It's known as the "boring billion," a murky period in Earth's history between 1.8 billion and 800 million years ago, when life's complexity didn't extend much beyond single-celled organisms.



Apart from the occasional multicellular life form, most of the living species during that time period were simple, unicellular organisms that had minimal requirements for life. 



But don't mistake "boring" for insignificant. This epoch of evolution laid the foundation for the drama of complex multicellularity that would eventually lead to us.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-energy-fuel-for-evolution">Energy: Fuel for evolution</h2>



The boring billion period appears to mark a time when the evolution of complex life was delayed and conditions were so stable as to border on stagnant. 



Scientists state that oxygen levels at this time were drastically decreased and conditions were fairly harsh for most forms of life.



A new study by Michael Lynch of <a href="https://www.asu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arizona State University</a> has revealed that the transition from unicellular to multicellular life forms would have come at a cost.



Using the water flea, Daphnia, as a <a href="https://phys.org/tags/model+organism/">model organism</a>, the study shows that multicellular organisms require more than a tenfold increase in energy compared with the simpler, unicellular organisms characteristic of the boring billion period. 



"No one doubts that multicellularity can bring substantial advantages to the table, but the privilege of attaining such benefits comes at a steep investment cost," said Lynch, who directs the <a href="https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fbiodesign.asu.edu%2Fmechanisms-of-evolution%2F&amp;utm_campaign=aga&amp;utm_source=agsadl2%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution</a> at ASU.



The study emphasizes the importance of respiration and other metabolic processes in navigating the transition to more complex life forms. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cost-of-complexity">Cost of complexity </h2>



Every organism, from the smallest bacterium to a human, is driven by energy. Having an entire body made of only one cell reduces the need for energy and nutrients to grow and reproduce. 



But multicellular organisms, like plants, animals, and fungi, have to maintain a multitude of cells in complex tissues, organs and structures. And this places a far higher energy demand on the organism.



As the cell count increases in a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-life-and-environment-co-evolved-over-500-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multicellular organism</a>, so does the demand on ATP synthase, the molecular machinery in cells that manufactures ATP, the universal energy currency. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/multicelled-organisms_metazoan-daphnia_credit-Marek-Mis_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/multicelled-organisms_metazoan-daphnia_credit-Marek-Mis_1s.webp" alt="A new study shows that multicelled organisms like the metazoan daphnia (pictured) require a tenfold increase in energy compared with protists for their growth, maintenance and survival. The high cost of multicellular existence is offset by the many evolutionary advantages afforded to advanced organisms, from simpler forms like daphnia all the way up to vertebrate species, including humans. Credit: Marek Miś" class="wp-image-1950209"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A new study shows that multicelled organisms like the metazoan daphnia (pictured) require a tenfold increase in energy compared with protists for their growth, maintenance and survival. The high cost of multicellular existence is offset by the many evolutionary advantages afforded to advanced organisms, from simpler forms like daphnia all the way up to vertebrate species, including humans. Credit: Marek Miś</figcaption></figure>



Each new cell in a multicellular body is another mouth to feed in terms of energy, and the cost increases with the number of cells.



The findings of the Daphnia study show that metazoans - the group that includes multicellular creatures - need a lot more ATP synthase complexes in each cell than their simpler, unicellular counterparts.



In fact, for every increment in body mass, these organisms require 30 to 50 times more oxygen than simpler, unicellular creatures. This additional oxygen supports the complex needs for metabolism, cellular communication, and tissue maintenance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-size-comes-at-a-price">Size comes at a price</h2>



Growth isn't cheap, particularly for multicellular organisms. 



While larger, unicellular organisms, like some amoebas, become more efficient as they grow, multicellular organisms face unique challenges that require extra energy to sustain their larger sizes and more complex structures.



Given this steep energy price, why did multicellularity evolve at all? 



The answer seems to be that multicellular life offers evolutionary advantages, such as being able to consume unicellular organisms en masse, evade predators, and live in various environments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-overcoming-energy-barriers">Overcoming energy barriers</h2>



To surmount the energetic challenges presented by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/past-snowball-earth-conditions-drove-evolution-complex-multicellular-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multicellularity</a>, organisms have developed remarkable adaptations to utilize their resources efficiently. 



One key adaptation is the division of labor between specialized cells, tissues, and organs; this specialization allows for optimized energy usage where cells perform distinct functions more efficiently than they would if they had to carry out all the different life activities.



For example, mitochondria within eukaryotic cells have evolved highly efficient pathways to generate ATP, thus maximizing the energy harvested from different substrates.



Furthermore, the development of vascular systems in plants and circulatory systems in animals allows for the effective distribution of energy resources, and ensures that all cells have access to the oxygen and nutrients necessary to produce energy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-of-the-boring-billion">Implications of the "boring billion"</h2>



Understanding the evolutionary narrative of the "boring billion" holds powerful implications for modern scientific research. 



This era not only reflects the energy-centric challenges of the past but also informs the fields of synthetic biology, evolutionary biology, and bioengineering.



By studying the metabolic pathways and energy efficiencies developed during this period, researchers can potentially design bio-inspired systems and organisms with enhanced functionalities and sustainability.



Furthermore, insights gained from this epoch's evolutionary innovations could pioneer future advancements in medical therapies, agriculture, and ecosystem management. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions</h2>



This study primarily focuses on aerobic, animal-like organisms. But there's a vast and varied spectrum of life out there, including plants and fungi, and the researchers plan to extend their investigations to these life forms. 



Future insights could shed light on why <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biggest-known-space-cloud-of-life-building-complex-chemicals-discovered/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multicellular life forms</a> took a considerable time to appear and diversify on our planet.



Multicellular life has high energy demands and this study suggests that the constraints of bioenergy could be a universal phenomenon that is applicable to any carbon-based, oxygen-breathing life, no matter where it exists in the universe.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2414742121" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



-----



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'Boring billion' wasn’t a dull period, it fueled a shift to complex life

It's known as the "boring billion," a murky period in Earth's history between 1.8 billion and 800 million years ago, when life's complexity didn't extend much beyond single-celled organisms. Apart from the occasional multicellular life form, most of the living species during that time period were simple, unicellular organisms that had minimal requirements for life. But don't mistake "boring" for insignificant. This epoch of evolution laid the foundation for the drama of complex multicellularity that would eventually lead to us. Energy: Fuel for evolution The boring billion...

90 Percent Of All Scientists Believe In Man-Made Climate Change. A Purdue University-led survey of nearly 700 scientists from non-climate disciplines shows that more than 90 percent believe in man-made climate change -- that average global temperatures are higher than pre-1800s levels and that human activity has significantly contributed to the rise.

The study is the first to show that consensus on human-caused climate change extends beyond climate scientists to the broader scientific community, said Linda Prokopy, a professor of natural resource social science.

"Our survey indicates that an overwhelming majority of scientists across disciplines believe in anthropogenic climate change, are highly certain of these beliefs and find climate science to be credible," Prokopy said. "Our results also suggest that scientists who are climate change skeptics are well in the minority."

Previous studies have shown that about 97 percent of actively publishing climate scientists believe in human-caused climate change, and a review of scientific literature on the existence of climate change indicated that about 97 percent of studies affirm climate change is happening.

However, no direct surveys had assessed whether the general agreement on the impact of human activities on the Earth's climate extended to scientists in other disciplines.

Prokopy and fellow researchers conducted a 2014 survey of scientists from more than 10 non-climate disciplines at Big Ten universities to determine the relative prevalence of belief in, and skepticism of, climate change in the scientific community.

Of 698 respondents, about 94 percent said they believe average global temperatures have "generally risen" compared with pre-1800 levels, and 92 percent said they believe "human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures."

Nearly 79 percent said they "strongly agree" and about 15 percent "moderately agree" that climate science is credible. About 64 percent said climate science is a mature science compared with their own field, and about 63 percent rated climate science as "about equally trustworthy" compared to their discipline.

Disagreement about climate change is rarely a simple dispute about facts, Prokopy said. People's interpretation of information can also be influenced by their cultural and political values, worldview, and personal identity. Prokopy's research team found that division over climate change was linked to disagreement over science - such as the potential effects of carbon dioxide on the Earth's climate - but also differing cultural and political values, which the survey gauged in a section of questions on respondents' general worldviews.

While cultural values did not appear to influence scientists as much as previous studies have shown they influence the general public on a variety of issues, including climate change, the survey indicated that "when it comes to climate change, scientists are people, too," said lead author Stuart Carlton, a former postdoctoral research assistant in Prokopy's lab.

"While our study shows that a large majority of scientists believe in human-caused climate change, it also shows that their beliefs are influenced by the same types of things that influence the beliefs of regular people: cultural values, political ideologies and personal identity," he said.

Prokopy said she was "quite surprised to find cultural values influencing scientists as much as they are. This shows how strong these values are and how hard they are to change."

Respondents' certainty in their beliefs on climate change appeared to be linked to the source of their climate information. Certainty was correlated to how much of respondents' climate information came from scientific literature or mainstream media, Prokopy said. The more respondents relied on scientific studies for information on climate change, the greater their certainty that human activity is causing the Earth's temperatures to rise.

"Climate literature is very compelling and convincing," she said. "Scientists are not fabricating their data."

Nearly 60 percent of those who believe in climate change said they were "extremely sure" and about 31 percent said they were "very sure" average global temperatures have risen. Respondents who said they believe global temperatures have fallen or remained constant were "significantly less certain" in their beliefs, Prokopy said.

Carlton said the tendency of some media to portray climate change as more controversial among scientists than it actually is could decrease people's certainty in whether climate change is occurring and its potential causes.

"The media probably do this for good reasons: They want to give each side of a story to try to be balanced," said Carlton, now the healthy coastal ecosystems and social science specialist at Texas Sea Grant. "However, our study shows that there is very little disagreement among climate scientists or other scientists about the existence of climate change or the quality of climate science as a discipline. There are important questions about what we should do about climate change, but those are policy controversies, not science controversies."

The survey results did not reveal many strikingly different responses by discipline, Prokopy said, though among the fields of study represented, natural resource scientists showed the highest amount of skepticism that global temperatures have risen.

Respondents across disciplines nearly unanimously agreed that climate science is credible, but views on its maturity and trustworthiness compared with their own discipline varied. Physicists and chemists, for example, rated climate science as a highly credible discipline but gave it lower marks in trustworthiness and overall maturity compared with their own fields. Prokopy said this was "not surprising given that physics and chemistry are some of the oldest, most established scientific disciplines."

While previous studies showed that many prominent climate science skeptics were physicists, Carlton said this survey did not show similar evidence.

"The proportion of physicists and chemists who believed in climate change was right around average."

---

<a href="http://www.purdue.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Purdue University</a>

90 Percent Of All Scientists Believe In Man-Made Climate Change

90 Percent Of All Scientists Believe In Man-Made Climate Change....

California Regulators To Restore Unique Climate Change Program. California regulators are poised to restore a first-in-the-nation climate change program that requires a 10 percent cut in carbon emissions on transportation fuels sold in the state by 2020, despite <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/life-in-deep-ocean-sediments-can-survive-boiling-hot-temperatures/">oil</a> industry objections that it could drive up gas prices.
After the program survived a lengthy legal challenge from fuel makers, regulators are expected to vote Friday on the clean <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=fuel&amp;cvid=73d3c3dfaa6a41e78afa7996c05e2786&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">fuel</a> standard, which environmentalists and some business groups are hailing as one of California's most important moves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. California Regulators To Restore Unique Climate Change Program
The California Air Resources Board estimates the economic impact to consumers would be a few cents per gallon, costing a typical commuter $5 to $21 extra in 2017, increasing to $12 to $48 annually in 2020.California Regulators To Restore Unique Climate Change Program
"It is giving clear direction to the fuel-producing sector that this is the direction of the state," said John Boesel, president and chief executive of CALSTART, a transportation business group that supports clean-energy technology.
The standard's expected passage was a boost for Gov. Jerry Brown, who has vowed to intensify his fight against climate change after the oil lobby helped kill a Democratic legislative proposal earlier this month to slash statewide petroleum use by half in 15 years.
Unlike other rules the state has adopted requiring cleaner-burning fuel or more fuel-efficient vehicles, the standard, first proposed in a 2007 executive order from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, calls for counting all the pollution required to deliver gasoline, diesel or alternative fuels to in-state consumers - from drilling a new oil well or planting corn to delivering it to gas stations.
In addition to tailpipe emissions, it includes factors such as whether an ethanol factory uses coal or natural gas to power production or an oil rig uses diesel fuel to drill.
Oil producers say the standard will cost consumers much more in a state with some of the highest gas prices in the nation as the companies try to comply with the mandate or face being shut out of the market.
Supporters say that industry can afford to make it work. They believe the program will encourage greater use of cleaner biofuels and electric vehicles, which can be cheaper to operate than those powered by gasoline or diesel.
The Western States Petroleum Association, which represents oil companies, said there are not enough quantities of low-carbon biofuels to allow refiners to comply with the regulations.
All fuels are measured against a baseline pollution standard. If a fuel falls above or below the baseline, it generates a credit or deficit that other producers can buy and sell to meet the target. It's up to fuel producers to figure out how to meet the goal, whether by changing production methods, using ethanol or electric vehicles for transportation or buying credits on the market.
Regulators are targeting transportation fuels because California's roughly 30 million vehicles account for about 40 percent of the state's emissions. The rest comes from generating electricity and industrial manufacturing, as well as commercial, residential and agricultural uses.
After the rule's initial adoption, out-of-state refiners and ethanol companies were among those who sued, arguing that transporting the fuels into California alone made them less competitive against in-state producers. They argued the law unconstitutionally limits interstate commerce.
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a 2013 appeals court decision upholding the fuel standard. Opponents continue to challenge the state's authority to regulate out-of-state production. Oil companies are also trying to block a similar standard enacted in Oregon, the only other state with a clean fuel standard.
Responding to concerns, California's air regulators have proposed changes, including capping the price of credits to avoid price spikes. The board could also add provisions giving credit to refineries for using renewable hydrogen and making other investments to reduce pollutants.
While the reduction target has been frozen at 1 percent, state officials say the industry has met 2 percent of the goal as of last year.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

California Regulators To Restore Unique Climate Change Program

California Regulators To Restore Unique Climate Change Program. California regulators...

Using Blacklists To Protect The Rainforests. Brazil's public authorities regularly publish "blacklists" of municipalities with high illegal rainforest deforestation rates. This environmental policy tool is working: scientists at the Center for Development <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/biomedical-research-could-protect-humans-from-next-pandemic/">Research</a> (ZEF) and the Institute for Food and Resource Economics (ILR) at the University of Bonn have found that the public shaming strategy reduced Amazon forest loss in the blacklisted districts by 26% per year. Their findings have now been published in the journal PLOS ONE.Using Blacklists To Protect The Rainforests

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has declined recently. While in 2004, trees were still being felled on more than 27,000 square kilometers of land, the area was reduced to fewer than 10,000 square kilometers starting in 2009. "There is a whole range of factors causing this," says Elías Cisneros, Junior Researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and an employee of the Institute for Food and Resource Economics (ILR) at the University of Bonn. For instance, demand for internationally traded agrarian and forestry products also dropped in response to the financial crisis in 2008. However, Brazil's environmental policy has played a key role in protecting the rainforest, as Cisneros has shown in his work with Sophie Lian Zhou (ILR) and Junior Professor Dr. Jan Börner (ZEF).

Public disclosure of districts with high deforestation rates

The researchers studied the effect of so-called blacklists - Brazilian authorities regularly publish the names of communities with the highest deforestation rates. "The media and non-governmental organizations can then increase pressure to hold responsible local actors accountable," reports Börner. According to the researchers' calculations, the "naming and shaming" policy has resulted in an approximately 26 percent drop in deforestation in recent years.

Brazil has used this political tool since 2008. Of the 771 districts in the Brazilian rainforest, "naming and shaming" was introduced in 50 areas with particularly high levels of deforestation. "Blacklisted municipalities may have been worried about economic penalties, among other things," says Cisneros. This fear of losing market opportunities apparently helped to significantly reduce illegal deforestation.

How much deforestation would be taking place without the blacklists?

Stricter controls by authorities are another important factor. Controls are facilitated by Brazil's modern satellite monitoring system. That makes it easier for inspectors to track down offenders of environmental laws on site. "However, our calculations showed that the blacklists are an important influencing factor in addition to the controls," reports Cisneros. The researchers compared the listed communities with comparable non-listed communities. "Between 2008 and 2012, many blacklisted districts have apparently witnessed a collective effort to safeguard their reputation. This effort seems to have been an important driver in protecting more than 4,000 square kilometers, about 40 times the area of the Black Forest National Park in Germany," says Börner in his summary of the findings.Brazil's public authorities regularly publish "blacklists" of municipalities with high illegal rainforest deforestation rates.

Term paper as a basis for the study

The study is based on a term paper by Sophie Lian Zhou, a doctoral student at the Agricultural Science Department of the University of Bonn. She discovered the blacklisting policy in Börner's master-level course on impact evaluation methods and started studying the policy in her final paper. "Börner and Cisneros were interested in the topic, so we pursued it further as a joint research project," says Zhou. The result is a successful example of research-based teaching.

---

<a href="http://www.uni-bonn.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Bonn</a>

Using Blacklists To Protect The Rainforests

Using Blacklists To Protect The Rainforests. Brazil's public authorities regularly...

EPA To Change Diesel Emissions Tests After Volkswagen Scandal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans sweeping changes to the way it tests for diesel emissions after getting duped by clandestine software in <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=Volkswagen&amp;cvid=d11ae925f23340058125bfae31e152a7&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Volkswagen</a> cars for seven years.
Chris Grundler, head of the EPA's office of transportation and air quality, indicated the agency would add on-road testing to its regimen. VW's sophisticated software allowed its cars to pass tests in the lab and then spew pollution into the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/earths-atmosphere-beyond-moon/">atmosphere</a> while on the highway.
The revelations meant unwanted scrutiny for the EPA. Its testing procedures have been criticized for being predictable and outdated, making it relatively easy for VW to cheat. What's more, the EPA did not initially uncover the problem; researchers at West Virginia University did, using on-road testing.
Grundler says the changes are designed to detect software and other methods automakers might use to rig a test.
The EPA and the California Air Resources Board have engineers who are "developing clever ways in which these things can be detected," Grundler says.
He also notes that testing of diesel engines, which make up only 1 percent of the vehicles on U.S. roads, wasn't the top priority for the EPA. The agency did have on-road testing equipment - but it was assigned to monitor automaker gas mileage estimates and heavy-duty diesel trucks, where cheating had been uncovered in the past.
Grundler, who has been with the EPA for more than three decades, says the lack of on-road testing for diesels "might change in the future." An announcement of the changes could come on Friday.
VW has admitted to installing software on Volkswagen and Audi cars with four-cylinder diesel engines that switches on pollution controls when they are being tested. When the software, called a "defeat device," determines that the cars are back on real roads, the controls are turned off. The EPA says about 500,000 U.S. cars including the Jetta, Golf, Beetle, Passat and Audi A3 have the cheating software, and VW says a total of 11 million cars have it worldwide.
VW was able to fool the EPA because the agency only tested the cars on treadmill-like devices called dynamometers and didn't use portable test equipment on real roads. The software in the cars' engine-control computers checked the speed, steering wheel position, air pressure and other factors to determine when dynamometer tests were under way. It then turned on pollution controls that reduced the output of nitrogen oxide, an ingredient in harmful ozone, the EPA has said.
VW started the scheme with the 2009 model year, and may not have been caught without testing performed at West Virginia University on behalf of the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit group that advises governments on regulations. EPA and California regulators confronted VW with those findings to VW in May 2014. The automaker eventually did a recall late last year, without much improvement, the EPA says.
Only when the EPA and CARB refused to approve VW's 2016 diesel models for sale did the company admit what it had done.
The EPA announced the violations a week ago and said VW could face billions in fines. The agency said the cars are safe to drive but VW will have to pay to recall and fix them. The agency also is going to test diesels from other manufacturers to make sure they don't have similar devices.
Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida is frustrated that regulatory agencies such as the EPA are failing to protect the public. "Seven years is way too long a time that the EPA has been asleep at the switch," he says.
He says the VW case has similarities to those involving General Motors ' defective ignition switches and Takata Corp.'s exploding air bag inflators, where it also took years before those problems were disclosed to consumers.
"When there is this kind of deception, we've got to get these agencies to be able to cut through it and catch it," Nelson says.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans sweeping changes to the way it tests for diesel emissions after getting duped by clandestine software in Volkswagen cars for seven years.
It's not the first time the EPA has had to change testing to make sure automakers are playing by the rules. Earlier this year the agency updated gas mileage tests after some automakers were caught with inflated window sticker estimates.
Grundler disputes the notion that EPA would never have caught VW without the outside help. European regulators were looking into VW's on-road diesel emissions as far back as 2012, and since diesels make up half the cars there, the EPA decided to let Europe take the lead, he says.
"I don't think it's fair to say that this would never have been uncovered," he says. "Do I wish we had uncovered it sooner? Absolutely."
----
Daly reported from Washington, D.C.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

EPA To Change Diesel Emissions Tests After Volkswagen Scandal

EPA To Change Diesel Emissions Tests After Volkswagen Scandal. The...

California Regulators To Restore Unique Climate Change Program. California regulators are poised to restore a first-in-the-nation climate change program that requires a 10 percent cut in carbon emissions on transportation fuels sold in the state by 2020, despite <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/life-in-deep-ocean-sediments-can-survive-boiling-hot-temperatures/">oil</a> industry objections that it could drive up gas prices.
After the program survived a lengthy legal challenge from fuel makers, regulators are expected to vote Friday on the clean fuel standard, which environmentalists and some business groups are hailing as one of California's most important moves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. California Regulators To Restore Unique Climate Change Program
The California Air Resources Board estimates the economic impact to consumers would be a few cents per gallon, costing a typical commuter $5 to $21 extra in 2017, increasing to $12 to $48 annually in 2020.
"It is giving clear direction to the fuel-producing sector that this is the direction of the state," said John Boesel, president and chief executive of CALSTART, a transportation business group that supports clean-energy technology. California regulators are poised to restore a first-in-the-nation climate change program
The standard's expected passage was a boost for Gov. Jerry Brown, who has vowed to intensify his fight against climate change after the oil lobby helped kill a Democratic legislative proposal earlier this month to slash statewide petroleum use by half in 15 years.
Unlike other rules the state has adopted requiring cleaner-burning fuel or more fuel-efficient vehicles, the standard, first proposed in a 2007 executive order from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, calls for counting all the pollution required to deliver gasoline, diesel or alternative fuels to in-state consumers - from drilling a new oil well or planting corn to delivering it to gas stations.
In addition to tailpipe emissions, it includes factors such as whether an ethanol factory uses coal or natural gas to power production or an oil rig uses diesel fuel to drill.
Oil producers say the standard will cost consumers much more in a state with some of the highest gas prices in the nation as the companies try to comply with the mandate or face being shut out of the market.
Supporters say that industry can afford to make it work. They believe the program will encourage greater use of cleaner biofuels and electric vehicles, which can be cheaper to operate than those powered by gasoline or diesel.
The Western States Petroleum Association, which represents oil companies, said there are not enough quantities of low-<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=carbon&amp;cvid=82e9cb2aea634876a0139758e910eb51&amp;pglt=43&amp;FORM=ANNTA1&amp;PC=HCTS">carbon</a> biofuels to allow refiners to comply with the regulations.
All fuels are measured against a baseline pollution standard. If a fuel falls above or below the baseline, it generates a credit or deficit that other producers can buy and sell to meet the target. It's up to fuel producers to figure out how to meet the goal, whether by changing production methods, using ethanol or electric vehicles for transportation or buying credits on the market.
Regulators are targeting transportation fuels because California's roughly 30 million vehicles account for about 40 percent of the state's emissions. The rest comes from generating electricity and industrial manufacturing, as well as commercial, residential and agricultural uses.
After the rule's initial adoption, out-of-state refiners and ethanol companies were among those who sued, arguing that transporting the fuels into California alone made them less competitive against in-state producers. They argued the law unconstitutionally limits interstate commerce.
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a 2013 appeals court decision upholding the fuel standard. Opponents continue to challenge the state's authority to regulate out-of-state production. Oil companies are also trying to block a similar standard enacted in Oregon, the only other state with a clean fuel standard.
Responding to concerns, California's air regulators have proposed changes, including capping the price of credits to avoid price spikes. The board could also add provisions giving credit to refineries for using renewable hydrogen and making other investments to reduce pollutants.
While the reduction target has been frozen at 1 percent, state officials say the industry has met 2 percent of the goal as of last year.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

EPA To Change Diesel Emissions Tests After Volkswagen Scandal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans sweeping changes to the way it tests for diesel emissions after getting duped by clandestine software in Volkswagen cars for seven years.
Chris Grundler, head of the EPA's office of transportation and air quality, indicated the agency would add on-road testing to its regimen. VW's sophisticated software allowed its cars to pass tests in the lab and then spew pollution into the atmosphere while on the highway. EPA To Change Diesel Emissions Tests After Volkswagen Scandal
The revelations meant unwanted scrutiny for the EPA. Its testing procedures have been criticized for being predictable and outdated, making it relatively easy for VW to cheat. What's more, the EPA did not initially uncover the problem; researchers at West Virginia University did, using on-road testing.
Grundler says the changes are designed to detect software and other methods automakers might use to rig a test.
The EPA and the California Air Resources Board have engineers who are "developing clever ways in which these things can be detected," Grundler says.
He also notes that testing of diesel engines, which make up only 1 percent of the vehicles on U.S. roads, wasn't the top priority for the EPA. The agency did have on-road testing equipment - but it was assigned to monitor automaker gas mileage estimates and heavy-duty diesel trucks, where cheating had been uncovered in the past.
Grundler, who has been with the EPA for more than three decades, says the lack of on-road testing for diesels "might change in the future." An announcement of the changes could come on Friday.
VW has admitted to installing software on Volkswagen and Audi cars with four-cylinder diesel engines that switches on pollution controls when they are being tested. When the software, called a "defeat device," determines that the cars are back on real roads, the controls are turned off. The EPA says about 500,000 U.S. cars including the Jetta, Golf, Beetle, Passat and<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=audi&amp;cvid=5a607decb56444cc8055e4092a6d9f19&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> Audi</a> A3 have the cheating software, and VW says a total of 11 million cars have it worldwide.
VW was able to fool the EPA because the agency only tested the cars on treadmill-like devices called dynamometers and didn't use portable test equipment on real roads. The software in the cars' engine-control computers checked the speed, steering wheel position, air pressure and other factors to determine when dynamometer tests were under way. It then turned on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ocean-pollution-threatens-the-health-of-more-than-three-billion-people/">pollution</a> controls that reduced the output of nitrogen oxide, an ingredient in harmful ozone, the EPA has said.
VW started the scheme with the 2009 model year, and may not have been caught without testing performed at West Virginia University on behalf of the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit group that advises governments on regulations. EPA and California regulators confronted VW with those findings to VW in May 2014. The automaker eventually did a recall late last year, without much improvement, the EPA says.
Only when the EPA and CARB refused to approve VW's 2016 diesel models for sale did the company admit what it had done.
The EPA announced the violations a week ago and said VW could face billions in fines. The agency said the cars are safe to drive but VW will have to pay to recall and fix them. The agency also is going to test diesels from other manufacturers to make sure they don't have similar devices.
Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida is frustrated that regulatory agencies such as the EPA are failing to protect the public. "Seven years is way too long a time that the EPA has been asleep at the switch," he says.
He says the VW case has similarities to those involving General Motors ' defective ignition switches and Takata Corp.'s exploding air bag inflators, where it also took years before those problems were disclosed to consumers.
"When there is this kind of deception, we've got to get these agencies to be able to cut through it and catch it," Nelson says.
It's not the first time the EPA has had to change testing to make sure automakers are playing by the rules. Earlier this year the agency updated gas mileage tests after some automakers were caught with inflated window sticker estimates.
Grundler disputes the notion that EPA would never have caught VW without the outside help. European regulators were looking into VW's on-road diesel emissions as far back as 2012, and since diesels make up half the cars there, the EPA decided to let Europe take the lead, he says.
"I don't think it's fair to say that this would never have been uncovered," he says. "Do I wish we had uncovered it sooner? Absolutely."
----
Daly reported from Washington, D.C.
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INDIA FESTIVAL

India: Poverty Is Key Source Of Global Pollution. India will confirm plans next week for a fivefold increase in renewable energy by 2020, the environment minister said. But it will continue to champion poor countries in their demand that industrialized nations assume the brunt of responsibility for decades of climate-warming emissions.
Describing poverty as a key source of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/planting-trees-could-slow-global-warming-but-it-wont-be-cheap/">global</a> pollution, Prakash Javadekar told The Associated Press on Thursday that nations hoping to reach a global climate pact in Paris in December must commit to a world where all 7 billion-plus inhabitants have equal rights and access to electricity, opportunity and justice. India: Poverty Is Key Source Of Global Pollution
"Poverty is, in a way, a real polluting factor," Javadekar said, adding that India's top priority is elevating hundreds of millions of Indians still living on less than $2 a day. At the same time, expanding the economy and building infrastructure will cause carbon emissions to grow, as the country relies on burning coal to fuel most of the 254 GW of electricity it generates today.
"But today, I see the carbon space occupied by the developed world," he said. "We are asking the developed world to vacate the carbon space to accommodate us. That carbon space demand is climate justice. It's our right as a nation. It's our right as people of India, and we want that carbon space."
India is one of the last major polluters yet to submit its plans for combating and coping with climate change to the United Nations, before the world's nations attempt to nail down a global climate pact in December. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi joins other world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly meeting Friday, experts and officials are eager for India's climate commitments.
Already, countries and territories accounting for at least 60 percent of global emissions have announced their targets, including the world's No. 1 and 2 polluters, China and the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=United+States.&amp;cvid=4d2471a71de6483bba2bc696a34d5de3&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">United States.</a> But experts say the pledges so far fall short of what's needed keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius by mid-century - a level beyond which scientists say we'd see extreme climate changes, including sizzling hot summers, much higher sea levels, torrential storms and more severe droughts. Current national pledges put us on track for a 2.9 to 3.1 degree temperature rise.
On Thursday, Indonesia submitted its pledge to the U.N., vowing to strengthen forest protection and increase renewable energy production to account for at least 23 percent of the Southeast Asian island nation's total capacity by 2025.
Experts have worried that India's position could doom global efforts to limit the rise in temperatures.
"India for a long time has been resistant to the notion of developing countries taking targets at all," former U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said Thursday in Paris. "Modi has indicated he wants to make a very big push on the economy, focus more on manufacturing. There's a lot of coal in India so the logical fuel for him to choose in driving that growth is coal. If he takes an ambitious climate target, that means he wants to balance that growth with climate ambitions."
Javadekar said the Indian pledge on climate action will be released Oct. 1, and will include targets not only for increasing renewable energy but also for curbing its emissions intensity, or how much carbon dioxide the country produces divided by its GDP. In 2009, India said it could cut emissions intensity by 20 to 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Javadekar indicated the new intensity target would be more ambitious, but he would not give details.
The pledge will not include targets for cutting overall emissions, and it will not include a projection for when India's emissions growth might peak.
"Nobody has actually asked us for this ... because they know India's particular situation," the minister said, alluding to India's relatively low emissions rate of 1.6 tons per capita compared with a U.S. rate that is about 10 times higher. While the U.S. and China, emitting around 7 tons per capita, pledged to bring theirs to a common 12 tons per capita by 2030, India "will never reach there," Javadekar said. "I don't see going beyond 10 any time soon."
India's plans for a fivefold boost in renewable energy, from about 34 GW today to 175 GW by 2020, had been promised earlier by Modi as he vowed to bring universal electricity access to India's 1.2 billion people by 2020. The 175 GW goal includes 100 GW of new solar power, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from biomass and 5 GW from small hydropower dams.
It's an astonishing pledge, considering where India is today. A quarter of the country, or 300 million people, still has no access to electricity, while hundreds of millions more make do with just a few hours a day. Blackouts are so common that hospitals and many businesses are forced to use diesel generators, while about a quarter of the 254 GW being produced today is lost in grid leakages and theft.
Experts estimate it will cost at least $150 billion for India to sort out its electricity woes and meet the renewable energy target - funding India does not have. Instead, it will rely on building business opportunities, and will hope for international commitments in waiving high intellectual property costs for technologies that can help India improve its energy production and efficiency.
"We definitely will expect a good amount of technology, affordable technology," Javadekar said. "Why people should profit from disaster? They should actually help India to build this huge program, making it a reality."
---
Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
---
Follow Katy Daigle on Twitter at twitter.com/katydaigle
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India: Poverty Is Key Source Of Global Pollution

India: Poverty Is Key Source Of Global Pollution. India will...

China Plans To Launch A Cap-And-Trade System To Reduce Pollution. China is preparing to announce plans to launch a national cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gases and force industries to purchase pollution credits,<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/epa-plan-mercury-emissions/"> Obama</a> administration officials said Thursday.
Beijing plans to put the system known as cap-and-trade into place in 2017 as part of measures aimed to address climate change in cooperation with the U.S. and others.
A joint statement to be released following Friday's summit between President Barack Obama and his <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=chinese&amp;cvid=7b8db410f3e24ed19f477219230c1f61&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Chinese</a> counterpart Xi Jinping aims to flesh out how their two countries plan to achieve targets for cutting emissions set at a bilateral summit in Beijing last year.China Plans To Launch A Cap-And-Trade System To Reduce Pollution
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity so they wouldn't pre-empt China's official announcement, said it's hoped the announcement will give impetus to a broader global treaty on climate change at a Paris conference in December.
The announcement will also cover components of the cap-and-trade strategy, including the individual sectors covered under the plan, which range from power production to papermaking, the officials said. Those sectors produce "a substantial percentage of China's climate pollution," one official said.
Cap-and-trade sets an annual limit on the amount of pollution that can be produced, then requires firms to obtain permission to pollute by purchasing credits from less polluting industries.
Other parts of China's announcement will include prioritizing low-carbon and efficient electricity production.
Under last year's groundbreaking agreement, Obama set a goal to cut U.S. emissions between 26 percent and 28 percent by 2025, compared with 2005 levels.
China, the world's biggest polluter, relies heavily on coal for power generation. It will set a target for its emissions to peak by about 2030 or earlier, after which they would then start falling. That marks an unprecedented step for Beijing, which has been reluctant to be boxed in on climate by the global community.
The European Union has also said it would cut its emissions 40 percent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. Taken together, the U.S, China and the EU account for more than half of global emissions.
Friday's announcement will also commit Beijing and Washington to aligning their views on key negotiating positions at Paris, along with providing greater funding for research and development on low-carbon technologies and financial assistance to help poor countries build low-pollution infrastructure.
China, one of the world's biggest builders of infrastructure, will also offer a "very substantial financial commitment" to help poor nations transition to low-pollution technologies, the U.S. officials said, without releasing the exact figure.
Three decades of breakneck economic growth have left China's cities clogged in dense smog and sent cancer rates soaring. That's prompted it to drop its insistence that developed nations bear most of the responsibility for reducing carbon emissions, producing a rare area of cooperation with Washington.
Lu Kong, the spokesman for Xi's delegation, declined to discuss the joint statement, but said climate change was "an area where China and the U.S. could work together and we did make some good progress in our joint efforts.
"Maybe this time we could make further progress in demonstrating to the outside world at large that China and the U.S. are committed to further efforts in dealing with climate change in a comprehensive way," Lu said.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

China Plans To Launch A Cap-And-Trade System To Reduce Pollution

China Plans To Launch A Cap-And-Trade System To Reduce Pollution....

Dealing With Life Without Snow In The French Alps. The French Alps are the birthplace of downhill skiing and a crucible for mountain climbing - but now the French government is trying to help their winter tourist towns adapt to a warming world.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was visiting the Mer de Glace (the Sea of Ice) Friday on Mont Blanc, where the retreating glacier has been documented for more than a century, through water colors painted before the invention of the still camera, black-and-white photos depicting a then-modern <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/europe-coal/">coal</a> train chuffing alongside the ice and today's high-definition satellite photos. Dealing With Life Without Snow In The French Alps
Researchers say the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=sea&amp;cvid=39e17a4caaa94e169a8c07534fa1b6ba&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Sea</a> of Ice is only the most accessible example of a problem the entire Alpine region is facing as warming mountainsides become more unstable and snowfall more inconsistent, threatening jobs and lives in a region heavily dependent on adventure tourism.
Scientists have drilled the Mont Blanc region with sensor-equipped boreholes in recent years, hoping that measuring temperatures in the permafrost will give a sense of how quickly the problem is accelerating and which areas are most in peril.
The town of Lanslevillard already knows firsthand, said Xavier Bodin, a researcher for France's elite CNRS research center who specializes in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/alpine-butterflies-threatened-by-climate-induced-ecosystem-changes/">Alpine</a> permafrost. A debris flow touched off by an unstable rock glacier swept down the slope, crushing snow equipment.
In another part of the southeast French region, pylons for a ski lift had to be re-planted because the foundation grounds were melting. Elsewhere, retreating glaciers have exposed climbers to new, untested and potentially risky routes, he said.
"The rising temperatures in the mountains strongly modify the way people approach the high altitudes," Bodin said.
In a study released this year in the Journal of Alpine Research, researchers documented 350 rock falls from 2007 to 2014 compared with almost none from 1855 to 1936. They found that of 1,769 pieces of infrastructure - including huts, ski lifts and pipelines - about 10 percent were at high risk of rock fall damage, including Mont Blanc's popular Aiguille du Midi cable car.
Valls is visiting the region to highlight France's role as host in the global summit on climate change at the end of this year.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Dealing With Life Without Snow In The French Alps

Dealing With Life Without Snow In The French Alps. The...

India: Poverty Is Key Source Of Global Pollution. India will confirm plans next week for a fivefold increase in renewable energy by 2020, the environment minister said. But it will continue to champion poor countries in their demand that industrialized nations assume the brunt of responsibility fo decades of climate-warming emissions.
Describing poverty as a key source of global pollution, Prakash Javadekar told The Associated Press on Thursday that nations hoping to reach a global climate pact in Paris in December must commit to a world where all 7 billion-plus inhabitants have equal rights and access to electricity, opportunity and justice. India: Poverty Is Key Source Of Global Pollution
"Poverty is, in a way, a real polluting factor," Javadekar said, adding that India's top priority is elevating hundreds of millions of Indians still living on less than $2 a day. At the same time, expanding the economy and building infrastructure will cause carbon emissions to grow, as the country relies on burning coal to fuel most of the 254 GW of electricity it generates today.
"But today, I see the carbon space occupied by the developed world," he said. "We are asking the developed world to vacate the carbon space to accommodate us. That carbon space demand is climate justice. It's our right as a nation. It's our right as people of India, and we want that carbon space."
India is one of the last major polluters yet to submit its plans for combating and coping with climate change to the United Nations, before the world's nations attempt to nail down a global climate pact in December. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi joins other world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly meeting Friday, experts and officials are eager for India's climate commitments.
Already, countries and territories accounting for at least 60 percent of global emissions have announced their targets, including the world's No. 1 and 2 polluters, <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=china&amp;cvid=de57c1aa77944d2e8e402f0237237c52&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">China</a> and the United States. But experts say the pledges so far fall short of what's needed keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius by mid-century - a level beyond which scientists say we'd see extreme climate changes, including sizzling hot summers, much higher sea levels, torrential storms and more severe droughts. Current national pledges put us on track for a 2.9 to 3.1 degree temperature rise.
On Thursday, Indonesia submitted its pledge to the U.N., vowing to strengthen forest protection and increase renewable energy production to account for at least 23 percent of the Southeast Asian island nation's total capacity by 2025.
Experts have worried that India's position could doom global efforts to limit the rise in temperatures.
"India for a long time has been resistant to the notion of developing countries taking targets at all," former U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said Thursday in Paris. "Modi has indicated he wants to make a very big push on the economy, focus more on manufacturing. There's a lot of coal in India so the logical fuel for him to choose in driving that growth is coal. If he takes an ambitious climate target, that means he wants to balance that growth with climate ambitions."
Javadekar said the Indian pledge on climate action will be released Oct. 1, and will include targets not only for increasing renewable energy but also for curbing its emissions intensity, or how much carbon dioxide the country produces divided by its GDP. In 2009, India said it could cut emissions intensity by 20 to 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Javadekar indicated the new intensity target would be more ambitious, but he would not give details. India: Poverty Is Key Source Of Global Pollution
The pledge will not include targets for cutting overall emissions, and it will not include a projection for when India's emissions growth might peak.
"Nobody has actually asked us for this ... because they know India's particular situation," the minister said, alluding to India's relatively low emissions rate of 1.6 tons per capita compared with a U.S. rate that is about 10 times higher. While the U.S. and China, emitting around 7 tons per capita, pledged to bring theirs to a common 12 tons per capita by 2030, India "will never reach there," Javadekar said. "I don't see going beyond 10 any time soon."
India's plans for a fivefold boost in renewable energy, from about 34 GW today to 175 GW by 2020, had been promised earlier by Modi as he vowed to bring universal electricity access to India's 1.2 billion people by 2020. The 175 GW goal includes 100 GW of new solar power, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from biomass and 5 GW from small hydropower dams.
It's an astonishing pledge, considering where India is today. A quarter of the country, or 300 million people, still has no access to electricity, while hundreds of millions more make do with just a few hours a day. Blackouts are so common that hospitals and many businesses are forced to use diesel generators, while about a quarter of the 254 GW being produced today is lost in grid leakages and theft.
Experts estimate it will cost at least $150 billion for India to sort out its electricity woes and meet the renewable energy target - funding India does not have. Instead, it will rely on building business opportunities, and will hope for international commitments in waiving high intellectual property costs for technologies that can help India improve its energy production and efficiency.
"We definitely will expect a good amount of technology, affordable technology," Javadekar said. "Why people should profit from disaster? They should actually help India to build this huge program, making it a reality."
---
Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
---
Follow Katy Daigle on Twitter at twitter.com/katydaigle
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Dealing With Life Without Snow In The French Alps. The French Alps are the birthplace of downhill skiing and a crucible for mountain climbing - but now the French government is trying to help their winter tourist towns adapt to a warming world.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was visiting the Mer de Glace (the Sea of Ice) Friday on Mont Blanc, where the retreating glacier has been documented for more than a century, through water colors painted before the invention of the still camera, black-and-white photos depicting a then-modern coal train chuffing alongside the ice and today's high-definition<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=satellite&amp;cvid=cfc7e712609f49dbbb39182a048cd24d&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> satellite</a> photos.
Researchers say the Sea of Ice is only the most accessible example of a problem the entire Alpine <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/wine-grapes-in-dry-regions-have-a-strategy-to-conserve-water/">region</a> is facing as warming mountainsides become more unstable and snowfall more inconsistent, threatening jobs and lives in a region heavily dependent on adventure tourism. Dealing With Life Without Snow In The French Alps
Scientists have drilled the Mont Blanc region with sensor-equipped boreholes in recent years, hoping that measuring temperatures in the permafrost will give a sense of how quickly the problem is accelerating and which areas are most in peril.
The town of Lanslevillard already knows firsthand, said Xavier Bodin, a researcher for France's elite CNRS research center who specializes in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/alpine-butterflies-threatened-by-climate-induced-ecosystem-changes/">Alpine</a> permafrost. A debris flow touched off by an unstable rock glacier swept down the slope, crushing snow equipment.
In another part of the southeast French region, pylons for a ski lift had to be re-planted because the foundation grounds were melting. Elsewhere, retreating glaciers have exposed climbers to new, untested and potentially risky routes, he said.
"The rising temperatures in the mountains strongly modify the way people approach the high altitudes," Bodin said.
In a study released this year in the Journal of Alpine Research, researchers documented 350 rock falls from 2007 to 2014 compared with almost none from 1855 to 1936. They found that of 1,769 pieces of infrastructure - including huts, ski lifts and pipelines - about 10 percent were at high risk of rock fall damage, including Mont Blanc's popular Aiguille du Midi cable car.
Valls is visiting the region to highlight France's role as host in the global summit on climate change at the end of this year.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Ancient Coral Reveals Earth's Past CO2 Levels. Until now, researchers haven't had a reliable way to measure the behavior of the ancient ocean over brief timescales.

Modeling Earth's past CO2 levels and climate can help scientists better understand today's climate and what rising CO2 levels might mean for the future of the planet.

But clues to the makeup of Earth's early <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/earths-atmosphere-beyond-moon/">atmosphere</a> aren't easy to find. Recently, researchers at the University of Bristol went to the bottom of the ocean for a climatic glimpse back in time. Deep sea corals, in turns out, are the ideal time machine for paleoclimate scientists. Ancient Coral Reveals Earth's Past CO2 Levels.

Ice cores show that between 18,000 and 11,000 years ago Earth experienced its last deglaciation period. The broader rise in CO2 levels, melting ice caps and rising seas was marked by three sharp bursts in CO2 levels.

Researchers believe a pattern of deepwater upwelling called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation may be closely associated with the rising temperatures and CO2 spikes that precipitated the last glaciation.

But until now, researchers haven't had a reliable way to measure the behavior of the ancient ocean over brief timescales. Deep-sea coral fossils are helping scientists solve this problem.

By radiocarbon dating ancient corals retrieved from the Atlantic and Southern oceans, researchers are able plot the changing levels of radiocarbon in the ancient ocean. Radiocarbon is introduced at the surface of the ocean and slowly makes its way deeper. Fluctuations in radiocarbon reveal patterns of ocean circulations and upwelling events. Ancient Coral Reveals Earth's Past CO2 Levels

Analysis of the coral fossils showed that the middle depths of the equatorial Atlantic and the Drake Passage experienced two significant transient events, during which water layers were neutralized and large levels of radiocarbon were introduced. These events correspond with the last two CO2 bursts revealed by ice core samples.

The new research -- carried out by scientists from Bristol, as well as the University of St. Andrews and University of California, Irvine -- was published in the journal Science.

"Our radiocarbon data are consistent with two transient and enhanced deep Atlantic overturning events which flushed out respired carbon in the deep water, causing a rapid rise of atmosphere CO2 concentration and abrupt warming of the high latitude North Atlantic," lead author Tianyu Chen, Bristol earth scientist and author of the new study, said in a news release.

---

Credit: UPI

Ancient Coral Reveals Earth's Past CO2 Levels

Ancient Coral Reveals Earth's Past CO2 Levels. Until now, researchers...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



---



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



---



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



---



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



---



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Kainji Lake, a reservoir on the Niger River.



In 1968, Kainji Lake was created by the construction of the Kainji Dam. The Niger River, the third longest in Africa, enters the lake in the north.&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rivers-in-the-american-west-are-a-lifesaving-resource-for-birds/">ESA</a>, the creation of the lake submerged Foge Island and the town of Bussa and permanently flooded other riverine settlements, leaving around 50,000 people displaced.&nbsp;



Large parts of Foge Island are temporarily exposed during low water tides, and the land is often used by migrating fishermen. Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in Niger State of Central Nigeria. 



Wild mammals occur at relatively low densities due to illegal hunting. Lake Kainji has suffered a dramatic decline as a fishery due to the high numbers of artisanal and subsistence fisherfolk using the lake. It has been suggested that a period of closure, together with controlled fishing rights may help improve fish stocks.



Kainji Lake National Park is the oldest of its kind in Nigeria. The park contains three distinct areas: a part of the Kainji Lake, the Borgu Game Reserve to the west of the lake, and the Zugurma Game Reserve to the southeast. The park is home to around 65 mammal species, 350 bird species, and 30 species of reptiles and amphibians. 



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&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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Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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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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How does salt makes things taste better?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Santiago, Chile in South America

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&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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Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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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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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



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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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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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

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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 the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes why experts are studying zebrafish to gain a better understanding of how the immune system responds to injury. Zebrafish have the ability to repair and regenerate organs.



“Organ regeneration offers an exciting opportunity for studying the immune system and to inquire why some species can regenerate organs like the heart or missing limbs while others like humans cannot,” explained Dr. Tatjana Piotrowski.



Zebrafish sensory organ hair cells are an ideal system to investigate the pathways and cell types involved in regeneration since they are easily destroyed with antibiotics and begin regenerating within five hours. This enabled the researchers to identify the exact timing and genetic programs for each anti-inflammatory macrophage activation state.&nbsp;



“Our hypothesis is that human macrophages do not receive the proper chemical activation 'cocktail' to instruct pro-regenerative processes,” said Dr. Nicolas Denans. “Identifying the molecular recipe of macrophage activation in zebrafish may one day enable us to design regenerative immunotherapies in humans.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The new evidence is a valuable resource for comparative studies on the genetic programs involved in macrophage-mediated repair and regeneration. In other words, different types of injuries may induce different kinds of inflammatory responses. We want to decipher whether this 'language' is universal or if there are a variety of dialects."



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&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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How the immune system responds to injury

[sendtonews key="0dEcERCq61-2283382-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Stowers...

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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...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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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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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" 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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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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