Sleep experts advise against screen time in bed, cautioning that light from phones and electronic devices can interfere with our natural sleep patterns.&nbsp;



This is one example of how science is becoming more attuned to the wide-ranging health impacts linked to circadian rhythms and our daily sleep-wake cycles.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-artificial-light-and-honeybees">Artificial light and honeybees</h2>



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, San Diego</a> (UC San Diego) has revealed that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/artificial-light-pollution-disrupts-entire-ecological-networks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">artificial light</a> also disrupts the circadian rhythms of honeybees, posing a risk to their role as pollinators.&nbsp;



“Our research shows just how sensitive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/honey-bees-face-a-multitude-of-complex-stressors-in-the-field/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">honeybees</a> are to changes in their environment, particularly to something as seemingly benign as artificial light,” said lead author Ashley Kim, a PhD student in biology at UC San Diego.&nbsp;



“By disrupting their circadian rhythms, we see clear evidence of reduced sleep periods. This raises significant concerns, not only for bee health but also for the health of ecosystems that depend on them for pollination.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-night-light-and-sleep-disturbances">Night light and sleep disturbances </h2>



Honeybees are key pollinators for many wild plants and agricultural crops, essential for both ecosystem stability and global food security. These bees typically prefer nesting in dark spaces, though a little light enters from the hive entrance.&nbsp;



When bees are exposed to artificial light at night (ALAN), particularly in urban areas, their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/australian-dragons-reveal-new-clues-about-the-mysteries-of-sleep/">sleep</a> is disturbed, and as temperatures rise, bees may be even more exposed to ALAN.&nbsp;



The growing popularity of urban beekeeping to support bees and their pollination services means more honeybees may be facing these artificial light challenges.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-artificial-light-and-honeybee-behavior">Artificial light and honeybee behavior</h2>



Poor sleep from light exposure impairs bee behaviors crucial for hive health, including their complex communication system called the “<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bees-perform-waggle-dance-to-share-the-location-of-food/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">waggle dance</a>,” which helps bees share information about food sources.&nbsp;



To study this impact, UC San Diego researchers conducted experiments over several years, comparing bees sleeping in darkness with bees exposed to constant light. The results showed that bees in constant light had disrupted sleep, as Kim observed through 24-hour video recordings.



“Even without analyzing the data, you can tell that there was something going on…the bees that were under constant light slept less,” she said.&nbsp;



“The effects of light pollution on biological systems is fairly unknown and something people normally don’t think about, which is why it’s a rapidly evolving field.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-growing-threat-of-light-pollution">Growing threat of light pollution</h2>



“Understanding the factors that affect bee health, such as light pollution, is essential for developing strategies to protect pollinator populations,” said senior author James Nieh, a professor of biology at UC San Diego.&nbsp;



As artificial light now covers over a quarter of the Earth’s surface, the study highlights the urgent need to understand how these disruptions may be harming bees and other pollinators.&nbsp;



Continuous artificial light exposure caused honeybees to sleep less, and their hive-mates disturbed them more frequently compared to bees resting in the dark. In experimental cages, bees under constant light sought darker areas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-enlace-initiative-in-pollinator-research">ENLACE initiative in pollinator research</h2>



This research also highlights UC San Diego’s ENLACE program, which connects students from Latin America and the U.S. to research global challenges like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pollen-wars-plants-compete-for-space-on-pollinators/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pollinator</a> health.&nbsp;



Students who participated in the ENLACE initiative, such as Aura Velazquez and Belen Saavedra, contributed as co-authors on the study.&nbsp;



“This project exemplifies the impact of ENLACE, bringing diverse perspectives to address environmental challenges like pollinator health and environmental sustainability,” said Olivia Graeve, ENLACE director and UC San Diego professor.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions</h2>



UC San Diego’s Catalyst Fund recently awarded Nieh and study co-author Benjamin Smarr a grant to extend their research on circadian rhythms to broader environmental and human health issues.&nbsp;



Their project, “Harmonizing the Pulse of Life: Pioneering Circadian Insights for Human and Ecosystem Health at UC San Diego,” will explore the effects of circadian disruptions from bees to entire ecosystems.&nbsp;



“This program fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together experts in biology, data science, and medicine to address issues like light pollution and its impact on pollinator health,” said Nieh.&nbsp;



The Catalyst Grant reinforces UC San Diego’s commitment to sustainability and human well-being, offering innovative ways to mitigate light pollution’s effects on pollinators and beyond.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Scientific Reports</a>. A preprint can be found on <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.03.547605v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BioRxiv</a>.



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Artificial light disrupts honeybee sleep patterns

Sleep experts advise against screen time in bed, cautioning that light from phones and electronic devices can interfere with our natural sleep patterns.&nbsp; This is one example of how science is becoming more attuned to the wide-ranging health impacts linked to circadian rhythms and our daily sleep-wake cycles. Artificial light and honeybees Now, a team of researchers led by the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) has revealed that artificial light also disrupts the circadian rhythms of honeybees, posing a risk to their role as...

Each year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases its <a href="http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card">Arctic Report Card</a>, and this year’s is showing some new high scores – but not in a good way.

The grades are in, and the Arctic broke several high temperature records, along with record low amounts of sea ice and rapidly shrinking glaciers.

The record-setting extremes show a disturbing trend of long-term Arctic warming, according to Dr. Jeremy Mathis, the head of Arctic research for <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">NOAA</a>. The warm weather is even intruding on normally cold months, when ice is usually building back up in the region, he said.

The Arctic seems to be warming faster than the rest of the world, he added, pointing to <a href="https://www.climate.gov/sites/default/files/Arctictemp_map_graph_2015-16_1240.jpg">data</a> gathered by the researchers.

Among the extremes logged by NOAA researchers in 2016’s peer-reviewed Arctic Report Card:
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">October 2015 through September 2016 had the highest average temperatures observed in the region since 1900, when records began.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Water temperatures off the coast of Greenland were 9 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 30-year average.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">From mid-October through November, sea ice was the lowest on record for that time of year, though it did not set minimum records the rest of the year.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Snow cover reached a record low for North America during the spring, for the first time since satellites first began recording that data in 1967.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Greenland’s ice sheet began to shrink on April 10, the earliest start of the melt season on record.</li>
</ul>
It’s not just the NOAA scientists who are concerned by weather extremes in the Arctic. The Arctic Report Card has other polar researchers worried. 

Dr. Mark Serreze of the <a href="https://nsidc.org/">National Snow and Ice Data Center</a> called it the most extreme year in the Arctic he’d ever seen.

Though climate change is partially to blame, an extreme El Niño in 2015 and 2016 may have added to the warming, the NOAA researchers said.

Extremes in the Arctic can mean extremes elsewhere, said Dr. Brendan Kelly, who studies the Arctic at the <a href="https://www.alaska.edu/">University of Alaska, Fairbanks</a> and was a co-author of the NOAA report.

As sea ice melts, more cold air from the Polar Vortex can escape, causing extreme weather events further south, he said.

Arctic Report Card showings warming in overdrive at the North Pole

Each year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases its...

Cold War spy images shed light on Himalayan glacial melt

Cold War-era spy satellite images have provided a point of comparison to demonstrate just how much the Himalayas have been affected by climate change. 

During the 1970s and 1980s, a United States spy program known as Hexagon launched 20 large reconnaissance satellites to survey particular areas of interest surrounding the Soviet Union. The photographs were declassified in 2011 and given to the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/">U.S. Geological Survey</a> for review. 

Historical data for the Himalayan region is difficult to come by, due to the rough conditions and remoteness of the area. But the spy satellite photos can be compared to more recent images taken by <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a> to show how much glacial melt has occurred over time. 

“This imagery will be getting used more and more,” said Josh Maurer of <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a>. “What we are trying to do is to quantify by exactly how much are the glaciers retreating, how much ice are they losing and at what rate. So we’ve used the images to extract 3D models of the terrain back in the 1970s.”

“We can see the height of the glacier ice in 1973, and we take those elevation models, and can take the difference between those and the modern day elevation models, and we can work out how the ice volume is changing over time,” he added.

The evidence indicates a rather significant loss of Himalayan glacial ice over the past several decades.

“At every point on the glacier surface across the whole of the Himalayas a quarter of a meter of water is being lost each year, and populations downstream, where they depend on these water resources, are going to be affected,” Maurer said. “As the glaciers shrink and retreat, the amount of runoff they provide to these streams will increase in the short term as they melt, but over the next 100 years it will decrease more and more, and that’s going to have a negative impact on water resources.”

Cold War spy images shed light on Himalayan glacial melt

Cold War spy images shed light on Himalayan glacial melt...

Winter has hit the Northern Hemisphere, and a lot of us are bundled up indoors instead of out in our wild world. What’s a nature lover to do when you want to be enjoying the green, but snow, rain, and mud have taken over?

Turn on the TV, of course. Here’s a list of 10 fantastic movies, TV shows, and documentaries that showcase the natural beauty of our wild world. Pop some popcorn, mull some cider, and give one a try next time a snow storm has you stuck indoors.
<ol>
 	<li><a href="http://movies.disney.com/the-jungle-book-2016">The Jungle Book</a> (2016, PG)</li>
</ol>
This live-action Disney film is based on Rudyard Kipling’s tales of India’s jungles. The human Mowgli, raised by wolves, must take on the brutal tiger Shere Khan and find his place among the panthers, wolves, bears, and apes that live in the jungle. 
<ol start="2">
 	<li><a href="http://www.bbcchannels.com/earth/planetearth2">Planet Earth II</a> (2016, unrated)</li>
</ol>
A sequel to the beloved BBC series <a href="http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/planet-earth">Planet Earth</a> (2006), this nature documentary show takes viewers to islands, deserts, mountains, and other wild habitats – even cities. Narrated by David Attenborough, the series gets up close and personal with wildlife.
<ol start="3">
 	<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4982356/">The Forest</a> (2016, unrated)</li>
</ol>
A Buddhist monk-turned-teacher is sent to a remote village, where he tries to connect with a bullied mute girl who retreats into a fantasy world full of horror. Shot in remote northeastern Thailand, the film features sweeping, gorgeous wild landscapes.
<ol start="4">
 	<li><a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/marchofthepenguins/">March of the Penguins</a> (2005, G)</li>
</ol>
Narrated by Morgan Freeman, this classic documentary about the lives of penguins in Antarctica was a surprise hit at the box office. It follows a group of penguins through a year in their lives, including dangers from predators, egg incubation, and migration.
<ol start="5">
 	<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3553976/">Captain Fantastic</a> (2016, R)</li>
</ol>
Starring Viggo Mortensen, this dramedy focuses on a couple who decides to raise their family in the wilds of Washington state, and the trials they go through trying to maintain that philosophy after events force them back into modern society. 
<ol start="6">
 	<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2305051/">Wild</a> (2014, R)</li>
</ol>
Grieving her mother’s death and her failed marriage, recovering from years of self-destructive behavior Cheryl Strayed decided to take off on a backpacking trip. Wild is based on the true story of Strayed’s 1,100-mile solo hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.
<ol start="7">
 	<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5490720/">Pandora</a> (2016, unrated)</li>
</ol>
This South Korean film may have been inspired by the earthquake-fueled Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. When an earthquake causes a radiation leak at a nuclear power plant, the disaster is made worse through human error, politics, and bureaucracy.
<ol start="8">
 	<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3020666/">Unbranded</a> (2015, PG-13)</li>
</ol>
This documentary tracks four men right out of college as they ride 16 mustangs from Mexico to Canada, straight through the wildest parts of the West. Along with gorgeous film of wild lands and horses, the four touch on the politics of mustang preservation.
<ol start="9">
 	<li><a href="http://nature.disney.com/oceans">Oceans</a> (2010, G)</li>
</ol>
Pierce Brosnan and the team at Disney take viewers on a journey deep into the oceans. The documentary meets up with whales, sharks, seals, and dolphins while sharing information about different ocean environments, in the spirit of Disney’s <a href="http://nature.disney.com/earth">Earth</a> (2009).
<ol start="10">
 	<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/">Into the Wild</a> (2007, R)</li>
</ol>
After graduating from college, Christopher McCandless abandoned his life and went to live in the wild world of the Alaskan wilderness. This movie is based on McCandless’ life in the wild until his death in 1992.

10 must-see movies and TV shows that showcase our wild world

Winter has hit the Northern Hemisphere, and a lot of...

As carbon dioxide increases in Earth’s atmosphere, more and more of the greenhouse gas is absorbed by the ocean, slowing rising surface temperatures. That’s great for us – but bad news for one tiny phytoplankton.

Emiliana huxleyi is a single-celled, photosynthetic plankton covered in small calcite disks called coccoliths. 

Photosynthetic phytoplankton lie on or near the surface of the ocean, and convert light into energy. Along with other types of plankton, they form a valuable food source for larger ocean creatures. 

For example, tiny phytoplankton like E. huxleyi are eaten by zooplankton, which become food for jellyfish, which are eaten by sea turtles, which become prey for sharks. Phytoplankton are at the center of nearly every marine food web.
<ol>
 	<li> huxleyi is facing a new threat from the ocean, though. Ocean acidification has made it a lot more difficult for the tiny phytoplankton to form its calcite disks, according to scientists from <a href="http://www.geomar.de/en/">GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel</a>.</li>
</ol>
Calcium carbonate is the building block for E. huxleyi’s coccoliths. The added carbon dioxide in the ocean causes a series of chemical reactions that deplete calcium carbonate in the oceans. This affects E. huxleyi and other ocean creatures with shells.

The GEOMAR scientists conducted a series of lab experiments to see just how E. huxleyi is affected by ocean acidification. In laboratory conditions, the tiny phytoplankton’s growth and calcification rates of its coccolith were reduced. The short-lived organism was unable to fully adapt to more acidic waters even after 2,000 generations, the scientists said.

The lab tests didn’t tell them whether E. huxleyi would still be able to compete in its native waters in acidic conditions, though, so the scientists took to the seas.

There, the amount of energy the phytoplankton spent forming their calcite shells left them unable to form a bloom, the scientists said. They used the experimental KOSMOS (Kiel Off-Shore Mesocosms for Ocean Simulations) platform to study the phytoplankton populations off Norway’s west coast.

By analyzing the E. huxleyi populations in that region, they discovered it was in decline before the typical bloom period, instead of growing. When it came time to bloom, there weren’t enough of the phytoplankton to do so.

While E. huxleyi is just one of several types of phytoplankton, its struggles in more acidic waters could signal larger problems, the GEOMAR team said. 

When the little organisms die, their calcite shells help pull them down to the bottom of the ocean quickly, the researchers said. If their remains stay close to the surface, they decompose there, attracting bacteria and slowing the ocean’s ability to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they said.

E. huxleyi is also believed to release dimethylsulfide into the atmosphere, a cooling gas. Concentrations of the gas were high over the organism’s blooms, the scientists said, but very reduced in areas where blooms failed to form.

Ocean acidification causes huge problems for tiny phytoplankton

As carbon dioxide increases in Earth’s atmosphere, more and more...

Three nautical miles off the coast of Rhode Island sits the Block Island Wind Farm, the very first U.S. offshore wind farm to supply energy to the American power grid. Operated by the wind energy group <a href="http://dwwind.com/">Deepwater Wind</a>, the Block Island Wind Farm will be plugged into the New England power grid thanks to <a href="https://www.nationalgridus.com/">National Grid’s</a> sea-to-shore submarine transmission cable system. 

“We’ve made history here in the Ocean State, but our work is far from over,” Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski said. “We’re more confident than ever that this is just the start of a new U.S. renewable energy industry that will put thousands of Americans to work and power communities up and down the East Coast for decades to come."

“Rhode Island is proud to be home to the nation’s first offshore wind farm – and I’m proud to be the only governor in America who can say we have steel in the water and blades spinning over the ocean,” said Rhode Island Gov. Gina M. Raimondo. 

The new Block Island Wind Farm consists of five Haliade 150 MW wind turbines measuring 600 feet above the water, twice the height of the Statue of Liberty. The turbines were built by Alstom, a recently acquired division of General Electric. The project cost roughly $300 million and took two years to complete.

According to the <a href="https://www.doi.gov/">U.S. Department of the Interior</a>, the Block Island Wind Farm will generate more than 100 kilowatt hours of clean energy each year, enough to power 17,000 homes.

The big launch marks a major milestone for generating clean, renewable power offshore and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Rhode Island opens first U.S. offshore wind farm

Three nautical miles off the coast of Rhode Island sits...

It’s Christmas time – and Hanukkah, too. The festivities include time with family, delicious treats, and brightly wrapped gifts. 

The paper on those brightly wrapped gifts offers a pretty picture, and the act of tearing into a present, not sure what’s inside, all the more fun for young and old.

But what does all that paper mean for the environment?

In the United States alone, 25 percent more trash is thrown away during the period from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day than the rest of the year combined, according to the <a href="https://www3.epa.gov/region9/waste/recycling/index.html">Environmental Protection Agency</a>. 

Much of that garbage begins its life as festive gift wrap. Each year, four million tons of trees are turned into gift wrap and holiday-themed shopping bags, only to be dropped into landfills, the <a href="http://cleanair.org/">Clean Air Council</a> said.

“Wrapping paper stays on presents for an average of five days. The presents are opened and tons of paper, ribbons and boxes are thrown away,” said Genevieve Adamski in <a href="http://thepointeruwsp.com/2016/12/13/trimming-the-holiday-wasteline/">The Pointer</a>, the student-run newspaper of the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

Sometimes the gift wrap doesn’t even make it to the gift recipient. Almost half of Americans said they would rewrap a gift if it didn’t look the way they wanted, according to information gathered by the website <a href="https://www.creditdonkey.com/gift-wrap.html">CreditDonkey</a>.

It’s not just the U.S., either.

In the United Kingdom, the gift wrap thrown away each year could be laid end to end and wrap the equator nine times, said Lucy Siegle in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/dec/19/not-easy-being-green-wrapping-paper">The Observer</a>.

The city of Barrie, Ontario in Canada reports that the average Canadian family’s waste increases up to 45 percent during the holidays, much of it wrapping paper from brightly wrapped gifts and supplies needed to create those beautiful, brightly wrapped gifts.

Don’t let statistics put the bah humbug in your holiday spirit, though. Like most industries, some paper is better than others. Taking a few steps can make your Christmas a little greener, to go with merry and bright.

Many types of holiday wrapping and greeting cards can be recycled. However, metallic, glittered and laminated paper can’t be recycled in many locations. Unless you plan to reuse them, those types of gift wraps are probably on the “avoid” list.

Some gift wraps that are heavily dyed are also difficult to recycle, so look for wrapping that is decorative without being overdone.

“If you don't go wrap-free, buy unbleached paper, as high quality and free of glitter penguins as you can. Encourage careful opening and reuse,” Siegle said. 

Gift bags are a good option because they’re often reused several times, she added. 

Some gift wraps contain seeds. While those are a great gift for anyone who loves flowers, make sure they know that the paper belongs in their yard or garden, not the garbage.

If you have the time and inclination, you can use stamps, stencils, and paint to turn brown paper grocery bags into unique, recycled, and recyclable gift wrap.

Whatever you do, don’t burn the wrapping paper you can’t recycle or reuse. 

“Decorative wrapping paper ... can contain lead, synthetic inks, plastic film, chlorine or metal-based foils, which release toxic and carcinogenic compounds into the air when burned,” Eviana Hartman wrote in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/20/AR2008112003358.html">Washington Post</a>.

Leftover wrapping paper, holiday cards, and other paper products can be turned into do-it-yourself projects instead, from lining drawers, boxes, and bookshelves to wrapping textbooks to origami paper to creating decor for next year’s Christmas season. 

The EPA also suggests saving ribbons and bows to be reused instead of throwing them away.

A few other ways to cut down on waste this holiday season:
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Bring your own bags when holiday shopping, or put smaller purchases into bags with larger items instead of requesting a new bag.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Purchase rechargeable batteries and chargers to go with any battery-operated toys or games.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Be sure to recycle the batteries in any greeting cards that play music.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Recycle the cards, too. Card fronts decorated with glitter or foil can be cut off and used in art projects, or donated to preschools or elementary schools for next year.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Choose “experiences” as gifts for people who will appreciate them – concert or sports tickets, museum or zoo memberships, spa gift cards, or day trips.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Buy a living Christmas tree that can be planted when the season is over. If you buy a cut tree, be sure to recycle it. </li>
</ul>

Brightly wrapped gifts aren't always environmentally friendly

It’s Christmas time – and Hanukkah, too. The festivities include...

Methane levels in Earth’s atmosphere have risen drastically in the past two years, causing concern amongst climate change experts. 

While carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions typically get the bulk of the attention, methane (CH4) is actually a more potent greenhouse gas. Over the course of a century, methane is 30 times better than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. 

Scientists warn the progress made in reducing CO2 emissions could be negated by rising methane levels. 

"CO2 is still the dominant target for mitigation, for good reason. But we run the risk if we lose sight of methane of offsetting the gains we might make in bringing down levels of carbon dioxide,” Professor Robert Jackson of <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> said.

Jackson recently wrote an editorial in the journal <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</a> urging the scientific community to act on the lack of knowledge regarding methane. Even experts in the field remain unsure of the exact cause of the recent spike in CH4 levels. 

Methane concentration in the atmosphere remained fairly level from 2000 to 2006, began to uptick in 2007, and then jumped by 10 or more parts per billion in 2014 and 2015. 


Agriculture appears to be one clear cause, as the biological functions of cattle release large amounts of methane into the air. But naturally occurring chemical reactions that remove methane from the air play a significant role in the balancing act and require further study.

Jackson is hopeful that the scientific community can soon make great strides in that area, in large part due to new satellites that can target specific carbon and methane molecules in the air. 


"I'm optimistic that the scientific community and the policymakers will be able to have better information,” Jackson said. “I'm optimistic because there are new satellites coming along that will give us the power to see methane concentrations all over the world on a regular basis. Methane is more difficult to study than CO2 because it's more diffuse, but I think we’re poised to make really good progress over the next few years."

Methane levels in Earth's atmosphere spike, alarming scientists

Methane levels in Earth’s atmosphere have risen drastically in the...

According to a new study by <a href="http://www.rice.edu/">Rice University</a>, American evangelicals are more likely to believe in climate change than evolution. The study found that 20 percent of those surveyed said that they were skeptical that climate change is occurring or that humans have any role in climate change. But 45 percent of those surveyed said that natural evolution is probably or definitely a false concept.

The study also found that religion is more closely tied to evolution skepticism than it is to climate change skepticism. Around 70 percent of those who identify as evangelicals said that evolution is most likely false, but only 28 percent of that population said that climate change is not occurring or that humans have no role in climate change. 

The study, titled "Examining Links Between Religion, Evolution Views and Climate-Change Skepticism,” was published in the latest edition of <a href="http://eab.sagepub.com/">Environment and Behavior</a>. It focused on the larger “anti-science” mentality as it relates to membership in conservative religious groups.

A team of researchers, led by Rice sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund, studied the link between evolution skepticism and climate-change skepticism with regard to religious affiliation. The team surveyed 9,636 people in the U.S. population which, according to Ecklund, is up to 40 percent evangelical, depending on how “evangelical” is defined.

Said Ecklund, "This is different from the popular account that the people who oppose climate change research and the people who oppose the teaching of evolution are the same, and that evangelical Protestantism is clearly linked to both.”

Evangelicals more likely to believe in climate change than evolution

According to a new study by Rice University, American evangelicals...

Climate scientists are looking beyond preventing greenhouse gas emissions. Now, they’re looking at a potential method of turning global warming into global cooling: aerosol “antacids.”

Instead of looking for yet another idea to prevent climate change, a team of researchers from <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> had a cool idea. They would study the atmospheric conditions that cause cooling after a volcanic eruption, and seek a way to reproduce it.

Most massive volcanic eruptions shoot tons of sulphur dioxide into the air. That causes a cooling effect that can be felt regionally or even globally. 

For example, the “Year Without a Summer” – actually a three-year period – was linked to the April 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. In the midst of the “Little Ice Age,” the eruption dropped temperatures up to 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the Northern Hemisphere.

Cooler global temperatures were recording for three to four years following the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatoa in Indonesia, and the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines also brought a few years of cooling.

Scientists hoped to discover if they could artificially produce cooling conditions similar to volcanoes, but without the ozone-damaging effects of sulphur dioxide. 

After studying the chemistry behind the problem, they came up with calcite. The plentiful mineral is found in limestone, and has reflective properties that would help to cool the planet, the researchers said. It also neutralizes the atmospheric acids that damage the ozone layer, making it a sort of aerosol antacid.

Aerosols saving the planet would have been a laughable idea just two decades ago. They once had a bad reputation when it came to the environment. Scientists linked the chlorofluorocarbons in the cans to a growing hole in the ozone layer. The chemical was also found in refrigerators, air conditioners, and other appliances. However, aerosols no longer contain CFCs.

The idea of spraying calcite into the atmosphere to lower surface temperatures may sound cool, but the scientists admit that the geoengineering project could have unintended consequences. 

Carbon dioxide would continue to build up in the atmosphere, the researchers said.

However, studying this and other geoengineering possibilities help scientists learn more about Earth, and think outside the box when it comes to solving environmental problems.

The study was published in the journal <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

Could aerosol 'antacids' be the key to global cooling?

Climate scientists are looking beyond preventing greenhouse gas emissions. Now,...

The Pacific and Atlantic oceans that surround South America can bring rain or dry weather to the continent. So can the Indian Ocean halfway around the world, a new study found. 

The study, conducted by climate scientists from the <a href="http://www.universidad.edu.uy/">University of the Republic</a> in Uruguay, took a deep look at the Indian Ocean Dipole. The surface temperatures in the eastern and western portions of the Indian Ocean tend to oscillate. The eastern half becomes warmer, then it cools and the western portion warms, and the cycle repeats. 

Because the Indian Ocean is connected with both the Atlantic and the Pacific, the Dipole can influence those oceans, which in turn influence the weather in South America, the study found. 

The scientists collected a vast store of data about the Dipole, along with the Pacific’s El Niño/La Niña oscillation and temperature variability in the tropics and North Atlantic. They used the data to create computer models studying how conditions in each ocean might influence South America’s weather – as well as each other.

The three oceans are connected by both atmospheric and oceanic “teleconnections,” or long-distance but connected climate events, according to the new research. 

They used observations and mathematical modeling to see how oceanic circulation between the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans might affect the climate in South America. They also looked at atmospheric circulation between the three bodies of water.

What they found is that surface temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans brought rainfall to tropical regions of South America, according to their models.

Another key finding is that, as ocean conditions become more unpredictable, so do weather conditions in the extratropics, areas outside of South America’s tropical regions. The continent’s internal atmospheric changes are a larger player in extratropical weather than the oceans, the researchers said.

That may change if the oceans and Earth’s surface temperatures continue to rise, the scientists said. 

The researchers hope their modeling can be expanded to look at how oceanic anomalies can affect land regions worldwide. They also hope it can be used to predict and plan for some of the effects of climate change, they said.

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Indian Ocean can change the weather in South America

The Pacific and Atlantic oceans that surround South America can...

A London street was underwater Sunday, but it wasn’t torrential rains or rising sea levels that brought the scene of destruction. It was a burst water main – the third in less than a week.

When the main burst just after noon, around 350 people living on Stoke Newington High Street had to evacuate. More than 150 properties suffered damage. 

A similar scene played out on Islington’s Upper Street last week, and there was also a water main break in south London’s Blackheath area on Saturday.

Officials with <a href="https://www.thameswater.co.uk/">Thames Water</a>, the company that maintains the pipes, have launched a full investigation into the water main breaks. At first glance, however, the breaks may be simply due to the pipes’ age.

Many of the pipes in London are 100 years old or older, and without continued investments in replacing old pipe, the system can become fragile, said Bob Collington, director of Thames Water. 

The private water utility  will do its best to make sure customers aren’t stuck with bills for repairing any damage, he said.

Thames Water and the <a href="http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/">London Fire Brigade</a> are working to clean up the spilled water on Stoke Newington High Street. The fire brigade was also using sandbags to try and keep the water outdoors, and retrieving necessary belongings for evacuees. 

Aside from wasting thousands of gallons of water – leaky pipes and water main breaks cost the U.S. alone as much as 6 billion gallons of purified drinking water every day, according to the <a href="http://www.cnt.org/publications/the-case-for-fixing-the-leaks-protecting-people-and-saving-water-while-supporting">Center for Neighborhood Technology</a> – water main breaks can be dangerous to public health. 

Health hazards come not just from the initial flooding, but from toxic mold and mildew that can grow in the walls of flood-stricken homes. Additionally, water main breaks and repairs create temporary openings where contaminants can enter the pipes, according to the <a href="https://www3.epa.gov/">Environmental Protection Agency</a>.

By Sunday evening, the water was receding. The burst main shouldn’t affect water access in the area, Thames Water officials said.

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

London water main bursts, flooding street

A London street was underwater Sunday, but it wasn’t torrential...

Jia Wenqi has no arms, and Jia Haixia is blind, but that hasn’t kept the two men from taking on a mission: planting trees and reforesting their village in Hebei Province, China. 

That mission was recently captured in a short, 10-minute documentary by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx6hBgNNacE">GoPro</a> called <a href="https://gopro.com/goproforacause/brothers">Brothers</a>.

When Wenqi and Haixia were children, the river near their village of Yeli was full of fish and shrimp, and birds and wild rabbits were plentiful, they said.

Then a quarry moved in, removing trees and grass and spreading vast clouds of dust, Wenqi and Haixia said. 

Like their environment, the two men had undergone changes over the years. Neither was born with their current disabilities. Jia Wenqi lost his arms when he touched a power line at the age of three. Jia Haixia was born blind in one eye, but an industrial accident at the quarry took the vision in his other eye.

When Haixia lost his vision, it was frustrating. He could no longer read the newspaper or perform basic tasks, he said. 

That’s when Jia Wenqi stepped in and offers his “sleeve,” Haixia said.

“You’ll be my arms, I’ll be your eyes,” Wenqi told him. 

The childhood friends were determined to find some way to contribute to their community. That’s when they began noticing that the birds were disappearing, and dust from the quarry had choked the river.  

“We asked ourselves, ‘What are we going to do?’” Wenqi said in the short film. “We can’t just be sitting around, useless to society. There weren’t a lot of options for us, but being alive means having a purpose. So we said to each other, ‘Let’s plant trees.’”

Every tree is an air purifier, they noted.

So Wenqi and Haixia began planting trees in 2002. They didn’t have money to buy seeds or saplings, so they took cuttings from the few remaining trees and coaxed them into growing. 

At first they thought planting trees would be easy. They planted 800 trees the first year – but most died from lack of water. Instead of giving up, the two found wet areas where they could plant. 

They’ve planted more than 10,000 healthy trees since they began, and birds have returned to the area to nest in them.

The pair originally planned to cut some of the trees for money while continuing to plant new saplings, they told the <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/987430.shtml">Global Times</a>. When people began taking notice of their forest and helping the two men support themselves and their families, they no longer needed to sell any trees and it became a moot point. They could turn their work purely into an environmental mission, they said.

The short film of their work, shot with GoPro cameras, was released on YouTube in June, but it recently went viral. It’s racked up nearly half a million views so far. So has a much shorter video by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2cqQA_zsKY">Great Big Story</a> about the two best friends. 

In both films, the men state their mission: To help the environment and leave a forest for future generations. 

The pair are in good company. In 1977, Wangari Maathai of Kenya founded the <a href="http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/">Green Belt Movement</a>. Her movement focused on environmental conservation, especially through planting trees. 

The Green Belt Movement offered stipends to women who planted seedlings throughout Kenya. Like people with disabilities in China, women in rural Kenya had limited opportunities at the time the movement was founded. But like , those women didn’t let the limitations of their society stop them from doing something meaningful.

“The future of the planet concerns all of us, and we should do what we can to protect it. As I told the foresters, and the women, you don't need a diploma to plant a tree,” Maathai wrote in her autobiography Unbowed.

As of 2012, women in the movement had planted more than 51 million trees, according to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-bechtel/wangari-maathai_b_1958853.html">Wanjira Mathai</a>, daughter of Wangari Maathai, who has continued her mother’s work after her death. Wangari Maathai was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. 

Other organizations focus on reforestation to build diplomacy, boost marginalized communities, and simply to help the environment. Mature trees can take in up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide each year. That means that when the 10,000 trees in Yeli, China have matured, they will offset 48,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.

<a href="http://www.plantingpeace.org/">Planting Peace</a> has donated more than 1 million tree seeds since it began its conservation program. They focus on Moringa trees, which not only grow quickly but also sprout leaves that can be harvested and eaten. Most of their seeds are going to Haiti, where deforestation is a massive problem.

<a href="http://www.peacetreesvietnam.org/">PeaceTrees Vietnam</a> offers a program where travelers can work with Vietnamese citizens to reforest parts of the country that are still reeling from decades of warfare. The goal is to build ties between citizens of the two countries while healing the land. 

The <a href="https://www.arborday.org/">Arbor Day Foundation</a> helps plant trees around the world, repairing forests after natural disasters or man-made deforestation.

There are also groups like <a href="http://www.treesforthefuture.org/">Trees for the Future</a>, which provides people living in poverty with a “forest garden,” including fruit trees, to help repair degraded farm land and provide a source of income.

“It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees,” Wangari Maathai once said. 

In the GoPro documentary, Jia Wenqi unintentionally echoed her.

“If everyone planted one or two trees a year, imagine the difference we could make,” Jia Wenqi said.

GoPro plans to begin collecting donations to help Jia Wenqi and Jia Haixia in their forest-building mission soon, the company said.

Men on a mission: disabilities don't keep pair from planting trees in China

Jia Wenqi has no arms, and Jia Haixia is blind,...

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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"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Ocean heat influences regional climate

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



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



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



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



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



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



Image/ Video Credit: ESA



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

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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

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



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



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



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



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

Monitoring deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

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