Greenland,Glacier,Melting:,A,Consequence,Of,Global,Warming.

Greenland’s Ice Sheet is cracking open at the seams, literally falling apart at speeds indicative of the brutal and accelerating impact of global climate change. In just five years, 930 million cubic meters of crevasses opened up in the Greenland ice sheet.



A recent, large-scale study from the <a href="https://www.ufl.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Florida</a> highlights how this vast, frozen expanse - the world’s second-largest ice sheet - is fracturing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thousands-of-lakes-in-greenland-have-crossed-a-tipping-point/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">faster than expected</a>.



The findings suggest that the ice sheet’s response to warming is intensifying. This essential discovery was born out of an effective collaboration with scientists from <a href="https://www.durham.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Durham University, UK</a>.



Their detailed analysis of the ice sheet over the critical period between 2016 and 2021 revealed that the crevasses - wedge-shaped fractures in the ice - have increased alarmingly in both size and depth.



These ice fractures typically appear where the ice <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/speed-of-greenland-ice-melt-confirmed-to-be-rapidly-increasing-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">starts to flow faster</a>.



The data revealed that the ice sheet's response to climate changes is accelerating the formation of broader and deeper crevasses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cracks-in-greenland-s-ice-sheet">Cracks in Greenland’s ice sheet</h2>



The researchers point out that these rapid changes observed in Greenland's ice sheet crevasses can, in turn, speed up the mechanisms that have resulted in the ever-quickening pace of this devastating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-ice-loss-tracked-by-new-gps-system-on-a-daily-basis/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ice loss</a>.



The team hopes their findings will help fellow scientists incorporate the consequences of ice damage and crevassing into future predictions related to the behavior of the Greenland Ice Sheet.



Throughout the years, Greenland has been one of the most important contributors to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-sea-levels-threaten-groundwater-global-cities-underground-infrastructure/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rise of sea levels</a>. Since 1992, about 14mm of sea level rise can be attributed to ice flow off Greenland.



This is a direct result of the melting of the ice surface, which is related to the presence of warmer air and sea temperatures, along with the increased flow of ice into the ocean.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-greenland-s-ice-sheet-is-important">Why Greenland's ice sheet is important</h2>



As this massive ice sheet loses ice, it adds freshwater to the ocean, causing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-level-rise-will-cost-coastal-cities-over-1-trillion-in-damages/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sea levels to rise</a>. Even small increases can lead to bigger storm surges, more coastal flooding, and make some places unlivable. 



Millions of people in low-lying areas could be forced to relocate, and cities like New York and Miami could see major impacts. 



The melting also speeds up itself - less ice means less sunlight is reflected, which warms the planet even more.



If all the ice sheet in Greenland were to melt, we could see a potential rise of seven meters (23 feet) in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-levels-linked-to-the-rise-and-fall-of-early-human-societies/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sea levels</a> around the world.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/greenland-ice-sheet_cracking_Store-Glacier_drone-view_Durham-university_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/greenland-ice-sheet_cracking_Store-Glacier_drone-view_Durham-university_1s.webp" alt="Crevasses at Store Glacier, a marine-terminating outlet glacier of the western Greenland Ice Sheet. Credit: Tom Chudley (Durham University)" class="wp-image-1959025"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Crevasses at Store Glacier, a marine-terminating outlet glacier of the western Greenland Ice Sheet. Credit: Tom Chudley (Durham University)</figcaption></figure>



But, as bad as that sounds, it’s not just about sea levels. Greenland’s ice melt messes with ocean currents that help regulate the climate. 



The freshwater pouring into the Atlantic can slow down the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/collapse-of-main-atlantic-ocean-circulaton-current-amoc-is-already-happening/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AMOC</a>), a system that moves warm water from the tropics toward Europe. 



If that weakens, Europe could face colder winters, hurricanes could get stronger, and weather patterns worldwide could shift in unpredictable ways.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-satellite-imagery-of-greenland-s-ice-sheet">Satellite imagery of Greenland’s ice sheet</h2>



In their innovative study, the researchers from Durham University used over 8,000 3-D surface maps, that had been created using high-resolution satellite imagery.



“You can’t do it in person, because crevasses are dangerous. It’s hard to study by hand using satellite data. Automated approaches are needed to determine this at an ice-sheet scale,” said Emma MacKie, Ph.D., a professor of geological sciences at the University of Florida, co-author of the study, and expert in machine learning techniques.



This allowed them to identify cracks on the ice surface and to track the evolution of crevasses across Greenland during the period of 2016 to 2021.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/greenland-ice-sheet_cracking_Anorituup-Kangerlua-fjord_2016-2021-comparison_Durham-university_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/greenland-ice-sheet_cracking_Anorituup-Kangerlua-fjord_2016-2021-comparison_Durham-university_1s.webp" alt="Using the newly developed method, researchers extracted crevasses from digital elevation models of the ice sheet surface. The maps show how crevasses changed between 2016 and 2021 over glaciers at the head of Anorituup Kangerlua fjord, Greenland. Credit: Tom Chudley (Durham University)" class="wp-image-1959023"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Using the newly developed method, researchers extracted crevasses from digital elevation models of the ice sheet surface. The maps show how crevasses changed between 2016 and 2021 over glaciers at the head of Anorituup Kangerlua fjord, Greenland. Credit: Tom Chudley (Durham University)</figcaption></figure>



Their findings showed that, in the areas where large <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tropical-glaciers-offer-a-glimpse-of-our-harsh-climate-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">glaciers</a> meet the sea, accelerations in glacier flow were associated with significant increases in the volume of crevasses.



A fascinating discovery was that the overall change in crevasses across the entire ice sheet ultimately balanced out due to a temporary slowdown in movement at <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1149/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sermeq Kujalleq</a>, the fastest-flowing glacier in Greenland.



Nevertheless, the flow speed of Sermeq Kujalleq has started increasing again, indicating that the period of balance between crevasse growth and closure might be over.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-higher-temperatures-faster-ice-melt">Higher temperatures = faster ice melt</h2>



"In a warming world, we would expect to see more crevasses forming," shared study lead author Dr. Tom Chudley, a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Geography, Durham University, UK. 



"This is because glaciers are accelerating in response to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-warming-broke-records-for-450-straight-days/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warmer ocean temperatures</a>, and because meltwater filling crevasses can force fractures deeper into the ice. However, until now we haven’t had the data to show where and how fast this is happening across the entirety of the Greenland Ice Sheet."



With this dataset, the scientists can see that it’s not just that crevasse fields are extending into the ice sheet, as previously observed. 



Instead, the current state of Greenland's ice sheet change is dominated by existing crevasse fields getting larger and deeper.



Notably, these developments have the potential to expedite the loss of ice from Greenland. 



“Crevasses can induce accelerated ice flow, leading to more crevassing. So there are these potential positive feedback loops caused by crevassing,” MacKie said. “This mechanism should be considered in Greenland ice sheet models that we’re using to project future sea level rise.”



It's a domino effect that could drive the loss of ice from Greenland at a much faster pace, pointed out study co-author, Professor Ian Howat, who is Director of the Byrd Polar &amp; Climate Research Center at <a href="https://www.osu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Ohio State University</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-discerning-eye-on-the-arctic">Discerning eye on the Arctic</h2>



The high-resolution imagery for the research was provided by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (<a href="https://www.nga.mil" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NGA</a>) and National Science Foundation (<a href="https://www.nsf.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NSF</a>) public-private initiative, ArticDEM project.



"The ArcticDEM project will continue to provide high-resolution Digital Elevation Models until at least 2032. This will allow us to monitor glaciers in Greenland and across the wider Arctic as they continue to respond to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-earth-energy-imbalance-temperature-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate change</a>," Professor Howat added.



This invaluable information will reveal areas that are experiencing faster rates of warming than any other place in Earth, preparing us with information we need to mitigate the effect of climate change and protect the future of our planet.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01636-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Greenland's ice sheet is cracking and literally falling apart at a very alarming rate

Greenland’s Ice Sheet is cracking open at the seams, literally falling apart at speeds indicative of the brutal and accelerating impact of global climate change. In just five years, 930 million cubic meters of crevasses opened up in the Greenland ice sheet. A recent, large-scale study from the University of Florida highlights how this vast, frozen expanse - the world’s second-largest ice sheet - is fracturing faster than expected. The findings suggest that the ice sheet’s response to warming is intensifying. This essential discovery was born out...

Arctic Ocean Will Soon Have 60 More Days Of Open Water. By the 2050s, parts of the Arctic Ocean once covered by sea ice much of the year will see at least 60 days a year of open water, according to a new modeling study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.

"We hear all the time about how sea ice extent in the Arctic is going down," says Katy Barnhart, who led the study while at CU-Boulder's Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). "That's an important measurement if you are trying to understand broad impacts of climate change in the Arctic, but it doesn't tell us about how the changes in the sea ice in the Arctic are going to affect specific places."

So Barnhart and her colleagues, including CIRES Fellow Jennifer Kay and INSTAAR Fellow Irina Overeem, set out to investigate the very local impacts of open water expansion patterns in the Arctic. Their work is published today in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The researchers used climate simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research-based Community Earth System Model to see how the number of open water, or sea-ice-free, days change from 1850 to 2100 in our planet's northernmost ocean. They also wanted to understand when open water conditions in specific locations would be completely different from preindustrial conditions.

Because most economic activity in the Arctic is along the coastline, the team focused on four coastal locations that demonstrated the range of sea ice change: Drew Point, along Alaska's North Slope; the Laptev Sea, along Siberia's northern coast; Perry Channel in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (part of the Northwest Passage route); and Arctic Ocean regions east of Svalbard, Norway.

For example, at Drew Point, open water is already shifting from preindustrial conditions. Once present about 50 days a year on average (~1900-2000), open water is now present about 100 days a year. By the 2070s, the modeling study concludes, there could be close to 200 days a year with no sea ice at Drew Point, which is likely to worsen coastal erosion.

"We wanted to highlight places that had interesting or different stories with respect to the patterns of Arctic Ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice motion--things like coastal erosion or connections to potential sea routes," said Barnhart, now a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "Since we don't expect the impacts of Arctic sea ice loss to be exactly the same in Alaska as in Greenland, we looked at open water days to provide a more nuanced picture of sea ice change at specific locations."

For the study, Barnhart, Kay and their colleagues relied on climate projections from 1850 to 2100 and analyzed multiple runs or "realizations" from a single climate model.

According to their analysis, the entire Arctic coastline and most of the Arctic Ocean will experience an additional 60 days of open water each year by the 2050s, and many sites will have more than 100 additional days.

"The Arctic is warming and the sea ice is melting, with impacts on Arctic people and ecosystems," Kay said. "By the end of this century, assuming a scenario of continued business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions, the Arctic will be in a new regime with respect to open water, fully outside the realm of what we've seen in the past."

---

<a href="http://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Colorado Boulder</a>

Arctic Ocean Will Soon Have 60 More Days Of Open Water

Arctic Ocean Will Soon Have 60 More Days Of Open...

Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage. University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Aron Stubbins joined a team of researchers to determine how hydrothermal vents influence ocean carbon storage. The results of their study were recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Hydrothermal vents are hotspots of activity on the otherwise dark, cold ocean floor. Since their discovery, scientists have been intrigued by these deep ocean ecosystems, studying their potential role in the evolution of life and their influence upon today's ocean.

Stubbins and his colleagues were most interested in the way the vents' extremely high temperatures and pressure affect dissolved organic carbon. Oceanic dissolved organic carbon is a massive carbon store that helps regulate the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere--and the global climate.

Originally, the researchers thought the vents might be a source of the dissolved organic carbon. Their research showed just the opposite.

Lead scientist Jeffrey Hawkes, currently a postdoctoral fellow at Uppsala University in Sweden, directed an experiment in which the researchers heated water in a laboratory to 380 degrees Celsius (716 degrees Fahrenheit) in a scientific pressure cooker to mimic the effect of ocean water passing through hydrothermal vents.

The results revealed that dissolved organic carbon is efficiently removed from ocean water when heated. The organic molecules are broken down and the carbon converted to carbon dioxide.

The entire ocean volume circulates through hydrothermal vents about every 40 million years. This is a very long time, much longer than the timeframes over which current climate change is occurring, Stubbins explained. It is also much longer than the average lifetime of dissolved organic molecules in the ocean, which generally circulate for thousands of years, not millions.

"However, there may be extreme survivor molecules that persist and store carbon in the oceans for millions of years," Stubbins said. "Eventually, even these hardiest of survivor molecules will meet a fiery end as they circulate through vent systems."

---

<a href="http://www.uga.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Georgia</a>

Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage

Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage. University of Georgia Skidaway...

Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage. University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Aron Stubbins joined a team of researchers to determine how hydrothermal vents influence ocean carbon storage. The results of their study were recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Hydrothermal vents are hotspots of activity on the otherwise dark, cold ocean floor. Since their discovery, scientists have been intrigued by these deep ocean ecosystems, studying their potential role in the evolution of life and their influence upon today's <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/arctic-rivers-heat-up-the-ocean-and-shrink-sea-ice/">ocean</a>. Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage

Stubbins and his colleagues were most interested in the way the vents' extremely high temperatures and pressure affect dissolved organic carbon. Oceanic dissolved organic carbon is a massive carbon store that helps regulate the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere--and the global climate.

Originally, the researchers thought the vents might be a source of the dissolved organic carbon. Their research showed just the opposite.

Lead scientist Jeffrey Hawkes, currently a postdoctoral fellow at Uppsala University in Sweden, directed an experiment in which the researchers heated water in a laboratory to 380 degrees Celsius (716 degrees Fahrenheit) in a scientific pressure cooker to mimic the effect of ocean water passing through hydrothermal vents.

The results revealed that dissolved organic carbon is efficiently removed from ocean water when heated. The organic molecules are broken down and the carbon converted to carbon dioxide.

The entire ocean volume circulates through hydrothermal vents about every 40 million years. This is a very long time, much longer than the timeframes over which current climate change is occurring, Stubbins explained. It is also much longer than the average lifetime of dissolved organic molecules in the ocean, which generally circulate for thousands of years, not millions.

"However, there may be extreme survivor molecules that persist and store carbon in the oceans for millions of years," Stubbins said. "Eventually, even these hardiest of survivor molecules will meet a fiery end as they circulate through vent systems."

---

<a href="http://www.uga.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Georgia</a>

Arctic Ocean Will Soon Have 60 More Days Of Open Water. By the 2050s, parts of the Arctic Ocean once covered by sea ice much of the year will see at least 60 days a year of open water, according to a new modeling study led by researchers at the University of <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/cameron-peak-fire-is-now-the-largest-in-colorados-recorded-history/">Colorado</a> Boulder.

"We hear all the time about how sea ice extent in the Arctic is going down," says Katy Barnhart, who led the study while at CU-Boulder's Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). "That's an important measurement if you are trying to understand broad impacts of climate change in the Arctic, but it doesn't tell us about how the changes in the sea ice in the Arctic are going to affect specific places."

So Barnhart and her colleagues, including CIRES Fellow Jennifer Kay and INSTAAR Fellow Irina Overeem, set out to investigate the very local impacts of open water expansion patterns in the Arctic. Their work is published today in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The researchers used climate simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research-based Community Earth System Model to see how the number of open water, or sea-ice-free, days change from 1850 to 2100 in our planet's northernmost ocean. They also wanted to understand when open water conditions in specific locations would be completely different from preindustrial conditions.

Because most economic activity in the Arctic is along the coastline, the team focused on four coastal locations that demonstrated the range of sea ice change: Drew Point, along Alaska's North Slope; the Laptev Sea, along Siberia's northern coast; Perry Channel in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (part of the Northwest Passage route); and Arctic Ocean regions east of Svalbard, Norway.

For example, at Drew Point, open water is already shifting from preindustrial conditions. Once present about 50 days a year on average (~1900-2000), open water is now present about 100 days a year. By the 2070s, the modeling study concludes, there could be close to 200 days a year with no sea ice at Drew Point, which is likely to worsen coastal erosion.

"We wanted to highlight places that had interesting or different stories with respect to the patterns of Arctic Ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice motion--things like coastal erosion or connections to potential sea routes," said Barnhart, now a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "Since we don't expect the impacts of Arctic sea ice loss to be exactly the same in Alaska as in Greenland, we looked at open water days to provide a more nuanced picture of sea ice change at specific locations."

For the study, Barnhart, Kay and their colleagues relied on climate projections from 1850 to 2100 and analyzed multiple runs or "realizations" from a single climate model.

According to their analysis, the entire Arctic coastline and most of the Arctic Ocean will experience an additional 60 days of open water each year by the 2050s, and many sites will have more than 100 additional days.

"The Arctic is warming and the sea ice is melting, with impacts on Arctic people and ecosystems," Kay said. "By the end of this century, assuming a scenario of continued business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions, the Arctic will be in a new regime with respect to open water, fully outside the realm of what we've seen in the past."

---

<a href="http://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Colorado Boulder</a>

UN: Climate Change Will Be Detrimental To World Food Supply. A U.N. expert is warning that more extreme weather, higher temperatures, floods, droughts and rising sea levels linked to climate change are threatening people's access to food over the long term.
Hilal Elver, the U.N. special rapporteur on "the right to food," predicts the negative impact from climate change on <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=agriculture&amp;cvid=c2b579318479424a909bdf2bbf7c903e&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">agriculture</a> and world food supply could subject another 600 million people to malnutrition by 2080.
In a statement on Tuesday before a U.N. climate conference in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/inconsistent-paris-agreement-pledges/">Paris</a> starting Nov. 30, she recommended a shift from large-scale, industrial agriculture to "agro-ecology" that supports the local food movement, small-scale farmers and the environment. UN: Climate Change Will Be Detrimental To World Food Supply. Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution, the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.
Most climate scientists say the climate is changing largely because of the buildup of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Some public officials and a few climate scientists disagree.
© 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.

UN: Climate Change Will Be Detrimental To World

UN: Climate Change Will Be Detrimental To World Food Supply....

New Strategy For Restoring Coastal Wetlands. When restoring coastal wetlands, common practice calls for leaving space between new plants to prevent overcrowding and reduce competition for nutrients and sunlight.

That's likely all wrong.

A new study, conducted to restore degraded salt marshes in Florida and the Netherlands, has found that clumping newly planted marsh grasses next to each other, with little or no space in between, can spur positive interactions between the plants.

In some test plots, plant density and vegetative cover increased by as much as 300 percent by season's end.

"This is a really small design change that can yield greatly improved results, without adding to restoration costs or time," said Brian Silliman, a marine ecologist at Duke University. "It's essentially free success--higher yields at no added expense."

Silliman and his colleagues published the results in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Basic ecological principles

[caption id="attachment_2385983" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/03091133/great-meadows-marsh_1big_NSF.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2385983" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/03091133/great-meadows-marsh_1big_NSF-150x150.jpg" alt="Great Meadows Marsh, its grasses blowing in the wind, stretches along the Connecticut coast." width="150" height="150" /></a> Great Meadows Marsh, its grasses blowing in the wind, stretches along the Connecticut coast.[/caption]

"Understanding basic ecological principles has very practical impacts," said Mike Sieracki, program director in the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research. "In this case, simple changes in marsh restoration practices improve success."

The finding, which is applicable to a wide array of coastal restoration efforts worldwide, upends a 40-year-old theory borrowed from forestry: New plants, called "out-plants" by restoration ecologists, need to be spaced well apart from each other to reduce competition and generate the highest growth rates.

"In a low-stress field or forest that makes sense," Silliman said. "But in the tough, volatile environment of redeveloping coastal wetlands, it's a different story."

A plant that is spaced too far from other plants and species in a restored wetland will experience not only fewer negative interactions but also fewer positive ones, which often outweigh the negatives.

Left to fend on their own, small out-plants will have more trouble resisting erosion, overcoming low oxygen levels in soil, surviving infestations and withstanding overgrazing by marsh herbivores.

In a marsh, get closer to neighbors

"The bottom-line message is: A coastal wetland plant that is close to its neighbors will grow better than a plant that isn't," Silliman said. "The findings clearly demonstrate that planting closely does not spur negative competition. It allows positive interactions to flourish, so plants can work together to survive."

Convincing others to adopt this new approach may prove a challenge.

[caption id="attachment_2385984" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/03091136/marsh-maine_1big_NSF.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2385984" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/03091136/marsh-maine_1big_NSF-150x150.jpg" alt="In autumn, marsh grasses begin to die back in areas such as this Maine coastal wetland." width="150" height="150" /></a> In autumn, marsh grasses begin to die back in areas such as this Maine coastal wetland.[/caption]

A survey conducted by Silliman and his team as part of the new study found that 95 percent of restoration organizations in the United States still adhere to the old forestry-based practice of dispersed planting. The practice remains common in other countries, as well.

"In China, where coastal marshes have experienced massive die-offs from drought and overgrazing, people have tried unsuccessfully to restore them using the old paradigm that spaces out plants," said Qiang He, also of Duke University and a co-author of the paper. "It's possible that changing planting designs could greatly improve success of salt marsh restoration there, as clumping could protect plants from salt stress and overgrazing."

Silliman added, "In the very near future, conservation will entail immense restoration projects on the scale of whole ecosystems, islands or cities. We won't just be restoring them; we'll be augmenting existing ecosystems and creating new ones to provide the services we need.

"Increasing our yields and decreasing our costs to achieve these goals must be a high scientific priority. This study takes a big step in the right direction by showing how harnessing positive interactions can increase restoration success."

Funding for the study also came from the Netherlands Royal Society of Arts and Sciences and the Edward Stolarz Foundation.

Other co-authors of the paper are Elizabeth Schrack, Rebecca Cope and Amanda Santoni of Duke; T. van der Helde of Ramhoud University at Nijmegen and the University of Groningen; Johan van de Koppel of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and the University of Groningen; and Ralph and Mike Jacobi of the Tampa Bay, Florida, Boy Scout Troop 138, which planted and helped monitor experimental salt marsh test plots in the study.

---

<a href="http://www.nsf.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Science Foundation</a>

New Strategy For Restoring Coastal Wetlands

New Strategy For Restoring Coastal Wetlands. When restoring coastal wetlands,...

Global Warming: Scientists Are Scared, But Most People Don't Care. Americans are hot but not too bothered by global warming.
Most Americans know the climate is changing, but they say they are just not that worried about it, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. And that is keeping the American public from demanding and getting the changes that are necessary to prevent global warming from reaching a crisis, according to climate and social scientists.
As top-level international negotiations to try to limit greenhouse gas emissions start later this month in Paris, the AP-NORC poll taken in mid-October shows about two out of three Americans accept global warming and the vast majority of those say human activities are at least part of the cause.
However, fewer than one in four Americans are extremely or very worried about it, according the poll of 1,058 people. About one out of three Americans are moderately worried and the highest percentage of those polled - 38 percent - were not too worried or not at all worried.
Despite high profile preaching by Pope Francis, only 36 percent of Americans see global warming as a moral issue and only a quarter of those asked see it as a fairness issue, according to the poll which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
"The big deal is that climate has not been a voting issue of the American population," said Dana Fisher, director of the Program for Society and the Environment at the University of Maryland. "If the American population were left to lead on the issue of climate, it's just not going to happen."
Linda Gebel, a 64-year-old retired bookkeeper who lives north of Minneapolis, has read up on global warming.
"Everybody's life would be totally disrupted," Gebel said. "It will cause famines and wars, huge problems. I don't know why people wouldn't be worried about it."
And yet because she lives in the middle of the country - joking that she'll be "the last one who will be submerged" - Gebel added she doesn't "feel worried personally. I'm not sure this is going to happen in my lifetime, but I worry about my children. I worry about my grandchildren."
The "lukewarm" feeling and lack of worry has been consistent in polling over the years, even as temperatures have risen, said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-favors-some-arctic-insects-over-others/">Climate Change</a> Communication.
"The issue hasn't quite boiled up enough so that people have put it on the top of things they want to focus on," Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said.
One issue is how big, yet distant the problem seems and how abstract it can be, Fisher said. It can cause people to put off worrying about it.
Renata Schram, a 43-year-old customer service representative in Sturgis, Michigan, says she believes global warming is real and is mostly caused by people, but she is only moderately worried.
"On my list of things that worry me today, global warming is kind of low," she said. The world's violence is a far more pressing issue, she says.
"Usually when we hear about global warming everything seems so distant," she said. "The sea levels are going to rise but I find it difficult to find a prediction that tells you how many years exactly."
White House science adviser John Holdren said climate contrarians emphasize how large the problem is, essentially telling people "the result (of warming) is too scary, so let's not believe it." He said these groups have been "incredibly effective in sowing doubt" about global warming.
For his part, Myron Ebell, a policy expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said the elites on the coast may be concerned about global warming but people in the heartland who dig stuff up, grow stuff or make stuff are used to the vagaries of extreme weather. "They don't see it as much of a problem" because it isn't, he said. Americans are hot but not too bothered by global warming.
Not so, said scientists.
"We are all vulnerable to the impacts," climate scientist Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution said. "If you are a farmer in Illinois or if you work on a railroad in Alabama or are a miner in West Virginia, there are impacts that are going to affect your life, your health and what you're going to pay for things in the grocery store."
Scientists, however, aren't communicating their worries well, figuring that issuing more reports and data will convince people, said climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe of Texas Tech, who reaches out to the evangelical Christian community. Success lies in finding common ground in humanity, she said.
"More facts are not going to fix the problem," Hayhoe told a meeting of top climate scientists last week in Washington. "Nearly every human on the planet has the values they need to care about climate change. We just need to connect the dots."
---
News Survey Specialist Emily Swanson contributed to this report.
---
Online:
Poll results: <a href="http://surveys.ap.org/">http://surveys.ap.org/</a>
--
Seth Borenstein can be followed at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a>
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Global Warming: Scientists Are Scared, But Most People Don't Care

Global Warming: Scientists Are Scared, But Most People Don't Care....

Study: Global Climate Change Is Moving Mountains. UC research points to strong interaction between climate shifts and increased internal movement in the North American St. Elias Mountain Range

For millions of years global climate change has altered the structure and internal movement of mountain ranges, but the resulting glacial development and<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/oahu-could-lose-40-percent-of-its-beaches-to-coastal-erosion/"> erosion</a> can in turn change a mountain's local climate. The degree of this cause-and-effect relationship has never been clearly observed, until now.

Based on research led by University of Cincinnati geologist Eva Enkelmann in the St. Elias Mountain Range - located along the Pacific coastal region of North America - the way a mountain range moves and behaves topographically can also change and create its local climate by redirecting wind and precipitation. The repercussions of these changes can in turn, accelerate the erosion and tectonic seismic activity of that mountain range.

Based on her findings, Enkelmann shows clear evidence for a strong relationship between global and local climate change and a mountain's internal tectonic plate shifts and topographic changes.

Enkelmann, an assistant professor in the University of Cincinnati Department of Geology, was among several UC researchers and thousands of geoscientists from around the globe presenting their findings at the 2015 Annual Geological Society of America Meeting, Nov.1-4, in Baltimore.

This research also was published in July in the journal Geophysical Research Letters titled, "Cooperation among tectonic and surface processes in the St. Elias Range, Earth's highest coastal mountains."

MOVING MOUNTAINS

"To understanding how mountain structures evolve through geologic time is no quick task because we are talking millions of years," says Enkelmann. "There are two primary processes that result in the building and eroding of mountains and those processes are interacting."

Looking at the St. Elias Mountains in particular, Enkelmann notes how dry it is in the northern part of the mountain range. But the precipitation is very high in the southern area, resulting in more erosion and material coming off the southern flanks. So as the climate change influences the erosion, that can produce a shift in the tectonics. This has been suggested in earlier studies based on numerical and analytical models, however, it had not yet been shown to have occurred over geologic times in the real world.

Enkelmann synthesized several different data sets to show how a rapid exhumation occurred in the central part of the mountain range over four to two million years ago. This feedback process between erosion and internal tectonic shifting resulted in a mass of material moving up toward the surface very rapidly.

Enkelmann's model suggests that global climate shifts triggered a change in the rheology -- the way material behaves.

While the Earth was much warmer millions of years ago, glaciers still existed in the high altitudes. However, 2.6 million years ago the Earth experienced a shift to a colder climate and glaciation intensified. Existing glaciers grew larger, froze solid, covered the area and did not move.

Enkelmann says the glaciers today are wet-based and are moving, very aggressively eroding material around and out, and in the case of her observation, into the Gulf of Alaska. The tectonic forces (internal plates moving toward one another) continue to move toward Alaska, get pushed underneath and the sediment on top is piling up above the Yakutat plate.

SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL

Adding to the already complex effects of climate change, these processes essentially work against each other.

The movement of glaciers can compete with the internal buildup and develop a feedback process that is very rapid and ferocious. Scientists have suggested that the Himalayas, European Alps and mountains in Taiwan were caused by the same competing reactions as those Enkelmann has observed in southeastern Alaska.

In Enkelmann's observation, the climate-driven erosion can influence the tectonics and change the motion of the rocks in that area. This makes studying the St. Elias Mountain Range particularly ideal because this area is very active tectonically, with strong glacial erosion. As an example, she cites the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964 -- the world's second largest earthquake recorded to date -- that also resulted in a tsunami.

"In 1899, there were two big earthquakes in a row, an 8.1 and an 8.2 magnitude, says Enkelmann pointing to a photo of the resulting shoreline lift that still stands today. "These earthquakes resulted in up to 14 meters of co-seismic uplift on the shore, so the shoreline basically popped up 14 meters (45 feet) and it happened immediately.

"Our biggest concern today is the continued potential for earthquakes that can also result in tsunamis," says Enkelmann.

Enkelmann appreciates the challenge of collecting samples here because this range has the highest peaks of any coastal mountain range and is only 20 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean, but she points out that it is a tough area to study because of the big ice sheets.

"So as geologists, we go to the area and take samples and do measurements in the field on the mountain ranges that stick out," says Enkelmann. "One approach is to sample the material that comes out of the glaciers that has transported the eroded sediment and analyze that sediment.

"By going to all of these individual glaciers, we can get a much better understanding of what has happened and what was moved on the entire mountain range."

---

<a href="http://www.uc.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Cincinnati </a>

Study: Global Climate Change Is Moving Mountains

Study: Global Climate Change Is Moving Mountains. UC research points...

Ground-Level Ozone Harms Corn And Soybean Crops. Despite government regulations, ground-level ozone -- an odorless gas that forms as polluting nitrogen oxides drift in sunlight across the countryside -- continues to threaten crop quality and yield. In a new study, researchers quantify this loss from historical yield data for the first time. They show that over the last 30 years, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ozone-layer-collapse-caused-a-mass-extinction-event/">ozone</a> emissions have reduced soybean and corn yields by 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

The findings are reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Justin McGrath led the study as a postdoctoral fellow with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois with plant biology and crop sciences professor Stephen Long and USDA Agricultural Research Service scientist Elizabeth Ainsworth.

Emissions regulations have had a positive effect on reducing ozone-related damage to crop plants, the researchers found, but may need to be upgraded to reduce crop damage and ease the resulting financial burden on growers, Long said.

"We had suspected for some time that surface ozone pollution, which can be surprisingly high in rural areas, was affecting crop yields, but until now there had not been a means to quantify this from actual yield data," Long said.

Ozone damage occurs when the gas enters a plant's leaves and dissolves in water within the leaves, producing toxic byproducts. Water availability increases a plant's vulnerability to ozone damage. The higher the concentration of ground-level ozone, the greater the likelihood of damage.

The researchers analyzed historical crop yields and climate and ozone data from 1980 to 2011 across the continental United States, focusing on corn and soybean. They found that past and current levels of ground-level ozone were reducing yields of both crops.

"Laboratory studies had suggested that soybean was vulnerable to ozone, but the 10 percent yield loss in corn is a surprise and very significant," Ainsworth said. Even when water was not readily available during a period of drought, ozone damage was still extensive, she said.

The researchers calculated an annual loss of just over $9 billion nationwide between the two crops due to ozone damage. One way to ease this financial burden is to increase air-quality control regulations, McGrath said. Such regulations already appear to have reduced the amount of ozone-related crop damage, he said.

There is, however, some better news. Ainsworth is LINK: leading projects to identify genes in corn and soybean that decrease the crops' vulnerability to ozone. These may provide another means to decrease these losses, the researchers said.

---

<a href="http://www.illinois.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Illinois</a>

Ground-Level Ozone Harms Corn And Soybean Crops

Ground-Level Ozone Harms Corn And Soybean Crops. Despite government regulations,...

Global Survey: Majority Support Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions. A survey across 40 countries around the world found most people see global warming as a serious problem, and most of them want their governments to limit greenhouse gas emissions as part of a global agreement being negotiated in Paris in a month.
Respondents in the United States and <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/historic-flooding-has-killed-hundreds-across-china/">China</a> - the two biggest emitters of the gases that heat the planet - were least likely to be worried about climate change, according to the study by the Washington-based Pew Research Center released Thursday.
Those in Latin American and African countries - places severely affected by rising seas and encroaching deserts linked to climate change - were most concerned. Global Survey: Majority Support Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A majority of respondents across regions said they would support cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by their governments as part of a global accord being negotiated at U.N. talks in Paris Nov. 30-Dec. 11.
Most people in all countries surveyed said they believe they will have to make changes in their lifestyles to adapt to climate change. Pew also found majority support for the idea that rich countries should make a greater effort than poor ones to reduce emissions to slow global warming. That rich-poor divide will be a key tension point at the Paris talks.
Amid a rise in extreme weather around the world in recent years, drought is by far the largest climate-related concern among those surveyed, followed by severe events such as floods and intense storms.
Overall, the survey found that concern about global warming has stayed relatively stable in recent years overall.
Other findings:
-Women are more concerned than men and more likely to expect their own lifestyles to change as a result of global warming.
-Younger generations are more worried than their parents and grandparents.
-Catholics and people with no religious affiliation are generally more concerned than Protestants about climate change, especially in the United States.
The survey found partisan differences between conservative and left-wing views of climate change in several countries - and the starkest differences in the United States.
The poll was conducted in person and by telephone with 45,435 people from March through May. The margin of error is 2-8-4.3 percent.
The results of the polling in the U.S. echoed those of an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll this week, which found two out of three Americans accept global warming and the vast majority of those say human activities are at least part of the cause. However, fewer than one in four Americans are extremely or very worried about it, according the poll of 1,058 people in mid-October.
Climate scientists and social scientists say that relative indifference is keeping the American public from demanding and getting the changes that are necessary to prevent global warming from reaching a crisis.
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Global Survey: Majority Support Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Global Survey: Majority Support Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions. A survey...

Scientists: Global Warming Caused 14 Extreme Weather Events In 2014. New scientific analysis shows the fingerprints of man-made climate change on 14 2014 extreme weather events, hitting every continent but Antarctica.
Dozens of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and across the world examined 28 strange weather conditions last year to see if global warming partly increased their likelihood or their strength. In a series of papers in a 180-page, peer-reviewed report, the scientists spotted some effects of climate change in half of them.
In other weather events, scientists found no evidence of climate change making conditions more likely or stronger. Scientists: Global Warming Caused 14 Extreme Weather Events In 2014
Researchers found climate change fingerprints on Hawaii's tropical cyclones and heat in Argentina, Europe, South Korea, China, and repeatedly in Australia. The studies also found global warming partly to blame for heavy rain and flooding in Canada and New Zealand, winter storms in Nepal and drought in Africa and the Middle East.
In the case of the California wildfires, they found that global warming has increased the likelihood of fires and should increase with time; the cause of the 2014 wildfire situation is a bit harder to assess.
In a record hot year, heat stood out. Hundreds of millions of people live in areas where 2014 extreme heat was linked to climate change.
"Globally, extreme heat is becoming more common," said NOAA climate scientist Stephanie Herring, lead editor of the report published Thursday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
One study looked at a giant swath of Europe and found it was unusually warm because of climate change. The study found 12 percent of the large area set warm records in 2014, but no records for cold were established.
The studies varied in how much influence climate change had on those events, but it was never the sole cause, scientists said.
"This series of papers makes it more clear than ever that human-caused climate change is increasing both the severity and frequency of an increasing variety of climate extremes," said University of Arizona climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck, who wasn't part of the report.
The researchers used statistical analysis and computer simulations to show what would happen without man-made warming and compare that to what did happen.
Scientists could not find a climate fingerprint on 13 events, including winter storms in the United States, heavy rain in England and France, tropical cyclone Gonzalo, the Singapore drought and an increase in Antarctica's sea ice.
Climate change's influence would make a cold snap such as the one that occurred in the U.S. upper Midwest 20 to 100 times less likely, but it happened anyway, Herring said.
Last year some people speculated that harsh cold winters had been influenced by climate change, but the scientists who looked at that just couldn't find it, said NOAA climate scientist Martin Hoerling, a co-editor of the paper.
"All that is unusual is not necessarily happening due to climate change," he said. "Some of these events are climate surprises."
Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said humans have changed Earth's climate as a whole, so it is "seriously misguided" to ask if individual events are affected by humans.
---
Online:
The report: <a href="http://bit.ly/1NSh8A7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://bit.ly/1NSh8A7</a>
---
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Scientists: Global Warming Caused 14 Extreme Weather Events In 2014

Scientists: Global Warming Caused 14 Extreme Weather Events In 2014....

Yellow mine waste water is seen at the entrance to the Gold King Mine in San Juan County, Colorado

EPA Widens Investigation Into Colorado Gold Mine Spill. The Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general is expanding its investigation into a toxic spill from an inactive <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/cameron-peak-fire-is-now-the-largest-in-colorados-recorded-history/">Colorado</a> gold mine to include questions about whether the agency was following its own rules when it triggered the blowout.
The inspector general's office said Thursday that it will add more than a dozen lines of inquiry, some requested by Congress and others raised by a review of the spill by the Interior Department.
An EPA-led contractor inadvertently released 3 million gallons of wastewater tainted with heavy metals from the Gold King Mine on Aug. 5 during cleanup operations. Rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah were contaminated. <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=epa&amp;cvid=ec6e2c375cb84d42bebe1160c35d8d51&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">EPA</a> Widens Investigation Into Colorado Gold Mine Spill
The inspector general will also look into what kind of legal protection EPA gave the contractor and whether that affected the way the work was done.
Gold mining in Colorado, a state of the <a title="United States" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">United States</a>, has been an industry since 1858. It also played a key role in the establishment of the state of <a title="Colorado" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado">Colorado</a>.

Explorer <a title="Zebulon Pike" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Pike">Zebulon Pike</a> heard a report of gold in <a title="South Park (Park County, Colorado)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_(Park_County,_Colorado)">South Park</a>, present-day <a title="Park County, Colorado" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_County,_Colorado">Park County, Colorado</a>, in 1807.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_mining_in_Colorado#cite_note-H._Bergendahl_1968_p.143-1">[1]</a>

Gold discoveries in Colorado began around Denver; prospectors traced the placer gold to its source in the mountains west of Denver, then followed the <a title="Colorado Mineral Belt" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Mineral_Belt">Colorado Mineral Belt</a> in a southwest direction across the state to its terminus in the <a title="San Juan Mountains" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Mountains">San Juan Mountains</a>. The <a title="Cripple Creek, Colorado" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek,_Colorado">Cripple Creek</a> district, far from the mineral belt, was one of the last gold districts to be discovered and is still in production.
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EPA Widens Investigation Into Colorado Gold Mine Spill

EPA Widens Investigation Into Colorado Gold Mine Spill. The Environmental...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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



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



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



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



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

Monitoring deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

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