Scientists have long looked to oxygen when searching for signs of life beyond Earth. This gas sustains breathing and enables animals and plants to flourish. Now, researchers suggest that oxygen might also point to advanced technology. 



If an exoplanet’s atmosphere holds enough oxygen, it may not only support organisms but also help them spark fire, build structures, and craft machinery.



A study in Nature Astronomy presents this view, highlighting oxygen’s value as more than just a sign of biology. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oxygen-civilization-and-technology">Oxygen, civilization, and technology</h2>



Leading this research are <a href="https://www.pas.rochester.edu/people/faculty/frank_adam/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adam Frank</a>, the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester, and <a href="https://www-en.fisica.uniroma2.it/phone-directory/balbia_en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amedeo Balbi</a>, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Roma Tor Vergata, Italy.



Together with their team, they set out to explore whether oxygen is a key factor in allowing extraterrestrial civilizations to emerge and thrive through the development of technology.



“We are ready to find signatures of life on alien worlds,” Frank says. “But how do the [oxygen] conditions on a planet tell us about the possibilities for intelligent, technology-producing life?” 



This question drives efforts to examine oxygen’s role beyond respiration and metabolism, especially in relation to large-scale industrial activities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-oxygen-matters-for-civilizations">Why oxygen matters for civilizations</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-cells-capable-of-photosynthesis-created-for-the-first-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Photosynthesis</a> on Earth accounts for the bulk of our oxygen on our planet, thanks to countless organisms that use sunlight to make food. 



Because this process produces so much oxygen, it has been considered a biosignature. A planet with significant oxygen levels hints that life may be present, but Frank and Balbi argue that oxygen also has a second function.



“<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-023-02112-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In our paper</a>, we explore whether any atmospheric composition would be compatible with the presence of advanced technology,” Balbi says. “We found that the atmospheric requirements may be quite stringent.”



The link to technology comes from open-air combustion. Smelting metals, cooking food, and powering engines all rely on oxygen. 



Any alien civilization that forges metals would need a certain percentage of oxygen in its air to keep fires burning reliably. That percentage, according to Earth’s history, appears to be around 18 percent.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fire-and-the-18-threshold">Fire and the 18% threshold</h2>



“You might be able to get biology -- you might even be able to get intelligent creatures -- in a world that doesn’t have oxygen,” Frank says, “but without a ready source of fire, you’re never going to develop higher technology because higher technology requires fuel and melting.” 



He calls attention to fire’s role in shaping tools, infrastructure, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-wellbeing-is-a-more-effective-focus-area-when-discussing-energy-solutions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">energy production</a>. Metalworking, for instance, depends on sustaining flames hot enough to melt ore and craft refined structures.



Frank and Balbi refer to this requirement as an “oxygen bottleneck.” A planet might host life forms of various kinds, yet remain stuck without the combustion needed to fuel industrial breakthroughs. 



“The presence of high degrees of oxygen in the atmosphere is like a bottleneck you have to get through in order to have a technological species,” Frank says. 



“You can have everything else work out, but if you don’t have <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/it-took-200-million-years-for-earth-to-get-its-oxygen/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">oxygen in the atmosphere</a>, you’re not going to have a technological species.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oxygen-technology-create-technosignatures">Oxygen + technology create "technosignatures"</h2>



Frank thinks that exoplanets with oxygen levels at or above 18 percent should be at the top of our search list. 



“Targeting planets with high oxygen levels should be prioritized because the presence or absence of high oxygen levels in exoplanet atmospheres could be a major clue in finding potential technosignatures,” Frank says. 



Planets that exceed this level may have the capacity for factories, infrastructure, or communication networks.



Balbi notes that interpreting any possible signal of intelligent life will be challenging. 



“The implications of discovering intelligent, technological life on another planet would be huge,” adds Balbi. “Therefore, we need to be extremely cautious in interpreting possible detections. 



Their study suggests that astronomers should be skeptical of potential technosignatures from a planet with insufficient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-ancient-breath-study-links-atmospheric-oxygen-and-mantle-chemistry/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">atmospheric oxygen</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-technosphere-vs-biotechnosphere">Technosphere vs. biotechnosphere</h2>



Frank and Balbi’s perspective also covers the idea of a technosphere, which is the collective output of an advanced civilization. 



Factories, vehicles, and power grids all fit under this label. They rely on resources provided by the planet’s biosphere but stretch beyond purely natural processes. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bronze-age-technology-is-a-modern-solution-for-clean-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Burning fuels in open air</a> has been central to every major industrial leap, from forging steel to generating electricity.



When these technologies reach a global scale, they form a biotechnosphere. This term applies to the interplay of living systems and technology -- essentially, how organisms and machines coexist. 



On Earth, that includes everything from smartphones to farms, all running side by side. A well-established biotechnosphere might produce clear signals in the atmosphere: waste gases, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mapping-2024s-record-heat-unveiling-earths-climate-danger-zones/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unusual heat patterns</a>, or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forever-chemicals-found-in-tap-and-bottled-water-worldwide/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chemicals not normally found in nature</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-balancing-machines-and-ecosystems">Balancing machines and ecosystems</h2>



History shows that as technology expands, it can sometimes damage or alter environments. Factories might pump pollutants into the air, while deforestation removes habitats that produce oxygen. 



Yet there is an ongoing move toward cleaner energy and more efficient resource use. If any alien civilization follows a similar path, we might detect certain byproducts in the form of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2023-climate-change-report-record-high-temperatures-greenhouse-gases-sea-level-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">greenhouse gases</a> or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/banning-forever-chemicals-may-threaten-us-national-security/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">engineered molecules</a>.



Though the focus is on oxygen, other factors matter too, such as temperature and access to metals or fuels. A planet may need stable conditions for life to progress to a point where industry becomes possible.



That said, Frank and Balbi’s findings highlight how oxygen stands out among these factors, because it directly enables combustion processes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fire-and-progress-in-earth-s-past">Fire and progress in Earth’s past</h2>



Earth’s own development through advances in technology offers insight into how vital oxygen has been for technical achievements.



Once our atmosphere had enough of it, humans learned to manipulate fire for cooking and for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-oldest-wooden-structure-completely-rewrites-early-human-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">making stronger materials</a>. 



From simple smithing to modern manufacturing, every stage of growth involved open-air combustion.



“You can have everything else work out, but if you don’t have oxygen in the atmosphere, you’re not going to have a technological species,” Frank says. 



This idea underlines how a single factor -- oxygen -- can open or close the door to industrial progress, altering a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/decarbonizing-worlds-industrial-emissions-possible-with-current-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">planet’s entire future path</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oxygen-technology-and-next-steps">Oxygen, technology, and next steps</h2>



Observatories now in the works may soon gather data about exoplanet atmospheres in detail. Detecting a high oxygen content could mark a world that supports advanced living organisms. 



The next task is to look for proof of industry or technology, sometimes called technosignatures. These might appear as chemical emissions, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-space-radio-signal-reaches-earth-after-8-billion-years-frb-20220610a/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">radio signals</a>, or specific spectral lines.



If these two checks-- oxygen above 18 percent and evidence of artificial activity -- both yield results, we will have a strong indication that we share the universe with another technological civilization. 



That reality could reshape how we see ourselves and our place among the stars.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-does-any-of-this-matter-0">Why does any of this matter?</h2>



Understanding the significance of atmospheric oxygen can also inspire reflection on our home planet. Human industries <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-from-fossil-fuels-kills-5-million-people-each-year/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rely heavily on combustion</a>, from running cars to powering factories. This has changed Earth’s ecosystems. 



As we learn more about how oxygen in an atmosphere enables or limits technology, we might gain new ideas on how to manage our own balance between growth and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/un-report-calls-for-global-change-to-stop-biodiversity-loss/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">environmental health</a>.



Ultimately, Frank and Balbi’s argument shows that oxygen may do far more than keep living cells alive. It might be the clearest signal of whether a planet can support the technologies that shape modern societies. 



By recognizing the 18 percent threshold, scientists can refine their search for advanced life and possibly move closer to answering the age-old question: Are we alone, or is someone else using fire to reshape their world?



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-023-02112-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Astronomy</a>.



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Oxygen levels on exoplanets reveal presence of alien technology

Scientists have long looked to oxygen when searching for signs of life beyond Earth. This gas sustains breathing and enables animals and plants to flourish. Now, researchers suggest that oxygen might also point to advanced technology. If an exoplanet’s atmosphere holds enough oxygen, it may not only support organisms but also help them spark fire, build structures, and craft machinery. A study in Nature Astronomy presents this view, highlighting oxygen’s value as more than just a sign of biology. Oxygen, civilization, and technology Leading this research are...

Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna. Hawaii fishermen are once again being allowed to catch a bigeye tuna species in the fleet's most productive fishing grounds west of the islands, sparking criticism that they are adding to overfishing.
The National Marine Fisheries Service closed the fishery in early August because Hawaii-based longline fishermen hit an annual bigeye tuna catch limit of about 3,500 metric tons set by international regulators.
But the agency on Friday created a rule allowing the fishermen to report up to 1,000 metric tons of bigeye as being caught by the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a U.S. territory. The change allows Hawaii fisherman to catch more bigeye tuna than the maximum set by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
The commission, which is an international body that regulates fishing by the U.S., Japan, China and other nations fishing the area, doesn't set limits on the catch of territories.
The two-month closure of fishing grounds affected 145 active vessels in the Hawaii longline fleet, said the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which develops management plans for U.S. fisheries in Hawaii and other Pacific islands.
"Arbitrary quotas not linked to conservation objectives kept our boats tied at the docks," Kitty Simonds, the council's executive director, said in a statement. "The struggling vessels and small businesses they support accumulated millions of dollars in debt each month, causing untold anxiety for our local fishing community and consumers."
Environmentalists have sued the fisheries service to stop the attribution of bigeye catch to U.S. territories, arguing it undermines international agreements aimed at eliminating the overfishing of bigeye. The case is pending in federal court in Honolulu.
David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice which is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, called the agency's latest decision "shortsighted." He said all developed fisheries - like Hawaii's longline fishery - need to reduce their catch to make sure bigeye is available for future generations.
"What the fisheries service has been doing in response to industry pressure is absolutely the wrong thing for consumers who want to have sustainable food, and food to put on the table for their children and their children's children," Henkin said. "And really ultimately it's not the right thing to do for longliners themselves if they want to continue that tradition in their families."
Mike Tosatto, Pacific Islands regional administrator for the fisheries service, said the reopening will have a negligible impact on the status of bigeye stock. He said the fisheries service reassesses the catch attribution plan each year to make sure it addresses overfishing.
"The fisheries service obviously takes addressing overfishing seriously," Tosatto said.
Bigeye stocks in the area are down to about 20 percent of their unfished levels, according to data from the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
Scientists advising the commission have warned about bigeye overfishing every year since the international body was established in 2005. Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna
Bigeye is one of two types of tuna known as ahi. The other is yellowfin.
The longline fleet supplies a large portion of the ahi consumed in Hawaii, where bigeye is often eaten raw as sashimi and as poke, which is a dish featuring cubed tuna seasoned with soy sauce and other condiments. Bigeye is also frequently cut into steaks and grilled.
<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fish-fossils-provide-new-insight-into-the-origins-of-teeth/">Fish</a> landed by the Hawaii fleet is worth about $100 million a year, ranking <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=honolulu&amp;cvid=8c4ece5516ae44d6ad15fdf299653cd2&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Honolulu</a> among the nation's top 10 ports in landed value, according to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.
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Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna

Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna. Hawaii fishermen...

Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants. President Barack Obama is ordering new steps to reduce refrigerants that contribute to climate change as he works to secure a global climate treaty.
The Obama administration is proposing to extend rules targeting emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals to refrigerants called hydrofluorocarbons. Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants
The White House said Thursday the rules will be finalized next year.President Barack Obama is ordering new steps to reduce refrigerants that contribute to climate change as he works to secure a global climate treaty.
The Environmental Protection Agency also plans to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/marine-life-in-the-deep-sea-will-soon-experience-drastic-changes/">prohibit</a> more uses of hydrofluorocarbons under new deadlines coming in 2016. The Obama administration is pushing to phase out the potent heat-trapping gases <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=global+warming&amp;cvid=f896b37189304554b21fb9efa9610e99&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">globally</a>.
The White House is also announcing nearly $15 million in grants for communities hit hard by the Obama-backed shift away from coal. Almost all of the funds are for programs in Kentucky. Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Obama hopes to build momentum on climate change before international talks conclude in December.
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Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants

Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants. President Barack Obama is...

Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate. 3 percent of the protected forest lost during 2000-2012

Protected and intact forests have been lost at a rapid rate during the first 12 years of this century. According to researchers at Aalto University, Finland, 3% of the protected forest, 2.5% of the intact forest, and 1.5% of the protected intact forest in the world were lost during 2000 - 2012. These rates of forest loss are high compared to the total global forest loss of 5% for the same time period.

In Australia and Oceania, as well as North America, the loss in protected forests exceeded 5%. Worryingly, in parts of Africa, Central Asia, and Europe, the relative forest loss was higher inside protected areas than outside. However, in several countries of South America and Southeast Asia, protection was found to substantially prevent forest loss. Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate

On a global scale, agricultural land expansion is one of the most important processes causing forest loss.

According to the analysis, high rates of protected forest loss were also associated with high proportions of agricultural land. At the same time, the losses in protected and intact forests were associated with a high gross domestic product, challenging partly the previous findings.

- Forests maintain ecological diversity, regulate climate, store carbon, protect soil and water and provide resources and livelihoods for the world's population. It is alarming that official protection in many places does not actually protect the forests, says Timo Räsänen, Postdoc fellow at Aalto University.

- However, there are also positive signs, especially in the tropics. For example, the rate of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon has finally declined in recent years, continues Matias Heino, researcher at Aalto University.

The analysis was conducted, using recently published global remote sensing based forest cover change data, together with global spatial datasets on protected areas and intact forest landscape. Global forest loss in protected areas and in intact forest landscapes have not been previously assessed with detailed and uniform datasets that allow consistent forest extent comparisons over space and time.

---

<a href="http://www.aalto.fi/en/">AALTO University</a>

Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate

Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate. 3 percent...

3 percent of the protected forest lost during 2000-2012

Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate. Protected and intact forests have been lost at a rapid rate during the first 12 years of this century. According to researchers at Aalto University, Finland, 3% of the protected forest, 2.5% of the intact forest, and 1.5% of the protected intact forest in the world were lost during 2000 - 2012. These rates of forest loss are high compared to the total global forest loss of 5% for the same time period.

In Australia and Oceania, as well as North America, the loss in protected forests exceeded 5%. Worryingly, in parts of Africa, Central Asia, and <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=europe&amp;cvid=c17959415bcc4d298ba78182276f7045&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Europe</a>, the relative forest loss was higher inside protected areas than outside. However, in several countries of South America and Southeast <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fossils-reveal-that-monkeys-were-in-asia-6-4-million-years-ago/">Asia,</a> protection was found to substantially prevent forest loss.

On a global scale, agricultural land expansion is one of the most important processes causing forest loss.

According to the analysis, high rates of protected forest loss were also associated with high proportions of agricultural land. At the same time, the losses in protected and intact forests were associated with a high gross domestic product, challenging partly the previous findings.Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate

- Forests maintain ecological diversity, regulate climate, store carbon, protect soil and water and provide resources and livelihoods for the world's population. It is alarming that official protection in many places does not actually protect the forests, says Timo Räsänen, Postdoc fellow at Aalto University.

- However, there are also positive signs, especially in the tropics. For example, the rate of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon has finally declined in recent years, continues Matias Heino, researcher at Aalto University.

The analysis was conducted, using recently published global remote sensing based forest cover change data, together with global spatial datasets on protected areas and intact forest landscape. Global forest loss in protected areas and in intact forest landscapes have not been previously assessed with detailed and uniform datasets that allow consistent forest extent comparisons over space and time.

---

<a href="http://www.aalto.fi/en/">AALTO University</a>

3 percent of the protected forest lost during 2000-2012 Protected...

An international team of scientists have identified potential climate tipping points where abrupt regional climate shifts could occur due to global warming.. An international team of scientists have identified potential climate tipping points where abrupt regional climate shifts could occur due to global warming.

In the new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), the scientists analysed the climate model simulations on which the recent 5th Intergovernmental Panel on <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=climate+change&amp;cvid=2c806419f248480abd97bdeedbff525c&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Climate Change</a> (IPCC) reports are based.

They found evidence of 41 cases of regional abrupt changes in the ocean, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/phytoplankton-remain-surprisingly-active-underneath-arctic-sea-ice/">sea ice,</a> snow cover, permafrost and terrestrial biosphere. Many of these events occur for global warming levels of less than two degrees, a threshold sometimes presented as a safe limit. However, although most models predict one or more abrupt regional shifts, any specific occurrence typically appears in only a few models.

"This illustrates the high uncertainty in predicting tipping points," says lead author Professor Sybren Drijfhout from Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton. "More precisely, our results show that the different state-of-the-art models agree that abrupt changes are likely, but that predicting when and where they will occur remains very difficult. Also, our results show that no safe limit exists and that many abrupt shifts already occur for global warming levels much lower than two degrees," he adds.

Examples of detected climate tipping include abrupt shifts in sea ice and ocean circulation patterns, as well as abrupt shifts in vegetation and marine productivity. Sea ice abrupt changes were particularly common in the climate simulations. However, various models also predict abrupt changes in Earth system elements such as the Amazon forest, tundra permafrost and snow on the Tibetan plateau.

"Interestingly, abrupt events could come out as a cascade of different phenomena," adds Victor Brovkin, a co-author from Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M). "For example, a collapse of permafrost in Arctic is followed by a rapid increase in forest area there. This kind of domino effect should have implications not only for natural systems, but also for society."

"The majority of the detected abrupt shifts are distant from the major population centres of the planet, but their occurrence could have implications over large distances." says Martin Claussen, director of the MPI-M and one of the co-authors. "Our work is only a starting point. Now we need to look deeper into mechanisms of tipping points and design an approach to diagnose them during the next round of climate model simulations for IPCC."

---

<a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Southampton</a>

Scientists Identify Climate Tipping Points

An international team of scientists have identified potential climate tipping...

NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US Thanks To El Nino. El Nino this winter will leave a big wet but not necessarily snowy footprint on much of the United States, including parched California, forecasters said Thursday.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration issued its winter forecast and "the driver of this winter's outlook is El Nino," said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
El Nino changes weather worldwide, mostly affecting the <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/severe-fire-threat-continues-in-the-western-united-states/">United States</a> in winter. The weather pattern happens every few years when the Pacific Ocean warms up around the equator. This year's is one of the strongest El Ninos on record.
NOAA expects a cooler and wetter winter for the South. For California, more precipitation than usual is expected during the critical time that its reservoirs usually fill, but there's no guarantee. Only northern tier states, the Ohio Valley states and Alaska should be dry.
While California's drought is likely to lessen in January, even the wettest winter on record - 33 years ago - didn't have enough rain to wash out the current four-year drought, said NOAA hydrologist Alan Haynes of the California Nevada River Forecast Center.
Forecasters see a milder, warmer winter north of the Mason-Dixon line and for all of California and Nevada. Texas and the Deep South are forecast to be cold.
Overall, the nation should have 2 percent fewer days when people have to fire up their furnaces, said Halpert. He said the Northeast, where it was chilly and snowy last year, should see 6 percent fewer heating days.
Because of El Nino, NOAA is more confident than usual that its forecast is on target - 70 percent for a wet South, Halpert said.
The federal winter forecast doesn't address snow, just wet or dry and warm or cold. Even though it's likely to be both cooler and wetter in the South, it is usually so warm there that it needs a blast of Arctic air for snowstorms and that's not looking likely, Halpert said. And while the north is likely to be warmer, past El Ninos have had some big snowstorms.
Historically, because there's more storminess during El Ninos, there's been a slight but not great increase in snowfall in the Northeast during El Ninos, said NOAA El Nino expert Michelle L'Heureux. But that could be skewed by a few big years in the past like the winter of 2009-10, she said. The <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=great+lakes&amp;cvid=8c0807d43de1481182893e0fb0cb37c6&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Great Lakes</a> area tends to get less snow during El Ninos, she said.
Private forecast firm Weather Bell Analytics predicts a swath from New Mexico across to the Carolinas and up the coast to Connecticut will get 50 percent more snow than usual.
AccuWeather, another private firm, sees severe thunderstorms in Florida, but forecasts less lake-effect snow around the Great Lakes, occasional mild days for the Midwest and says it will be "not as brutal" for the Northeast.
--- Online:
NOAA's seasonal forecast: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/1PvqmnZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://1.usa.gov/1PvqmnZ</a>
---
Seth Borenstein can be followed at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a>
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NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US

NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US...

Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants. President Barack Obama is ordering new steps to reduce refrigerants that contribute to climate change as he works to secure a global climate treaty.
The Obama administration is proposing to extend rules targeting emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals to refrigerants called hydrofluorocarbons. Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants
The White House said Thursday the rules will be finalized next year.
The Environmental Protection Agency also plans to prohibit more uses of hydrofluorocarbons under new deadlines coming in 2016. The Obama administration is pushing to phase out the potent heat-trapping gases <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/thinking-globally-acting-locally/">globally</a>.
The White House is also announcing nearly $15 million in grants for communities hit hard by the Obama-backed shift away from coal. Almost all of the funds are for programs in Kentucky.
Obama hopes to build momentum on climate change before international talks conclude in December.Obama was born in <a title="Honolulu" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu">Honolulu</a>, <a title="Hawaii" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii">Hawaii</a>. After graduating from <a title="Columbia University" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University">Columbia University</a> in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in <a title="Chicago" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago">Chicago</a>. In 1988, he enrolled in <a title="Harvard Law School" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School">Harvard Law School</a>, where he was the first black person to be president of the <a title="Harvard Law Review" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_Review">Harvard Law Review</a>. After graduating, he became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the <a title="University of Chicago Law School" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago_Law_School">University of Chicago Law School</a> from 1992 to 2004. Turning to elective politics, he <a title="Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Senate_career_of_Barack_Obama">represented the 13th district</a> from 1997 until 2004 in the <a title="Illinois Senate" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Senate">Illinois Senate</a>,
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Study: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Similar For Shale And Crude Oil. The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory this week released a pair of studies on the efficiency of shale oil production excavation. The reports show that shale oil production generates greenhouse gas emissions at levels similar to traditional crude oil production.

The research, which was conducted in collaboration with Stanford University and the University of California, Davis, analyzed the Eagle Ford shale formation, also called a play, in Texas and the Bakken play mainly in North Dakota. These plays are shale formations with low permeability and must be hydraulically fractured to produce oil and gas.

Eagle Ford and Bakken are the second and third largest oil producing shale formation regions in the United States, during the last three years. Together, Bakken and Eagle Ford in 2014 accounted for 54 percent of oil production and 19 percent of gas production among the top seven production regions.

Light crude oil trapped in rock, such as shale, is called tight oil. Its production is accompanied by a significant amount of energy product, including natural gas, some of which gets flared or vented off at the well site. Until now, little information has existed about how production methods impact greenhouse gas emissions at these sites.

"These two plays produce a large amount of the shale oil for the U.S.," said Michael Wang, a senior scientist at Argonne who leads the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model, which incorporated the study results. "These two studies have concluded that the net greenhouse gas intensity of production is similar to conventional production."

Both studies showed that after taking into consideration flaring and venting of natural gas, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with shale/tight oil production are similar to those generated at conventional crude oil reserves. This emission intensity stays consistent during the lifespan of extraction at the oil play. This contradicts an earlier estimate that the Bakken play might produce greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent higher more than for crude oil production.

"Drilling and fracturing wells for shale oil is more energy intensive than conventional drilling, but these wells have higher productivity and require less energy to produce and process the crude," said Adam Brandt, a professor at Stanford University, lead author on the Bakken study. "Flaring of gas is a key issue in the Bakken, and if flaring were controlled the Bakken crude would have lower emissions than conventional crude."

The Eagle Ford study looked at crude oil produced from different production zones for 2009-2013. Some zones produced more oil while others produced more gas. The study showed that wells in the gas-rich zone used roughly twice as much energy as wells in the oil-rich zone, which used an average of 1.2 percent of energy produced for production, extraction, and processing. Additionally, the water usage rate was generally higher at the gas-rich wells.

"It was challenging to calculate the net energy use and net greenhouse gas emissions for Eagle Ford because of the wide range of products produced at these places, and there were no publicly available tools for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing," said Sonia Yeh, lead author on the Eagle Ford study and a researcher with the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis. "The collaboration provided greater transparency and understanding of energy and climate impacts of oil production in these regions."

These studies calculate energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the crude oil and natural gas extraction using the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE) model with production data collected for shale oil well operations in both plays. This model estimates energy for the lifecycle from the initial exploration to the refinery entrance gate and includes production, processing and transport.

The research team put the OPGEE-produced results into the GREET model developed at Argonne National Laboratory for modeling the life-cycle GHG emissions.

---

<a href="http://www.anl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Argonne National Laboratory</a>

Study: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Similar For Shale And Crude Oil

Study: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Similar For Shale And Crude Oil....

NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US Thanks To El Nino. El Nino this winter will leave a big wet but not necessarily snowy footprint on much of the United States, including parched California, forecasters said Thursday.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration issued its winter forecast and "the driver of this winter's outlook is El Nino," said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
El Nino changes weather worldwide, mostly affecting the United States in winter. The weather pattern happens every few years when the Pacific Ocean warms up around the equator. This year's is one of the strongest El Ninos on record.
NOAA expects a cooler and wetter winter for the South. For <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/august-complex-fire-has-become-the-largest-in-californias-history/">California</a>, more precipitation than usual is expected during the critical time that its reservoirs usually fill, but there's no guarantee. Only northern tier states, the Ohio Valley states and Alaska should be dry.
While California's drought is likely to lessen in January, even the wettest winter on record - 33 years ago - didn't have enough rain to wash out the current four-year drought, said NOAA hydrologist Alan Haynes of the California <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=nevada&amp;cvid=4a5024ab4fad468192f4a8f8f269f86f&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Nevada</a> River Forecast Center.NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US Thanks To El Nino
Forecasters see a milder, warmer winter north of the Mason-Dixon line and for all of California and Nevada. Texas and the Deep South are forecast to be cold.
Overall, the nation should have 2 percent fewer days when people have to fire up their furnaces, said Halpert. He said the Northeast, where it was chilly and snowy last year, should see 6 percent fewer heating days.
Because of El Nino, NOAA is more confident than usual that its forecast is on target - 70 percent for a wet South, Halpert said.
The federal winter forecast doesn't address snow, just wet or dry and warm or cold. Even though it's likely to be both cooler and wetter in the South, it is usually so warm there that it needs a blast of Arctic air for snowstorms and that's not looking likely, Halpert said. And while the north is likely to be warmer, past El Ninos have had some big snowstorms.
Historically, because there's more storminess during El Ninos, there's been a slight but not great increase in snowfall in the Northeast during El Ninos, said NOAA El Nino expert Michelle L'Heureux. But that could be skewed by a few big years in the past like the winter of 2009-10, she said. The Great Lakes area tends to get less snow during El Ninos, she said.
Private forecast firm Weather Bell Analytics predicts a swath from New Mexico across to the Carolinas and up the coast to Connecticut will get 50 percent more snow than usual.
AccuWeather, another private firm, sees severe thunderstorms in Florida, but forecasts less lake-effect snow around the Great Lakes, occasional mild days for the Midwest and says it will be "not as brutal" for the Northeast.
--- Online:
NOAA's seasonal forecast: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/1PvqmnZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://1.usa.gov/1PvqmnZ</a>
---
Seth Borenstein can be followed at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a>
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NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US Thanks To El Nino

Largest Oil Companies Pledge Support For Paris Climate Conference. The chief executives of 10 of the world's largest oil companies have pledged support for an "effective" deal to fight global warming at a Paris conference next month.
In a statement Friday, the CEOs of BP, Shell, Saudi Aramco, Total, Repsol, Statoil, Eni, Petroelos Mexicanos, Reliance Industries and BG Group said they recognize greenhouse gas emissions trends are inconsistent with the ambition to keep warming below a level many consider dangerous.
Burning coal, oil and gas for energy is a key <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=emissions&amp;cvid=2aad6a7812594308915d9982c56dc09e&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">emissions</a> source.
The companies offered to help by reducing flaring and methane emissions from oil and gas operations. They also called for replacing coal with cleaner-burning natural gas in power generation.
<a href="http://www.earth.com/organizations/greenpeace-international/">Greenpeace</a> said the companies' offer "contains nothing meaningful" and accused them of undermining effective climate action. Largest Oil Companies Pledge Support For Paris Climate Conference.
Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.Climate change, periodic modification of <a class="md-crosslink" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Earth">Earth</a>’s <a class="md-crosslink" href="https://www.britannica.com/science/climate-meteorology">climate</a> brought about as a result of changes in the <a class="md-crosslink" href="https://www.britannica.com/science/atmosphere">atmosphere</a> as well as interactions between the atmosphere and various other geologic, chemical, biological, and geographic factors within the Earth system.
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Largest Oil Companies Pledge Support For Paris Climate Conference

Largest Oil Companies Pledge Support For Paris Climate Conference. The...

Scientists: Use Carbon-Absorbing Crystals To Curb Global Warming "As far as I know this is the first material that captures CO2 in an efficient way," said researcher Osamu Terasaki.

Carbon-absorbing crystals probably won't stave off global warming, but they could help put a dent in carbon emissions.

Carbon capturing technologies are mostly too expensive, but a new discovery could change that.
<div class="ad_slot"></div>
Scientists in Sweden have developed a new type of synthetic crystal with carbon-capturing micropores. Researchers say the crystal can capture carbon dioxide more efficiently than similar materials, even in the presence of water.

Researchers have previously experimented with CO2 capturing materials as a potential tool against global warming, but the co-absorption of water inhibits the process. For these materials to work, gas must first be dehumidified. The added expense makes that technology unrealistic.Scientists: Use Carbon-Absorbing Crystals To Curb Global Warming

But scientists at the Stockholm University developed a microporous coppersilicate crystal with separate CO2 and H2O uptake locations. The crystal absorbs both carbon and water, but its CO2 absorption is unaffected.

And because the crystal was synthesized hydrothermally, the material remains stable even after its H2O absorption. Similar materials degrade as they take up water.

The new material is detailed <a class="tpstyle" href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/350/6258/302.abstract?sid=fdc8505e-c912-43b6-ab0e-fc4af6a249b1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in the journal Science</a>.

"As far as I know this is the first material that captures CO2 in an efficient way in the presence of humidity," Osamu Terasaki, a material scientists and chemistry professor at Stockholm, said in a press release. "In other cases there is competition between water and carbon dioxide and water usually wins. This material adsorbs both, but the CO2 uptake is enormous."

The material could potentially be used to create filters on the top of smokestacks that prevent CO2 from escaping into the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/earths-atmosphere-beyond-moon/">atmosphere</a> -- though there aren't specific plans for application in place.

"CO2 is always produced with moisture, and now we can capture CO2 from humid gases. Combined with other systems that are being developed, the waste carbon can be used for new valuable compounds," Terasaki said. "People are working very hard and I think we will be able to do this within five years. The most difficult part is to capture carbon dioxide, and we have a solution for that now."

---

Credit: UPI

Scientists: Use Carbon-Absorbing Crystals To Curb Global Warming

Scientists: Use Carbon-Absorbing Crystals To Curb Global Warming "As far...

Largest Oil Companies Pledge Support For Paris Climate Conference. The chief executives of 10 of the world's largest oil companies have pledged support for an "<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fasting-diets-are-effective-for-weight-loss/">effective</a>" deal to fight global warming at a Paris conference next month.
In a statement Friday, the CEOs of BP, Shell, Saudi Aramco, Total, Repsol, Statoil, Eni, Petroelos Mexicanos, Reliance Industries and BG Group said they recognize greenhouse gas emissions trends are inconsistent with the ambition to keep warming below a level many consider dangerous.
Burning coal, oil and gas for energy is a key <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=emissions&amp;cvid=ef92c87eeea342e7889195dfa6dcade6&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">emissions</a> source. Largest Oil Companies Pledge Support For Paris Climate Conference
The companies offered to help by reducing flaring and methane emissions from oil and gas operations. They also called for replacing coal with cleaner-burning natural gas in power generation.
Greenpeace said the companies' offer "contains nothing meaningful" and accused them of undermining effective climate action.Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,148,271 residents as of 2020, in an area of 105 square kilometres. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, science and arts. The City of Paris is the centre and seat of government of the Île-de-France,
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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



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

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;



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



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

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;



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

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;



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



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

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



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.

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from 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?

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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



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.

Santiago, Chile in South America

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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



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.

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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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



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.

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



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.

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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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.

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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



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.

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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



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.

How the immune system responds to injury

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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



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.

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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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



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.

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



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.

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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