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...

<div>

Politics often pollutes support for pro-science environmental solutions. Mentioning politics in a message about an environmental issue may turn people -- even people informed about the issue -- away from supporting a pro-science solution, according to a team of researchers.

In a study, conservative participants who were asked to react to a message about excess water runoff showed lower support for an environmental science improvement project when the message was framed around global warming terminology, according to Lee Ahern, associate professor of advertising and public relations, <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=penn+state&amp;cvid=720ec3b10d00462588230c58584182e9&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Penn State</a>. The effect was even stronger among those conservatives with more knowledge about the issue, he added.

"It's the framing of the issue that's really important," said Ahern. "This is really a message for scientists and science communicators: don't pollute and politicize the information environment around the issue, because once you do that, people's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-threats-iowa-political/">political</a> identities are going to get engaged."

This study, along with others, has established that having more knowledge about science does not necessarily translate into more support for pro-science policies, according to Ahern, who added that, in this case, the environmental solution was to add more green surface infrastructure, such as green roofs.

The researchers, who report their findings in a recent issue of Science Communication, suggest that a reader's political and social identities can be activated when politicized terms or concepts are used in a message. This activation may then cause people to withdraw support from solutions they may have backed.

"The issue with the public's support for pro-science solutions for things like global warming, in particular, as well as other environmental issues that have socially contested policy solutions, is that the political identity of the people who are thinking about these issues often becomes activated," said Ahern, who worked with Colleen Connolly-Ahern, associate professor of advertising and public relations, Penn State and Jennifer Hoewe, assistant professor of journalism, University of Alabama.

Ahern said that all political ideologies, not just conservatives, are susceptible to this type of motivated reasoning.

"This is not unique to conservatives," said Ahern. "It works both ways. Studies have been done on other issues, for example, nuclear power and genetically modified organisms, that have shown similar effects among liberals."

The researchers suggest that scientists hoping to reach consensus on solutions should avoid political rhetoric in their communication.

"This is really a message for the scientists, not necessarily the public," said Ahern. "It's interesting for people to understand what's happening, but the people who really need to change what they are doing are the scientists and science communicators."

The researchers recruited 964 participants to take an online survey on local water quality in the Philadelphia area. The participants were asked what political party they supported and how strongly they supported the party. They were also asked to respond to questions that would group them into a range of egalitarian-hierarchical or individualist-collectivist worldviews.

The researchers measured the participants' knowledge of storm water runoff issues in Philadelphia and also used a quiz from the National Science Foundation to test their general science knowledge.

The study had two conditions. A normal condition attributed the water runoff problem to excess rain, while the global warming condition framed the problems around climate change. Statements and phrases, such as "stopping global warming will require international agreements" and "human-caused global warming," were used to frame the subject around climate issues.

Among solid or strong Democrats in the global warming condition, participants with high knowledge reported stronger willingness to pay for environmental solutions, such as adding green roofs. Solid or strong Republicans with high knowledge, on the other hand, reported stronger support in the normal condition for the environmental solutions, but not in the global warming condition. They were even more resistant to the solutions than low-knowledge Republicans.

"In fact, support among the low-knowledge Republicans increased in the global warming condition," said Ahern.
###
The William Penn Foundation supported this work.

</div>

Politics often pollutes support for pro-science environmental solutions

Politics often pollutes support for pro-science environmental solutions. Mentioning politics...

Sentinel satellites give major support to environmental monitoring. The unprecedented frequency of Sentinel observations capture rapid changes in agricultural production from national to field scale, serving as a major support for environmental monitoring and agricultural subsidy control.

The Sentinel satellites of Europe’s environmental Copernicus programme are used, among other things, to study changes in farming on a weekly basis, with a 10 m resolution, and with a free and open data policy.

Europe’s Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites allow us to observe subtle changes in land use. For instance, which crops are being grown and how fast or well they are developing, as well as spotting differences within single, larger fields. Sentinel <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/satellites-help-observe-glaciers-in-alaska/">satellites</a> give major support to environmental monitoring

This information can be used for different purposes – from predicting seasonal yields to preventing hunger in some parts of the world. Planning can help to mitigate an expected bad harvest, for example.

Agricultural mapping and monitoring is a key application for Earth observation because of its need for recurrent and frequent data, to produce seasonal and annual information on crop production.

The Sentinels are explicitly designed to support the implementation and monitoring of European policies, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) at national to regional scale.

The EU spends some 40% of its budget on agriculture subsidies, and whether farmers are declaring everything correctly can be checked through satellite data. The CAP aims to improve agricultural production and sustainable use of natural resources, while considering global issues such as food security and climate change.

At the recent Living Planet Symposium in Prague, ESA launched a national crop map, together with the EU’s Joint Research Centre and the Czech State Agriculture Intervention Fund, covering the Czech Republic.

“This Czech crop map is a key proof-of-concept, linking the free and open data streams from the Sentinels with Member State’s geographical data infrastructure to generate information for a broad community of users in agriculture,” says Guido Lemoine, from the Joint Research Centre.

This national presentation was conceived as a demonstration of what could be achieved in Europe, through the combined use of in-situ information from the Land Parcel Identification Systems (part of the CAP management), together with the dense time series from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites.

The frequent radar data coverage of Sentinel-1 alone was able to distinguish the seven main crop types in the country, including cereals, maize and rapeseed, through their distinct seasonal temporal behaviour, viewed in the data.

Lucie Šavelková from the State Agriculture Intervention Fund says, “The results of the Czech-Agri project are very promising for the implementation in daily activities of the Czech Paying Agency.

“These results indicate high potential of the use of Sentinel data in the agricultural sector, providing useful information in supporting the administration and control of the European Common Agriculture subsidies. “

Renáta Suchá, also from the Fund, adds, “The wide Sentinel data coverage means the outcomes of the activities can be monitored on the overall national and regional level, providing a framework for the analyses of impact of agricultural policies and activities on the environment.”

---

<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank" rel="noopener">European Space Agency</a>

Sentinel satellites give major support to environmental monitoring

Sentinel satellites give major support to environmental monitoring. The unprecedented...

Wildfire on warming planet requires adaptive capacity. Industrialized nations that view wildfire as the enemy have much to learn from people in some parts of the world who have learned to live compatibly with wildfire, says a team of fire research scientists.
<div>

The interdisciplinary team say there is much to be learned from these "fire-adaptive communities" and they are calling on policy makers to tap that knowledge, particularly in the wake of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-glaciers-face-a-triple-threat-from-global-warming/">global warming.</a>

Such a move is critical as climate change makes some landscapes where fire isn't the norm even more prone to fire, say the scientists in a new report published in a special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Wildfire on warming planet requires adaptive capacity

"We tend to treat modern fire problems as unique, and new to our planet," said fire anthropologist Christopher Roos, Southern Methodist University, <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=dallas&amp;cvid=da09b3220f864c1b8ae22cc4ebf49e5c&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Dallas,</a> lead author of the report. "As a result, we have missed the opportunity to recognize the successful properties of communities that have a high capacity to adapt to living in flammable landscapes -- in some cases for centuries or millennia."

One such society is the ethnically Basque communities in the French Western Pyrenees, who practice fire management to maintain seasonally flammable grassland, shrub and woodland patches for forage and grazing animals. But the practice is slowly being lost as young people leave farming.

Additionally, Aboriginal people in the grasslands of Western Australia use fire as part of their traditional hunting practices. Children begin burning at a very young age, and the everyday practice is passed down. These fires improve hunting successes but also reduce the impact of drought on the size and ecological severity of lightning fires.

Social institutions support individual benefits, preserve common good

Fire-adaptive communities have social institutions in place that support individual benefits from fire-maintained landscapes while preserving the common good, said Roos, whose fire research includes long-term archaeological and ecological partnerships with the Pueblo of Jemez in New Mexico.

"These institutions have been shaped by long-histories with wildfire, appropriate fire-use, and the development of social mechanisms to adjudicate conflicts of interest," said Roos, an associate professor in the SMU Department of Anthropology. "There is a wealth of tried and tested information that should be considered in designing local fire management."

The authors note that globally, a large number of people use fire as a tool to sustain livelihoods in ways that have been handed down across many generations. These include indigenous Australians and North Americans, South Asian forest dwellers, European farmers, and also hunters, farmers and herders in tropical savannahs.

Global Warming will likely bring new fire problems, more flammable landscapes

Global Warming will likely bring new fire problems, such as making some landscapes more flammable, Roos said. More effort will be required to balance conflicting fire management practices between adjacent cultures. Currently most fire-related research tends to be undertaken by physical or biological scientists from Europe, the United States and Australia. Often the research treats fire challenges as exclusively contemporary phenomena for which history is either absent or irrelevant.

"We need national policy that recognizes these dynamic challenges and that will support local solutions and traditional fire knowledge, while providing ways to disseminate scientific information about fire," Roos said.

The authors point out that one of the greatest policy challenges of fire on a warming planet are the international consequences of smoke plumes and potential positive feedbacks on climate through carbon emissions. Most infamously, wildfire smoke plumes have had extraordinary health impacts during Southeast Asian "haze" events, which result in increased hospitalization and mortality in the region.

Not all fire is a disaster; we must learn to live with and manage fire

Carbon emissions from wildfires can be as much as 40 percent of fossil fuel emissions in any given year over the last decade. Although only deforestation fires and land conversion are a net carbon source to the atmosphere, the contribution of wildfires to global carbon emissions is non-trivial and should be a formal component of international climate dialogs.

"It is important to emphasize that not all fire is a disaster and we must learn how to both live with as well as manage fire," said co-author Andrew Scott, earth sciences professor at Royal Holloway University of London.

The report, "Living on a flammable planet: interdisciplinary, cross-scalar and varied cultural lessons, prospects and challenges," was published May 23, 2016 by The Royal Society, the U.K.'s independent scientific academy.

Authors call for holistic study of fire on Earth

The authors are from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Spain. The synthesis emerged from four days of international meetings sponsored by the Royal Society - the first of its kind for fire sciences.

The authors advocate for greater collaboration among researchers studying all aspects of fire.

Pyrogeography -- the holistic study of fire on Earth, "may be one way to provide unity to the varied fire research programs across the globe," the authors write.

"Fire researchers across disciplines from engineering, the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities need to develop a common language to create a holistic wildfire science," said Roos. "The magnitude of the wildfire challenges we face on a warming planet will demand greater collaboration and integration across disciplines, but our job won't be done unless we are also able to translate our research for policymakers, land managers, and the general public."
###
Other co-authors on the scientific paper include Andrew C. Scott, Claire M. Belcher, William G. Chaloner, Jonathan Aylen, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Michael R. Coughlan, Bart R. Johnson, Fay H. Johnston, Julia McMorrow, Toddi Steelman, and the Fire and Mankind Discussion Group.

</div>

Wildfire on warming planet requires adaptive capacity

Wildfire on warming planet requires adaptive capacity. Industrialized nations that...

<div>

NASA satellite finds unreported sources of toxic air pollution. Using a new satellite-based method, scientists at NASA, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and two universities have located 39 unreported and major human-made sources of toxic air pollution.

A known health hazard and contributor to acid rain, sulfur dioxide (SO2) is one of six air pollutants regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Current, sulfur dioxide monitoring activities include the use of emission inventories that are derived from ground-based measurements and factors, such as fuel usage. The inventories are used to evaluate regulatory policies for air quality improvements and to anticipate future emission scenarios that may occur with economic and population growth.

But, to develop comprehensive and accurate inventories, industries, government agencies and scientists first must know the location of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-has-increased-covid-19-deaths-by-at-least-15-percent/">pollution</a> sources.

"We now have an independent measurement of these emission sources that does not rely on what was known or thought known," said Chris McLinden, an atmospheric scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada in Toronto and lead author of the study published this week in Nature Geosciences. "When you look at a satellite picture of sulfur dioxide, you end up with it appearing as hotspots - bull's-eyes, in effect -- which makes the estimates of emissions easier."

The 39 unreported emission sources, found in the analysis of satellite data from 2005 to 2014, are clusters of coal-burning power plants, smelters, oil and gas operations found notably in the Middle East, but also in Mexico and parts of Russia. In addition, reported emissions from known sources in these regions were -- in some cases -- two to three times lower than satellite-based estimates.

Altogether, the unreported and underreported sources account for about 12 percent of all human-made emissions of sulfur dioxide - a discrepancy that can have a large impact on regional air quality, said McLinden.

The research team also located 75 natural sources of sulfur dioxide -- non-erupting volcanoes slowly leaking the toxic gas throughout the year. While not necessarily unknown, many volcanoes are in remote locations and not monitored, so this satellite-based data set is the first to provide regular annual information on these passive volcanic emissions.

"Quantifying the sulfur dioxide bull's-eyes is a two-step process that would not have been possible without two innovations in working with the satellite data," said co-author Nickolay Krotkov, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

First was an improvement in the computer processing that transforms raw satellite observations from the Dutch-Finnish Ozone Monitoring Instrument aboard NASA's Aura spacecraft into precise estimates of sulfur dioxide concentrations. Krotkov and his team now are able to more accurately detect smaller sulfur dioxide concentrations, including those emitted by human-made sources such as oil-related activities and medium-size power plants.

Being able to detect smaller concentrations led to the second innovation. McLinden and his colleagues used a new computer program to more precisely detect sulfur dioxide that had been dispersed and diluted by winds. They then used accurate estimates of wind strength and direction derived from a satellite data-driven model to trace the pollutant back to the location of the source, and also to estimate how much sulfur dioxide was emitted from the smoke stack.

"The unique advantage of satellite data is spatial coverage," said Bryan Duncan, an atmospheric scientist at Goddard. "This paper is the perfect demonstration of how new and improved satellite datasets, coupled with new and improved data analysis techniques, allow us to identify even smaller pollutant sources and to quantify these emissions over the globe."

The University of Maryland, College Park, and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, contributed to this study.

For more information about, and access to, NASA's air quality data, visit:

<a href="http://so2.gsfc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://so2. gsfc. nasa. gov/ </a>

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA Earth science research, visit:

<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www. nasa. gov/ earth</a>


</div>
<div></div>

NASA satellite finds unreported sources of toxic air pollution

NASA satellite finds unreported sources of toxic air pollution. Using...

Better forecasting model for renewable electricity. The sun does not shine and the wind does not blow with constant intensity. This is a problem for the power grid, where the power supply must always match the power demand. In the EWeLiNE project, Fraunhofer and the German Weather Service have been working to develop better models for forecasting the generation of renewable electricity. Now they have launched a platform for transmission system operators to test the new models live.

In the EWeLiNE project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) in Kassel is working together with Germany‘s National <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/china-captures-nearly-half-of-its-annual-co2-emissions/">Meteorological</a> Service in Offenbach. The partners develop mathematical models that produce improved forecasts accurate for each quarter-hour, which show how much electricity Germany’s installed photovoltaic and wind-farm facilities will generate over the next few hours and days. “It’s crucial for us to interconnect both worlds – forecasts of weather and power – more closely than before, tailoring them better to the requirements of the transmission system operators,” says project manager Dr. Malte Siefert of IWES, describing the added value of the new models. These companies operate the major power lines in Germany that make up the 380- and 220-kV high-voltage grid. Transmission system operators are responsible for bringing electricity to consumers, maintaining the power grid, and expanding it as needed.

EnergyForecaster: Testing forecast models live

The project began at the end of 2012. Now the partners are releasing a demonstration platform called the EnergyForecaster, where transmission system operators can try out new forecasting tools live in their control centers. The companies know nearly precisely when and how much electricity consumers need over the course of the day – but they know only approximately how much photovoltaic systems and wind farms will feed into the grid. “It’s important to forecast how much renewable power will be generated, because that tells us how much conventional generation capacity – whether nuclear, gas, or coal – needs to be brought online. At the same time, the forecast is necessary for calculations to keep the power grid stable and for trading electricity,” explains Siefert.

New kinds of forecasts available in the demonstration platform help transmission system operators calculate precisely how much wind and solar power will be fed into which grid nodes. Other new tools feature information on the reliability of the forecasts. “The transmission system operators also have to be aware of any critical weather conditions – for example, patches of low stratus or low-pressure zones – so they can better analyze and estimate the forecast results,” says Siefert. The researchers also benefit from the EnergyForecaster, as it shows them how their innovations perform in the real world. “We believe that more potential for optimization, as yet unrecognized, will result,” says Siefert.

1.9 million units included

“It’s crucial to calculate precisely how the 1.9 million photovoltaic facilities and wind farms operating in Germany will convert the weather into electricity,” says Siefert. The problem is that data are not available for all of the systems. “In some cases, data privacy laws prevent us from gaining access, while in others we simply lack the technology to continuously record how much power the unit feeds in,” explains Siefert.

IWES is designing mathematical models to improve the forecasts of all PV systems and wind farms in Germany. Researchers reconcile the results with existing data and optimize them for various applications. The scientists separate the more than 40 forecasts that transmission system operators currently use into 16 groups, then systematically improved them. “Our objective is to combine several different methods for each application to take advantage of their various strengths,” says Siefert.

Meanwhile, the DWD is adapting its weather forecasts to meet the requirements of power forecasting. “We performed detailed meteorological analyses of the occasions when forecasts of power feed-ins to the grid proved most inaccurate. From these analyses we then derived improvements to our weather models,” explains the DWD’s Dr. Renate Hagedorn. “With the systematic adaptation of our weather forecasts as a basis for wind and photovoltaic power forecasts for the electric grid, the German weather service has taken on a new and supplementary role,” explains Hagedorn.

---

<a href="http://www.fraunhofer.de/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fraunhofer</a>

Better forecasting model for renewable electricity

Better forecasting model for renewable electricity. The sun does not...

Colorado is imposing higher fines on energy companies. Colorado is imposing heftier fines on energy companies as the state struggles to resolve conflicts between growing cities and big oilfields at their doorstep, an Associated Press analysis shows.
Regulators say the tougher penalties for breaking health, safety and environmental rules are prompting energy companies to be more careful. Others say it's too early to call them a success.
The higher fines kicked in a year ago after lawmakers said Colorado's existing penalties were too light. The AP reviewed records for the first 12 months under the new system, from April 2015 through March 2016, and found regulators levied 74 fines totaling $5.3 million - both higher than any calendar year for the previous 20 years.
Regulators also handed out Colorado's largest single oil and gas fine in at least 21 years, $1.3 million for a series of leaks at facilities owned by Benchmark Energy in a remote part of the state.
That fine probably would have been around $500,000 under the old system, said Matt Lepore, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates the industry.
Lepore said he doubts Benchmark will be able to pay the fine because it's a small operation. Companies that don't pay can lose permits they need to do business in the state.
Benchmark officials didn't return phone messages seeking comment.
The new penalty system raised the maximum daily fine from $1,000 to $15,000 and eliminated a fine cap of $10,000 per violation. Although there is no ceiling now, fines must be commensurate to the infraction, Lepore said.
Each state sets its own rules and fines for the energy industry, and no nationwide data could be found for comparison.
In Colorado, energy companies are policing themselves to avoid bigger fines, Lepore said
"I would surmise that operators are being more careful for fear of a substantial fine," Lepore said. "We aren't seeing sort of careless mistakes and careless noncompliance."
But companies also are fighting harder in the commission's hearing process if they are accused of a violation, he said.
Colorado ranks only seventh among energy-producing states, but tensions between the industry and its critics are high because cities and oilfields sometimes overlap, putting drilling rigs, wells and storage tanks near homes and schools.
The state's vigorous environmental groups also fight hard to keep energy development out of wilderness, recreational and residential areas.
A 2014 law revamping the fine system was one attempt to reduce the tension. Democratic state Rep. Mike Foote, who shepherded the bill through the statehouse, said the last time the fines were changed was when Dwight Eisenhower was president, from 1953 to 1961.
It's too early to declare victory under the new system, Foote said.
"I'm encouraged that the (Oil and Gas Conservation Commission) is enforcing the rules in a more diligent way," he said. "On the other hand, I'm discouraged that some operators continue to break those rules."
The Colorado Oil and Gas Association, an industry group, supported the higher fines.
"Only an industry that knows it works in a safe and compliant manner would have worked to increase penalties and enforcement on itself," association president Dan Haley said in an email.
"As with any industry and government, there are instances where mistakes do happen and violations occur, and we must hold ourselves accountable," Haley said.
The number and size of fines rose despite the industry's doldrums. Only 16 rigs were drilling new wells in Colorado in mid-May, down from 81 in late 2011, according to Baker Hughes Inc., an oilfield services company.
But Lepore pointed out Colorado still has 54,000 existing wells producing oil and gas that require state inspectors' attention.
Colorado has taken other steps to address conflicts over oil and gas development, hiring more field inspectors and attorneys to enforce the rules.
Lepore said the beefed-up legal staff is the primary reason the number of fines is rising, because cases move through the process faster.
The increased fines are welcome news but not the end of the debate, said Pete Maysmith, executive director of Conservation Colorado.
"This is not going to resolve the conflict, especially in many areas where energy development is happening," he said.
---
Follow Dan Elliott at <a href="http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP.</a> His work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-elliott." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-elliott.</a>
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Colorado is imposing higher fines on energy companies

Colorado is imposing higher fines on energy companies. Colorado is...

Carbon Dioxide

Washington state unveils plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Washington state regulators on Wednesday unveiled an updated plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions from large polluters, the latest attempt by Gov. Jay Inslee to push ahead with a binding cap on carbon emissions after struggling to win approval from legislators.
Washington would join nearly a dozen states including <a href="http://california">California</a> that have capped carbon pollution from industrial sources.
The proposed rule requires large industrial emitters to gradually reduce carbon emissions over time. The rule would cover many industries, including power plants, oil refineries, fuel distributors, pulp and paper mills and others. Washington state unveils plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions
Inslee, who has called climate change "the single most important issue of our time," has gained national attention on environmental issues but so far has failed in his own state to pass ambitious carbon-reduction proposals, including a plan to charge polluters a fee for emissions. Frustrated by inaction in the Legislature, Inslee last year used his executive authority and directed state regulators to limit carbon pollution under the state's Clean Air Act.
"Today is an exciting day in our continued quest to provide cleaner air for Washingtonians," Inslee said in a video statement Wednesday. He said carbon pollution is hurting the state and cited two consecutive record-setting wildfire seasons that burned about 2,000 square miles, among other climate-related problems.
On Wednesday, Inslee joined leaders of Oregon, California and British Columbia in San Francisco to sign a climate agreement with six West Coast cities. The pact says they will work together to encourage zero-emissions vehicles, to reduce energy use in buildings and to take other measures.
Under Washington's proposed rule, expected to be finalized in late summer, large emitters would be required to reduce carbon emissions by an average of 1.7 percent annually.
The rule would initially apply to about two dozen oil refineries, power plants and others that release at least 100,000 metric tons of carbon a year. Many more facilities would likely be covered by the rule as the threshold is lowered over the next decades.
Kris Johnson, president of the Association of Washington Business, said his group is still concerned about the potential economic damage from this new regulation.
He said in a statement that the cap "sends the wrong signal to businesses of all sizes, both those that are here already and those hoping to relocate here, by driving up energy costs for employers and families."
According to the state's preliminary economic analysis, the rule would cost businesses between $1.4 billion and $2.8 billion over 20 years to comply. But it's also estimated to provide about $14.5 billion in benefits over 20 years, such as improved environmental and health conditions, according to a state analysis.
Officials with the Washington Department of Ecology say the rule is needed to protect human health and the environment from climate change. It would cover about two-thirds of the state's emissions.
"Carbon pollution has reached rampant levels and we're committed to capping and reducing it," said Sarah Rees, Ecology's special assistant on climate policy.
Some critics said the proposed rule doesn't require enough emissions reductions and disregards current science. "We are extremely disappointed," said Andrea Rodgers, an attorney representing young activists who sued the state to force it to adopt new rules to limit carbon emissions based on the best-available science.
Businesses can comply by lowering their emissions, buying "emissions reduction credits" from others in the program, investing in projects that permanently reduce emissions in the state or buy allowances through another cap-and-trade program such as ones run by California and Quebec.
It's the state's second attempt at an emissions rule.
Ecology officials said Wednesday that the latest version addresses concerns raised by businesses, environmental groups and others when the first draft was released. The agency withdrew that draft rule in February to make changes.
Stu Clark, the state's air quality manager, said this version tries to accommodate business growth, recognize actions that have already taken steps to reduce their emissions before the rule takes effect and provides provisions for energy-intensive businesses that face intense global competition.
----
This story has been updated to correct that emitters would have to reduce carbon emissions by an average of 1.7 percent annually, not every three years.
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Washington state unveils plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions

Washington state unveils plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Washington...

Marine National Monument coral reef destroyed by El Nino. El Nino's super warm water has turned what had been one of the world's most lush and isolated tropical marine reserve into a coral graveyard, federal scientists said Wednesday.

Researchers finishing an emergency undersea expedition found 95 percent of the coral dead around Jarvis Island in the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument . In November, much of the coral had bleached white but was alive. Marine National Monument coral reef destroyed by El Nino

"There's hardly anything left on the bottom in terms of the coral. It basically looks like a graveyard," said the expedition chief scientist Bernardo Vargas-Angel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "The skeletons are still there but they are covered with algae."

The algae was red, the color of blood or wine, and below it was a sea of dead coral, he said, returning from a 10-day diving expedition to the region along the equator, 1,400 miles southwest of Hawaii.

Scientists say the area around Jarvis Island is a special place that normally looks like something out of a technical color movie, vibrant with coral, plankton, fish and sharks. A unique ocean current normally brings cold water up from the deep, making it teem with life, said Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Anne Cohen, who is involved in the research but wasn't on this trip.

"It's like the Super Bowl of coral reefs, this place," Cohen said. "The coral cover is astronomical. The amount of life that it supports is just sky high: fish, turtle, dolphins, sharks. You name it, you find it there in large numbers."

The coral can normally survive short bouts of warm water but the water just got too warm for too long, scientists said. The water was about 7 degrees warmer than normal (4 degrees Celsius), Cohen said.

Scientists measure how warm the water is for coral in something called degree weeks. The record had been 18 degree Celsius weeks in 2014. This maxed out at 31.3, said NOAA coral reef coordinator Mark Eakin. It has been over 20 degree Celsius weeks for almost eight months, worse than anywhere else, Eakin said.

That warmer water is mostly from El Nino - the natural warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide - assisted by man-made warming, Eakin said.

A study earlier this year found almost as much loss in a nearby island called Kiribati, but Eakin said this was worse.

"Just as I thought it couldn't get any worse, it does," Eakin said.

---

Follow Seth Borenstein at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a> and his work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-borenstein" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-borenstein</a>

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Marine National Monument coral reef destroyed by El Nino

Marine National Monument coral reef destroyed by El Nino. El...

<div>

Study examines health benefits of contact with nature. A team of Cochrane authors based in the UK and led by an academic from <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=plymouth+university&amp;form=EDGTCT&amp;qs=PF&amp;cvid=015da8ed2acd4dbd9cc1d3781aacdb23&amp;refig=4ac677f8b0554fa6ab8e5518a1fe78ad&amp;cc=US&amp;setlang=en-US&amp;elv=AY3%21uAY7tbNNZGZ2yiGNjfOY30fClOq9osfcI6T5oj*hYtX103gCRY9mI3%21WvWeyUM0RXKLBQgbiXo8mkbx*VPkEVA1K53LWp7mQAgAw0nGR&amp;plvar=0&amp;PC=HCTS">Plymouth University</a> Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, has carried out a review investigating the health benefit of contact with nature.

The team found that, while the majority of quantitative studies reported no effect on health and well-being, there was limited evidence to suggest positive effects on self-reported health, quality of life and physical activity levels. Small numbers of participants reported increased mental fatigue and greater feelings of anxiety.Study examines health benefits of contact with nature

The review comes at a time when there is growing research and policy interest in the potential for using the natural environment to enhance human health and well-being. It is thought that contact with the natural environment has a positive impact on health and well-being.

Outdoor <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/bird-wing-shape-is-driven-by-environment-and-behavior/">environmental</a> enhancement and conservation activities include unpaid litter picking, tree planting or path maintenance. It is thought that these offer opportunities for physical activity alongside greater connection with local environments, enhanced social connections within communities, and improved self-esteem, which may, in turn, further improve well-being for the individual.

The team worked with Cochrane Public Health to assess the health and well-being impacts on adults following participation in environmental enhancement and conservation activities. Participants were adult volunteers or were referred by a healthcare professional.

The nineteen studies reviewed included numerical data (quantitative) and text from interviews (qualitative), together with data from 3,603 participants who came from the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

The qualitative studies illustrate the experiences of people taking part, and their perceptions of the benefits. People reported feeling better. They liked the opportunity for increased social contact, especially if they had been socially isolated through, for example, mental ill-health. They also valued a sense of achievement, being in nature and provision of a daily structure.

"Research into this area is not very robust and quality of the design and reporting is low, therefore we cannot draw any definite conclusions about any positive or negative effects. However, participants perceived that there was a benefit," said Dr Kerryn Husk, research fellow from Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and the lead author of the Cochrane Review.

He added: "We were able to develop a conceptual framework that illustrates the range of interlinked mechanism through which people believe they potentially achieved health and well-bring benefits. We hope this will help future research on this this topic."
###
Dr Husk is a research fellow supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC).

</div>

Study examines health benefits of contact with nature

Study examines health benefits of contact with nature. A team...

COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) begins next week. NASA's new COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) field campaign kicks off its data-gathering phase with an operational readiness test on Oahu, Hawaii, starting the week of June 6. Over the next year, CORAL will conduct airborne and in-water surveys of representative coral reefs from Hawaii to Australia. By focusing on entire reef ecosystems, CORAL scientists will get state-of-the-art insights into how biological, physical and chemical processes shape and affect the ecosystems. These data will help them answer fundamental questions about how reefs are changing globally due to the effects of climate change and human activities.

1. How does CORAL work? It uses a new NASA airborne instrument designed specifically to observe coastal environments. The Portable Remote Imaging SpectroMeter (PRISM) can see objects about five feet by five feet square (less than two meters by two meters square) from its airborne perch five miles (eight kilometers) overhead. PRISM will fly in a Gulfstream IV airplane, collecting large swaths of data that will allow scientists to distinguish among coral, algae and sand -- important information for assessing reef condition -- without having to go underwater in each location. This uniform dataset will be an advance over the current data, collected by multiple groups all using different techniques.

2. Reefs are mostly unknown territory. Search online for "coral reef images" and you'll get a million spectacular photos, but they all show just the small fraction of the world's reef area that scuba divers have visited. The fraction that has been scientifically surveyed is even smaller. We simply don't have enough data to understand which impacts to reefs are the most damaging and how resilient reefs are likely to be. COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) begins next week

3. Scuba diving for science. For decades, scuba diving has been the gold standard for conducting reef research, allowing scientists to study everything from coral reproduction to the complex relationships between coral and other organisms. However, scuba diving as a method of understanding entire ecosystems leaves a lot to be desired: it is time consuming, labor intensive and costly. CORAL's use of remote sensing technology to survey entire reef ecosystems represents a huge step forward in research capacity.

4. More than just a pretty face. Hard corals have outlived dinosaurs, existing on Earth since the mid-Triassic period, 200-250 million years ago. During this time, they’ve evolved and diversified to exist across the world’s ocean. Reef building corals typically occupy shallow tropical and subtropical waters; however, deep-water corals can be found at depths up to 20,000 feet (6,000 meters), and coral reefs were recently discovered at the mouth of the<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=amazon+river&amp;cvid=2d73fa1a6f7747759baea30431073c58&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> Amazon River</a> in turbid, muddy water.

Coral reef ecosystems play a vital role in maintaining Earth’s marine biodiversity and are also valuable to humans as a source of food, medical advances and tourism revenue, with total global ecosystem goods and services estimated at $400 billion each year. This number is especially impressive if you consider that the U.N. Environment Programme estimates that all the world's reefs would fit into an area smaller than the state of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/arizona-rock-will-help-solve-mysteries-of-the-triassic/">Arizona.</a>

5. Coral or reef? A single coral polyp -- consisting of the coral animal, its symbiotic algae and calcium carbonate skeleton -- is usually less than half an inch (one centimeter) across. Unlike many animals, corals are colonial, which means that many polyps grow together and form a larger structure. Most corals that you see in aquaria are, in fact, colonies. A coral reef, on the other hand, is an entire ecosystem that includes the individual polyps and their colonies, plus other living (e.g., fish, worms, invertebrates, algae) and nonliving (e.g., sunlight, sand, water) components. Scientists have a pretty good understanding of how individual coral polyps and colonies function, but much less understanding of how the various parts of a reef act individually and collectively to form an ecosystem. CORAL is the first opportunity to study reefs at the ecosystem scale, rather than relying on patchy, inconsistent surveys.

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA's Earth science activities, visit:

<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.nasa.gov/earth</a>

COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) begins next week

COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) begins next week. NASA's new...

NASA sees a redeveloped Tropical Depression Bonnie over North Carolina. On the morning of June 2, the National Hurricane Center reported that post-tropical cyclone Bonnie has redeveloped into Tropical Depression Bonnie and was moving over the North Carolina Outer Banks. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP Satellite and NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured imagery and an animation that showed the movement of the storm.
<div>

Bonnie continues to pose a threat of heavy rain that is expected to continue today, June 2, in eastern North Carolina. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch and flood advisory for a small portion of the North Carolina <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/feds-want-wind-farm-off-north-carolinas-outer-banks/">Outer Banks</a>.

A visible image of Bonnie was taken from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA-DOD's Suomi NPP satellite on June 1, 2016. The image showed Bonnie when it was a post-tropical cyclone, moving over southeastern North Carolina. The strongest thunderstorms were northwest of the center of circulation over land and southeast of the center, over the Atlantic Ocean.Bonnie strengthened back to a depression early on June 2. NASA sees a redeveloped Tropical Depression Bonnie over North Carolina

An animation NOAA's GOES-East satellite imagery from May 31 to June 2 was created at NASA's GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland. The animation shows the slow northerly movement of Bonnie from South Carolina to North Carolina as it strengthened from a post-tropical cyclone back into a depression. NOAA manages the GOES-East satellite and the NASA GOES Project uses the satellite data to create images and animations.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) the center of Tropical Depression Bonnie was located near latitude 35.1 degrees north and longitude 75.1 degrees west. That puts the center of the redeveloped depression about 25 miles (40 km) east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. NHC said that Bonnie is moving toward the northeast near 7 mph (11 kph). A turn toward the east-northeast and an increase in forward speed are expected later today. On the forecast track, the center of Bonnie should/pre&gt; move away from the coast of North Carolina this afternoon and tonight. Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph (45 km/h) with higher gusts. Some slight strengthening is possible during the next 24 hours. After that time, Bonnie is expected to again become a post-tropical low.

For updates from the NHC, visit: <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www. nhc. noaa. gov</a>


</div>
<div></div>

NASA sees a redeveloped Tropical Depression Bonnie over North Carolina

NASA sees a redeveloped Tropical Depression Bonnie over North Carolina....

<div>

New statistical technique could help climate models. A team of physicists and mathematicians has come up with a statistical technique that puts the fine details back into computer simulations of large-scale phenomena like air circulation in the atmosphere and currents in the ocean.

Computer models are generally good at capturing the big picture, but they are often forced to ignore things that happen at small scales. For example, models of a planet's <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=atmosphere&amp;cvid=7e60805f4c68482a8b5045c73d03b320&amp;pglt=43&amp;FORM=ANNTA1&amp;PC=HCTS">atmosphere</a> capture the large-scale dynamics of jets and airflows, but they don't include small-scale dynamics created by things like clouds and localized turbulence, despite the fact that those dynamics can often influence the larger scales.

"There are simply too many numbers for the computer to simulate it at a reasonable speed," said Brad Marston, a Brown University physicist. "It might take years to simulate a day of the atmosphere, which wouldn't be good." New statistical technique could help climate models

The traditional approach to dealing with the problem is to simply lop the small scales off of the simulation. A few ad hoc ways of putting some of that information back in exist, but they tend not to be mathematically rigorous.

"These schemes have always suffered from the criticism that they lack predictive power," Marston said. "You have to make a lot of decisions that you really shouldn't have to make but you're forced to make."

In a paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, Marston and his colleagues show a method of averaging out those small-scale dynamics in a way that is computationally tractable, which allows those dynamics to be simulated and their effects to be captured in a rigorous way.

"We're retaining the degrees of freedom at the small scale, but treating them in a different way," Marston said. "We don't have to simulate all the little swirls, so to speak. We treat them by using their averages and the sizes of their fluctuations. It allows us to capture the contributions of these small-scale dynamics that would normally not be included."

In their paper, the researchers used the technique to model air jets forming on a round surface. They showed that the method produces results similar to brute-force numerical simulations of the same jets.

There have been prior attempts to treat small-scale disturbances statistically, Marston said, but those haven't fared very well. Prior attempts have treated disturbances as being homogeneous and assumed they were not traveling in any one particular direction.

"But that almost never happens in nature," Marston said. "Turbulence almost always has some directionality to it. That directionality is what makes these kinds of approximations work. It makes these approximations tenable."

The researchers hope that the method might make for more accurate simulations of a wide variety of natural phenomena, from how the churning interiors of planets create magnetic fields to how air flows across the surfaces of cars or airplanes.

The method could be particularly useful in modeling Earth's changing climate because the technique can more rigorously capture the influence of cloud formation. A team of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/physicians-suffer-burnout/">physicists</a> and mathematicians has come up with a statistical technique that puts the fine details back into computer simulations of large-scale phenomena like air circulation in the atmosphere and currents in the ocean.

"Cloud formation is seen as the largest source of uncertainty in climate models right now," Marston said. "There are famous examples where different climate models that have different ways of dealing with the clouds give you qualitatively different results. In a warming world, one model might produce more clouds and another might produce fewer."

By averaging those cloud dynamics and then simulating them in the models, it might be possible to reduce some of that uncertainty, Marston said.

The team has already started working to incorporate the method in climate simulations, as well as simulations of ocean currents and problems in astrophysics dealing with the behavior of plasmas.

"There are a whole bunch of problems out there where we feel this could be helpful," Marston said.


</div>
<div></div>

New statistical technique could help climate models

New statistical technique could help climate models. A team of...

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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



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;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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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



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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



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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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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

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