Legends about a boiling, scalding river that roasts anything that falls inside may sound like fiction. Yet nestled in the Peruvian rainforest, a curious waterway <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/andres_ruzo_the_boiling_river_of_the_amazon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">proves</a> these stories are far from mythical.



Its waters can reach 210°F, a temperature that can cause severe burns within seconds. For decades, local communities spoke of a place so hot that small <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cold-shocks-in-the-amazon-how-do-wild-animals-respond/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals perish</a> upon touching its surface.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-boiling-river-in-peru">The "Boiling River" in Peru</h2>



The "Boiling River" is located in the Mayantuyacu region of central Peru. The river’s length is around 4 miles, and it can be up to about 20 feet wide in some sections.



A team of scientists led by <a href="https://www.rileyfortier.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Riley Fortier</a>, a graduate student at the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Miami</a>, surveyed 70 sites along this tributary. 



"It really provides us a window into the future because the Amazon will get hotter whether we like it or not, so this allows us to understand what increases in temperature will do to the forest composition," said Riley Fortier, lead author on a study of the site published in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.17555" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Change Biology</a>, and a graduate student in professor Kenneth Feeley's <a href="https://www.junglebiology.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jungle Biology lab</a>.



The team wanted to see how extreme heat shapes the surrounding forest.



By mapping the tree and plant species from cooler upstream areas down to the scalding heart of the river, they discovered a startling drop in biological variety. 



Findings <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.17555" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">showed</a> an 11% decline in biodiversity for each 1.8°F rise in average temperature.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-boiling-river-boils">Why the boiling river boils</h2>



Geoscientists attribute the heat to fault-fed activity, where underground water channels meet Earth’s geothermal energy. 



A fault is a <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-a-fault-and-what-are-different-types" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">large fracture</a> in the crust that provides a direct path for scorching fluid to surge toward the surface.



Researchers believe that rainwater infiltrating sedimentary rock becomes superheated below ground. It then emerges as a system of hot springs converging with the main watercourse, creating a natural cauldron.



“You stick your hand in, and you will see second or third degree burns in a matter of seconds,” said Ruzo, who first measured the river’s peak heat. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-signs-of-changing-forests">Signs of changing forests</h2>



Many local inhabitants regard the site with deep respect because anything that wanders too close risks a painful encounter.



Certain plants thrive on the fringes, but most large creatures struggle with the sweltering <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-microbes-in-amazon-peatlands-help-balance-the-global-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">environment</a>. Adaptations are limited for organisms facing water that can reach coffee-brewing temperatures.



"Overall, the tree community is less diverse, so we see fewer species in hotter spots," Fortier said. "And forest composition was also more homogenous in the warmest locations, whereas in cooler forest plots, there was more plant diversity."



Botanical surveys from cooler sections toward the hotter stretches revealed how tree diversity narrows. In place of thick canopies, the research team documented more scrubby <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rainforest-trees-use-rivers-as-highways-for-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vegetation</a>.



"Over the course of dozens of miles, you might expect to see dramatic changes like that, but in the small sampling area that we had, you typically wouldn't see such a clear change in composition," Fortier added.



Small species adapted to drought-like conditions gained ground as the mercury rose. Larger, slower-growing trees faded away, reflecting how intense heat reshapes even lush ecosystems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-boiling-rivers-and-future-climate">Boiling rivers and future climate</h2>



Fortier’s data suggest that as worldwide temperatures climb, similar shifts could spread across other <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-amazon-rainforest-is-approaching-widespread-collapse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lowland rainforests</a>.



Changes may include declines in species that cannot handle additional heat and a rise in those more comfortable with higher temperatures.



Scientists note that an environment featuring fewer tree varieties will likely support fewer types of animals too. The loss of one group often sends ripples through the entire food web.



The boiling tributary, known locally as <a href="https://shanaytimpishka.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shanay-Timpishka</a>, meaning “boiled with the heat of the sun,” stands as a stark example of what could happen if average temperatures continue to climb. 



Areas that were once rich in wildlife may morph into simpler, drier landscapes. Observers hope that studying this natural hotspot will inspire careful planning to protect sensitive habitats. 



Even though the river is unique, it signals what may lie ahead for places currently seen as safe havens for biodiversity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ongoing-investigations">Ongoing investigations</h2>



Researchers plan to gather long-term data and explore whether <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nearly-40-of-climate-critical-amazon-rainforest-is-unprotected/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">flora and fauna</a> can adapt to persistently higher temperatures. They will also watch for signs of any species shifting to cooler pockets.



Some scientists are examining whether the warming patterns near this location might parallel broader trends in tropical zones. 



They predict that more forests around the globe could face intense thermal stress, forcing communities to adapt or relocate.



Feeley's lab will continue its research of the boiling river, since it is such a unique place that could portend much about our natural world.



"You can't heat a whole forest, at least not artificially, which is one of the coolest aspects of the boiling river," Fortier added.



The study is published in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.17555" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Change Biology</a>.



-----



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One river in the Amazon rainforest is so hot that it literally boils, destroying nearby biodiversity

Legends about a boiling, scalding river that roasts anything that falls inside may sound like fiction. Yet nestled in the Peruvian rainforest, a curious waterway proves these stories are far from mythical. Its waters can reach 210°F, a temperature that can cause severe burns within seconds. For decades, local communities spoke of a place so hot that small animals perish upon touching its surface. The "Boiling River" in Peru The "Boiling River" is located in the Mayantuyacu region of central Peru. The river’s length is around 4...

Consistent Haze Is Reducing Solar Radiation In China. Haze due to weak winds and air pollution is reducing surface solar radiation in China, which has major consequences for the climate, the environment and the economy. These are the findings of a research report now being published in Scientific Reports. An international team of researchers including those from the University of Gothenburg is behind the study.

In the world as a whole, surface solar radiation has increased since 1990, although in China, it has decreased.Consistent Haze Is Reducing Solar Radiation In China

Slowing winds increase air pollution

In the study, long-term historical meteorological data were combined with relatively short measurements of air pollution particles in China in an innovative way to clarify interactions among the solar radiation, surface wind and air pollution.

The studies have found that lower solar surface radiation in China is due to a combination of higher air pollution in the area and lower surface winds in China. As in other areas in the northern hemisphere, the surface wind in China has been weakened in recent decades. When the wind slows down, the concentration of small particles of air pollution (aerosols) increase, which help increase haze and leads to solar dimming in the area.

"Mapping the link between solar surface radiation and air pollution is significant since the relationship is heavily masked by clouds which play a major role in affecting solar surface radiation," says Deliang Chen, Professor of Physical Meteorology at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg and co-author of the research article.

More solar dimming with slowing winds

The research reveals that the solar dimming due to air pollution increased significantly during the day in polluted areas in China, when wind speed was lower than 3.5 metres per second.

The study also shows that 20 per cent of the reduced surface solar radiation in China is due to the concentration of small particles of air pollution (aerosols), which is in turn strengthened by 20 per cent by low wind speed.

The effect of solar dimming is a lower <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/alien-species-will-increase-by-the-thousands-over-the-next-three-decades/">influx</a> of sunlight that affects photosynthesis, among other things, and has profound consequences for the climate, the environment and the economy.

"It was a successful cooperation between colleagues from the US, China and Sweden. I am happy that we succeeded in providing a quantitative estimate of the effect of air pollutant on surface solar radiation in interaction with wind," says Changgui Lin, the leading author of the article and researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg.

---

<a href="http://www.gu.se/english" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Gothenburg</a>

Consistent Haze Is Reducing Solar Radiation In China

Consistent Haze Is Reducing Solar Radiation In China. Haze due...

<div class="section">

Study: Greenland Ice Sheet Moves More Slowly As Ice Melts Faster. It may seem counter intuitive, but satellite data suggest that part of the Greenland ice sheet moves more slowly if the surface of the ice melts faster.

Greenland is losing vast quantities of ice to the ocean, raising sea levels. Icebergs calving from the edge of the ice sheet account for around half of this loss and the other half is because of surface melt. Study: Greenland Ice Sheet Moves More Slowly As Ice Melts Faster

Once the surface of the ice melts, however, what follows is rather complex.

The Greenland ice sheet is always on the move, flowing under its own weight.

[caption id="attachment_2385739" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/10/28154521/Greenland_ice_hydrology_1big_ESA.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2385739" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/10/28154521/Greenland_ice_hydrology_1big_ESA-150x150.jpg" alt="Greenland ice hydrology" width="150" height="150" /></a> Greenland ice hydrology[/caption]

This flow towards the ocean is controlled by several factors, but how surface meltwater drains through the 3 km-thick sheet to the ground below and the effect this has on the speed of ice flow is poorly understood.

</div>
<div id="s_1" class="section">

To shed more light on what’s going on scientists from the University of Edinburgh in the UK, the Université Savoie Mont-Blanc in France and the University of Sheffield in the UK have studied 30 years of Landsat data.

They investigated if increased surface meltwater increased the flow of ice to the ocean by lubricating the bed at the base of the ice, or if increased meltwater decreased the flow by modifying the bed.

By tracking the movement of stable features such as crevasses in satellite images taken every year from 1985 to 2014, they mapped annual ice speed and compared it with meltwater produced on the surface.
<div id="s_2" class="section">

Their findings, published today in <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v526/n7575/full/nature15722.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nature</a>, show that surface melt slows the ice flow when it terminates on land<a href="http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Melting_slows_Greenland_ice_flow" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">.</a>

[caption id="attachment_2385738" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/10/28154518/greenland-Watery_surface_1big_esa.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2385738" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/10/28154518/greenland-Watery_surface_1big_esa-150x150.jpg" alt="Watery surface" width="150" height="150" /></a> Watery surface[/caption]

In summer, snow and ice at the surface melt and the water drains to the bed of the ice sheet, lubricating the base so that the ice slides more quickly. However, the meltwater also establishes efficient drainage systems beneath the ice, draining the meltwater away.

The team found that there was a clear regional slowdown of land-terminating ice in a period when surface meltwater rose by 50%. The reduced lubrication, caused by better meltwater drainage from several years of high-melt summers, appears to be responsible for the slowdown.

</div>
<div id="s_3" class="section">

Andrew Tedstone from the University of Edinburgh said, “Our investigations suggest that the efficiency of these drainage systems is greater after summers of stronger melting.

“The melting actually reduces the lubrication at the ice sheet base during the following winter – causing winter ice flow to be slower after a warmer summer.

“The results show that since 2002, the flow of an 8000 sq km land-terminating sector of the Greenland ice sheet has slowed down despite an increase in surface melting.”

Noel Gourmelen from the University of Edinburgh added, “It is unclear how much more slowdown we will see under the current and future melting conditions. More research and observations are needed to determine this.”

Their findings suggest that further increases in melting will not cause these land-terminating margins of the ice to speed up. This knowledge will help to predict future contributions that ice sheets make to sea-level change in a warming climate.

It is clear, however, that more research is needed to understand the processes that control the speed of glaciers terminating in the ocean.

Peter Nienow, also from the University of Edinburgh, noted, “While these results may be viewed as a modicum of good news for the Greenland ice sheet, the ongoing acceleration of both glacier surface melt-volumes and ice-motion of ocean-terminating glaciers ensures that its contribution to sea level rise is likely to increase in our warming world.”

Noel Gourmelen added, “We would not have been able to do this research without the free and open access to Landsat data provided by ESA.”

---

<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">European Space Agency</a>

</div>
</div>

Study: Greenland Ice Sheet Moves More Slowly As Ice Melts Faster

Study: Greenland Ice Sheet Moves More Slowly As Ice Melts...

NASA's TIMED Mission Finds Unexpected Trends In Carbon Data. NASA’s TIMED mission, short for Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics, has confirmed a surprisingly fast carbon dioxide increase in Earth’s upper atmosphere, raising questions about how different layers of the atmosphere are interconnected. Even more curious—though climate models predict carbon dioxide should increase more or less equally across the globe, in its 14 years of data collection, TIMED observed a much faster increase of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ocean-carbon-dioxide-sink/">carbon dioxide</a> above the Northern Hemisphere.

Understanding the way carbon dioxide moves throughout the atmosphere is key, both for making accurate climate models and for planning spacecraft flight paths. Though carbon dioxide raises temperatures near Earth’s surface, it actually causes cooling in the upper atmosphere, reducing air density in these outermost reaches of the atmosphere and impacting spacecraft orbits. NASA's TIMED Mission Finds Unexpected Trends In Carbon Data

This study, published in Geophysical Research Letters on Sept. 5, 2015, uses 14 years of data from a radiometer on board the TIMED satellite, the first satellite capable of making long-term measurements of carbon dioxide concentration in the upper atmosphere when it launched in 2001.

“Before TIMED, the only measurements of carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere were direct measurements from sounding rocket research flights and short-lived spaceborne sensors,” said Jia Yue, a researcher at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, and lead author on the study. “But it’s impossible to study long-term trends from snapshots.”

Carbon dioxide is being poured into the atmosphere by human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. A 5 percent per decade increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the lower atmosphere is confirmed by some 56 years of measurements at Earth’s surface. But in the upper atmosphere, the increase in carbon dioxide concentration was observed reaching rates of 12 percent per decade around 70 miles above the surface.

Furthermore, they discovered that the carbon dioxide in these upper layers, long thought to follow the same patterns across the globe, is increasing faster over the Northern Hemisphere. Though the Northern Hemisphere produces much more carbon dioxide because of its greater land area and population, scientists expect the difference to become negligible at such great heights due to diffusion and mixing.

“It seems clear that we don’t quite understand the relationship between the lower atmosphere and the upper atmosphere,” said Diego Janches, TIMED project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We tend to separate them into different fields—lower atmosphere is Earth science, upper atmosphere is heliophysics—but we need to understand the atmosphere as a complete system.”

This study’s result also confirms a second set of data from a satellite with capabilities similar to TIMED—the Canadian Space Agency’s SciSat-1, launched in 2003. An analysis of eight years of SciSat-1 data gave the first indication of the accelerated increase of carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere.

“The support between observations by TIMED and SciSat-1—which use different remote sensing techniques to detect carbon dioxide—confirms that the quick increase is a real, physical trend, and not an artifact of any instrument or data,” said Yue.

Identifying these unexpected trends was only possible because of the long lifespan of TIMED’s radiometer, which is still operating well. The TIMED satellite, originally slated for a two-year mission ending in 2003, has been granted six extended missions. TIMED’s current mission is set to end in 2017, but scientists are hopeful that data collection will continue.

“Long-term studies are necessary to understand trends like this,” said Janches. “TIMED has lasted so long that it’s like a completely different mission—we can do entirely new science when we have long periods of continuous observation.”

NASA Goddard manages the TIMED mission for the Heliophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, built the spacecraft for NASA.

Related Links
<ul>
 	<li><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/timed-10yrs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">More information about TIMED</a></li>
</ul>

NASA's TIMED Mission Finds Unexpected Trends In Carbon Data

NASA's TIMED Mission Finds Unexpected Trends In Carbon Data. NASA’s...

Texas Is Also Suffering From Increased Threatening Wildfires. Larger, more threatening wildfires are occurring at greater rates as Texas faces lingering drought, consistent development - driven by millions of new residents and the spread of outlying suburbs - and changes in how the state's land is used.
Texas had 157,000 wildfires over a nine-year period ending in 2014, said Mark Stanford, fire chief of the Texas A&amp;M Forest Service. Nearly 80 percent of those fires raged within 2 miles of a community, he said.
"When I started, that was unheard of," Stanford said. "Wildfires were a rural problem and not really a threat to communities."
Now those threats have turned perennial amid drought and development in areas that had been mostly rural. The latest danger erupted this month when the Hidden Pines fire in Central Texas' Bastrop County burned nearly 5,000 acres and destroyed 77 buildings, including 64 homes, according to the forest service. Flames threatened another 95 homes.
The forest service responded to just one wildfire of at least 5,000 acres from 1985 to 2000, but in the last 15 years there have been fires of that size nearly every year. There were 27 fires at least that size in 2008 and 76 in 2011.
Four years ago, the Bastrop County Complex wildfire that destroyed more than 1,650 homes proved to be the most destructive in Texas history.
With the state population steadily growing - from about 21 million in 2000 to 27 million now - Stanford said a concern for public safety officials is people moving beyond the suburbs and into areas where brush, trees and other vegetation can fuel flames.
"I'm not slamming people who want their piece of Texas heaven," he said, adding that "people see the losses that have occurred and want to do something about it."
He said state programs such as community wildfire protection plans must be encouraged to minimize fire threats.
Texas' landscape has a much different appearance today compared to past decades, said Tom "Andy" Vestal, emergency services coordinator for Texas A&amp;M AgriLife Extension Service. He said it's one prone to inflating fires rather than containing them.
In Texas Hill Country, for example, much of the land used to be reserved for cattle and other animals that munched on the vegetation, Vestal said.
"Land use over the past two decades has changed enormously," he said. "There are fewer grazing animals out in those rural environments."
With the addition of housing and other developments, the vegetation is left to grow and be more vulnerable to fires.Texas Is Also Suffering From Increased Threatening Wildfires
Stanford said the state's intensive agricultural practices once did a lot to prevent large wildfires. But agriculture as an economic and land-management practice has faded in parts of Texas.
"The public generally likes to look at nature as this static picture that never changes," Stanford said. "And it's actually very dynamic."
Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for the <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/august-complex-fire-has-become-the-largest-in-californias-history/">California</a> Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said California is experiencing the same trends as Texas: more people in rural areas building among the trees, little rain and soaring temperatures that can intensify fires.
This year alone, 8,000 wildfires have spread across 825,000 acres in California. "The wildfire season here won't let up," Tolmachoff said.
She said wildfire season traditionally ran from around June to October, but has more recently expanded by more than two months.
Texas, California and other states need greater promotion of prescribed burns, said Robin Verble, an assistant professor of fire ecology at Texas Tech University. She said Texas has taken a progressive approach in allowing landowners greater latitude in using controlled burns to minimize vegetation.
"More prescribed fire means less wildfire," she said.
© 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.

Texas Is Also Suffering From Increased Threatening Wildfires

Texas Is Also Suffering From Increased Threatening Wildfires. Larger, more...

NASA's TIMED Mission Finds Unexpected Trends In Carbon Data. NASA’s TIMED mission, short for Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics, has confirmed a surprisingly fast carbon dioxide increase in Earth’s upper atmosphere, raising questions about how different layers of the atmosphere are interconnected. Even more curious—though climate models predict carbon dioxide should increase more or less equally across the globe, in its 14 years of data collection, TIMED observed a much faster increase of carbon dioxide above the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-ice-age-northern-hemisphere/">Northern Hemisphere.</a>

Understanding the way carbon dioxide moves throughout the atmosphere is key, both for making accurate climate models and for planning spacecraft flight paths. Though carbon dioxide raises temperatures near Earth’s surface, it actually causes cooling in the upper atmosphere, reducing air density in these outermost reaches of the atmosphere and impacting spacecraft orbits.

This study, published in Geophysical Research Letters on Sept. 5, 2015, uses 14 years of data from a radiometer on board the TIMED satellite, the first satellite capable of making long-term measurements of carbon dioxide concentration in the upper atmosphere when it launched in 2001.

“Before TIMED, the only measurements of carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere were direct measurements from sounding rocket research flights and short-lived spaceborne sensors,” said Jia Yue, a researcher at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, and lead author on the study. “But it’s impossible to study long-term trends from snapshots.”

Carbon dioxide is being poured into the atmosphere by human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. A 5 percent per decade increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the lower atmosphere is confirmed by some 56 years of measurements at Earth’s surface. But in the upper atmosphere, the increase in carbon dioxide concentration was observed reaching rates of 12 percent per decade around 70 miles above the surface.NASA's TIMED Mission Finds Unexpected Trends In Carbon Data

Furthermore, they discovered that the carbon dioxide in these upper layers, long thought to follow the same patterns across the globe, is increasing faster over the Northern Hemisphere. Though the Northern Hemisphere produces much more carbon dioxide because of its greater land area and population, scientists expect the difference to become negligible at such great heights due to diffusion and mixing.

“It seems clear that we don’t quite understand the relationship between the lower atmosphere and the upper atmosphere,” said Diego Janches, TIMED project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We tend to separate them into different fields—lower atmosphere is Earth science, upper atmosphere is heliophysics—but we need to understand the atmosphere as a complete system.”

This study’s result also confirms a second set of data from a satellite with capabilities similar to TIMED—the Canadian Space Agency’s SciSat-1, launched in 2003. An analysis of eight years of SciSat-1 data gave the first indication of the accelerated increase of carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere.

“The support between observations by TIMED and SciSat-1—which use different remote sensing techniques to detect carbon dioxide—confirms that the quick increase is a real, physical trend, and not an artifact of any instrument or data,” said Yue.

Identifying these unexpected trends was only possible because of the long lifespan of TIMED’s radiometer, which is still operating well. The TIMED satellite, originally slated for a two-year mission ending in 2003, has been granted six extended missions. TIMED’s current mission is set to end in 2017, but scientists are hopeful that data collection will continue.

“Long-term studies are necessary to understand trends like this,” said Janches. “TIMED has lasted so long that it’s like a completely different mission—we can do entirely new science when we have long periods of continuous observation.”

NASA Goddard manages the TIMED mission for the Heliophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, built the spacecraft for NASA.

Related Links
<ul>
 	<li><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/timed-10yrs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">More information about TIMED</a></li>
</ul>

Lingering Drought Heightens Worries For California Salmon Extinction. Another deadly summer of drought has heightened fears of extinction in the wild for an iconic California salmon, federal officials said Wednesday.
Officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service said preliminary counts indicate that hot, shallow waters caused by the drought killed most of this year's juvenile winter-run Chinook before they made it out to the Pacific Ocean. Lingering Drought Heightens Worries For California Salmon Extinction
It "doesn't look very good," said Garwin Yip, a federal fisheries spokesman.
If a final count this winter confirms the bad news, it would mean a second straight summer in which 5 percent or less of the young fish survived <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/tule-fog-across-californias-central-valley/">California's</a> drought.
Since the fish spawn on a three-year cycle, the die-off would make management of next year's water critical for the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=salmon&amp;cvid=e51aac30dfaf497ba16f8cbd38ad6a23&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">salmon's</a> survival in the wild.
The development suggests failure for a second year in a row for federal efforts to manage water flows from Lake Shasta, a main reservoir in the state's water system, to keep salmon and other species alive.
"Droughts are always hard on salmon, but water management decisions made it worse this year," said John McManus, executive director of the Golden Gate Salmon Association.
The juvenile salmon depend on water temperatures in the mid-50s, and were unable to survive in the warmer temperatures produced by shallower than usual water.
Chinook salmon are a mainstay of the state's commercial fishing industry. California's fishing industry and environmental groups are vying with the state's farmers for diminishing water supplies in the driest four years on record.
© 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.

Lingering Drought Heightens Worries For California Salmon Extinction

Lingering Drought Heightens Worries For California Salmon Extinction. Another deadly...

Study Examines How Indigenous People Alter The Amazon Rainforest. Before Europeans arrived, indigenous peoples altered the Amazon rainforest -- but primarily along major rivers.

Their effects were almost imperceptible in rainforest areas more than a day's walk from a river, according to new research published in the Journal of Biogeography.

Lead author Mark Bush, a biologist at the Florida Institute of Technology, says "no one doubts the importance of human actions along major waterways, but whether humans had a greater effect on the ecosystem than any other large creature has yet to be established in much of Amazonia."

Past human influence

Amazonia supported sophisticated cultures before Europeans' arrival, but Bush and an international team of scientists argue that a recent emphasis by researchers on Amazonia as a manufactured landscape overstates the facts.

[caption id="attachment_2385801" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/10/29084342/amazon-watershed_1big_NSF-copy.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2385801" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/10/29084342/amazon-watershed_1big_NSF-copy-150x150.jpg" alt="The Amazon River watershed covers a vast area; research took place in various Amazonian countries." width="150" height="150" /></a> The Amazon River watershed covers a vast area; research took place in various Amazonian countries.[/caption]

Bush and his collaborators "have reversed a decades-long trend of finding an ever-increasing extent and ecological effects of human settlement in pre-Columbian Amazonia," says George Malanson, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.

Malanson says this review of paleoecological data aims "to strengthen a moderate view of Amazonia that was neither pristine nor completely settled."

Amazonia, nearly the size of the continental United States, is a vast landscape. "Extrapolations about human effects from a few archaeological sites, mainly located along watercourses, must be tempered in the face of more wide-ranging data," says Dolores Piperno of the Smithsonian <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/tropical-birds-handle-heat-stress-much-better-than-expected/">Tropical</a> Research Institute, a co-author of the paper.

Insights relevant to today

The paper's findings are relevant to modern society and conservation, its authors believe.

If forests were heavily modified prior to European arrival--as suggested by some recent research--then, Bush says, "they have regrown in just over one tree generation to support their incredible biodiversity." Such rapid recovery could be used to justify logging forests aggressively because they would regrow, he says.Study Examines How Indigenous People Alter The Amazon Rainforest

If, on the other hand, humans had limited influence on forests, the woodlands might not regrow as readily after major disturbances, and logging could lead to long-term degradation.

These questions are important as policymakers decide whether to enforce or relax protections on areas already designated as parks, such as the Yasuni of Ecuador, according to Bush.

The researchers conclude that pre-European land use by the native peoples in Amazonia varied widely in space and time, but that vast areas of the Amazon were hardly affected by human activity.

The study was also supported by Brazil's National Council for Scientific and Technological Development; Brazil's Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel; the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; and the National Museum of Natural History.

---

<a href="http://www.nsf.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Science Foundation</a>

Study Examines How Indigenous People Alter The Amazon Rainforest

Study Examines How Indigenous People Alter The Amazon Rainforest. Before...

China Displaced by Drought

China Fights Drought By Moving People Out Of The Area. Village elder Yang Zhenjun isn't ready to move out from the valley where his people have herded sheep and tended crops for generations amid arid, drought-prone mountains of <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/historic-flooding-has-killed-hundreds-across-china/">China's</a> northwest. Still, he acknowledges that life as he has known it is all but over.

The community's 60 families have dwindled down to 11 in recent years. Others have left this area, which is almost completely dependent on often-scarce rainfall, and have headed north to plains with better infrastructure and more accessible water.

"The village has completely died," says Yang Zhenjun, a fifth-generation resident of Dacha village in Ningxia province's Xiji County. Still, he is not eager to move. "I was born in this village. I grew up in this village. Everyone struggles with these same feelings."

Most former residents of Dacha have moved under a government plan to relocate 350,000 people to lift them out of grinding poverty which, for their region, has been worsened by an increase in average temperatures of 2.2 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past half-century that leaves the land more parched.

The U.N. refugee agency says that people being displaced because of climate-related reasons are a growing global problem. It's pushing for greater awareness of their plight during a climate change conference in Paris opening Nov. 30. The UNHCR says long-term planning can help minimize such displacement in the future.

Many of Dacha's houses are empty and overgrown with plants and trees; walls and roofs have crumbled. As people leave, schools and other facilities in villages like <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=dacha&amp;cvid=1ab3bf190b97438094577301f9a29ee3&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Dacha</a> are forced to shutter, making life tougher for those left behind.

On the other hand, some of the parched land can recover now that fewer people are using its scarce water.

"Resettlement and climate change are becoming more closely entwined," said Sarah Rogers, an Australian geographer who has studied the effects of climate change on China, adding that the Chinese government has identified resettlement as a way to adapt.

There are about 60 million people worldwide living in what the UNHCR terms "climate change hotspots," and China is one of the worst affected, agency spokesman Andreas Needham said in Geneva.

"UNHCR is calling for explicit recognition" of people displaced by climate change at the Paris meeting "to enable states to prevent further displacement in the future," Needham said. The agency wants to push for individual states to address the issue of displacement in climate change policies, in hopes that planning will help reduce both internal and cross-border displacement.

The UNHCR says an average of 26.4 million people have been displaced by natural disasters every year since 2008. Of the 19.3 million thought to be displaced last year, more than 85 percent were in Asia, including 5 million in the Philippines and 3 million each in China and India. China Fights Drought By Moving People Out Of The Area

Many who have moved in Ningxia are for the most part content with the result.

Hai Yanhu, 71, who moved in July 2012 from Panwan village in Xiji County to a resettlement project in Pingluo County in the north, said he is happy to now have running water and a shower. He barely thinks anymore of his old village, where going long distances to fetch water was a daily task.

"We would have to go down into the valley, and carry the water with a pail on our backs. We would go every day, but if there was something special happening at home then we would have to go four or five times a day," Hai said.

Not all the moves were voluntary. Wang Ziyi, 52, said he moved to Pingluo in December 2014 from Huoshizhai in Xiji County because the government claimed the village's land to plant forests to make a tourist site.

Some families tried to live in tents on the outskirts of the old community, Wang said. "But it's cold. If you tried to put up a house the government wouldn't let you build it, so there was no choice but to leave."

Wang said he misses his old town but that the "economy here is better than the economy in the mountains of Xiji. It's more convenient. Here, it's a bit easier to find manual labor jobs."

The government is proud of the relocations. Zou Yuzhong, deputy director of Ningxia Poverty Reduction Bureau, says the government is moving people out of "inhospitable" climates to "help put them on the path to success."

He dismissed any claims that some are unhappy about leaving their ancestral homes.

"They are incredibly happy and absolutely are in favor of the government implementing these livelihood projects," he says.

Some migrants, however, struggle to adapt, said Wang Yuxiao, head of the Yinchuan Green Sustainability Development Centre, a nongovernmental agency.

"There are many old people who do not want to leave their old homes," Wang said. "Another problem the migrants are facing is the problem of finding work once they've moved to their new homes."

Ma Bingfu, 52, who moved to Pingluo from Taobao Village in Xiji County in October 2011, said the young adjust better than older people.

"This area that we're living in now? There's water and the roads are good, and young people are fine here. But old people don't like it. We can't find work. We have no land to grow on and we can't find work."

"Lots of old people want to go back," he said. "In our old villages we had land we could work. Here we have nothing."

© 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.

China Fights Drought By Moving People Out Of The Area

China Fights Drought By Moving People Out Of The Area....

Lingering Drought Heightens Worries For California <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/distinctly-different-chinook-salmon-are-part-of-the-same-population/">Salmon</a> Extinction. Another deadly summer of drought has heightened fears of extinction in the wild for an iconic California salmon, federal officials said Wednesday.
Officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service said preliminary counts indicate that hot, shallow waters caused by the drought killed most of this year's juvenile winter-run Chinook before they made it out to the Pacific Ocean. Lingering Drought Heightens Worries For California Salmon <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=atmospheric&amp;cvid=e0c412cc97a248dd83c6a53798d33200&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Extinction</a>
It "doesn't look very good," said Garwin Yip, a federal fisheries spokesman.
If a final count this winter confirms the bad news, it would mean a second straight summer in which 5 percent or less of the young fish survived California's drought.
Since the fish spawn on a three-year cycle, the die-off would make management of next year's water critical for the salmon's survival in the wild. Lingering Drought Heightens Worries For California Salmon Extinction
The development suggests failure for a second year in a row for federal efforts to manage water flows from Lake Shasta, a main reservoir in the state's water system, to keep salmon and other species alive.
"Droughts are always hard on salmon, but water management decisions made it worse this year," said John McManus, executive director of the Golden Gate Salmon Association.
The juvenile salmon depend on water temperatures in the mid-50s, and were unable to survive in the warmer temperatures produced by shallower than usual water.
Chinook salmon are a mainstay of the state's commercial fishing industry. California's fishing industry and environmental groups are vying with the state's farmers for diminishing water supplies in the driest four years on record.
© 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.

OCO-2

<div class="wysiwyg_content">

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 Begins Year Two. Global average carbon dioxide concentrations as seen by NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, June 1-15, 2015. OCO-2 measures carbon dioxide from the top of <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/earth-from-space-houston-texas/">Earth's</a> atmosphere to its surface. Higher carbon dioxide concentrations are in red, with lower concentrations in yellows and greens. Scientists poring over data from OCO-2 mission are seeing patterns emerge as they seek answers to questions about atmospheric carbon dioxide.

<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/10/30092428/orbiting-carbon-observatory-2-global-carbon-levels_1big_nasa.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2385848" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/10/30092428/orbiting-carbon-observatory-2-global-carbon-levels_1big_nasa-150x150.jpg" alt="orbiting-carbon-observatory-2-global-carbon-levels_1big_nasa" width="150" height="150" /></a>Among the most striking features visible in the first year of OCO-2 data is the increase in carbon dioxide in the northern hemisphere during winter, when trees are not removing carbon dioxide, followed by its decrease in spring, as trees start to grow and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 Begins Year Two.NASA is supporting the <a title="International Space Station" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station">International Space Station</a> and is overseeing the development of the <a title="Orion (spacecraft)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(spacecraft)">Orion spacecraft</a>, the <a title="Space Launch System" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System">Space Launch System</a>, and <a class="mw-redirect" title="Commercial Crew Development" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Crew_Development">Commercial Crew</a> vehicles. The agency is also responsible for the <a title="Launch Services Program" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_Services_Program">Launch Services Program</a>, which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for uncrewed NASA launches.

OCO-2 is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Va., built the spacecraft and provides mission operations under JPL's leadership. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

For more information on OCO-2, visit: <a href="http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov/</a> and <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/oco2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.nasa.gov/oco2</a>.

</div>
<a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/index.php?category=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">View all Images</a>

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 Begins Year Two

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 Begins Year Two. Global average carbon...

China Fights Drought By Moving People Out Of The Area. Village elder Yang Zhenjun isn't ready to move out from the valley where his people have herded sheep and tended crops for generations amid arid, drought-prone mountains of <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/historic-flooding-has-killed-hundreds-across-china/">China's</a> northwest. Still, he acknowledges that life as he has known it is all but over.

The community's 60 families have dwindled down to 11 in recent years. Others have left this area, which is almost completely dependent on often-scarce rainfall, and have headed north to plains with better infrastructure and more accessible water.

"The village has completely died," says Yang Zhenjun, a fifth-generation resident of Dacha village in Ningxia province's Xiji County. Still, he is not eager to move. "I was born in this village. I grew up in this village. Everyone struggles with these same feelings." China Fights Drought By Moving People Out Of The Area

Most former residents of Dacha have moved under a government plan to relocate 350,000 people to lift them out of grinding poverty which, for their region, has been worsened by an increase in average temperatures of 2.2 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past half-century that leaves the land more parched.

The U.N. refugee agency says that people being displaced because of climate-related reasons are a growing global problem. It's pushing for greater awareness of their plight during a climate change conference in Paris opening Nov. 30. The UNHCR says long-term planning can help minimize such displacement in the future.

Many of Dacha's houses are empty and overgrown with plants and trees; walls and roofs have crumbled. As people leave, schools and other facilities in villages like Dacha are forced to shutter, making life tougher for those left behind.

On the other hand, some of the parched land can recover now that fewer people are using its scarce water.

"Resettlement and climate change are becoming more closely entwined," said Sarah Rogers, an Australian geographer who has studied the effects of climate change on China, adding that the Chinese government has identified resettlement as a way to adapt.

There are about 60 million people worldwide living in what the UNHCR terms "climate change hotspots," and China is one of the worst affected, agency spokesman Andreas Needham said in Geneva.

"UNHCR is calling for explicit recognition" of people displaced by climate change at the Paris meeting "to enable states to prevent further displacement in the future," Needham said. The agency wants to push for individual states to address the issue of displacement in climate change policies, in hopes that planning will help reduce both internal and cross-border displacement.

The UNHCR says an average of 26.4 million people have been displaced by natural disasters every year since 2008. Of the 19.3 million thought to be displaced last year, more than 85 percent were in Asia, including 5 million in the Philippines and 3 million each in China and India.

Many who have moved in Ningxia are for the most part content with the result.

Hai Yanhu, 71, who moved in July 2012 from Panwan village in Xiji County to a resettlement project in Pingluo County in the north, said he is happy to now have running water and a shower. He barely thinks anymore of his old village, where going long distances to fetch water was a daily task.

"We would have to go down into the valley, and carry the water with a pail on our backs. We would go every day, but if there was something special happening at home then we would have to go four or five times a day," Hai said.

Not all the moves were voluntary. Wang Ziyi, 52, said he moved to Pingluo in December 2014 from Huoshizhai in Xiji County because the government claimed the village's land to plant <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=forests&amp;cvid=25c2669767734de58624f592179fbf80&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">forests</a> to make a tourist site.

Some families tried to live in tents on the outskirts of the old community, Wang said. "But it's cold. If you tried to put up a house the government wouldn't let you build it, so there was no choice but to leave."

Wang said he misses his old town but that the "economy here is better than the economy in the mountains of Xiji. It's more convenient. Here, it's a bit easier to find manual labor jobs."

The government is proud of the relocations. Zou Yuzhong, deputy director of Ningxia Poverty Reduction Bureau, says the government is moving people out of "inhospitable" climates to "help put them on the path to success."

He dismissed any claims that some are unhappy about leaving their ancestral homes.

"They are incredibly happy and absolutely are in favor of the government implementing these livelihood projects," he says.

Some migrants, however, struggle to adapt, said Wang Yuxiao, head of the Yinchuan Green Sustainability Development Centre, a nongovernmental agency.

"There are many old people who do not want to leave their old homes," Wang said. "Another problem the migrants are facing is the problem of finding work once they've moved to their new homes."

Ma Bingfu, 52, who moved to Pingluo from Taobao Village in Xiji County in October 2011, said the young adjust better than older people.

"This area that we're living in now? There's water and the roads are good, and young people are fine here. But old people don't like it. We can't find work. We have no land to grow on and we can't find work."

"Lots of old people want to go back," he said. "In our old villages we had land we could work. Here we have nothing."

© 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.

China Fights Drought By Moving People Out Of The Area. Village elder Yang Zhenjun isn't ready to move out from the valley where his people have herded sheep and tended crops for generations amid arid, drought-prone mountains of China's northwest. Still, he acknowledges that life as he has known it is all but over.

The community's 60 families have dwindled down to 11 in recent years. Others have left this area, which is almost completely dependent on often-scarce rainfall, and have headed north to plains with better infrastructure and more accessible water.China Fights Drought By Moving People

"The village has completely died," says Yang Zhenjun, a fifth-generation resident of Dacha village in Ningxia province's Xiji County. Still, he is not eager to move. "I was born in this village. I grew up in this village. Everyone struggles with these same feelings."

Most former residents of Dacha have moved under a government plan to relocate 350,000 people to lift them out of grinding poverty which, for their region, has been worsened by an increase in average temperatures of 2.2 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past half-century that leaves the land more parched.

The U.N. refugee agency says that people being displaced because of climate-related reasons are a growing global problem. It's pushing for greater awareness of their plight during a climate change conference in Paris opening Nov. 30. The UNHCR says long-term planning can help minimize such displacement in the future.

Many of Dacha's houses are empty and overgrown with plants and trees; walls and roofs have crumbled. As people leave, schools and other facilities in villages like Dacha are forced to shutter, making life tougher for those left behind.

On the other hand, some of the parched land can recover now that fewer people are using its scarce water.

"Resettlement and climate change are becoming more closely entwined," said Sarah Rogers, an Australian geographer who has studied the effects of climate change on China, adding that the Chinese government has identified resettlement as a way to adapt.

There are about 60 million people worldwide living in what the UNHCR terms "climate change hotspots," and China is one of the worst affected, agency spokesman Andreas Needham said in Geneva.

"UNHCR is calling for explicit recognition" of people displaced by <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=climate&amp;cvid=bfb754de6b0a401ba481fe7979f8e678&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">climate</a> change at the Paris meeting "to enable states to prevent further displacement in the future," Needham said. The agency wants to push for individual states to address the issue of displacement in climate change policies, in hopes that planning will help reduce both internal and cross-border displacement.

The UNHCR says an average of 26.4 million people have been displaced by natural disasters every year since 2008. Of the 19.3 million thought to be displaced last year, more than 85 percent were in Asia, including 5 million in the Philippines and 3 million each in China and India.

Many who have moved in Ningxia are for the most part content with the result.

Hai Yanhu, 71, who moved in July 2012 from Panwan village in Xiji County to a resettlement project in Pingluo County in the north, said he is happy to now have running water and a shower. He barely thinks anymore of his old village, where going long distances to fetch water was a daily task.

"We would have to go down into the valley, and carry the water with a pail on our backs. We would go every day, but if there was something special happening at home then we would have to go four or five times a day," Hai said.

Not all the moves were voluntary. Wang Ziyi, 52, said he moved to Pingluo in December 2014 from Huoshizhai in Xiji County because the government claimed the village's land to plant <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mangrove-forests-face-a-triple-threat-to-their-survival/">forests</a> to make a tourist site.

Some families tried to live in tents on the outskirts of the old community, Wang said. "But it's cold. If you tried to put up a house the government wouldn't let you build it, so there was no choice but to leave."

Wang said he misses his old town but that the "economy here is better than the economy in the mountains of Xiji. It's more convenient. Here, it's a bit easier to find manual labor jobs."

The government is proud of the relocations. Zou Yuzhong, deputy director of Ningxia Poverty Reduction Bureau, says the government is moving people out of "inhospitable" climates to "help put them on the path to success." China Fights Drought By Moving People Out Of The Area

He dismissed any claims that some are unhappy about leaving their ancestral homes.

"They are incredibly happy and absolutely are in favor of the government implementing these livelihood projects," he says.

Some migrants, however, struggle to adapt, said Wang Yuxiao, head of the Yinchuan Green Sustainability Development Centre, a nongovernmental agency.

"There are many old people who do not want to leave their old homes," Wang said. "Another problem the migrants are facing is the problem of finding work once they've moved to their new homes."

Ma Bingfu, 52, who moved to Pingluo from Taobao Village in Xiji County in October 2011, said the young adjust better than older people.

"This area that we're living in now? There's water and the roads are good, and young people are fine here. But old people don't like it. We can't find work. We have no land to grow on and we can't find work."

"Lots of old people want to go back," he said. "In our old villages we had land we could work. Here we have nothing."

© 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.

China Fights Drought By Moving People

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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.

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;



---



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;



---



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



---



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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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...