California has become a vivid example of a global phenomenon known as “hydroclimate whiplash,” which involves sudden and dramatic swings between extreme wet and dry conditions.&nbsp;



These abrupt shifts are increasingly destabilizing ecosystems and communities, as shown in a new study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-024-00624-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Reviews Earth and Environment</a>.&nbsp;



The research highlights how climate change is intensifying these weather patterns and their associated risks, from destructive wildfires to devastating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/flood-fatalities-experts-reveal-the-hidden-health-impacts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">floods</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-state-in-constant-flux">A state in constant flux</h2>



The winters of 2022-23 and 2023-24 brought California unprecedented precipitation, fueled by dozens of atmospheric rivers.&nbsp;



Mountain towns were buried under snow, valleys were inundated with rain and snowmelt, and landslides occurred across the state.&nbsp;



However, these deluges were followed by record summer heat and a drought-ridden start to the 2025 rainy season. The resulting dry vegetation has provided ample fuel for a series of wildfires.



“This whiplash sequence in California has increased fire risk twofold,” explained lead author Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.&nbsp;



“First, by greatly increasing the growth of flammable grass and brush in the months leading up to fire season, and then by drying it out to exceptionally high levels with the extreme dryness and warmth that followed.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-trends-in-climate-whiplash">Global trends in climate whiplash</h2>



California's situation mirrors a global trend. The study found that hydroclimate whiplash has increased worldwide by 31% to 66% since the mid-20th century - outpacing predictions made by climate models.&nbsp;



The trend is accelerating due to human-driven <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-earth-energy-imbalance-temperature-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate change</a>, with projections suggesting that whiplash events could more than double if global temperatures rise by three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.



A key driver of this intensification is the “expanding atmospheric sponge,” a phenomenon in which a warmer atmosphere absorbs and releases more water.&nbsp;



For every degree Celsius of warming, the atmosphere’s capacity to hold moisture increases by 7%, compounding the severity of both <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-now-the-driving-force-behind-droughts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">droughts</a> and floods.



“The problem is that the sponge grows exponentially, like compound interest in a bank,” Swain said. “The rate of expansion increases with each fraction of a degree of warming.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-beyond-rainfall-the-role-of-evaporation">Beyond rainfall: The role of evaporation</h2>



While many studies focus solely on precipitation patterns, this research emphasizes the role of increasing “evaporative demand.”&nbsp;



A warming atmosphere pulls more moisture from plants and soil, exacerbating drought conditions even when rainfall does not decrease.



“The expanding atmospheric sponge effect may offer a unifying explanation for some of the most visible, visceral impacts of climate change,” Swain noted.&nbsp;



This includes the rapid transitions between floods and droughts, landslides triggered by oversaturated soil, and cycles of vegetation growth and fire.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenges-for-water-management">Challenges for water management</h2>



The intensifying hydroclimate whiplash poses significant challenges for water resource management.&nbsp;



California’s traditional strategies, such as diverting flood waters to the ocean, need to be balanced with measures to retain water for prolonged dry spells. Swain emphasized the importance of a “co-management” approach that considers drought and flood risks together.



John Abatzoglou, a UC Merced climate scientist and co-author of the study, highlighted the strain on California’s infrastructure:&nbsp;



“Hydroclimate in California is reliably unreliable. Swings like we saw a couple years ago, going from one of the driest three-year periods in a century to the once-in-a-lifetime spring 2023 snowpack, both tested our water-infrastructure systems and furthered conversations about flood water management to ensure future water security in an increasingly variable hydroclimate.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-phenomenon-of-climate-whiplash-nbsp">Global phenomenon of climate whiplash&nbsp;</h2>



While California offers a stark example, hydroclimate whiplash is a global issue. 



Regions such as northern Africa, South Asia, and the tropical Pacific are projected to experience the most dramatic increases, but almost every region will face growing risks.



“Increasing hydroclimate whiplash may turn out to be one of the more universal global changes on a warming Earth,” Swain said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-southern-california-fire-season-s-extended-grip">Southern California: Fire season’s extended grip</h2>



Southern California’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/experts-have-identified-the-key-driver-of-severe-wildfires-in-canada/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildfire</a> risks have been amplified by the lack of rain and the dry vegetation left behind by previous wet seasons.&nbsp;



While seasonal winds, such as the Santa Anas, play a role in spreading fires, Swain noted that “climate change is increasing the overlap between extremely dry vegetation conditions later in the season and the occurrence of these wind events.”&nbsp;



“This, ultimately, is the key climate change connection to Southern California wildfires.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-slowing-the-intensification-of-climate-whiplash">Slowing the intensification of climate whiplash</h2>



The study highlights the urgent need to reduce global warming to slow the intensification of hydroclimate whiplash.&nbsp;



“The less warming there is, the less of an increase in hydroclimate whiplash we’re going to see,” Swain said.&nbsp; However, with the planet on track for two to three degrees Celsius of warming this century, substantial increases in variability are likely.



Adapting to these changes will require rethinking water management, infrastructure, and conservation strategies. By addressing both ends of the water spectrum - flood and drought - policymakers and communities can better prepare for the challenges of a warming world.



-----



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"Hydroclimate whiplash" is wreaking havoc across the U.S.

California has become a vivid example of a global phenomenon known as “hydroclimate whiplash,” which involves sudden and dramatic swings between extreme wet and dry conditions.&nbsp; These abrupt shifts are increasingly destabilizing ecosystems and communities, as shown in a new study published in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment.&nbsp; The research highlights how climate change is intensifying these weather patterns and their associated risks, from destructive wildfires to devastating floods. A state in constant flux The winters of 2022-23 and 2023-24 brought California unprecedented precipitation, fueled by dozens...

Several 80-million-year-old fossils found in Alabama are from a species of sea turtle that is the oldest known member of the lineage that gave rise to all modern species of sea turtles, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Researchers from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology worked with two relatively complete turtle skeletons, along with several smaller pieces, that are housed at Birmingham’s McWane Science Center, to unearth the evolutionary clues tying the ancient turtles to modern sea turtles, and confirm the existence of that ancient species, previously known only from a few isolated fragments.

The McWane fossils help solve a long-standing debate as to whether this animal was a unique species. They also provide insights into the evolutionary history of living species of sea turtles, including the Kemp’s Ridley, Loggerhead and the endangered Green sea turtle.

According to research published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, the fossils belong to Ctenochelys (tee-no-key-lees) acris, a marine-adapted turtle that lived in the shallow, subtropical sea that once covered most of Alabama. By dating the rock formation from which these fossils were recovered, C. acris is presumed to have lived more than 80 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, a period of time when sea turtle diversity was at an all-time high.

“Climatic warming during the mid-Cretaceous resulted in elevated sea levels and temperatures that, in turn, provided an abundance of new niches for marine turtles to invade,” said Drew Gentry, a UAB biology doctoral student and the lead researcher on the project. “Represented today by only seven living species, sea turtles were once one of the most diverse lineages of marine reptiles. Before the cataclysm that claimed the dinosaurs, there may have been dozens of specialized species of sea turtle living in different oceanic habitats around the world.”

[caption id="attachment_88493" align="alignleft" width="150"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-88493" src="http://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea-turtle-Ctenochelys-acris-illustration_1big_UAB-150x150.jpg" alt="Silhouette of Ctenochelys acris" width="150" height="150" /> Silhouette of Ctenochelys acris[/caption]

Before this research, so little fossil evidence for C. acris had been documented that most paleontologists doubted the species was real. Not only do the newly discovered fossils prove C. acris existed, they may also be a critical piece in a much larger puzzle of sea turtle evolution.

“There is strong evidence which indicates freshwater turtles may have evolved to occupy marine environments at several points in the past,” Gentry said. “But most of those lineages went extinct, making the exact origins of living or ‘true’ sea turtles somewhat of a mystery.”

Evidence gathered from the fossils of C. acris suggests the earliest ancestors of modern sea turtles may have come from the Deep South. By comparing the skeleton of C. acris with those of both extinct and living species of turtles, Gentry discovered that C. acris possessed traits of both sea turtles and their closest living turtle relatives, snapping turtles.

“This animal was a bottom-dwelling sea turtle that fed primarily on mollusks and small invertebrates,” he said. “Unlike the ‘rudder-like’ hind-limbs of today’s sea turtles, C. acris had large, powerful hind-limbs to help push it through the water, a lot like a modern-day snapping turtle.

“Data from C. acris tell us not only that marine turtles are capable of occupying specialized oceanic niches, but also that many of the sea turtles we know today may have gotten their evolutionary start as something similar to an oversized snapping turtle in what eventually became the southeastern United States.”

Studying the diversity and evolutionary history of sea turtles during previous periods of climate change can provide meaningful insights into what effects climate and environmental changes might have on modern marine turtle populations.

“An important, yet often overlooked, aspect of sea turtle research is their evolutionary history,” Gentry said. “By analyzing the remains of fossil species, we can begin to understand the origins of these animals and how they’ve adapted to different environments over time.”

The fossils that led to this research were discovered in 1986 and contributed to what was then the Red Mountain Museum. The McWane Science Center was founded in 1998 by the merger of the Red Mountain Museum and a nearby children’s museum, Discovery Place.

The paleontological and archaeological collection at McWane is one of the largest in the southeastern U.S. and houses a number of significant finds from across Alabama, including the recently announced Eotrachodon, a type of duck-billed dinosaur.

“We are always making discoveries from the specimens housed at McWane that give us new respect for the individuals who contributed to this collection,” Gentry said.

---

<a href="http://www.uab.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UAB</a>

Sea turtles originated in the United States

Several 80-million-year-old fossils found in Alabama are from a species...

<div>Corals first appeared on earth nearly half a billion years ago during the Cambrian Period of the Paleozoic Era. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle categorized corals as zoophyta, or "plant-animals", due to their plant-like appearance. Closer examination of corals revealed that they are not plants at all, but instead belong to a group of animals called cnidarians, which includes sea anemones and jelly fish. Corals are generally immobile and colonial; the plant-like structure of corals is actually a colony of multiple coral polyps. Each coral polyp is an individual animal with its own tentacles, digestive filaments and mouth.</div>
<div>

All animals begin their lives as fertilized eggs. From there, the egg divides and eventually forms a blastula, or hollow single-layered sphere of cells. Then, the embryo becomes multilayer of cells through the dynamic cell movement process called gastrulation. Each of embryonic layers are responsible for the formation of specific organs and tissues within an animal. Two layered animals, or diploblasts, contain an endoderm and an ectoderm from which all body structures are derived. Triploblasts, such as humans and insects, contain three layers. In triploblasts, the endoderm is comprised of the innermost internal organs such intestines and lungs, while skin and epithelial tissues form the ectoderm. The mesoderm includes bone, muscle, cardiac tissue and blood. Each layer is formed by interactive functions of various genes during early development.

Triploblasts diverged from diploblasts 600 million years ago. Very little research has been done to determine the evolutionary origin of the triploblastic mesoderm. Scientists had uncovered which genes are expressed in both diploblasts and the mesoderm of triploblasts, but a comparison of the functions of those genes in each type of animal had not yet been performed.

Researchers from the Marine Genomics Unit at the <a href="http://www.oist.jp/" target="_blank">Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST)</a> are the first group to successfully manipulate the coral genes for comparison. A researcher from the Unit, Dr. Yuuri Yasuoka, developed a new technology to investigate the role of the mesodermal gene brachyury in coral development. The results of this study provide insight into the evolutionary development of the mesoderm and are published in Current Biology.

The research team at OIST focused on brachyury, a gene that plays a crucial role in mesoderm formation during vertebrate development. To distinguish the mesoderm from other layers, brachyury activates mesodermal genes while repressing ectodermal and endodermal genes. Brachyury is also important for the development of mesodermal tissues from pluripotent stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells. This gene exists in all animals but its function in diploblasts is poorly understood. Researchers from the Marine Genomics Unit, Dr. Yasuoka and Dr. Chuya Shinzato, performed a series of experiments using coral embryos and uncovered a piece of the evolutionary puzzle.

Because corals are one of the most primitive and successful cnidarian group, they are useful for understanding animal evolution. The OIST team studied the function of the brachyury gene in Acropora digitifera, the most common coral in Okinawa. "This study was achieved on the basis of the availability of corals in Okinawa, careful planning of experiments, and the amazing DNA sequencing facilities at OIST. Because the annual spawning day of corals is unpredictable and the quality of eggs is different each year, it took five years to obtain the results through trial and error." Dr. Yuuri Yasuoka explains. Researchers at OIST have previously decoded the Acropora genome, making it suitable for these studies. However, because Acropora eggs float on sea water, it is difficult to manipulate them. To overcome this problem, the Dr. Yasuoka developed a method to retain the eggs between glass materials by surface tension (Figure 1). This allowed the scientists to then use microinjection to insert a material that inhibits the brachyury gene into Acropora eggs and examine the results of this inhibition in coral embryos.

The brachyury gene is expressed in the ectoderm around the blastopore, which is the boundary between ectoderm and endoderm. Corals have a bag-like digestive organ with a hole, derived from the blastopore, that functions as both a mouth and an anus. When the brachyury gene was inhibited using the microinjection method, coral larvae lost their mouth structures (Figure 2). This result suggests that brachyury is necessary for mouth formation in corals. In vertebrates, the mouth opens on the opposite side from the blastopore, which becomes the anus. Brachyury inhibition in vertebrates produces a similar appearance to that seen in corals. Mice with only one copy of the brachyury gene, rather than the usual two, are born tail-less.

Furthermore, comprehensive gene expression profiles of coral embryos were surveyed using a next generation sequencer at OIST. The result demonstrated that, in corals, brachyury activates ectodermal genes while it represses endodermal genes. The comparison of brachyury functions in corals and vertebrates suggests that ectoderm expressing brachyury in corals corresponds to mesoderm in vertebrates. In terms of gene functions, cells around the mouth in corals share common origins with mesodermal cells in vertebrates that produce bone and muscle. In other words, the origin of mesoderm for vertebrates is likely to be ectoderm of their diploblastic ancestor. This is a plausible answer to a long unsolved question.

Dr. Noriyuki Satoh, leader of the Marine Genomics Unit, further explained: "One of our unit's research topics is to explain evolutionary processes of animal body plans at molecular levels. The finding that brachyury plays a role for blastopore formation during coral development has very high impact because corals lack a mesoderm and brachyury functions to form the mesoderm in vertebrates. We will continue to investigate brachyury functions in various animals".

Further studies using corals are warranted to answer more scientific questions. Corals play a vital role in the marine ecosystem, making them an important animal to study. "Coral reefs are crucial to supporting the biodiversity of the earth and also possess economic values for fishery and tourism. While the whole genome sequence of a coral species was decoded previously, the molecular basis of the coral ecosystem remains unknown. To find real roles of coral genes, we have waited for coral spawning every night. This study marks a huge progress in the study of corals and hopefully contributes to preservation of corals in future", revealed Dr. Chuya Shinzato.


</div>
<div></div>

Uncovering the secrets of coral evolution

Corals first appeared on earth nearly half a billion years...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">The ocean circulation that is responsible for England's mild climate appears to be slowing down. The shift is not sudden or dramatic, as in the 2004 sci-fi movie "The Day After Tomorrow," but it is a real effect that has consequences for the climates of eastern North America and Western Europe.</div>
Also unlike in that movie, and in theories of long-term climate change, these recent trends are not connected with the melting of the Arctic sea ice and buildup of freshwater near the North Pole. Instead, they seem to be connected to shifts at the southern end of the planet, according to a recent <a href="http://www.washington.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Washington</a> study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"It doesn't work like in the movie, of course," said Kathryn Kelly, an oceanographer at the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory. "The slowdown is actually happening very gradually, but it seems to be happening like predicted: It does seem to be spinning down."

The study looked at data from satellites and ocean sensors off Miami that have tracked what's known as the Atlantic overturning circulation for more than a decade. Together they show a definite slowdown since 2004, confirming a trend suspected before then from spottier data.

Looking at other observations to determine the cause, the researchers ruled out what had been the prime suspect until now: that massive melting and freshening in the North Atlantic could stop water from sinking and put the brakes on the overturning circulation, which moves warmer water north along the ocean's surface and sends cold water southward at depths.

"It appears that this 10-year slowdown is not related to salinity," Kelly said. In fact, despite more ice melt, surface water in the Arctic is getting saltier and therefore denser, she said, because of less precipitation. "That means the slowdown could not possibly be due to salinity -- it's just backwards. The North Atlantic has actually been getting saltier."

Instead, the authors saw a surprising connection with a current around the southern tip of South Africa. In what's known as the Agulhas Current, warm Indian Ocean water flows south along the African coast and around the continent's tip toward the Atlantic, but then makes a sharp turn back to join the stormy southern circumpolar current. Warm water that escapes into the Atlantic around the cape of South Africa is known as the Agulhas Leakage. The new research shows the amount of leakage changes with the quantity of heat transported northward by the overturning circulation.

"We've found that the two are connected, but I don't think we've found that one causes the other," Kelly said. "It's more likely that whatever changed the Agulhas changed the whole system."

She believes atmospheric changes may be affecting both currents simultaneously.

"Most people have thought this current should be driven by a salinity change, but maybe it's the [Southern Ocean] winds," Kelly said.

The finding could have implications for northern European and eastern U.S. climates, and for understanding how the world's oceans carry heat from the tropics toward the poles.

"I think it changes how we think about the whole Atlantic overturning circulation, of which the Gulf Stream is a part," said co-author LuAnne Thompson, a UW professor of oceanography. "It brings back the role of the atmosphere into what's controlling the climate in the high latitudes, that it's not all driven by what's happening in the oceans."

And while a slowdown of the Gulf Stream and broader overturning circulation, for whatever reason, would bring less warm water to eastern North America and Western Europe, any effects are overwhelmed by the overall warming due to global climate change.

"So that whole concept in the movie of New York harbor freezing doesn't make any sense," Kelly said. "If the Gulf Stream doesn't carry as much heat from the tropics, it just means that the North Atlantic is not going to warm up as fast as the rest of the ocean -- it's not going to cool down."
###
The study was funded by NASA and the U.K.'s Natural Environment Research Council. Other co-authors are Kyla Drushka at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory, Dewi Le Bars at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and Elaine McDonagh at the U.K.'s University of Southampton.

&nbsp;

</div>
<div></div>

Ocean circulation in the Atlantic is slowing down

The ocean circulation that is responsible for England's mild climate...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Vertical wind shear has the ability to tear a tropical cyclone apart, but recently formed Tropical Storm Nicole in the western Atlantic Ocean is holding fast to its strength despite being battered by wind shear. The wind shear is being caused by the outflow of Hurricane Matthew that moved over western Haiti on Oct. 4 and was moving toward the Bahamas on Oct. 5.</div>
Nicole formed at 11 a.m. EDT on Oct. 4 and westerly vertical wind shear was already battering the storm at 1 p.m. EDT (17:00 UTC) when NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the western Atlantic Ocean. The visible-light image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectoradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard Aqua saw the bulk of Nicole's clouds were being pushed to the east of the center.

On Oct. 5, Forecaster Cangialosi of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted "Nicole continues to hold its strength despite strong wind shear. Satellite images show a rather robust circulation, with a small area of deep convection near the center and a larger band to the east of the center."

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Nicole was located near 24.3 degrees north latitude and 61.8 degrees west longitude. That's about 490 miles (790 km) north-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was moving to the west-northwest near 6 mph (9 kph). A turn toward the northwest is expected later today, followed by a turn toward the north by late Thursday.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 50 mph (85 kph) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next 48 hours. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) east of the center. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1005 millibars.

The NHC forecast noted that Nicole is expected to remain in strong wind shear conditions caused by the outflow of Hurricane Matthew during the next few days, which should prevent the storm from strengthening. After that time, Nicole is expected to interact with a mid- to upper-level low pressure area and could acquire some subtropical cyclone characteristics over the weekend of Oct. 8 and 9.

--

<a href="http://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA</a>


</div>
<div></div>

Tropical Storm Nicole seen holding fast in the Atlantic

Vertical wind shear has the ability to tear a tropical...

<div class="img-wrapper">It is widely known that black carbon, or soot, aerosol particles emitted from South Asia are spread across the northern Indian Ocean during the winter monsoon season.</div>
These masses of air pollution adversely affect human health and have been shown to play a significant role in regional and global climate change, second only to carbon dioxide.

New research led by Eric Wilcox, Ph.D, an atmospheric scientist at Nevada's <a href="http://www.dri.edu/" target="_blank">Desert Research Institute (DRI)</a>, outlines new insights into how these high concentrations of black carbon aerosols may also reduce atmospheric turbulence and enhance relative humidity near the Earth's surface, exacerbating both human health impacts and extreme weather events.

The study, "Black carbon solar absorption suppresses turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer," appears this week in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Utilizing a fleet of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) with specialized instrumentation developed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, Wilcox and his colleagues for the first time measured the atmospheric turbulence and vertical flow of latent heat above the ocean's surface up to altitudes of 3,600 meters (12,000-feet) - an area of the atmosphere commonly known as the marine boundary layer.

"To completely understand the effects of these harmful aerosols on our climate and the modifications they cause to clouds and weather systems originiating in the boundary layer," explained Wilcox, "you have to first understand the turbulent dynamics of the air where the aerosols reside and the clouds form."

"The climate science community has long debated the impact of turbulence in the boundary layer and our research team set out to directly measure that, which hadn't been done before," he added.

The UAS flights were performed in 2012 at various altitudes for distances of up to 10 miles, averaging over three hours. They originated at Hanimaadhoo in the northern part of the Maldives, a country made up of a string of islands south of India.

Specialized instrumentation aboard each aircraft measured turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), aerosol particle concentration, black carbon concentrations, cloud droplet size and density, and temperature fluctuations. The turbulent flux measurement instrument package was developed by Rick Thomas, Ph.D, during his time at Scripps as a postdoctoral researcher. Thomas is currently a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Aircraft data was combined with ground measurements obtained at the Maldives Climate Observatory on Hanimaadhooa, a background site for atmospheric and climate studies in South Asia.

The Maldives is the lowest country in the world, with an average natural elevation of 1.5 meters. The country is expected to be one of the first substantially affected by sea-level rise, a key consequence of global warming.

This study advances pioneering research performed nearly 10 years prior with the same lightweight UAS and led by Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Ph.D, a distinguished professor of climate and atmospheric sciences at Scripps.

During the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) Ramanathan and his colleagues first discovered that black carbon aerosols were a potent absorber of sunlight and therefore a major contributor to global warming.

"The finding that black carbon warming of the boundary layer is suppressing turbulence is a cause for concern," explained Ramanathan, "since turbulence is one of the important ways by which pollution near the surface is transported away from human exposure. Suppressing it can increase ground level pollution."

The study also illustrates the continued advancement of UAS as valuable scientific research tools and showcases the strength of UAS to simultaneously measure multiple components of the same cloud system while only disturbing the cloud to a minor degree, added Ramanathan.

Furthermore, said Wilcox, the unique instrumentation developed as part of this study can be applied to existing and planned UAS applications in Nevada and across the West. Most notably, scientific efforts to better understand drought and the dynamics of winter precipitation events in the Sierra Nevada.

The authors also acknowledge that further study is needed to understand how the absorption of black carbon aerosols in the boundary layer may also impact the formation of cumulus (storm) clouds and higher elevation atmospheric events.
###
Additional Details: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) - Black carbon solar absorption suppresses turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer

Article # doi: 10.1073/pnas.1525746113 <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/10/03/1525746113.abstract" target="_blank">http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/10/03/1525746113.abstrac</a>

&nbsp;

Black carbon aerosols enhance humidity near the Earth's surface

It is widely known that black carbon, or soot, aerosol...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Tropical Depression 22W has formed northeast of the northern Philippines and NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of the storm.</div>
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Depression 22W (TD22W) on Oct. 5 at 12:35 a.m. EDT (0435 UTC). The image showed strong thunderstorms around the center of circulation, but the center appeared somewhat elongated. That's because the storm is dealing with moderate vertical wind shear.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) Tropical Depression 22W had maximum sustained winds near 29 mph (25 knots/46 kph). It was centered near 19.7 degrees north latitude and 122.8 degrees east longitude, about 327 nautical miles north-northeast of Manila, Philippines. TD22W is moving to the northwest at 24 mph (21 knots/38 kph).

Tropical Depression 22W is forecast to track to the west-northwest over the next several days and its center is expected to move over open waters and pass between Luzon, northern Philippines and Taiwan.
###

</div>
<div>

<a href="http://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA</a>

</div>

Tropical Depression 22W forms northeast of the Philippines

Tropical Depression 22W has formed northeast of the northern Philippines...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Ocean warming is occurring at such a rapid rate that fish are searching for cooler waters to call home.</div>
A group of international scientists has new evidence that coral reef fish - which struggle to adapt to the warmer ocean temperatures brought about by global climate change - may instead opt to relocate to cooler parts of the ocean.

In experiments using a common coral reef fish, the blue-green damselfish, Chromis viridis, was acclimated to 2-4 degrees Celsius above their normal summer temperatures over a 27-week period.

"When fish have to deal with increased temperature, there are physical consequences. They need more energy to cope, and they may not be able to handle stress or reproduce or even grow," says marine scientist Jacob Johansen of <a href="http://www.utexas.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The University of Texas at Austin</a>.

Fish that were acclimated to the highest temperatures lost 30 percent of their body weight and some of them died, according to the University of Copenhagen's Adam Habary, the lead author of a study published this week in the journal Global Change Biology.

"But we found that, when given the slightest chance, fish can seek out temperatures that they've evolved to be in over thousands of years, to mitigate the impact of increasing temperatures and not sacrifice critical physiological processes," says Johansen

[caption id="attachment_88412" align="alignleft" width="150"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-88412" src="http://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cff2.earth-com-temp.comuploads20161004161102media.eurekalert.orgmultimedia_prodpubweb123980_web-6b8c7b56e1c718fb2dcab90183d70bb30a6fd155-8615a699e3fd3750d8dd049a4e04e7bed4fa8a87-150x150.jpg" alt="Blue-green damselfish" width="150" height="150" /> Blue-green damselfish[/caption]

Most prior research has focused on the capacity for animals to adapt to increasing temperatures, given that animals have adapted to changes in temperature in the past. However, previous adaptations happened at evolutionary timescales, about 1 degree Celsius temperature change per million years. Global climate change is occurring at a much faster rate, with sea surface temperature predicted to increase 2 to 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century.

Marine fish are faced with a tough decision. They will need to adapt or move to avoid death.

Instead of looking into how fish can adapt, the new research took a different approach by asking, what if fish moved? In fact, what if entire ecosystems were capable of moving to the cooler temperatures, toward the poles or to deeper water?

There is already evidence that many coral reef fish and pelagic fish such as tuna are moving in response to warmer ocean waters, and that this is beginning to affect global fisheries. "Our study provides a mechanistic explanation for why fish may move, and a way of testing it," Johansen says.

Picking up and moving may not be the silver bullet for some species, particularly those coral reef fish that are dependent on reefs for habitat. Corals cannot move pole-ward as fast as the temperature increases are predicted to happen, so corals and coral-dependent fish will have to adapt or move to deeper waters where living conditions are less than ideal.

In addition, ocean warming does not occur as a steady slide upward on the thermometer. It often occurs as severe and increasingly frequent heating events. "It's these transient periods that are causing the most damage," Johansen notes. This was seen earlier this year on the Great Barrier Reef, when temperatures rose as much as 4 degrees Celsius for several weeks, causing widespread coral bleaching and severe physiological stress in many fish.

Johansen and fisheries biologists from the University of Copenhagen and James Cook University collaborated on the just-published study titled "Adapt, move or die - how will tropical coral reef fishes cope with ocean warming."
###
The research was supported by Generalmajor J.F. Classen Foundation, Frøken Ellen Backe &amp; Margaret Munn Tovborg Jensens foundations as well as the Familien Muller-Geiels foundation and an ARC Super Science Fellowship and infrastructure and research allocation from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at JCU.

</div>

Ocean warming is pushing coral reef fish to cooler waters

Ocean warming is occurring at such a rapid rate that...

Hurricane Matthew made landfall in western Haiti during the morning hours of Oct. 4, and a NASA animation of NOAA's GOES-East satellite covered the monster storm.
<div>

NOAA's GOES-East satellite provides continuous imagery of the Atlantic Ocean and eastern U.S. and has been keeping a close eye on powerful Hurricane Matthew. Infrared imagery shows Matthew's movements at night, while visible imagery shows Matthew's movements during the day. At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, both infrared and visible imagery were combined into an animation from Oct. 2 to Oct. 4. The animation ends just after Hurricane Matthew made landfall on Oct. 4 near Les Anglais in western Haiti about 7 a.m. EDT (1100 UTC).

A hurricane warning is in effect for Haiti; the Cuban provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma and Las Tunas; the southeastern Bahamas, including the Inaguas, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay and Ragged Island; the Central Bahamas, including Long Island, Exuma, Rum Cay, San Salvador and Cat Island; and the northwestern Bahamas, including the Abacos, Andros Island, Berry Islands, Bimini, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama Island and New Providence.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Dominican Republic from Barahona westward to the border with Haiti, Jamaica, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

There are also hurricane and tropical storm watches in effect today, Oct. 4. A hurricane watch is in effect for the Cuban province of Camaguey. A tropical storm watch is in effect for the Dominican Republic from Puerto Plata westward to the border with Haiti.

On Oct. 4 at 2:10 a.m. EDT (0610 UTC), NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Matthew and analyzed the hurricane in infrared light to show temperatures. The MODIS, or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite revealed cloud top temperatures as cold or colder than minus 70 F (minus 56.6 C). NASA research indicates very cold cloud tops with the potential to generate very heavy rainfall.

At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC) on Oct. 4 the eye of Hurricane Matthew was located inland Haiti near 18.4 degrees north latitude and 74.2 degrees west longitude. That's just 10 miles (15 km) east of Tiburon, Haiti, and about 125 miles (200 km) south of the eastern tip of Cuba.

NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Matthew was moving to the north near 9 mph (15 kph), and this general motion is expected to continue today. A turn toward the north-northwest is expected by Wednesday, Oct. 5, followed by a northwest turn Wednesday night. On the forecast track, the eye of Matthew will move near or over portions of the southeastern and central Bahamas tonight and Wednesday, and approach the northwestern Bahamas Wednesday night.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 145 mph (230 kph) with higher gusts. Matthew is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some fluctuations in intensity are possible during the next couple of days, but Matthew is expected to remain a powerful hurricane through at least Wednesday night.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles (65 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles (295 km). The estimated minimum central pressure is 934 millibars.

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For information on rainfall, storm surge, winds and updated forecasts and tracks, visit the National Hurricane Center website: <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nhc.noaa.gov</a>.

&nbsp;

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</div>
<div></div>

Hurricane Matthew slams Haiti en route to the US

Hurricane Matthew made landfall in western Haiti during the morning...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">The world's oceans teem with scientific mystery, unknowns that could prove to be tools that will one day protect the planet from global warming.</div>
Researchers report they've tripled the known types of viruses living in the world's oceans, and now have a better idea what role they play in nature. The study, led by scientists at The Ohio State University, appears in the journal Nature.

Their work will likely have far-reaching implications, including ultimately helping to preserve the environment through reducing excess carbon humans put into the atmosphere, they say.

The oceans currently soak up half of that carbon, but that comes at the cost of acidifying the oceans, which puts some ocean-dwellers, including shellfish, at risk. Understanding how microbes and viruses interact is critical to any possible management efforts, the researchers say.

Their work was possible because of the unprecedented three-year Tara Oceans Expedition, in which a team of more than 200 experts took to the sea to better understand its unseen inhabitants, and the Spanish-led 2010 Malaspina expedition, which evaluated the impact of global change on the ocean and studied its biodiversity.

Researchers at Ohio State processed viral samples collected by scientists aboard the two ships.

Lead author Simon Roux analyzed genetic information from those samples to catalog 15,222 genetically distinct viruses and group them into 867 clusters that share similar properties. Roux is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Matthew Sullivan, the study's senior author and associate professor of microbiology at Ohio State.

"Ten years ago I would never have dreamed that we could establish such an extensive catalog of ocean organisms around the world," Sullivan said.

"Scientists around the world are revealing how microbes impact our bodies, soil, the air and the oceans. As we improve our ability to study viruses, we're seeing the role viruses play in these microbial functions," he said.

[caption id="attachment_88396" align="alignleft" width="150"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-88396" src="http://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cff2.earth-com-temp.comuploads20161004141018media.eurekalert.orgmultimedia_prodpubweb123960_web-7ebd007bfa8524146c3f8d08e5cd1173eb6de054-55c80579e1ea6c58918742e00896e6b7fbddf4e1-150x150.jpg" alt="The three-year Tara Oceans Expedition" width="150" height="150" /> The three-year Tara Oceans Expedition[/caption]

Roux said microbes in the oceans make half of the oxygen humans breathe, making viruses that infect these microbes particularly important.

"Our work not only provides a relatively complete catalog of surface ocean viruses, but also reveals new ways that viruses modulate greenhouse gases and energy in the oceans," he said.

At any given time, about one in three cells in the ocean are infected with a virus, altering the way the cell behaves, Roux said.

Infection is always bad news for the cell because it impedes its function in some way. But it's not always bad news for the environment. Viruses likely play a key role in ridding oceans and lakes of harmful algal blooms, for instance.

The Ohio State team is eager to see how viruses might fit into future efforts to reduce carbon in the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases threatening the environment could be mediated by these viruses through manipulation by scientists - something that is at least a couple decades off, but will likely be necessary to manage climate change, Sullivan said.

"The ocean is a major buffer against climate change. Our suspicion is that people will leverage this buffer to their benefit," he said. "They could find ways to fine-tune viruses so that they sink carbon into the deep ocean."

Prior to this work, viruses were identified here and there around the world, he said. That previous list - most recently outlined in prior work by the Sullivan Lab - was used for comparison in this study.

Now, Roux and Sullivan think they have a much more complete picture of what's happening on a viral level in the world's marine waters.

"Simon has developed amazing tools for understanding these viruses," Sullivan said, adding that this work will serve as a blueprint for other researchers, including those studying viruses outside the ocean.

Roux used a jumble of genetic data, called "metagenomes," to arrive at his catalog of viruses.

"The magic is being able to piece these things together," he said, adding that recent developments in bioinformatics and sequencing technologies made this work possible.

Once he put the puzzles together, Roux was able to identify genetic similarities and categorize the viruses.

"Because of this work anyone who studies viruses - in humans, soil, the air will better know how to identify and classify what is there," he said.
###
Other <a href="http://www.osu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ohio State</a> researchers who worked on this study were Jennifer Brum and Natalie Solonenko.

&nbsp;

</div>
<div></div>

Scientists have tripled the known viruses in the world's oceans

The world's oceans teem with scientific mystery, unknowns that could...

<div>Climate change is a serious threat to humans, animals, and the earth's ecosystems. Nevertheless, effective climate action has been delayed, partly because some still deny that there is a problem. In a new thesis in psychology, Kirsti Jylhä at Uppsala University has studied the psychology behind climate change denial. The results show that individuals who accept hierarchical power structures tend to a larger extent deny the problem.</div>
<div>

In the scientific community there is a strong consensus that humans have significantly affected the climate and that we are facing serious challenges. But there is a lot of misinformation about climate change in circulation, which to a large part is created and distributed by organised campaigns with the aim of postponing measures that could combat climate change. And there are people who are more prone than others to trust this misinformation.

Previous research has consistently shown that it is more common among politically conservative individuals to deny climate change. In her thesis, Kirsti Jylhä has investigated this further and in more detail. Her studies included ideological and personality variables which correlate with political ideology, and tested if those variables also correlate with climate change denial.

The results show that climate change denial correlates with political orientation, authoritarian attitudes and endorsement of the status quo. It also correlates with a tough-minded personality (low empathy and high dominance), closed-mindedness (low openness to experience), predisposition to avoid experiencing negative emotions, and with the male sex. Importantly, one variable, named social dominance orientation (SDO), helped explain all these correlations, either entirely or partially.

Social dominance orientation is a measure of the acceptance and advocating of hierarchical and dominant relations between social groups. This acceptance of hierarchies also extends to accepting human dominance over nature. The correlation between SDO and climate change denial can perhaps be explained by considering the many injustices of climate change. Our current wealthy lifestyles are the primary cause of climate change, but the most serious consequences are affecting mainly poor countries and people, as well as animals and future generations of humans.

According to Kirsti Jylhä, it is possible that individuals who accept the unequal distribution of the risks and benefits of climate change, more easily can keep demanding more evidence for climate change before admitting and addressing it.

The question then is how the issue of climate change can best be presented to people with a high SDO to convince them of the need for action.

"The arguments used in the climate debate often revolve around giving up conveniences in life to help the environment or the poor or weak. But that is maybe not a convincing argument to someone who sees the world from a hierarchical viewpoint. It would perhaps be better to talk in other terms and describe how everyone will benefit from the measures instead of being affected by the consequences and that the measures don't have to be a threat to the current societal structure", says Kirsti Jylhä.


</div>
<div></div>

Expoloring the psychology behind climate change denial

Climate change is a serious threat to humans, animals, and...

Clouds of reef fish and corals, French frigate shoals, NWHI

<div>In contrast to previous research, scientists have found that habitat warming can reduce the diversity of species in marine environments, but increase speciation in freshwater habitats.</div>
<div>

Scientists from the University of Bath's Milner Centre for Evolution working with colleagues at the University of York have shown that for an important group of aquatic crustaceans called the Anomura, which includes hermit crabs, king crabs and squat lobsters, habitat warming decreases species diversity in marine environments. Intriguingly the researchers found that diversity of Anomura species in freshwater habitats increased with warmer temperatures.

The findings suggest there is no universal rule about how species diversity is affected by global warming and responses to climate change could be habitat dependent.

Previous research involving land-based vertebrate found that diversity tends to increase with warming and it had been thought this was a general trend across habitats.

Dr Katie Davis, who conducted the research at the University of Bath, and is now based at University of York, said: "While other research found that species diversity increased with global warming our findings suggest that this is not a universal rule. We find that the freshwater group follow this pattern, but their marine relatives show the opposite - they speciate with global cooling and diversity decreases with warming.

"This is the first research to suggest that species response to climate change, whether warming or cooling, could be habitat dependent. It's not easy to disentangle the causes in the case of Anomura but it's possible that shallow marine organisms might be affected by factors such as sea level changes and tectonics because both these things affect the amount of shelf habitat available. These factors wouldn't affect freshwater organisms in the same manner."

"Given that crustaceans play a crucial role in marine ecosystems, as well as providing an important food source for many societies, it is important that management of marine ecosystems accounts for this potential loss in biodiversity."

The paper is published in Nature Communications.
###
The study was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

</div>

No universal rule about how species diversity is affected by global warming

In contrast to previous research, scientists have found that habitat...

<div>A new study shows that when heat-susceptible bacteria living symbiotically in the guts of insects are exposed to increased temperatures, both the bacteria and the insect are negatively impacted and can die. The study, reported online this week in the journal mBio®, illustrates another way global warming will wreak havoc on life as we know it, setting off deleterious chain reactions among organisms living in symbiosis.</div>
<div>

Many animals and other organisms harbor microorganisms inside their body. Some insects, such as the southern green stinkbug (Nezara viridula), depend on specific gut bacterium for normal growth and survival.

In the new study, investigators demonstrated that when the southern green stinkbug was reared inside an incubator, in which temperature was controlled at 2.5 °C higher than outside, there was a significant reduction in the symbiont bacteria that sparked severe fitness defects in the insect (ie. retarded growth, reduced size). Global warming is predicted to raise the average temperature by 2.5 °C by 2100. At higher temperatures, no nymphs were able to reach the adult stage.

"Considering that many microbial symbionts are vulnerable to high temperature stress, such symbionts can be the Achilles' heel of symbiont-dependent organisms in this warming world," said principal investigator of the study Takema Fukatsu, PhD, prime senior researcher and leader, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and a professor at the University of Tokyo and University of Tsukuba.

Dr. Fukatsu said that people should keep in mind that global warming might impact diverse organisms, not necessarily directly, but possibly indirectly via affecting unseen microbial associates. "Coral breaching, in which symbiotic photosynthetic algae of corals are killed by high temperature and coral reefs are severely damaged, is regarded as a serious environmental issue, but plausibly, similar phenomena may be ubiquitously found in the ecosystem," said Dr. Fukatsu.
###
mBio® is an open access online journal published by the American Society for Microbiology to make microbiology research broadly accessible. The focus of the journal is on rapid publication of cutting-edge research spanning the entire spectrum of microbiology and related fields. It can be found online at <a href="http://mbio.asm.org/" target="_blank">http://mbio.asm.org</a>.

The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 48,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences.

ASM advances the microbial sciences through conferences, publications, certifications and educational opportunities. It enhances laboratory capacity around the globe through training and resources. It provides a network for scientists in academia, industry and clinical settings. Additionally, ASM promotes a deeper understanding of the microbial sciences to diverse audiences.

</div>

Global warming harms organisms living in symbiosis

A new study shows that when heat-susceptible bacteria living symbiotically...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

[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



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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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

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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

[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

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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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