Underwater,Marine,Life,,Boulder,Brain,Coral,,Colpophyllia,Natans,,In,The

We've all heard that temperatures are rising. But in the southwestern Pacific, around the Fijian archipelago, sea surface temperatures have hit an all-time high -- the highest in over six centuries -- greatly harming coral in the region.



This startling discovery, revealed through coral research, comes from an international team of experts in climate science, proving once more the severe implications of rising temperatures.



In fact, the team's research indicates that 2022 was the hottest year in these regions since 1370. These findings were revealed by examining a massive colony of Diploastrea heliopora, a giant coral species found in Fiji.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coral-reefs-in-rising-sea-surface-temperatures">Coral reefs in rising sea surface temperatures</h2>



Aside from their breathtaking beauty and diverse ecosystems, coral reefs serve as profound archives of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2024-is-likely-the-hottest-year-in-recorded-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">past climatic and environmental shifts</a>.&nbsp;



Specifically, changes in the chemical composition of these long-lived massive corals provide invaluable data that traces centuries of climatic changes in the tropics, shaping the narrative of human experiences with climate fluctuations.



A notable scientist contributing to this research is Professor Denis Scholz, head of the Isotope-geochemical Palaeoclimatology / Speleothem Research group at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (<a href="https://www.uni-mainz.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JGU</a>) Institute of Geosciences.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coral-colony-and-sea-temperatures-nbsp">Coral colony and sea temperatures&nbsp;</h2>



Speaking of valuable, the team procured a 2-meter-long (6.5-foot) core from the aforementioned giant coral colony. 



Considering the coral only grows 3 to 6 millimeters (0.12 to 0.24 inches) annually, this is no small feat.



Experts then analyzed the core's skeletal chemical composition, drawing conclusions on temperature variations spanning 627 years. 



This data was further enriched by 26 years of instrumental water <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2024-is-expected-to-exceed-the-1-5c-warming-limit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">temperature measurements</a>.



Ever heard of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/el-nino-event-may-push-earth-towards-its-hottest-year-ever/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">El Niño</a>-Southern Oscillation? It's one of the primary phenomena influencing global climate, affecting human activities and natural ecosystems across the globe.&nbsp;



The southwestern Pacific region plays a significant role in modulating this very oscillation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-living-temperature-sensors">Living temperature sensors</h2>



We have thermometers and other temperature measuring devices. But nature has provided researchers with living temperature sensors in the form of corals. 



These underwater wonders record the chemical composition of their surrounding ocean in their skeletons, day in and day out.



One particular aspect of this recording is the skeletal Strontium to Calcium ratio. When this ratio dips, it points to higher temperatures. 



According to Professor Denis Scholz, head of the Isotope-geochemical Palaeoclimatology / Speleothem Research group at the JGU Institute of Geosciences, the current Strontium/Calcium ratio in the Fijian archipelago coral implies the highest sea surface temperature in the past 653 years.



"We used the uranium-thorium dating method to determine the age of each deposited layer. Thus, we were able to independently check and finally confirm the identification of the counting of individual annual layers. This enabled the precise and absolute dating of the coral," explained Scholz.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-through-past-to-predict-future">Looking through past to predict future</h2>



These findings don't merely paint a picture of our past, but they also provide a glimpse into our future.&nbsp;



Given the current climate model simulations, researchers are predicting more frequent bouts of droughts and heavy rainfall events in different areas of the Pacific throughout the 21st century.&nbsp;



And if no measures are taken to counter these effects, the results could be disastrous for both the ecosystems of the vulnerable Pacific islands and their inhabitants.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-marine-biodiversity">Implications for marine biodiversity</h2>



The rich marine life in the southwestern Pacific is under threat from the rising temperatures of its seas. Coral reefs, which are like underwater rainforests, are home to about 25% of all ocean species.&nbsp;



Warmer water temperatures can lead to coral bleaching, which harms these beautiful ecosystems and reduces the variety of life they support.&nbsp;



This not only affects the corals themselves but also disrupts the natural balance among species and threatens the health of fisheries that island communities rely on for food and income.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-uniting-for-a-common-goal">Uniting for a common goal</h2>



This alarming study is a result of global collaboration spanning three continents. 



Involved universities and organizations include Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (<a href="https://www.unam.mx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UNAM</a>), Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, the <a href="https://le.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Leicester</a>, the University of New South Wales (<a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UNSW</a>), <a href="https://www.monash.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monash University</a>, <a href="https://www.u-bordeaux.fr/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Université de Bordeaux</a>, the <a href="https://www.hereon.de/index.php.en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon</a>, and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.



In the face of these startling revelations on rising sea surface temperatures, how will you respond? Let's redefine our approach to ecological responsibility.



The study is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado5107" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



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Pacific Ocean temperatures have never been this high in 650 years

We've all heard that temperatures are rising. But in the southwestern Pacific, around the Fijian archipelago, sea surface temperatures have hit an all-time high -- the highest in over six centuries -- greatly harming coral in the region. This startling discovery, revealed through coral research, comes from an international team of experts in climate science, proving once more the severe implications of rising temperatures. In fact, the team's research indicates that 2022 was the hottest year in these regions since 1370. These findings were revealed by examining...

Muslim Scholars Join The Pope In Call To Rapid Climate Action. <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=muslim&amp;cvid=2ecc6fa7fa1e4f9ea504d97b7bb8c31b&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Muslim</a> scholars and environmental advocates from about 20 countries on Tuesday called for a global phase-out of greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, joining a chorus of religious leaders urging the world to take strong action against global warming.
Participants in a seminar in Istanbul said it was the first declaration of its kind from Islamic leaders, a voice many say has been missing from the debate on global warming. Muslim Scholars Join The Pope In Call To Rapid Climate Action
The move comes two months after Pope Francis' encyclical on climate change and other environmental issues and ahead of a key U.N. climate conference in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/inconsistent-paris-agreement-pledges/">Paris</a> in December, where world leaders are supposed to adopt a landmark agreement to fight climate change.
"I think this declaration will incentivize ambitious actions and spur the Muslim world, especially the oil producing countries," said Mohamed Adow, a Kenyan advocate for climate action who attended the seminar.
Organizers said the declaration was "in harmony" with the pope's message and supported by the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace.
About 60 delegates adopted the declaration at the end of the seminar, including leading clerics from Indonesia, Uganda, Lebanon and Bosnia.
However, some influential Islamic leaders were absent, including Turkey's top cleric, who didn't even send a representative.
It remains to be seen whether the message from the scholars is repeated by imams in mosques across the Muslim world.
"Some of them are hopelessly out of touch on this," said Fazlun Khalid of the Britain-based Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, which organized the conference together with the Islamic Relief charity.
The declaration urged rich countries and oil-producing states to lead the way in phasing out greenhouse gas emissions "no later than the middle of the century." The burning of oil, coal and gas is the main source of such emissions.
Climate activists are calling for a zero emissions goal to be included in the Paris agreement but face resistance from major oil-producing countries, including in the Middle East. Last year a Saudi representative at U.N. climate talks in Lima told AP it's unrealistic to expect a phase-out of fossil fuels in the near term, given the rapidly growing energy demands in the developing world.
"It's not something that has great support in the Arab world," said Saleemul Huq of the International Institute of Environment and Development in London. "We are trying to move the needle in the other direction and persuade the Saudis that it is the right thing."
---
Ritter reported from Stockholm.
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Muslim Scholars Join The Pope In Call To Rapid Climate Action

Muslim Scholars Join The Pope In Call To Rapid Climate...

New LED Technology Could Reduce Greenhouse Gas <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=emissions&amp;cvid=ca0ef38668c24fff9bbf018c8dae5c21&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Emissions</a>. Highly efficient, light-emitting diodes -- LEDs -- could slash the world's electricity consumption. They are already sold in stores, but more widespread adoption of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-technology-transforms-paper-into-an-electronic-device/">technology</a> has been hindered by high costs due to limited availability of raw materials and difficulties in achieving acceptable light quality. But researchers will report today that they have overcome these obstacles and have developed a less expensive, more sustainable white LED.

The scientists will discuss their research at the 250th National Meeting &amp; Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS is the world's largest scientific society. The national meeting, which takes place here through Thursday, features more than 9,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.New LED Technology Could Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

"If more people in the U.S. used LEDs in their homes and businesses, the country's electricity consumption could be cut in half," says Zhichao Hu, Ph.D., a member of the Rutgers University team that performed the research under the direction of Jing Li, Ph.D. At that time, he was a graduate student. He is now a postdoc at Rutgers and is studying the recovery of rare-earth elements there. Zhichao adds that studies show substituting one LED light for a common incandescent light bulb in every American household could save the nation $700 million annually in energy costs.

To achieve the common, soft white light that consumers expect, current LED technologies typically use a single semiconductor chip to produce light, usually blue, and then rely on a yellow-emitting "phosphor" coating to shift the color to white. That's because LEDs do not emit a white light. The phosphor is made from materials, such as cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet, that are composed of rare-earth elements. These elements are expensive and in limited supply, since they are primarily available only from mining operations outside the U.S. Additionally, the light output of these phosphors tends to be harsh, "cold" colors.

Li's team is developing hybrid phosphor-based technologies that are much more sustainable, efficient and low-cost. They combine common, earth-abundant metals with organic luminescent molecules to produce phosphors that emit a controllable white light from LEDs. By varying the metal and organic components, the researchers can systematically tune the color of the phosphors to regions of the visible light spectrum that are most acceptable to the human eye, Hu and Li note. The team is continuing to experiment and develop other rare-earth-free LED phosphors based on different metals and organic compounds.

Many material combinations are possible, so they use a computational approach to initially sort through the possibilities and to predict what color of light the various metals and organics combinations will emit. They then test the best combinations experimentally.

Their approach allows a systematic fine tuning of band gaps and optical emissions that cover the entire visible range, including yellow and white colors. As a result, their LEDs can be fine-tuned to create a warmer white light, similar to cheaper but inefficient incandescent lights. Their approach shows significant promise for use in general lighting applications.

"One of challenges we had to overcome was to figure out the right conditions to synthesize the compound," Hu notes. "Like cooking, the synthesis requires a 'recipe.' It's often not the case that one can simply mix the starting materials together and get the desired product. We optimized the reaction conditions -- temperature and the addition of a solvent -- and developed an easy procedure to make the compound with high yield."

Experiments with some materials have shown that the team's technology can cut LED costs by as much as 90 percent from current methods that rely on rare-earth elements. They have several granted and pending U.S. patents and are exploring manufacturing possibilities.

---

<a href="http://www.acs.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">American Chemical Society</a>

New LED Technology Could Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

New LED Technology Could Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Highly efficient,...

Poll: Few Catholics Know Pope's Stance On Curbing Climate Change. A new survey has found fewer than half of U.S. Roman Catholics said they knew of Pope Francis' bombshell encyclical on curbing climate change - and only a fraction of those heard about it from the pulpit - in the month after he released the document with an unprecedented call for the church to take up his message.
Forty percent of American Catholics and 31 percent of all adults said they were aware of the encyclical, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Yale University. Among Catholics who knew about the document, just 23 percent said they heard about it at Mass.Poll: Few Catholics Know Pope's Stance On Curbing Climate Change
The survey, conducted July 17-19, provides an early measure of the impact of the encyclical in the U.S., where Francis is expected to press his teaching on the environment in his first visit to the country next month.
The U.S. is home to some of the staunchest objectors to mainstream science on climate change and to government intervention aimed at easing global warming, along with a segment of Catholics who think the pope should be talking far more about marriage and abortion than the environment.
In the encyclical, released June 18, Francis called global warming a largely manmade problem driven by overconsumption, a "structurally perverse" world economic system and an unfettered pursuit of profit that exploited the poor and risked turning the Earth into an "immense pile of filth." He urged people of all faiths and no faith to save God's creation for future generations.
Environmental advocates hoped the encyclical would transform public discussion of climate change from a scientific to a moral issue. But Catholics in the survey were not significantly more likely than Americans in general to think of global warming in moral terms. Just 43 percent of Catholics and 39 percent of all adults said they considered global warming a moral issue. A very small percentage viewed climate change as having a connection to religion or poverty.
"That's unfortunate," said Dan Misleh, executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, which works closely with the U.S. bishops on environmental protection and has distributed model sermons and parish bulletin inserts on the encyclical. "There's a clear human impact. That's going to be our challenge - to explain that this environmental question is really a human thriving question."
The document had a rollout unlike any other. The encyclical was introduced at the Vatican by a secular climate scientist and a top Orthodox Christian leader, with simultaneous news conferences by Catholic leaders in many countries and the chiming of church bells for emphasis. Francis underscored the importance of the document by sending it to the world's bishops with a handwritten note.
But questions arose about whether American bishops and parishioners would embrace the message with any enthusiasm. While the bishops for decades have issued statements calling environmental protection a religious duty for Catholics, the issue has not been atop their public agenda.
For years, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has focused its resources on upholding marriage as the union of a man and a woman, seeking religious exemptions from laws the bishops consider immoral, fighting abortion and clergy sex abuse, and bringing back fallen-away Catholics.
This summer, bishops in Iowa, Illinois and Ohio have held news conferences on the encyclical, urging political leaders to take up the pope's call for bold leadership and pledging to reduce carbon emissions or water and power usage in their own dioceses.
In California, the Diocese of Orange held an Aug. 8 conference on the theology of the encyclical and the science of climate change, drawing 450 attendees and an additional 500 viewers via livestream, a spokesman said. And Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, the U.S. bishops' point person on the environment, has cited the encyclical in expressing support for President Barack Obama's clean power plant rules announced this month.
But Terry Majewski, 67, a Pensacola, Florida, resident who said he attends Mass weekly, said he has heard no preaching about the encyclical at his local church. He's glad he hasn't. Majewski thinks highly of the pope, but disagrees with his position on global warming and wishes the pontiff hadn't taken up the issue. In the survey, about two-thirds of Catholics said it was appropriate for Francis to take a position on global warming, and 55 percent of all adults agreed.
"He can talk about his own belief, but don't sit there and bring it down on the church," Majewski said, adding Francis should talk about "things that relate to religion, not climate change."
At St. Camillus Catholic Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, last weekend, about 1,000 of the estimated 4,800 people who usually attend Masses there signed a petition urging immediate action to curb carbon emissions, said the Rev. Jacek Orzechowski. He said it was a sign that interest in the pope's statement and in climate change is "percolating" among Catholics, despite the survey findings.
"I think it's beginning to take root within the parishes within the archdiocese," Orzechowski said. "One can be dissatisfied it has not produced more fruit, but the seeds are germinating."
Francis is widely expected to reiterate his plea for bold policy measures on global warming when he travels to the U.S., where he will address a joint meeting of Congress on Sept. 24 and the U.N. General Assembly the next day.
Climate change activists had hoped Francis' rock-star popularity would amplify his views. But a recent Gallup poll found double-digit drops in his favorability, fueled mainly by conservatives who think he has gone too far with his reforms and statements, and liberals who believe he hasn't gone far enough.
The AP-NORC poll found 62 percent of Catholics and 39 percent of Americans overall had a somewhat or very favorable view of Francis. One-third of Catholics and nearly half of all adults said they didn't know enough about the pope to form an opinion.
In the survey, Catholics held views of global warming in line with the general public. About three-quarters of Catholics and 69 percent of all adults said global warming is happening. About half of both groups say climate change is mostly or entirely man-made, while 46 percent of Catholics and 38 percent of all adults blame a mix of human activity and natural changes in the environment.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,030 adults was conducted using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, and larger for subgroups. Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online. People selected for AmeriSpeak who didn't otherwise have access to the Internet were interviewed over the phone.
----
AP News Survey Specialist Emily Swanson reported from Washington. AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll reported from New York.
---
Online:
AP-NORC Center: <a href="http://www.apnorc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.apnorc.org/</a>
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Poll: Few Catholics Know Pope's Stance On Curbing Climate Change

Poll: Few Catholics Know Pope's Stance On Curbing Climate Change....

Interior Department To Lead Colorado Mine Spill Review. The Interior Department will lead a review of the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=colorado&amp;cvid=2a072e02bca945a7a681774df944f71f&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Colorado</a> mine spill that tainted rivers in three western states.
The review was announced late Tuesday after elected officials from both parties questioned whether the Environmental Protection Agency should be left to probe its own heavily criticized response to the disaster. EPA and contract workers accidentally unleashed 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater on Aug. 5 as they inspected the idled Gold King mine. Interior Department To Lead Colorado Mine Spill Review
The Interior Department's report is expected to be released publicly in 60 days.
In addition, EPA's inspector general is conducting a separate review. Leaders of oversight committees in both the House and Senate say they are planning hearings after Congress returns from its August recess.
All six senators from the three states involved - Colorado, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/carlsbad-caverns-new-mexico/">New Mexico</a> and Utah - wrote EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins on Wednesday asking him to look into more than a dozen questions, including details of the work being done when the spill occurred and the qualifications of the on-scene crew.
The senators also asked what laws and policies govern the EPA's communications with state, local and tribal governments after such an incident and whether the agency met those requirements.
Numerous local officials have complained the EPA was slow to notify them. The senators asked whether the time lapse created any health hazards or delayed the response.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez on Wednesday called for her state's environment department to launch its own investigation. Aside from what led up to the spill, she said the investigation will examine how residents, businesses and communities along the rivers were notified in the aftermath of the spill.
"New Mexicans deserve answers as to why this catastrophe happened and why the EPA failed to notify us in a timely manner," she said, adding that the federal agency has hounded private citizens and businesses for doing far less.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes toured the site of the spill Wednesday and said he's weighing possible legal action if the EPA's proposal to fix the damage in his state falls short.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Interior Department To Lead Colorado Mine Spill Review

Interior Department To Lead Colorado Mine Spill Review. The Interior...

Interior Department To Lead Colorado Mine Spill Review. The Interior Department will lead a review of the Colorado mine spill that tainted rivers in three western states.
The review was announced late Tuesday after elected officials from both parties questioned whether the Environmental Protection Agency should be left to probe its own heavily criticized response to the disaster. <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=EPA&amp;cvid=5304c1da9e384c4e860b09198343f57c&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">EPA</a> and contract workers accidentally unleashed 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater on Aug. 5 as they inspected the idled Gold King mine. Interior Department To Lead Colorado<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/the-antidepressant-fluvoxamine-may-prevent-severe-covid-19-infection/"> Mine</a> Spill Review
The Interior Department's report is expected to be released publicly in 60 days.
In addition, EPA's inspector general is conducting a separate review. Leaders of oversight committees in both the House and Senate say they are planning hearings after Congress returns from its August recess.
All six senators from the three states involved - Colorado, New Mexico and Utah - wrote EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins on Wednesday asking him to look into more than a dozen questions, including details of the work being done when the spill occurred and the qualifications of the on-scene crew.
The senators also asked what laws and policies govern the EPA's communications with state, local and tribal governments after such an incident and whether the agency met those requirements.
Numerous local officials have complained the EPA was slow to notify them. The senators asked whether the time lapse created any health hazards or delayed the response.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez on Wednesday called for her state's environment department to launch its own investigation. Aside from what led up to the spill, she said the investigation will examine how residents, businesses and communities along the rivers were notified in the aftermath of the spill.
"New Mexicans deserve answers as to why this catastrophe happened and why the EPA failed to notify us in a timely manner," she said, adding that the federal agency has hounded private citizens and businesses for doing far less.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes toured the site of the spill Wednesday and said he's weighing possible legal action if the EPA's proposal to fix the damage in his state falls short.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Warming Temperatures Are Forcing Eastern Brook Trout To Relocate. When trying to explain the potential effects of climate change on plants, fish and wildlife, scientists usually resort to language that fails to convey the impact of warming. Now, a study by Penn State's College of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/climate-smart-agricultural-practices-will-boost-global-food-security/">Agricultural</a> Sciences fisheries researchers clearly explains the impact of projected warming waters on wild brook trout in the eastern U.S. for fishermen.

The eastern brook trout is a socially and economically important fish that occurs in small cold water streams and lakes, and self-sustaining populations support angling throughout the Appalachian Mountains, from Maine to Georgia. However, warming air temperatures are expected to reduce available cold-water habitat and result in a smaller brook trout distribution and fewer angling opportunities.Warming Temperatures Are Forcing Eastern Brook Trout To Relocate

Building on recent research at Penn State, Tyler Wagner, adjunct professor of fisheries and Tyrell DeWeber, now a postdoctoral scholar at <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=oregon&amp;cvid=593c3a59910343438ec4024e80ddd9c7&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Oregon</a> State University, used two models they previously developed, one predicting stream temperature and one predicting where brook trout might occur, to identify streams likely to support wild brook trout under current and future climate scenarios.

The researchers then calculated the distance required to drive from the centers of 23 cities spread throughout the eastern brook trout range to the 10 nearest stream segments likely to have wild brook trout under current and future conditions. They published their study in a recent issue of Fisheries.

"Climate change is expected to result in widespread changes in species distributions for freshwater fish species. Although anglers and other resource users could be greatly affected by these predicted changes, changes are rarely reported in ways that can be easily understood by the general public," said Wagner, who is assistant unit leader of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State.

The effects of climate change on fish and wildlife are usually reported to the general public using summary metrics or maps designed to communicate concepts that are not normally encountered in everyday life, including changes in habitat suitability, range shifts, or increasing risks from disease or extreme events, according to Wagner. "Though these metrics are necessary, meaningful, and understood by scientists, many people lack the necessary training and background to readily understand them."

"Further, scientists and nonscientists alike may struggle to convert these metrics into a currency that directly affects day-to-day life. Climate science is a complex issue, and when we communicate potential responses of vegetation, fish and wildlife to nonscientists, creative thinking with respect to the currency of communication will facilitate discussions between scientists, policy makers and the public."

DeWeber, who was a doctoral student at Penn State when the research was conducted, noted that travel costs based on distance have been widely used to value ecosystem services such as angling under climate-change scenarios, but have not been used for communicating potential changes to the public, despite the intrinsic link to everyday life.

"Under current conditions, brook trout are predicted to occur in streams throughout the region, and average driving distances from cities to the nearest streams predicted to offer angling opportunities ranged from 4 to 87 miles. As a result of projected warming, driving distance to go fishing for wild brook trout was predicted to increase, on average, by almost 164 miles over the next 70 to 80 years."

For example, the driving route from Philadelphia to the nearest brook trout stream was predicted to cover 249 miles in a warmer future, much longer than the current 48 miles.

The lengths of trips from many northern cities, such as Bangor, Maine, were predicted to increase but were still relatively short in the future because nearby streams were still predicted to support brook trout under warmer conditions.

In contrast, anglers in southern cities, such as Cleveland, Tennessee, would experience dramatic increases in the lengths of trips because brook trout are predicted to be lost in surrounding areas.

Although anglers tend to be very dedicated, DeWeber pointed out, it is unlikely that many would drive great distances to fish very often due to cost, especially if those last remaining streams become popular and crowded. He believes that losses of wild brook trout populations and increased trip lengths would likely result in reduced resource use in many areas.

But he suggested that people are unlikely to be concerned about the potential effects of warming if they do not understand what may be coming. "Communicating species responses to climate change in everyday language could greatly increase the ability of resource users and other members of the general public to understand and relate to predicted changes," he said. "A clear understanding of potential changes might not lead to greater societal concern about species' responses, but it may enable people to make informed decisions."

---

<a href="http://www.psu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Penn State University</a>

Warming Temperatures Are Forcing Eastern Brook Trout To Relocate

Warming Temperatures Are Forcing Eastern Brook Trout To Relocate. When...

Warming Temperatures Are Forcing Eastern Brook Trout To Relocate. When trying to explain the potential effects of climate change on plants, fish and wildlife, scientists usually resort to language that fails to convey the impact of warming. Now, a study by <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/the-emotion-vocabulary-we-use-reflects-our-true-state-of-mind/">Penn State's</a> College of Agricultural Sciences fisheries researchers clearly explains the impact of projected warming waters on wild brook trout in the eastern U.S. for fishermen.Warming Temperatures Are Forcing Eastern Brook Trout To Relocate

The eastern brook trout is a socially and economically important fish that occurs in small cold water streams and lakes, and self-sustaining populations support angling throughout the Appalachian Mountains, from Maine to Georgia. However, warming air temperatures are expected to reduce available cold-water habitat and result in a smaller brook trout distribution and fewer angling opportunities.

Building on recent research at Penn State, Tyler Wagner, adjunct professor of fisheries and Tyrell DeWeber, now a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University, used two models they previously developed, one predicting stream temperature and one predicting where brook trout might occur, to identify streams likely to support wild brook trout under current and future climate scenarios.

The researchers then calculated the distance required to drive from the centers of 23 cities spread throughout the eastern brook trout range to the 10 nearest stream segments likely to have wild brook trout under current and future conditions. They published their study in a recent issue of Fisheries.

"Climate change is expected to result in widespread changes in species distributions for freshwater fish species. Although anglers and other resource users could be greatly affected by these predicted changes, changes are rarely reported in ways that can be easily understood by the general public," said Wagner, who is assistant unit leader of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State.

The effects of climate change on fish and wildlife are usually reported to the general public using summary metrics or maps designed to communicate concepts that are not normally encountered in everyday life, including changes in habitat suitability, range shifts, or increasing risks from disease or extreme events, according to Wagner. "Though these metrics are necessary, meaningful, and understood by scientists, many people lack the necessary training and background to readily understand them."

"Further, scientists and nonscientists alike may struggle to convert these metrics into a currency that directly affects day-to-day life. Climate science is a complex issue, and when we communicate potential responses of vegetation, fish and wildlife to nonscientists, creative thinking with respect to the currency of communication will facilitate discussions between scientists, policy makers and the public."

DeWeber, who was a doctoral student at Penn State when the research was conducted, noted that travel costs based on distance have been widely used to value ecosystem services such as angling under climate-change scenarios, but have not been used for communicating potential changes to the public, despite the intrinsic link to everyday life.

"Under current conditions, brook trout are predicted to occur in streams throughout the region, and average driving distances from cities to the nearest streams predicted to offer angling opportunities ranged from 4 to 87 miles. As a result of projected warming, driving distance to go fishing for wild brook trout was predicted to increase, on average, by almost 164 miles over the next 70 to 80 years."

For example, the driving route from Philadelphia to the nearest brook trout stream was predicted to cover 249 miles in a warmer future, much longer than the current 48 miles.

The lengths of trips from many northern cities, such as Bangor, Maine, were predicted to increase but were still relatively short in the future because nearby streams were still predicted to support brook trout under warmer conditions.

In contrast, anglers in southern cities, such as Cleveland, Tennessee, would experience dramatic increases in the lengths of trips because brook trout are predicted to be lost in surrounding areas.

Although anglers tend to be very dedicated, DeWeber pointed out, it is unlikely that many would drive great distances to fish very often due to cost, especially if those last remaining streams become popular and crowded. He believes that losses of wild brook trout populations and increased trip lengths would likely result in reduced resource use in many areas.

But he suggested that people are unlikely to be concerned about the potential effects of warming if they do not understand what may be coming. "Communicating species responses to climate change in everyday language could greatly increase the ability of resource users and other members of the general public to understand and relate to predicted changes," he said. "A clear understanding of potential changes might not lead to greater societal concern about species' responses, but it may enable people to make informed decisions."

---

<a href="http://www.psu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Penn State University</a>

Heavy Air Pollution In Beijing Awaits World Running Championships. The drifting smoke from forest fires sometimes makes it difficult for marathoner Heather Lieberg to take a deep breath during her afternoon training runs in the hills of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=montana+map&amp;cvid=32baadfdb0ac483b8242d1d0c3196dca&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Montana</a>.
Even on days when the local advisory lists the air quality as "unhealthy for sensitive groups," Lieberg is out there chugging away through the hazy and hot conditions.
No better way to acclimate her body to the heavy air pollution that awaits in Beijing for the world championships. Heavy Air Pollution In Beijing Awaits World Running Championships
"I've literally trained when there's ash falling on me, where they say `Do not go outside,'" said Lieberg, a 36-year-old from Helena. "My lungs are definitely ready."
Seven years after the Olympics sparked talk of a dramatic clean-up of heavy air pollution in Beijing, a milky haze still covers the city on most days and is expected to be there when the marathons take place - Saturday for the men, and Aug. 30 for the women.
According to a recent study conducted by physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, 1.6 million people die each year in China from heart, lung and stroke-related problems due to polluted air. The statistic is a reminder that while the Olympics may serve to shed light on a host city's environmental problems, they don't necessarily solve them.
With the 2022 Winter Olympics set to also take place in Beijing, the environment is likely to stay in the spotlight, in part because of plans to bring tons of artificial snow to the relatively dry mountains outside Beijing.
It's as true for Rio de Janeiro today as it was for Beijing in 2008, Athens in 2004, Sydney in 2000 or almost any other host, all of which have had their problems with air and/or water, said John Karamichas, author of the 2013 book "The Olympic Games and the Environment."
"All these issues were, in one way or another, addressed for the duration of the games," Karamichas said. "Environmental legacy will depend on the post-event political processes."
An expert from the World Health Organization, Martin Taylor, said government figures have shown some improvements in Beijing's air quality since the Olympics left town "but there is still some way to go before (it) meets international safe standards."
Competition conditions for the Olympic athletes have been at the forefront recently with the Rio Games less than a year away.
An analysis commissioned by The Associated Press found viruses running rampant in Rio's sewage-strewn water. The International Olympic Committee has made no plans to test for viruses, sticking with a plan to only monitor bacteria. Some swimmers have fallen ill after competing in the water, though the direct correlation between the water and the illness is difficult to make.
Running in heavily polluted air carries some health risk because of particulates that can clog up passageways and increased ozone that mainly bothers people with asthma. It can also affect finely tuned athletes who operate at maximum lung capacity. In 2008, the marathon world record holder, asthma sufferer Haile Gebrselassie, said he wouldn't run the race. "The pollution in China is a threat to my health," he said.
But he was an exception. And even though pollution readings distributed by the U.S. Embassy's Beijing Air Quality Monitor frequently shows the air quality in the "unhealthy" range, the races at world championships will go on.
Questions about if runners should wear masks for competition are resurfacing. Scientists think that would produce, at best, mixed results. The masks do filter out particulates but most elite runners are creatures of habit and not used to wearing them. Distance runner Galen Rupp won U.S. championships wearing a mask in 2011, but he had trained extensively with it, and it was used to filter out pollen, not pollution.
"One can't with a straight face say that it doesn't do anything," said Dr. Sverre Vedal, a health science professor at the University of Washington. "But one of the issues that comes up is the practicality of wearing a mask if you're performing."
Last October, the Beijing Marathon began with thousands of participants wearing masks. The air quality reading that day was considered hazardous, and a level at which the U.S. Embassy says everyone should avoid all outdoor exertion.
Big events such as the Olympics and world championships put authorities on timelines to mitigate the problems, at least temporarily.
For the track meet, local organizers are following a model nicknamed "APEC Blue" - a Chinese government program that produced blue skies last November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
This approach calls on nearby provinces to cut down on the amount of pollution drifting in from factories outside the city limits. Officials also will restrict the number of cars on the streets of Beijing starting Thursday, two days before the world championships begin. They took half the cars off the road each day starting a few weeks before the Olympics.
A handful of athletes the AP interviewed said they're heading to Beijing knowing they can't do much about the pollution.
"I'm running for only 12 seconds," American hurdler David Oliver said. "Now, if I were a marathoner, maybe I'd pay more attention."
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Heavy Air Pollution In Beijing Awaits World Running Championships

Heavy Air Pollution In Beijing Awaits World Running Championships. The...

Study: Dying Wildlife And Bigger Fires If Drought Continues. The carcasses of salmon, trout and more than a dozen other newly extinct native species lie in dry streambeds around California.
Exhausted firefighters in the Sierra Nevada battle some of the biggest wildfires they've ever seen. And in Central Valley farm towns, more and more mothers hear the squeal of empty pipes when they turn on water taps to cook dinner.Study: Dying Wildlife And Bigger Fires If Drought Continues
A new report by the Public Policy Institute of California non-profit think-tank paints that distressing picture of California for the next two years if the state's driest four years on record stretches further into the future.
Written by water and watershed experts working at the policy center, at the University of California, Davis, and elsewhere, the report urges California to do more now to deal with what researchers project to be the biggest drought crises of 2016 and 2017 - crashing wildlife populations, raging wildfires and more and more poor <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/rising-suicide-rates-rural-counties/">rural</a> communities running out of water entirely.
So far, of all the sectors dealing with the drought, <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=california&amp;cvid=959b5795b215418bb2b813f28e952351&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">California</a> cities are doing relatively well thanks to the lessons of past droughts, the report concludes. Meanwhile, farms have been able to turn to pumping well water to make up for having half as much surface water for irrigation as normal.
With California wildlife, by contrast, "we're really looking at widespread crisis" if the drought continues, Ellen Hanak, director of the think-tank's water policy center, said in an interview Wednesday.
California's fresh-water habitats and forests, along with their wildlife, have experienced the most severe impacts of the drought so far, the study concluded.
Lack of water means 18 species of native California fish, including most native salmon and steelhead trout, face an immediate threat of going extinct in the wild, the report said.
Greatly reduced water deliveries to bird refuges and rice fields - the flooding of which provides crucial habitat - means there is dangerously little room and food for the 5 million migratory birds that fly through the Central Valley each year and a high risk of deadly disease for the birds, the study said.
For California's environment, officials should be thinking more strategically about how best to use what water is left for wildlife, and preparing "conservation hatcheries" to safeguard native fish species that are on the verge of extinction in the wild, it said.
Hanak also called wildfires a tremendous risk as overgrown forests dry in the drought. Fire and forest agencies already are working to reduce the overgrowth that contributes to making those fires bigger and harder to control, researchers said.
After the environment, rural communities have been hardest-hit by the drought, the study said. As of last month, more than 2,000 domestic wells were reported to have gone dry, mostly in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada. More than 100 small public-water systems around the state have been cited as needing emergency water supplies.California's fresh-water habitats and forests, along with their wildlife, have experienced the most severe impacts of the drought so far
State and federal efforts to help those communities have been increasing but remain stop-gap, the study concluded. It urges the state to do more to track areas in need of help and come up with longer-term water supplies to replace wells that have likely gone dry for good.
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Study: Dying Wildlife And Bigger Fires If Drought Continues

Study: Dying Wildlife And Bigger Fires If Drought Continues. The...

BP Oil Spill Settlement Money Found In Strange Places. Clusters of landlocked municipalities more than 100 miles from the Gulf Coast have secured millions of dollars in BP money through settlements designed to compensate local governments for lost tourism dollars and other economic damage from the company's 2010 oil spill, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
This week, BP finished making approximately $687.4 million in settlement payments to 383 local government entities in the five Gulf states. Nearly $8 million of that money went to 32 government entities that are more than 100 miles from the coast, in places like the<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=mississippi&amp;cvid=a6dd128c0c76464cb2b2849ff061a493&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> Mississippi</a> Delta and suburbs of central Alabama, the records show.BP Oil Spill Settlement Money Found In Strange Places
BP's well blowout off Louisiana's coast triggered a deadly explosion that killed 11 rig workers and spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, staining beaches, killing wildlife and scaring away tourists.
The company agreed last month to pay up to $1 billion to resolve economic claims by local governments, but the settlement payouts have fallen well short of that maximum amount. The records obtained by the AP provide the most comprehensive accounting of where the money went and what types of government entities received shares.
The AP analyzed minimum distances from the center point of each city or town to the coastline to determine which locations were farther than 100 miles away from the coast.
Jackson, Mississippi, approximately 175 miles from the coast, received $1.3 million. Birmingham, Alabama, more than 200 miles from the coast, received $1 million.
Among the smaller cities receiving money is Ruleville, a Mississippi Delta city that landed $40,748. Ruleville, which is nearly 300 miles from the coast and has about 3,000 residents, said it lost revenue from sales taxes and other sources due to a drop in tourist travel after the spill. The city, perhaps best known as the hometown of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, is in an area that is a popular destination for blues music fans.
"Everybody in Mississippi suffered to varying degrees," said Danny Griffith, Ruleville's city attorney.
Irondale Mayor Tommy Joe Alexander - whose city in the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/drinking-cocoa-can-make-your-brain-sharper-and-faster/">Birmingham</a> suburbs received a $57,225 settlement award - said a seafood shortage after BP's spill led to a decrease in sales tax generated by local restaurants.
"We're very fortunate that we did get something," he said. "There was an impact on the whole state."
BP's settlements with local governments are part of its broader $18.7 billion agreement with the five Gulf Coast states and the federal government. Larger portions of settlement money are dedicated to coastal restoration work. BP already has paid billions of dollars in compensation to Gulf Coast businesses and residents who claim the spill cost them money.
July 15 was the deadline for local governments to decide whether to accept the settlement offer, which could not be renegotiated. BP, which couldn't veto individual payments, accepted the package of settlements on July 27.
A modest "windfall" for several communities far from the coast must have been an afterthought for BP given the broader deal's high stakes, according to Ed Sherman, a Tulane University Law School professor emeritus and expert in complex litigation.
"It's not a great deal of money when you consider the total amount of the settlement," Sherman said.
Only a handful of local governments have publicly announced that they rejected a settlement offer. They are free to continue pursuing their claims, but may have to wait for a trial date if BP is unwilling to negotiate a separate deal.
Many local governments that sued BP over the spill enlisted help from private attorneys who handled their claims on a contingency basis, typically in exchange for at least 20 percent of the settlement amount.
Ike Gulas, an attorney who filed claims for several government entities in the Birmingham area, said officials from other local communities contacted him after the settlement was announced last month and were disappointed to learn it was too late to file their own claims.
"A lot of lawyers looked at it and didn't think there was a claim there, but we did," Gulas said.
Many communities sought significantly more than what they ultimately accepted. Bessemer, another Birmingham suburb, accepted a $310,392 settlement, even though city attorney Shan Paden said independent accountants pegged Bessemer's spill-related losses at roughly $590,000.
"The timing was bad," Paden said of the spill. "The general economy was in bad shape. We can show objectively that the revenues were down for that period of time."
The federal judge overseeing most of the spill-related litigation against BP appointed a panel of neutral parties, including former FBI director Louis Freeh and Lafayette-based attorney Patrick Juneau, to determine the amounts of each settlement offer. The formulas and criteria used by the panel members have not been publicly disclosed.
The panel made offers to each local government that met certain legal requirements. To qualify, each government entity had to formally present its Oil Pollution Act claim to BP and either file a lawsuit or submit a two-page claim form directly to the federal court in New Orleans.
The $687.4 million in payments doesn't include awards to local governments that resolved their BP claims before the broader settlement was announced on July 2.
Nearly $371 million - more than half of the total settlement money - was awarded to local governments in Louisiana. Approximately $210 million is going to local governments in Florida, where the tourism industry cratered in the spill's aftermath even though few places in the state ever felt any direct impact from BP's oil. Local governments in Texas are getting $39.9 million, while those in Mississippi are receiving $37.3 million. Local governments in Alabama are getting $28.8 million.
The bulk of the settlement money - which was paid by BP in lump sums and can be spent on anything - is going to city and county or parish governments along the coast. Nearly $157 million, almost one quarter of the total, is going to more than 50 public school districts. Law-enforcement agencies are receiving around $21 million. Airports are getting nearly $15 million. About $6 million is going to hospitals.
William Husfelt, schools superintendent in Bay County, Florida, said the spill led to losses in property and sales tax revenues that fund public schools across the state.
"It was a terrible time for it to happen. It was right after the recession," he said. "The budgets were cut. Pay raises were flat."
Henry Kelley, a spokesman for the Okaloosa County, Florida, public schools, said the school board hadn't yet decided how to use its $2 million settlement award.
"We're not flush with cash. If spent properly, this will make a big impact," he said.
---
This story has been corrected to indicate that 32 recipients, not 33, are more than 100 miles away from the coast, and that the amount of money going to those entities is nearly $8 million instead of nearly $8.2 million.
---
AP data journalist Michelle Minkoff in Washington contributed to this report.
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BP Oil Spill Settlement Money Found In Strange Places

BP Oil Spill Settlement Money Found In Strange Places. Clusters...

Western Wildfires Burning Unchecked Due To Lack Of Firefighters. This summer's massive western wildfires have strained resources to the point that<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=wildfire&amp;cvid=3d1e2b511a104aeaa6d8b0656bf735b0&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> wildfire</a> managers are being forced to let some fires burn unchecked, and that has renewed a longstanding debate about whether it is better to fight a fire - or to sometimes just let it burn out.
Drought and heat have combined to make this one of the most active fire seasons in the Lower 48 in recent years. Nearly 29,000 firefighters are battling some 100 large blazes across the West, but it hasn't been enough. In northern Idaho, private citizens have even jumped on fire lines to help overwhelmed firefighters. Western Wildfires Burning Unchecked Due To Lack Of Firefighters
"What we're getting now are much more intense fires because of all those years of suppression," said John Freemuth, a Boise State University professor and a public lands expert. "Those kinds of intense fires are usually not allowed to burn."
But fire managers have little choice this year.
Some 11,000 square miles have burned so far. Most of that has been in Alaska, but an increase in fires in the Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington and California has caused competition for firefighting resources with some requests going unmet.
Some fires have simply been unstoppable. Steve Ellis, deputy director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, earlier this week flew over a 443-square-mile rangeland fire in southwest Idaho and said he could see where retardant bombers put in lines that the fire easily crossed.
"It's always tough when we get to this point where we have much more fire than we have resources," said John Segar, one of eight members on an interagency group based in Boise that decides how to deploy the nation's wildland firefighters. "The decisions are essentially triage decisions."
Segar, chief of Fire Management for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sits on the National Multi-Agency Coordination Group at the National Interagency Fire Center.
While there's been a longstanding debate about whether it's better to fight a fire or just let it burn out, Sager said conditions are so volatile right now that every current fire or new fire start is being attacked with the intent of putting it out if resources are available.
"It's just been too dry and too hot," he said. Letting fires burn "really hasn't been a consideration this year."
Freemuth said land managers have moved toward recognizing using fire as a tool to reduce fuels that lead to intense fires, particularly after the giant fires in Yellowstone National Park in the late 1980s.
"Having fire on the landscape in the right conditions has been accepted management now," Freemuth said.
But efforts to reduce the threat of fires have been hampered by a lack of money for prescribed burns or work to clear brush.
Some Western lawmakers, including Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch of Idaho and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, have been pushing for letting firefighting agencies use dollars meant for natural disasters. Currently, agencies have been dipping into money set aside for fire prevention, such as prescribed burns.
"It's sort of an East-West issue where other members of Congress and other parts of the country don't get it because they don't see these kinds of fires," Freemuth said.
Even some <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/scientists-track-endangered-green-turtles-in-western-australia/">Western</a> residents don't want to allow beneficial fires to burn because of the smoke, he noted. "It's like two environmental values having to be reconciled - the need for the right kind of fire and the need for good air quality."
Arguments have also been made for decades that more logging to remove trees and grazing by livestock to mow down grasses could remove fuels that would otherwise burn.
"Those can be legitimate tools," Freemuth said. "But that gets to the question of what's the purpose of our federal lands. Other people are going to say the No. 1 purpose should be ecosystem health."
Segar said the fires this year will likely burn until a season-ending weather event with rain or snow arrives, which could be weeks.
"We have so much fire on the ground we don't have enough people to put them out," he said. "They'll go out at the end of the season."
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Western Wildfires Burning Unchecked Due To Lack Of Firefighters

Western Wildfires Burning Unchecked Due To Lack Of Firefighters. This...

July Was The Hottest Month Ever Recorded On Earth. Earth just keeps getting hotter. July was the planet's hottest month on record, smashing old marks, U.S. weather officials said.
And it's almost a dead certain lock that this year will beat last year as the warmest year on record, they said.
July's average temperature was 61.86 degrees <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/babbler-birds-are-shifting-their-behavior-in-the-wrong-direction/">Fahrenheit</a>, beating the previous global mark set in 1998 and 2010 by about one-seventh of a degree, according to figures released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That's a large margin for weather records, with previous monthly heat records broken by a 20th of a degree or less.
"It just reaffirms what we already know: that the Earth is warming," said NOAA climate scientist Jake Crouch. "The warming is accelerating and we're really seeing it this year."
NOAA records go back to 1880. Separate calculations by NASA and the Japanese weather agency also found July 2015 to be a record.
The first seven months of 2015 were the hottest January-to-July span on record, according to NOAA. The seven-month average temperature of 58.43 degrees is 1.53 degrees warmer than the 20th-century average and a sixth of a degree warmer than the old record set in 2010.
Given that the temperatures have already been so high already - especially the oceans, which are slow to cool - NOAA climate scientist Jessica Blunden said she is "99 percent certain" that 2015 will be the hottest on record for the globe. The oceans would have to cool dramatically to prevent it, and they are trending warmer, not cooler, she said.
Crouch, Blunden and other scientists outside of the government said these temperatures are caused by a combination of man-made climate change and a strong, near-record El Nino. An El Nino is a warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that alters weather worldwide for about a year.
The oceans drove the globe to record levels. Not only were the world's oceans the warmest they've been in July, but they were 1.35 degrees warmer than the 20th-century average.
The heat hit hard in much of Europe and the Middle East. It was the hottest July on record in Austria, where records go back to 1767. Parts of France had temperatures that were on average 7 degrees above normal and temperatures broke 100 in the Netherlands, which is a rarity. And an Iranian city had a heat index (the "feels like" temperature) of 165 degrees, which was still not quite record.
Nine of the 10 hottest months on record have happened since 2005, according to NOAA. Twenty-two of the 25 hottest months on record have occurred after the year 2000. The other three were in 1998 and 1997.
This shows that despite what climate change doubters say, there is no pause in warming since 1998, Blunden said.
It doesn't matter if a month or a year is No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 5 hottest on record, said University of Georgia climate scientist Marshall Shepherd.
"The records are getting attention but I worry the public will grow weary of reports of new records each month," Shepherd said in an email. "I am more concerned about how the Earth is starting to respond to the changes and the implications for my children."
---
Online:
NOAA on July records: <a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201507" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201507</a>
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Seth Borenstein can be followed at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a>
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July Was The Hottest Month Ever Recorded On Earth

July Was The Hottest Month Ever Recorded On Earth. Earth...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

[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



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> 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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

[sendtonews key="eAVLRk51oJ-1826888-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="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



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Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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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



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Ocean heat influences regional climate

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



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



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



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



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



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



Image/ Video Credit: ESA



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

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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

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



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



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



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



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

Monitoring deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

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