A new study has found that, contrary to previous claims, the ocean is not a significant source of microplastics to the atmosphere, but rather a major sink.&nbsp;



The research team used a global chemical transport model to evaluate how tiny plastic particles, known as microplastics, move around the world. 



The finding challenges past assumptions about the ocean’s role in releasing plastic fragments into the air.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-journey-of-airborne-microplastics-nbsp">The journey of airborne microplastics&nbsp;</h2>



Plastic debris in dust form is increasingly recognized as a worldwide contaminant. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-in-the-brain-alarming-new-details-revealed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microplastics</a> (particles less than 5 mm in diameter) have been detected in soils, freshwater, the ocean, and even in the air that we breathe.&nbsp;



Scientists warn that microscopic plastic bits pose risks for human health, since they can easily enter the respiratory system and the bloodstream.&nbsp;



Once airborne, these tiny pieces can travel large distances and eventually settle in remote or sensitive regions, harming wildlife and potentially impacting human populations.



But how do these particles enter the atmosphere in the first place? The planet’s primary sources of microplastics are typically found on land, from everyday materials such as vehicle tires shedding particles on roads, or synthetic clothing fibers washed out in domestic wastewater.&nbsp;



However, earlier models had suggested that there might be an additional large source at sea. Microplastics often accumulate in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-pose-a-greater-threat-to-some-ocean-animals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">oceans</a>, carried there by rivers and other waterways. Then, once present in the marine environment, it was believed that they could be lofted into the air by sea spray or wind-driven wave action.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-the-ocean-s-contribution">What is the ocean's contribution?</h2>



Prior reports pointing to a large marine source relied on an inverse modeling technique. That method uses atmospheric measurements of particular substances and attempts to infer their origin by matching observed concentrations with predicted distributions.&nbsp;



Applied to microplastics, inverse modeling suggested the ocean might contribute hundreds of millions - or even billions - of kilograms of these fragments to the air each year.



Such massive figures were then tested experimentally, with scientists using wave tanks and other controlled setups to see how vigorously wave action or bursting bubbles could transfer plastics from the water surface into the atmosphere.&nbsp;



Those studies, however, hinted that only tens or hundreds of thousands of kilograms of plastic might plausibly be introduced into the air - orders of magnitude smaller than the figures derived from inverse modeling.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-global-chemical-transport-model">A global chemical transport model</h2>



In an effort to reconcile these contradictory outcomes, a group led by researchers at the <a href="https://mpimet.mpg.de/en/homepage" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Max Planck Institute for Meteorology</a> (MPI-M) ran a global chemical transport model. This computer model simulates the movement of substances, such as microplastic particles, through the atmosphere.&nbsp;



By prescribing a minor oceanic emission of microplastics - consistent with the low estimates from laboratory work - they were able to predict how microplastic concentrations should appear in the air at various locations around the globe.



The results aligned well with real-world measurements. Based on the model, the ocean in fact took up some of these airborne particles instead of emitting them in large quantities.&nbsp;



The scientists learned that rather than being a source, the ocean appeared to be a sink, in which 15 percent of all airborne microplastics are deposited.&nbsp;



In other words, waves, spray, and wind may occasionally lift small amounts of plastic out of the sea, but far more of the material is settling onto the water rather than emanating from it.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-airborne-microplastics-travel">How airborne microplastics travel</h2>



The study also uncovered the significant influence of particle size on how microplastics travel. Larger plastic fragments drop out of the atmosphere relatively quickly, often landing in coastal areas or not far from their point of emission.&nbsp;



By contrast, smaller particles can remain suspended for up to a year. That extended flight time allows them to cross entire oceans or continents and reach distant regions such as the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/citizen-scientists-uncover-microplastics-in-the-remote-arctic/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arctic</a>, where they land on ice or snow.



These discoveries highlight the global character of plastic contamination, showing that microplastic dust can be widespread in places typically considered pristine.&nbsp;



They also clarify that stopping microplastic pollution at its land-based sources may be the most efficient approach, as the ocean itself is neither the greatest emitter nor the root cause.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-roadmap-for-pollution-reduction">A roadmap for pollution reduction</h2>



Given that airborne microplastics reach faraway corners of the planet, the research team’s results have immediate practical value. Any broad plan to cut plastic pollution should focus on terrestrial origins: tire wear on roads, textiles shedding fibers, and insufficiently treated wastewater.&nbsp;



Additionally, lessening single-use plastics and improving waste management at landfills can help limit microplastics before they disperse into the environment.



These findings show that ocean waters, already burdened by plastic accumulations, are predominantly sinks - taking in plastic particles from the air. They also emphasize that microplastics do not stay put in the environment: large ones settle nearby, while smaller ones can travel global distances.&nbsp;



Future models aimed at <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-pollution-is-changing-the-entire-earth-system/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plastic pollution</a> will need to consider these dynamics in more detail, particularly when mapping out strategies to protect vulnerable ecosystems, reduce human exposure, and maintain cleaner oceans.



By settling this debate over whether the ocean is more of a source or a sink, scientists can now direct their attention to mitigating the true origins of airborne microplastics, thus improving targeted policies to help address this pressing environmental concern.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00914-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">npj Climate and Atmospheric Science</a>.



-----



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Airborne microplastics: Where they come from and where they go

A new study has found that, contrary to previous claims, the ocean is not a significant source of microplastics to the atmosphere, but rather a major sink.&nbsp; The research team used a global chemical transport model to evaluate how tiny plastic particles, known as microplastics, move around the world. The finding challenges past assumptions about the ocean’s role in releasing plastic fragments into the air. The journey of airborne microplastics&nbsp; Plastic debris in dust form is increasingly recognized as a worldwide contaminant. Microplastics (particles less than 5...

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Climate change will leave Arctic migratory birds with nowhere to go. Climate change could make much of the Arctic unsuitable for millions of migratory birds that travel north to breed each year, according to a new international study published today in <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=global+change&amp;cvid=f59f6b89d16d45e299cb30ccb682b2b2&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Global Change</a> Biology.

The University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences' researcher Hannah Wauchope said that suitable breeding conditions for Arctic shorebirds could collapse by 2070.

"This means that countries throughout the world will have fewer migratory birds reaching their shores," Ms Wauchope said.

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antarctic-penguins-need-protection-from-human-activities/">Arctic</a> breeding shorebirds undertake some of the longest known migratory journeys in the animal kingdom, with many travelling more than 20,000 kilometres per year to escape the northern winter.

The bar-tailed godwit flies from Alaska to New Zealand in a single flight of 12,000 kilometres without landing.

The study predicts that, in a warming world, migratory birds will become increasingly restricted to small islands in the Arctic Ocean as they retreat north.

This could cause declines in hard-hit regions and some birds could even completely change migratory pathways to migrate closer to suitable habitat.

"Climate change is also opening up the Arctic to threats such as mining and tourism, and we must make sure we protect key places for all Arctic species, including these amazing migratory birds," Ms Wauchope said.

UQ's Associate Professor Richard Fuller from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED) said most migratory populations followed well-defined migratory routes.

"This makes shorebirds an excellent group to investigate how climate change might impact breeding grounds and conservation actions that could address these impacts," Associate Professor Fuller said.

The research modelled the suitable climate breeding conditions of 24 Arctic shorebirds and projected them to 2070.

The researchers also examined the impact on Arctic birds of the world's last major warming event about 6000 to 8000 years ago.

"Climatically suitable breeding conditions could shift and contract over the next 70 years, with up to 83 per cent of Arctic bird species losing most of their currently suitable area," Ms Wauchope said.

"This far exceeds the effects of the last major warming event on Earth, but genetic evidence suggests that even then the birds struggled to deal with the warming."

She said that suitable climatic conditions are predicted to decline fastest in the areas with most species (western Alaska and eastern Russia), where Arctic birds are already becoming vulnerable to the "shrubification" of the tundra, and predators such as red foxes moving north.
###
The study, Rapid climate-driven loss of breeding habitat for Arctic migratory birds, was also co-authored by colleagues at the Australian Antarctic Division, Tasmania; University Centre in Svalbard, Norway; Akvaplan-niva, Norway; Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow; Aarhus University, Denmark; and the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska, US.

It was funded by an ARC Linkage project grant and CEED.

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Climate change will leave Arctic migratory birds with nowhere to go

Climate change will leave Arctic migratory birds with nowhere to...

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&nbsp;

NASA looks at Tropical Cyclone Abela in 3-D. Satellite data enables scientists to look at tropical cyclones in three dimensions and that provides information about rainfall rates and cloud heights.

Tropical Cyclone Abela, formerly known as "01S," formed in the South Indian Ocean on July 16, 2016. Abela was the first tropical Cyclone to form in July over the South Indian Ocean since 2007 so it is a little unusual. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite recently had two good views of Abela. GPM saw the newly formed tropical cyclone on Jul 16, 2016 at 2216 UTC (6:16 p.m. EDT). Precipitation data collected by <a href="http://www.earth.com/product/low-flow-faucet-aerator-1-0-gpm-2-pack/">GPM's</a> Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments showed that Abela contained a large area of rainfall on July 16, 2016. Then again on July 18, 2016 at 2206 UTC (6:06 p.m. EDT) the satellite passed above after tropical cyclone ABELA had reached its peak intensity with winds of about 50 knots (58 mph).

3-D slices through radar precipitation were made possible with GPM's radar (DPR Ku Band). Vertical wind shear was already starting to affect the tropical cyclone on July 18, 2016. It was revealed that the low level center of circulation was exposed and convective storms were pushed to the southeast of the center as a result of the wind shear. Some of the cloud tops of these still powerful convective storms were shown by GPM's DPR to be reaching heights of over 13.6 km (8.4 miles). Rainfall rates were as high as 60 millimeters (2.3 inches) per hour.

The imagery was created at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. GPM is a joint mission between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a> and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

On July 19 at 0600 UTC (2 a.m. EDT) Tropical Cyclone Abela was located near 14.6 degrees south latitude and 55.3 degrees east longitude, about 540 nautical miles east- northeast of Antananarivo, Madagascar. At that time Abela was moving to the west at 17 knots (19.5 mph/31.4 kph) and maximum sustained winds were near 35 knots (40 mph/62 kph). Abela is expected to dissipate today, July 20.


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NASA looks at Tropical Cyclone Abela in 3-D

&nbsp; NASA looks at Tropical Cyclone Abela in 3-D. Satellite...

France and the UN are pressing governments to ratify the climate change agreement. France's environment minister, who was in charge of global climate negotiations, said Wednesday that she and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be pressing governments to speedily ratify the historic climate change agreement reached in December.
Segolene Royal told reporters after meeting the U.N. chief that they want the agreement ratified by the time the parties to global climate talks that led to the Paris agreement hold their next meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco from Nov. 7-18.
She said she will write again to all world leaders to get their timetables for ratification and will return to Africa to talk to heads of state and government to push for speedy action.
The agreement will enter into force once 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions have formally joined it.
To spur action, Ban said Tuesday that he is inviting countries to deposit their ratifications on Sept. 21 during the annual ministerial meeting of the General Assembly.
He told a high-level meeting promoting the new U.N. goals to tackle poverty and inequality and preserve the environment that 178 countries have signed the agreement and 19 have deposited their ratifications. But he said the 19 countries account for less than one percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
The secretary-general encouraged at least 40 countries who committed to ratify the agreement by the end of the year - including major emitters like the United States, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mongolia-air-pollution/">China</a>, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico and Argentina - to do it sooner to accelerate its entry into force and progress on addressing climate change.
"We cannot wait any longer," Royal said. "It's time for actions. This year will be the hottest in history. Last year was the hottest in history and next year ... will be the hottest."
Under the agreement, countries set their own targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The targets are not legally binding, but countries must update them every five years.
Already, states face pressure to do more. Scientific analyses show the initial set of targets that countries pledged before Paris don't match the agreement's long-term goal to keep global warming below 2 degrees<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA"> Celsius</a> (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), compared with pre-industrial times. Global average temperatures have already climbed by almost 1 degree Celsius.
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France and the UN are pressing governments

France and the UN are pressing governments to ratify the...

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Thriving bird populations adapt better to new climate conditions. A new study of population trends among 46 ecologically diverse bird species in North America conducted by avian ecologist Joel Ralston and colleagues at the University of <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/oxbow-connecticut-river/">Massachusetts</a> Amherst overturns a long-held assumption that the climate conditions occupied by a species do not change over time.

Instead, as the researchers report in the current early online issue of Global Ecology and Biogeography, birds that have increased in abundance over the last 30 years now occupy a wider range of climate conditions than they did 30 years ago, and declining species are occupying a smaller range of climate conditions than 30 years ago, Ralston says.

Species with relatively stable population trends maintained them. The authors believe this is the first study to investigate the relationship between population trend and the range of climatic conditions occupied, or "climate niche breadth" (CNB).

Ralston, now at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana, says, "It was previously thought that as species expand their ranges, they would do so while maintaining their climate niche. We show that as species become more abundant, they are actually moving into new climate conditions, and declining species are disappearing from some of the climate conditions they used to be found in. This makes theoretical sense but it counters the long-held assumption that climate niche breadth doesn't change in species."

He explains, "While this is an advancement of ecological theory, I think overturning this assumption is one of the important practical applications of our work. Currently, when conservation biologists make predictions about how species will respond to climate change in order to make decisions about what habitats to protect, they are assuming that these species in the future will be occupying the same conditions as today. We show that that isn't necessarily true. These future models might over-predict the conditions declining species will be found in."

For this study, the researchers estimated changes in "realized climate niche breadth" and population distribution for 30 years, between 1980 and 2012, for 46 bird species using data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and standard ecological niche modeling techniques. For the BBS, which covers most of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">United States</a>, Alaska and some of the Canadian maritime provinces, trained volunteers record species during the breeding season.

For example, the wood thrush is a declining species and one that some conservation biologists are concerned about, Ralston notes. The BBS trend shows a 2 percent per year decline in their numbers. Ralston and colleagues found that this species also showed about a 7.5 percent decrease in its climate niche breadth over the study period. "For those species declining in abundance, we find them also declining in climate niche breadth," they note.

They observed a similar but more severe situation of 43 percent decline in climate niche breadth for grasshopper sparrows, another species of conservation concern. "For conservation managers, this gives us an idea of what to protect in the future. As we show, the conditions a species occupies now might not be the places it occupies in the future. We'd be better informed if we can try to include population trend and its effect on climate niche breadth when planning what habitat to protect," Ralston adds.

Statistical analysis showed that 44.2 percent of the variation in change in niche breadth can be explained by population trend and that roughly half of this was independent of changes in distribution.

Ralston says, "If we build models to predict species distributions in the future, it is not fair to assume species will be occupying the same climate conditions as they are now, especially if they are increasing or decreasing in abundance. We hope these results will contribute to the development of more accurate models of species distributions."


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Thriving bird populations adapt better to new climate conditions

Thriving bird populations adapt better to new climate conditions. A...

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Study: Forests will not save the planet from climate change. Forests take up 25 - 30 percent of human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide -- a strong greenhouse gas -- and are therefore considered to play a crucial role in mitigating the speed and magnitude of climate change. However, a new study that combines future climate model projections, historic tree-ring records across the entire continent of North America, and how the growth rates of trees may respond to a higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has shown that the mitigation effect of forests will likely be much smaller in the future than previously suggested.

Published in the journal Ecology Letters, the study is the first to reveal the possible impact of a changing climate on the growth rate of trees across all of North America, in other words, how their growth changes over time and in response to shifting environmental conditions. The result are detailed forecast maps for the entire North American continent that reveal how forest growth will be impacted by climate change.

The research team, led by scientists at the University of Arizona in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson,_Arizona">Tucson</a>, combined climate projections for North America developed by the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) with historic tree-ring records based on samples covering the period 1900 to 1950 at 1,457 sampling sites across the continent.

"We then looked at how the growth of those trees changed historically under various past climates and used that to predict how they will grow in the future across the continent all the way from Mexico to Alaska," said the study's first author, Noah Charney, a postdoctoral research associate in UA's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

"The research is unprecedented and novel in the use of big biological data," said co-author Brian Enquist, a professor in the UA's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a fellow of the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies in Aspen, Colorado. "We utilized a network of more than two million tree-ring observations spanning <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/two-migrations-north-america/">North America</a>. Tree-rings provide a record into how trees that grow in different climates respond to changes in temperature and rainfall."

The study calls into question previous conclusions about how forests will respond to warmer average temperatures, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and shifting rainfall patterns.

The team was startled to find no evidence for a greenhouse-gas absorbing process called the boreal greening effect in their simulations. Boreal greening refers to the assumption that trees in high latitudes, where colder temperatures limit growth, should benefit from warmer temperatures and higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and, as a result, "green" under the effects of climate change. In turn, these thriving boreal forests should be able to scrub more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so goes the idea, dampening climate change.

"Until now, there wasn't a good way to take into account how trees respond to climate change under novel climate conditions," added senior author Margaret Evans, an assistant research professor in the UA's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) and the UA's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. "Our study provides that perspective. We see that as trees are pushed under the effect of climate change, their response changes."

"Many previous climate modeling studies counted on the boreal forests to save us from the climatic disaster by offsetting our emissions, but we don't' see any greening in our results," said Valerie Trouet, an associate professor in the LTRR. "Instead, we see browning. The positive influence warmer temperatures are believed to have on boreal forests -- we don't see that at all."

The most dramatic changes in projected forest growth rates were found in the interior West of the North American continent, with up to 75 percent slower growth projected for trees in the southwestern U.S., along the Rockies, through interior Canada and Alaska. Increases in growth were seen only along certain coastal areas, mostly in the Pacific Northwest, Northeastern Quebec and the Maritime Provinces and the Florida panhandle.

Some of the predictions arising from the simulations are already happening, the team found.

"In Alaska, for example, where trees have been projected to respond positively to warming temperatures under the boreal greening effect, we see that trees are now responding negatively instead," Evans said. "Trees in very high latitudes are limited by cold temperatures, so yes, in warmer years they grow more, but there is a tipping point, and once they go past that, a warmer climate becomes a bad thing instead of a good thing."

The research indicates that the warming climate already is rapidly pushing many forests towards that tipping point, which may be reached as early as 2050: In addition to being rapidly exposed to temperatures they have not experienced in their lifetimes and are not evolutionarily prepared for, being hampered in their growth makes trees even more vulnerable to added stresses.

"There is a critical and potentially detrimental feedback loop going on here," Charney said. "When the growth rate of trees slows down in response to environmental stressors such as cold or drought, they can get by for a few years, but over time, they deplete their resources and are much more susceptible to additional stressors, such as damage by fire or a big drought or insect outbreaks. Year after year of slow growth therefore means forests become less and less resilient."

As a result, a forest can go from being a climate asset to a carbon producer very quickly.

"It's like a thermostat gone bad," Evans said. "Forests act as a carbon sink by taking carbon dioxide out of atmosphere, but the more the climate is warming, the slower the trees are growing, the less carbon they suck up, the faster the climate is changing."

"The results also highlight the potential importance of locally adapted forest management strategies to help mitigate the decreases in forest growth predicted by our analyses," Charney said.

The implications could potentially apply worldwide. While their models did not include data from outside the North American continent, it "seems very likely that the conclusions drawn in this study apply in the Eurasian forest as well," Evans said. "The boreal forests in Eurasia are more extensive and even more important than the ones in continental North America."
###
An abstract of the research paper, "Observed forest sensitivity to climate implies large changes in 21st century North American forest growth," is available here: <a href="http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/ele.12650" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/ele.12650</a> .

Co-authors on the paper are: Flurin Babst, (LTRR, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL in Birmensdorf, Switzerland, and W. Szafer Institute of Botany at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow, Poland); Benjamin Poulter (Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, USA); Sydne Record (Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, USA); and David Frank (Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL). Funding was provided by the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies in Aspen, Colorado, USA and the UA's College of Science.

Study: Forests will not save the planet from climate change

Study: Forests will not save the planet from climate change....

June 2016 was 14th straight record hot month. Earth's persistent record 2016 heat is now dancing near levels that a world agreement is trying to avoid, federal scientists said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday that globally, June 2016 was the 14th straight record hot month, with Earth averaging 61.52 degrees (16.4 degrees Celsius). That is 1.62 degrees (0.9 degrees Celsius) warmer than average and a shade above the record set in 2015. The last month Earth wasn't record hot was April 2015.

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/noaa-remove-climate-mission/">NOAA</a> Tuesday also warned about excessive heat for much of the United States this week, especially at the end of the week, when parts of the East could be flirting with triple digit temperatures.

Scientists said records keep falling because of a combination of man-made global warming and the natural El Nino, a periodic warming of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide and heats the globe. But El Nino ended a couple months ago and the record heat - and record melting of Arctic sea ice - has stuck around.

What's really got federal scientists' attention is the record warm first half of 2016, which comes after two record hot years.

NOAA said the first half of 2016 was 0.36 degrees (0.2 degrees Celsius) warmer than last year's record.

NASA chief climate scientist Gavin Schmidt said the first six months of the year were not just the warmest on record, by far, but 2.3 degrees warmer (1.3 degrees Celsius) than the last two decades of the 19th century. But more importantly, he said 2016 so far is about 2.7 degrees warmer (1.5 degrees Celsius) than pre-industrial times.

That 1.5 degrees Celsius mark is key. A December 2015 international pact to control global warming set a goal of avoiding 1.5 degrees Celsius warming above pre-industrial levels. And the agreement says if Earth can't limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, at least it should limit it to 2 degrees (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Because <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Niño">El Nino</a> is a factor - Schmidt figured about 40 percent of the reason 2016 is hotter than 2015 is due to El Nino - 2017 will likely be a bit cooler than 2016. When scientists look at long-term warming since pre-industrial times they don't look at one year, but it's still a pretty noticeable threshold, Schmidt said.

"It's fair to say we are dancing with those lower targets," Schmidt said.

Schmidt and NOAA climate scientist Jake Crouch said 2016 will likely be the hottest year on record for a third consecutive year. Schmidt said his statistical calculations put the chance of 2016 being record hot at 99 percent.

Temperature records go back to 1880.

NASA scientists said the warming has caused an extreme melting of Arctic sea ice for the beginning of 2016. Usually Arctic sea ice peaks in the winter and reaches its lowest point in September.

But so far five of the first six months of 2016 set record low averages, said NASA sea ice scientist Walt Meier. Sea ice measurements go back to 1979.

---

Follow Seth Borenstein at http://twitter.com/borenbears and his work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-borenstein

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June 2016 was 14th straight record hot month

June 2016 was 14th straight record hot month. Earth's persistent...

UN: Saving the environment may require people to work less. Saving the environment may require people to work shorter hours in the future, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.
The report by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">U.N.'s</a> International Resource Panel found the amount of raw materials extracted from the Earth has tripled over the last 40 years, fueled by a growing global middle class, and that will require a more efficient use of resources in order to avoid serious environmental consequences.
That increased efficiency will in turn lead to lower costs and higher economic growth which could hamper efforts to reduce overall demand, the report said.
In order to compensate for these gains in efficiency, the report recommends a combination of policy initiatives including shorter working hours and pricing raw materials in way that reflects the social and economic costs of their extraction.
"Rethinking the way we use materials is essential if we are to safeguard humanity's future," the panel's co-chair Alicia Barcena Ibarra said in a statement. "A prosperous and equitable world that overcomes these problems will require transformative changes in how we live our lives and how we consume materials."
According to the report, the amount of raw materials extracted from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/warming-temperatures-soil-expelling-co2/">Earth</a> rose to 70 billion tons in 2010 up from 22 billion tons in 1970.
Meanwhile, the efficiency of raw material use has been declining since 2000, just as their global use has rapidly accelerated as emerging economies like China embarked on ambitious industrial and urban transformations.
The report found that the world's richest countries consume on average 10 times as much raw materials the poorest nations and about twice the world average.
If the world continues on its current trajectory, by 2050 the planet will need three times more raw materials than are consumed today, intensifying climate change and pollution as well as ultimately leading to the depletion of the Earth's natural resources, the report said.
© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

UN: Saving the environment may require people to work less

UN: Saving the environment may require people to work less....

Grand Canyon National Park hires first female superintendent. Grand Canyon National Park's first female superintendent says she will work with the staff to forge ahead after a sexual harassment scandal that led to the retirement of the park's former chief.
Christine Lehnertz will start her new post next month to oversee the park that draws more than 5 million visitors each year, replacing Dave Uberuaga, who retired earlier this year. The National Park Service announced her assignment on Tuesday.Grand Canyon National Park hires first female superintendent
Lehnertz said she has already been learning about the issues the park faces and plans to continue efforts in place that deal with the claims that some male employees harassed female colleagues during trips the agency led on the<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=colorado+river&amp;form=EDGEAR&amp;qs=PF&amp;cvid=5007d08307ce4218bd145cd3544e0dbb&amp;cc=US&amp;setlang=en-US&amp;elv=AY3%21uAY7tbNNZGZ2yiGNjfMa*3koim6WmYuhKqzXqmtQR6rB8NUPst%21pYSs03V9YcG0egPqXUqegWVSjxgCCHmf%21F5VIKYTLhUzAky2EBVtu&amp;plvar=0&amp;PC=HCTS"> Colorado River</a>.
A report by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General in January found that some male employees who worked in the river district preyed on female colleagues, demanded sex and retaliated against women who refused.
The river district provided limited guided tours and emergency and medical services along the Colorado River and was disbanded as a result of the report. Uberuaga and his deputy, Diane Chalfant, were disciplined, although the actions were not made public. Uberuaga announced he was retiring instead of accepting a transfer. Chalfant remains a deputy superintendent.
Lehnertz said she has been in contact with the staff about other reforms. But she wouldn't elaborate on specifics, citing privacy issues and the fact that she's not in a leadership position at the park yet.
The park has developed a plan for supervisory and employee training on sexual harassment, hostile work environment and culture change, according to a summary of actions provided to The Associated Press.
"There's a lot that's being done in terms of trying to break these pieces down and try to understand them," Lehnertz said. "It's not as easy as just going in and saying we're going to change the culture."
Lehnertz is a trained environmental biologist who has been with the National Park Service for nine years. She has been the first woman to hold each of the four leadership positions she's been in, including her current job as the superintendent of the overseeing Golden Gate National Recreation Area in <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/shasta-lake-northern-california/">California</a>, Lehnertz said.
Her top priorities are employee safety as well as creating an inclusive work environment, Lehnertz said.
"Whether it's sexism or sexual harassment or sexual assault, any of those are clearly behaviors that just can't be a part of an organization that is inclusive and is respectful and is part of a larger community," she said.
She'll also face the issue of an aging water pipeline that breaks several times a year and needs replacement. The Trans-Canyon Pipeline was completed in 1970 and runs 15 miles long.
She's ready for the challenges, Lehnertz said.
"It's an amazing place where we're gonna have to do things like healing and rebuilding while continuing to provide really good resources to the visitors and continuing to protect the resources there that are so special," she said.
© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Grand Canyon National Park hires first female superintendent

Grand Canyon National Park hires first female superintendent. Grand Canyon...

A new study shows to where and to what extent palm oil plantations could be expanded, while avoiding further deforestation in pristine and carbon-rich tropical forests

Land used for palm oil production could be nearly doubled without expanding into protected or high-biodiversity forests, according to a new study published in the journal Global Environmental Change. The study is the first to map land suitable for palm oil production on a global scale, while taking into account environmental and climate considerations.

"There is room to expand palm oil production and to do it in a sustainable way," says IIASA researcher Johannes Pirker, who led the study.

Palm oil production has expanded massively, from 6 million hectares in 1990 to 16 million in 2010, an area about the size of Uruguay. The oil, which is used for cooking and as a food additive, now accounts for about 30% of all vegetable oil used worldwide. Palm oil is controversial, in particular because much of this expansion came at the expense of biodiversity-rich tropical forests, which were cut to make room for new plantations. But oil palm farming has also contributed to lifting millions of people out of poverty in Indonesia and Malaysia, the top palm oil producing countries. And an important share of palm oil producers are small-holder farmers who rely on the commodity as their primary income.

With palm oil as the number one cooking oil in Asia, where populations are rising, demand for the oil is expected to continue growing, and many developing countries are looking to expand their production. Yet it was not clear how much land is available for expansion. In the new study, researchers started by creating a global map of where the conditions are right for producing palm oil, based on temperature, rainfall, slope, and soil type.

From a purely biophysical perspective, they found that nearly 1.37 billion hectares of land globally are suitable for oil palm cultivation, in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia. From this they then removed any land which is already being used for other purposes, such as farming, residences, or cities. For this, the researchers relied on the hybrid land cover maps developed at IIASA using crowdsourced data.

Finally, the researchers ruled out areas that are protected by law, as well as forests that are particularly valuable from a biodiversity or carbon storage perspective. With all of these areas removed, the resulting map includes an area of 19.3 million hectares of very suitable land which could potentially be available for future production. This is slightly more than the current extent of palm oil production, 18.1 million hectares. However, among this area, about half is more than ten hours drive to the closest city which might not allow for economically profitable oil production. The map, published online, is also available for download.

"This analysis will be a useful tool to identify area for future oil palm investments that meets some basic environmental standards. The maps are available to stakeholders who can combine them with local information to address other dimensions of sustainable development," says IIASA researcher Aline Mosnier, who also worked on the study.

Growing attention to the deforestation caused by palm oil has led many companies to begin aiming for sustainability certification in their sourcing. However, the researchers argue that consumers and companies need to go a step beyond that. Pirker says, "Moves to ban palm oil are misguided. What we need to do instead is look at the origin of the oil, who is growing it how and where. Certification is a first step in the right direction but companies committed to sustainability should look in more detail at their supply chains, and consumers can demand this of them."
###
Reference

Pirker, J., Mosnier, A., Kraxner, F., Havlik, P. and Obersteiner, M. (2016) What are the limits to oil palm expansion? Global Environmental Change, 40, 73-81 doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.06.007

Scientists are working to make palm oil sustainable

A new study shows to where and to what extent...

Rocks formed beneath the ocean floor by fast-spreading tectonic plates may be a large and previously overlooked source of free hydrogen gas (H2), a new Duke University study suggests.

The finding could have far-ranging implications since scientists believe H2 might be the fuel source responsible for triggering life on Earth. And, if it were found in large enough quantities, some experts speculate that it could be used as a clean-burning substitute for fossil fuels today because it gives off high amounts of energy when burned but emits only water, not carbon.

Recent discoveries of free hydrogen gas, which was once thought to be very rare, have been made near slow-spreading tectonic plates deep beneath Earth's continents and under the sea.

"Our model, however, predicts that large quantities of H2 may also be forming within faster-spreading tectonic plates -- regions that collectively underlie roughly half of the Mid-Ocean Ridge," said Stacey L. Worman, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, who led the study while she was a doctoral student at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

Total H2 production occurring beneath the oceans is at least an order of magnitude larger than production occurring under continents, the model suggests.

"A major benefit of this work is that it provides a testable, tectonic-based model for not only identifying where free hydrogen gas may be forming beneath the seafloor, but also at what rate, and what the total scale of this formation may be, which on a global basis is massive," said Lincoln F. Pratson, professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke, who co-authored the study.

The scientists published their peer-reviewed study in the July 14 online edition of the journalGeophysical Research Letters.

The new model calculates the amount of free hydrogen gas produced and stored beneath the seafloor based on a range of parameters -- including the ratio of a site's tectonic spreading rate to the thickness of serpentinized rocks that might be found there.

Serpentinized rocks -- so called because they often have a scaly, greenish-brown-patterned surface that resembles snakeskin -- are rocks that have been chemically altered by water as they are lifted up by the spreading tectonic plates in Earth's crust.

Molecules of free hydrogen gas are produced as a by-product of the serpentinization process.

"Most scientists previously thought all hydrogen production occurs only at slow-spreading lithosphere, because this is where most serpentinized rocks are found. Although faster-spreading lithosphere contains smaller quantities of this rock, our analysis suggests the amount of H2 produced there might still be large," Worman said.

"Right now, the only way to get H2 -- to use in fuel cells, for example -- is through secondary processes," Worman explained. "You start with water, add energy to split the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/earth-oxygen-boring-billion/">oxygen</a> and hydrogen molecules apart, and get H2. You can then burn the H2, but you had to use energy to get energy, so it's not very efficient."

Mining free hydrogen gas as a primary fuel source could change that, but first scientists need to understand where the gas goes after it's produced. "Maybe microbes are eating it, or maybe it's accumulating in reservoirs under the seafloor. We still don't know," Worman said. "Of course, such accumulations would have to be quite significant to make hydrogen gas produced by serpentinization a viable fuel source."

If further research confirms the model's accuracy, it could also open new avenues for exploring the origin of life on Earth, and for understanding the role hydrogen gas might play in supporting life in a wide range of extreme environments, from the sunless deep-sea floor to distant planets.
###
Worman and Pratson conducted the study with Jeffrey Karson, professor of earth sciences at Syracuse University, and Emily Klein, professor of earth sciences at Duke.

Worman received her Ph.D. in earth and ocean sciences from Duke in 2015.

CITATION: "Global Rate and Distribution of H2 Gas Produced by Serpentinization within Oceanic Lithosphere," Stacey L. Worman, Lincoln F. Pratson, Jeffrey Karson, Emily Klein.Geophysical Research Letters, July 14, 2016. DOI: 10.1002/2016GL069066

Oceans may be a large source of free hydrogen gas

Rocks formed beneath the ocean floor by fast-spreading tectonic plates...

Lizard genome gives insight into climate change. Using genomic data from three lizard species, City College of New York-led researchers gleaned insights not available before on the impact of climate change on the distribution of animal populations in South American forests. The findings improve ways of modeling the distribution of biodiversity in the past and future.

"We saw that as the forest has changed, lizard populations have also changed. Yet, different lizards species showed either expansions or contractions, suggesting that responses to climate change are not the same for every organism," said Ivan Prates, a PhD student in the Carnaval Lab in City College's Division of Science and the Graduate Center, CUNY. He is the first author of the study.

Lizard genome gives insight into climate change. The team studied the genomes of species widespread in the Amazon and <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/atlantic-coastline-southern-brazil/">Atlantic</a> forests, asking if and how populations expanded or contracted in response to changes in precipitation over the last 200,000 years. It then inferred how widely these lizards have been able to disperse over time.

"By studying genomes, which guard signatures of how population sizes changed over time, we inferred how abundant and widespread these organisms were in the past. This allowed us, for the first time, to outline plausible scenarios of the distribution of genomic diversity for the future," said Prates.
###
The study, "Inferring responses to climate dynamics from historical demography in Neotropical forest lizards," is a collaboration between the Carnaval and Hickerson laboratories in CCNY's Department of Biology. Other co-authors include CCNY's Alexander T. Xue, Ana C. Carnaval and Michael J. Hickerson. It appears in the latest PNAS and was jointly funded by NSF, the Brazilian science agency FAPESP and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA.</a>

About The City College of New York

Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided low-cost, high-quality education for New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. More than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in the College of Liberal Arts and Science; Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; School of Education; Grove School of Engineering; Sophie Davis Biomedical Education/CUNY School of Medicine; and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. U.S. News, Princeton Review and Forbes all rank City College among the best colleges and universities in the United States.

Lizard genome gives insight into climate change

Lizard genome gives insight into climate change. Using genomic data...

First study to show that deciduous tree water uptake of snowmelt water represents a large but overlooked aspect of the water cycle in boreal watersheds

Trees play a surprising role in the water cycle. Approximately 25 to 50 percent of a living tree is made up of water, depending on the species and time of year. The water stored in trees has previously been considered just a minor part of the water cycle, but a new study by University of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=alaska+airlines&amp;form=EDGEAR&amp;qs=LS&amp;cvid=b01cd5804ef94428899d1a42beca17e1&amp;cc=US&amp;setlang=en-US&amp;elv=AY3%21uAY7tbNNZGZ2yiGNjfMa*3koim6WmYuhKqzXqmtQJDg%21TXLJQdKc8qulnPuP2HsXJk9wtd%21dGVLdCAsEDkO1klF6fuy1sFFvpS9JSyPj&amp;plvar=0&amp;PC=HCTS">Alaska</a> Fairbanks scientists shows otherwise.

Research published this week in Nature Scientific Reports is the first to show that the uptake of snowmelt water by deciduous trees represents a large and previously overlooked aspect of the water balance in boreal watersheds. The study was led by Jessica Young-Robertson, who worked with other scientists from the National Weather Service and UAF's International <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/antarctic-ice-loss-sea-level/">Arctic</a> Research Center and Geophysical Institute.Trees play a surprising role in the water cycle

The results are critical for understanding boreal forest hydrology and ecology, including soil moisture, the availability of freshwater, tree health and the ways trees influence regional weather, particularly thunderstorms. All of these factors are important for understanding the frequency and severity of wildland fires.

Like a straw, trees draw water up from the soil and eventually release it into the atmosphere through leaves or needles. The scientists measured the water content in both deciduous and evergreen trees in several locations at different times of the year.

They found that deciduous trees took up a surprisingly large amount of water in the period between snowmelt and leaf-out. These trees absorbed 21 to 25 percent of the available snowmelt water -- to the point of being completely saturated. For the boreal forest of Alaska and Western Canada, this equates to about 17-20 billion cubic meters of water per year. That is roughly equivalent to 8 million Olympic-sized swimming pools or 8-10 percent of the Yukon River's annual discharge.

The study also quantified transpiration -- the water that trees release to the atmosphere. The researchers found that deciduous trees transpired 2 to 12 percent of the absorbed snowmelt water immediately after leaf-out. This concentrated period of transpiration has the potential to create more favorable conditions for atmospheric convection and thunderstorms, which start many of the wildfires in the sparsely populated boreal forest region.

Calculating the amount of water stored by deciduous trees is important. The area occupied by deciduous trees in the boreal forest is expected to increase 1 to 15 percent by the end of this century, and the absorption of snowmelt could also then increase.

This is the first study to show that deciduous tree water uptake of snowmelt water represents a large but overlooked aspect of the water balance in boreal watersheds. Tree water dynamics impact many processes. Quantifying tree water storage is important for understanding hydrology, tree response to drought and the related factors of tree water use, soil moisture and climate.
###
The full study, "Deciduous trees are a large and overlooked sink for snowmelt water in the boreal forest," by authors Young-Robertson, W. Robert Bolton, Uma S. Bhatt, Jordi Cristóbal and Richard Thoman is available online at: <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep29504" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.nature.com/articles/srep29504</a>.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Jessica Young-Robertson at <a href="mailto:jmrobertson3@alaska.edu">jmrobertson3@alaska.edu</a> or 907-474-1553

Young-Roberston was supported by United States Geological Survey Changing Arctic Ecosystem Initiative, Wildlife Program of the USGS Ecosystem Mission Area, National Science Foundation Hydrology grant #1114457, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program grant #DE-SC0006913. W.R. Bolton and U. Bhatt received financial support from the Alaska Climate Science Center, funded by Cooperative Agreement G10AC00588 from the United States Geological Survey.

Trees play a surprising role in the water cycle

First study to show that deciduous tree water uptake 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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the complex relationship between ocean and climate. ESA's Climate Change Initiative will help us understand how oceans influence the climate and how climate change is impacting the oceans.&nbsp;



"Earth’s oceans are huge heat stores, soaking up 93% of the excess heat from human activity over the past 70 years. Ocean currents redistribute heat around the planet, from the Equator to the poles. Where this ocean heat goes influences weather patterns and regional climate," explains ESA.



"As well as absorbing heat, oceans are a natural carbon sink, absorbing a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions from human activity. This has led to the acidification of ocean water, threating marine life."



The amount of heat and carbon dioxide soaked up by the ocean depends on specific variables, including phytoplankton, temperatures, waves, salinity, and ice cover. Satellites can be used to measure these variables from space.



"From their unique vantage point, satellites provide key information for understanding the complexities of our planet and monitoring environmental issues," says ESA.



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Ocean heat influences regional climate

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



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



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



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



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



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



Image/ Video Credit: ESA



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

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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

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



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



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



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



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

Monitoring deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

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