over the last three decades.

However, the scientists saw a slowing of the upward trend of global mean surface temperature (GMST) during the first decade of the 21st century. Even though CO2 levels continued to rise between the years of 2001 to 2013/2002 to 2012, scientists have tagged this period in global history as the ‘global warming hiatus’ or ‘slowdown in warming.’

Scientists believe this slowdown happened due to either internal climate variability or external forcing, or perhaps both, an increase in aerosols within the stratosphere during 2000-2010, the negative phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) partnered with strong trade winds, an vast heat uptake by the deep ocean, or a lower number of sunspots during the most recent solar activity cycle. Basically, this hiatus is a result of global warming and cooling counteracting each other.

Lead author of the study, the Institute’s Dr. Xingang Dai, said, "Our study suggests that future climate conditions will likely rely on competition between multidecadal cooling and global warming if the multidecadal climate cycle repeats, as was experienced during the second half of the twentieth century.”

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Global warming not stopped since the Industrial Revolution

Sea level rise, an onslaught of life-threatening storms, and increasing...

With CO2 emissions, droughts, and heat waves all set to increase in the coming years, it is vital to understand how these changes will affect global crop yields. 

Since scientists can’t send seeds into the future and study the impacts on plant growth, models and projections allow researchers to take a brief glimpse in the future and see many different possible scenarios. 

However, projections and predictions can only go so far regarding realistically portraying what the future might hold for crops and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earlier-springtime-hinders-plant-growth/">plant growth</a>. 

But what if, instead of zapping seeds into the future, you could bring future climate change to the present and study plant growth? 

Outdoor facilities called Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) are working to do just that, as plants in FACE facilities are exposed to higher and higher levels of CO2. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California Davis</a> and the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> in the United Kingdom examined FACE plants in a new study to understand how climate change might impact plant growth. 

The study was published in the journal Global Change Biology. 

The researchers analyzed plant growth at FACE facilities and compared those responses to plant growth from 11 naturally occurring high-CO2 springs where plants are exposed to high concentrations of CO2. 

“The results say, pretty surprisingly, that yes, all of those experiments we've done in FACE facilities are giving us a pretty good idea of how plants are likely to respond in the future,” said Gail Taylor, the corresponding author of the study. 

The team found that overall, plants respond positively to increased levels of CO2 which is promising for the future when emissions are projected to increase. 

However, the researchers say that emissions are not the only thing projected to increase, and if drought and temperatures also increase, plants will not do as well as their FACE counterparts. 

“If plants are exposed to higher temperatures and drought, there will likely be negative impacts, overall, so it's a tradeoff,” said Taylor. “But our analysis gives us confidence that plants are likely to keep responding positively to rising CO2 if no other climatic factors are limiting.”

FACE facilities can tell researchers a great deal about future plant performance, especially for cereal crops that provide a critical source of nutrients and carbohydrates to many countries around the world. 

“The analysis shows that it's possible to test new varieties of plants in FACE experiments before it is critical that they perform in the wider world,” said Taylor. “These ‘time-traveling’ plants that move forward and backwards across the decades can be extremely valuable in understanding how plants are likely to respond to the changes projected as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change.”

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Gail Taylor/UC Davis

How will global crop yields be affected by increased CO2 levels?

With CO2 emissions, droughts, and heat waves all set to...

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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 



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"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

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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

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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



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

[sendtonews key="fxH3eJHEkQ-2010196-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

[sendtonews key="6SdlLLbt0t-1988946-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NTU...

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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

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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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