The ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission is currently observing and studying the Sun with six different imaging instruments, allowing the spacecraft to peel away the Sun's many layers and reveal its diverse faces.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-high-resolution-views-of-the-sun">High-resolution views of the Sun</h2>



Recently, the mission released the highest-resolution full views to date of the Sun's visible surface, known as the photosphere.&nbsp;



The images were assembled from data captured by the spacecraft's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI).&nbsp;



This instrument not only photographs the Sun in visible light but also measures the direction of the <a href="https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.earth.com%2Fnews%2Forigin-of-the-suns-magnetic-field-discovered-after-400-years%2F&amp;utm_campaign=aga&amp;utm_source=agsadl2%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">magnetic field</a> and maps the speed and direction in which different parts of the surface are moving.



PHI's measurements of the photosphere can be directly compared to a new image of the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona.&nbsp;



This image is essentially a mosaic assembled from high-resolution images taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument on the same day in March 2023. The EUI captures images of the Sun in ultraviolet light.



<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="wWscNjX6hZ-4055472-12187" type="single"]</div>



Daniel Müller, Solar Orbiter's Project Scientist, noted that the Sun's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solar-dynamo-sun-magnetic-field-origin-generated-near-surface/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">magnetic field</a> is key to understanding the dynamic nature of our home star from the smallest to the largest scales.&nbsp;



“These new high-resolution maps from Solar Orbiter's PHI instrument show the beauty of the Sun's surface magnetic field and flows in great detail,” said Miller.



“At the same time, they are crucial for inferring the magnetic field in the Sun's hot corona, which our EUI instrument is imaging.”&nbsp;



The image release builds upon one from two years ago when the mission shared full images of the Sun taken by the spacecraft's EUI and Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instruments on March 7, 2022.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sunspots-and-a-chaotic-magnetic-field">Sunspots and a chaotic magnetic field</h2>



Zooming into PHI's detailed visible light images reveals the Sun's “surface” for what it truly is: a constantly moving layer of glowing, hot plasma (charged gas). 



This layer emits almost all the Sun's radiation and has a temperature between 4,500 and 6,000°C. 



Beneath it lies the convection zone, where hot, dense plasma churns similarly to magma in Earth's mantle. This turbulent movement gives the Sun's surface its grainy appearance.



The most striking features in the images are the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sun-solar-cycle-25-highest-number-sunspots-activity-seen-since-2001/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sunspots</a>. In the visible light images, these appear as dark spots or holes on the otherwise smooth surface. Sunspots are cooler than their surroundings, emitting less light as a result.



PHI's magnetic map, or “magnetogram," shows that the Sun's magnetic field is concentrated in the sunspot regions, pointing either outward (red) or inward (blue) where the sunspots lie.&nbsp;



The strong magnetic field explains why plasma inside sunspots is cooler. Normally, convection moves heat from inside the Sun to its surface, but this process is disrupted as charged particles are forced to follow the dense magnetic field lines in and around the sunspots.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-movement-on-the-surface">Mapping movement on the surface</h2>



The speed and direction of material movement on the Sun's surface are displayed in PHI's velocity map, also known as a “tachogram.”&nbsp;



In this map, blue indicates movement toward the spacecraft, while red signifies movement away. The map reveals that while the plasma on the Sun's surface generally rotates with the Sun's overall spin around its axis, it is pushed outward around the sunspots.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Solar-Orbiter_3-views-of-Sun_lenses_ESA_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Solar-Orbiter_3-views-of-Sun_lenses_ESA_1s.webp" alt="The three views of the Sun's surface shown here are based on measurements taken on March 22, 2023 by the ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission. From left to right, you see the Sun in visible light, a magnetic map of the Sun, and a map of the line-of-sight speed and direction of movement of material at the Sun's visible surface. Credit: ESA" class="wp-image-1951400"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The three views of the Sun's surface shown here are based on measurements taken on March 22, 2023 by the ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission. From left to right, you see the Sun in visible light, a magnetic map of the Sun, and a map of the line-of-sight speed and direction of movement of material at the Sun's visible surface. Credit: ESA</figcaption></figure>



Finally, EUI's image of the Sun's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-is-the-suns-corona-hotter-than-its-surface/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">corona</a> shows what happens above the photosphere. Above the active sunspot regions, glowing plasma protrudes outward. 



This million-degree plasma follows magnetic field lines extending from the Sun, often connecting neighboring sunspots.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-piecing-together-the-sun-s-mosaic">Piecing together the Sun's mosaic</h2>



The images were captured when the Solar Orbiter was less than 74 million kilometers from the Sun.&nbsp;



Being so close meant that each high-resolution image taken by PHI and EUI covered only a small portion of the Sun. To image the entire face, the spacecraft had to be tilted and rotated after each individual image was taken.



To create the full-disc images presented, all individual images were stitched together like a mosaic. Both the PHI and EUI mosaics consist of 25 images each, captured over more than four hours.&nbsp;



The resulting mosaics have a diameter of nearly 8,000 pixels, revealing an astonishing amount of detail.



The image processing required to produce the PHI mosaics was new and challenging. 



Now that it has been accomplished once, future data processing and mosaic assembly will be faster. The PHI team expects to provide such high-resolution mosaics twice a year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-advancing-our-understanding-of-the-sun">Advancing our understanding of the Sun</h2>



The new images not only showcase the beauty of our star but also enhance our understanding of its complex magnetic fields and dynamic processes.&nbsp;



By comparing data from different instruments, scientists can gain deeper insights into how the Sun's magnetic field influences phenomena from the smallest to the largest scales.



With continued efforts from missions like Solar Orbiter, we are peeling back the layers of the Sun to better comprehend its impact on our Solar System.



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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Solar Orbiter spacecraft sees the Sun through three different lenses

The ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission is currently observing and studying the Sun with six different imaging instruments, allowing the spacecraft to peel away the Sun's many layers and reveal its diverse faces. High-resolution views of the Sun Recently, the mission released the highest-resolution full views to date of the Sun's visible surface, known as the photosphere.&nbsp; The images were assembled from data captured by the spacecraft's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI).&nbsp; This instrument not only photographs the Sun in visible light but also measures the direction of...

If you search YouTube for videos about climate change or geoengineering, you will likely be shown conspiracy theory content that uses scientific terms to appear more credible, according to a new study. 

This “hijacking” of science to create content that directly opposes the worldwide scientific consensus is leading to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/battling-climate-change-misinformation/">rampant spread of misinformation</a>. 

YouTube has millions of channels and nearly two billion active users per month. Many people use the platform to learn and enjoy watching videos about science, health, and technology. 

The driving force behind platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and even shopping sites like Amazon are algorithms that take mountains of data to create recommendations catered to each individual user. Search terms only strengthen these algorithms. 

In a new study, researchers from the <a href="http://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/~a/root/?lidx=1">RWTH Aachen University</a> looked at how YouTube’s algorithms directed users to videos about science when using search terms like “climate change or “geoengineering.” 

The researchers wanted to know if videos tagged with these keywords offered non-biased and scientifically accurate information. 

“So far, research has focused on the most-watched videos, checking their scientific accuracy, but this doesn’t tell us what an average internet user will find, as the results are influenced by previous search and watch histories,” said Dr. Joachim Allgaier, the leader of the study. “To combat this, I used the anonymization tool TOR to avoid personalization of the results.”

Allgaier chose ten search terms related to climate change and analyzed 200 videos tagged with the terms and which covered topics about climate change and climate change modification. 

A large majority of the videos were not based in science and directly opposed the general scientific consensus about human emissions and climate change. 

Many of the videos go further than just spreading misinformation, the researchers found. Some terms like “geoengineering” have been hacked by conspiracy theorists and the term is used to describe and strengthen global conspiracies. 

For example, videos about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-debunk-chemtrails-conspiracy-theory/">chemtrails</a>, a notorious conspiracy theory, talk about geoengineering and climate modification. 

“Within the scientific community,’ geoengineering’ describes technology with the potential to deal with the serious consequences of climate change, if we don’t manage to reduce greenhouse gases successfully,” said Allgaier. “However, people searching for ‘geoengineering’ or ‘climate modification’ on YouTube won’t find any information on these topics in the way they are discussed by scientists and engineers.”

The study highlights an ongoing problem with YouTube and its algorithm, which has faced sharp criticism for promoting misinformation, hate speech, and conspiracy theories.

“Searching YouTube for climate-science and climate-engineering-related terms finds fewer than half of the videos represent mainstream scientific views,” says study author Dr. Joachim Allgaier, Senior Researcher at the RWTH Aachen University. “It’s alarming to find that the majority of videos propagate conspiracy theories about climate science and technology.”

The findings were published in the study <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00036/">Frontiers in Communication</a>. 

--

By <a href="https://kaywritesstuff.com/">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/NiP STUDIO

YouTube conspiracy theorists are using science terms to appear credible

If you search YouTube for videos about climate change or...

Male-pattern baldness and hair loss have impacted people for centuries, as records of remedies for baldness date back to Ancient Egypt. 

While drugs like Propecia and Rogaine are effective at slowing hair loss, science has yet to find a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cure-balding-gray-hair/">treatment</a> that completely reverses the balding process. 

But now, there’s promising new evidence that stem cell therapy and 3-D printing could offer an innovative solution to balding.

Balding begins when a hair follicle goes dormant. The human scalp contains around 100,000 hair follicles, and the actual strand of hair is produced thanks to stem cells located at the base of the follicle called dermal papillae. 

At the root of the follicle, blood vessels help create cells which stimulates the hair protein growth. As the hair strand gets pushed up through the skin, it dies, but the hair at the root of the follicle keeps growing. 

Over time, follicles on the head will grow dormant and hair growth ceases. There has been a growing interest in findings way to generate new hair and reverse hair loss with cell therapy. 

Cell therapy involves taking stem cells from a person and using those to generate new treatments explicitly catered for that individual. 

One cell therapy company, a startup called <a href="https://stemsontx.com/">Stemson Therapeutics</a>, is working on cloning hair follicles. Hair strands are grown or farmed using the stem cells from an individual's blood, and these young and vigorous follicles are implanted near the dormant follicle. 

Stemson Therapeutics has successfully cloned and implanted hair into a mouse, but the company is about a year and a half away from human clinical trials. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> have found a way to 3-D print a mold meant to hold follicles and the dermal papillae. 

“For a long time, we’ve been saying this is ten years away,” Robert Bernstein, a dermatologist in Manhattan who specializes in hair transplantation, told the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/07/hair-for-all/594826/">Atlantic</a>. “But now it actually might be less.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Africa Studio

Cloning hair could offer a potential cure for baldness

Male-pattern baldness and hair loss have impacted people for centuries,...

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nmining-moon-asteroids-nasa/">Moon</a> may seem like a barren, cratered lump of rock, but there’s frozen water trapped beneath the surface, and lunar explorers may soon be able to access it. 

In the past decade, researchers realized that there was water located the poles of the Moon. But now, scientists think there may be more water spread across both mid-latitudes and high latitudes on the Moon. 

Craters along the southernmost region of the Moon contain trapped water ice that has stayed buried and preserved thanks to the lack of sunlight and low temperatures. Some craters are so deep and positioned in such a way that light never touches the floor of the crater. 

It was long thought that these pockets of ice water would be trapped forever. 

However, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/inside-dark-polar-moon-craters-water-not-as-invincible-as-expected-scientists-argue">new research</a> from the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)</a> shows that water is escaping from the topmost thin layer of the surface of the Moon and is being transported to other areas, sometimes as far as 19 miles away. 

Solar wind and meteor collisions are kicking up the water molecules. 

“So every time you have one of these impacts, a very thin layer of ice grains is spread across the surface, exposed to the heat of the sun and to the space environment, and eventually sublimated or lost to the environmental processes,” said Dana Hurley, a planetary scientist at the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/inside-dark-polar-moon-craters-water-not-as-invincible-as-expected-scientists-argue">Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory</a>.

Not only are ice water particles being scattered across the Moon, but comets hurling into the Moon also replenish ice stores. 

It is not yet clear just how much water is on the Moon and whether the frozen water particles are only located on the surface. 

However, the fact that water particles are dispersing across different latitudes on the Moon is good news for future lunar exploration. 

Astronauts may not have to descend into craters to study water on the Moon. Instead, analyzing soil samples from the sunnier regions of the Moon could yield the same data. 

“This research is telling us that meteoroids are doing some of the work for us and transporting material from the coldest places to some of the boundary regions where astronauts can access it with a solar-powered rover,” said Hurley. “It’s also telling us that what we need to do is get on the surface of one of these regions and get some firsthand data about what’s happening.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: NASA/Shutterstock/Dima Zel

There’s water on the Moon and we are getting closer to accessing it

The Moon may seem like a barren, cratered lump of...

It’s long been a mystery to scientists exactly how the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/meteorites-life-outside-earth/">meteorites</a> that land on Earth form their shapes. While most of these “shooting stars” that arrive on our planet are randomly shaped, many wind up being peculiarly cone-shaped. 

Leif Ristroph, an assistant professor in NYU's <a href="https://cims.nyu.edu/">Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences</a>, explains: “The shapes of meteorites are not as they are in space, since they are actually melted, eroded, and reshaped by atmospheric flight. While most meteorites are randomly shaped ‘blobs,’ surprisingly many– some say about 25 percent – are ‘oriented meteorites,’ and complete samples of these look almost like perfect cones.”

In order to explore how these cone shapes occur, Ristroph led a study that replicated meteoroids traveling through outer space. This was done by attaching clay objects to a rod, playing the part of the meteorites as they are moved through water. This method resulted in the clay pieces being carved into cones of the same angularity as the conical meteorites. 

[caption id="attachment_1875664" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/meteorite-copy.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875664" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/meteorite-copy.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="758" /></a> Cone-shaped meteorite, Image Credit: NYU's Applied Mathematics Laboratory[/caption]

However, the research team knew that this experiment didn’t exactly replicate the conditions a real meteoroid experiences in outer space. Unlike the clay objects, meteoroids are not held in a static position – they can freely rotate and spin in the vastness of space. Knowing this, they began to wonder how meteorites were able to keep a fixed orientation during their journey to reach our planet.

To explore these questions, the team analyzed how different cone shapes fell through water. Their results showed that narrow cones flip over, while broad cones tended to flutter. But right in between narrow and broad, there were “just right” cones that flew straight. “Amazingly, these ‘Goldilocks’ cones of the ‘just right’ angles exactly match the shapes of eroded clay resulting from our experiments and of actual conical meteorites,” says Ristroph.

The findings of this study shed light on these visiting rocks, as well as provide more insight into the workings of the vast emptiness surrounding our own little rock.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: NYU's Applied Mathematics Laboratory

What’s behind the bizarre shape of certain meteorites?

It’s long been a mystery to scientists exactly how the...

Current global warming is unlike any climate event. From the Little Ice Age that blanketed Europe in colder than average temperatures and saw glacier growth in the European Alps and the Sierra Nevadas, to the warm-up that occurred during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, the Earth is no stranger to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-megadroughts/">climate extremes</a>. 

Warm, dry, wet and cold periods have sprung up in different regions throughout history, but no climate event over the past 2,000 years comes close to the scale and impact of the world’s current warming due to climate change. 

In a new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1401-2.epdf?referrer_access_token=27w7afUgTtMxVD88NsF60tRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OFAuvUf3smNPgQh_x6w3tkX-JXRoLf0zBLgBVwxe-Kovp4xC7ZhBAmXerbgnk32hVHLYFf_xcsZKqDDUOIlVX00PJ8uHZ97qLzO6HLShxctcH3JIESQS2h2kjJWuQZXmLcazXH72LAYAWKy7V5rZPgmD1MLXr4fcTr--ybas5rl23cXAggEkEZfjiiJBKzEP_QwcQzyhI-egqSbA-TrBVIoCd0DzpDw37q8nvrB7fw8sdexqppmlCAzmEHGQDurs4-gPw3N9ANuCpMsa_R_UMkOPGrnoOkTS9zjrqMwyz3PQ%3D%3D&amp;tracking_referrer=www.usatoday.com">Nature</a>, researchers examined global climate events over the past 2,000 years to see if previous periods of warming and cooling had the same reach that climate change does today. 

The consistent warming we’ve experienced in the past 100 years is unprecedented, according to the researchers. 

“The warming of the climate system that we’ve seen in the past 100 years is fundamentally different than what we’ve seen in the prior 1,900 years,” Nathan Steiger, a co-author of the study, told <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/24/global-warming-climate-warming-faster-than-has-last-2-000-years/1816664001/">USA Today</a>. “Climate epochs of the past 2,000 years, which have been popularized with names such as the “Little Ice Age” and the “Medieval Warm Period,” were only regional or continental-scale phenomena.” 

As the study shows, the sheer scale and impact of climate change today cannot be compared to other climate events prior to the late 1800s. 

Temperature records before 1850 can be challenging to piece together. For this study, the researchers combined data from tree rings, corals, lake sediments, and even mollusks to create an accurate picture of global surface temperatures over the past two thousand years. 

The burning of fossil fuels correlates with a warm period covering nearly 98 percent of the Earth, much more than the Little Ice Age, which impacted around two-fifths of the globe. 

“It’s true that during the Little Ice Age it was generally colder across the whole world, but not everywhere at the same time,” said <a href="https://www.unibe.ch/news/media_news/media_relations_e/media_releases/2019/medienmitteilungen_2019/the_climate_is_warming_faster_than_it_has_in_the_last_2000_years/index_eng.html">Raphael Neukom</a>, a fellow co-author of the study, “The peak periods of pre-industrial warm and cold periods occurred at different times in different places.” 

The results of the study help prove that the current warming we’re experiencing is not merely a natural phenomenon. The synchronistic global warming trend is directly linked to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Tom Wang

Current global warming is unlike any climate event

Current global warming is unlike any climate event. From the...

Greenhouse gases have dominated climate change since about 1850. Members of the <a href="http://www.pastglobalchanges.org/">Past Global Changes</a> (PAGES) project have reconstructed the global record of average surface temperatures over the past 2,000 years. Based on this work, the experts were able to identify the primary drivers of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-animals-adapt/">climate change</a> for each of the last 200 decades. 

The research suggests that the Earth is currently warming at the highest rate ever observed as a result of greenhouse gases. The study also shows that brief periods of global cooling prior to the Industrial Revolution were mainly driven by airborne particles associated with volcanic activity.

The temperature reconstruction largely corroborates climate model simulations of the same time period. This indicates that climate models accurately represent the contributions of various influences on climate change and are reliable predictors of future warming.

PAGES co-chair Professor Michael Evans is a geologist at the <a href="https://www.umd.edu/">University of Maryland</a>.

"Our reconstructions look like the 'hockey stick' diagram of global temperature change that was first reconstructed more than two decades ago," said Professor Evans. "Thanks to the work of the PAGES community, we have much more data now. The results were consistent regardless of how we created the reconstructions or which randomly chosen subset of input data we used."

The PAGES researchers compiled the most detailed database of its kind for the temperature reconstruction, including nearly 700 records of climate indicators from across the globe such as old trees, reef-building corals, ice cores, and marine and lake sediments. 

Based on seven different statistical methods, the experts found that volcanic activity was responsible for climate variations up until  about 1850. After that, greenhouse gases became the dominant influence on the global climate. 

By removing these influences, the study authors pinpointed the magnitude of climate fluctuations that cannot be traced to a specific cause. Their estimates of these random changes strongly correspond with climate model calculations. 

"This makes us more confident that our reconstructions are realistic and, in turn, that the climate models are simulating past and future climate warming faithfully," said Professor Evans. He pointed out that the global temperature change over the next few decades will rely heavily on the choices that humans make, which is very difficult to predict.

"The uncertainty in the influence of human activities is not so large when looking forward only a few decades. But in the longer term, the choices we make for our energy sources and how much carbon these sources emit really matter."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/">Nature Geoscience</a>. 

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Anupma Gupta/Michael Evans

Greenhouse gases have dominated climate change since about 1850

Greenhouse gases have dominated climate change since about 1850. Members...

Memorial will be held to raise awareness of the death of a famous glacier. Iceland will host an official ceremony to commemorate the loss of its famous Okjökull Glacier, which is the first of many glacial casualties expected from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/study-ocean-warming-is-the-primary-reason-for-glacier-melting/">global warming</a>. The "Ok glacier" has now ceased all movement and has transitioned into what experts refer to as dead ice.

Even though Iceland's largest glaciers are projected to expand in 2019 for the first time in 25 years, the shift is a few years too late for Ok, which lost its status as a glacier in 2014. By this time, the glacier had shrunk down to less than seven percent of its original 5.8 square miles.

Ok has now transformed into a mass of sediment and rocks known as moraine. The glacier will be memorialized on a plaque that is inscribed with "a letter to the future" composed by famous author Andri Snaer Magnason. Memorial will be held to raise awareness of the death of a famous glacier

“Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it," Magnason wrote in the tribute.

The glacier was the subject of the 2018 documentary “Not Ok,” produced by Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer of <a href="https://www.rice.edu/">Rice University</a> in Houston. The film shares the story of Ok, as well as the likely fate of the rest of Iceland's glaciers.

"This will be the first monument to a glacier lost to climate change anywhere in the world,” said Howe. “By marking Ok’s passing, we hope to draw attention to what is being lost as Earth’s glaciers expire. These bodies of ice are the largest freshwater reserves on the planet and frozen within them are histories of the atmosphere. They are also often important cultural forms that are full of significance.”

On August 18, memorial attendees will be led on an "Un-glacier tour" by the Rice University anthropologists to the site of the former Okjökull glacier in Borgarfjörður, Iceland. The plaque, which will be permanently placed at the site, notes that the current amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 415 parts per million.

“One of our Icelandic colleagues put it very wisely when he said, ‘Memorials are not for the dead; they are for the living,'” said Howe. “With this memorial, we want to underscore that it is up to us, the living, to collectively respond to the rapid loss of glaciers and the ongoing impacts of climate change."

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Jan Miko

Memorial will be held to raise awareness of the death of a famous glacier

Memorial will be held to raise awareness of the death...

How thermal imaging could help us better prepare for climate change. The technology behind monitoring our own body temperature has advanced quite a lot over the last century. These days, a sensor placed against your skin can quickly read out your core temperature – whereas a few decades ago that might’ve involved a more… invasive method. And just as the technology to measure our body temperature has advanced, so has the technology behind measuring the temperature of our planet.

A new ultra-high-resolution thermal imaging technology has taken to the skies above Europe this summer, as scientists explore the potential of building a new satellite system that could record the temperature of Earth’s surface in intricate detail. The goal of this system would be to ultimately help increase the resilience of agriculture in a future that face increasing water scarcity and variability. However, scientists hope it will also help us gain more knowledge about the Earth’s climate system.

This new thermal imaging system is called HyTES and was built by <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a>. Results from its rest flights above urban and rural areas of the UK and Italy will help provide test data to support the development of the proposed Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) mission. This would be one of six new missions being developed by the <a href="http://www.esa.int/ESA">European Space Agency</a> (ESA).

The proposed mission would include mapping both land-surface temperature and rates of evapotranspiration (water vapor emitted by plants as they grow) in incredible detail – delivering information at a resolution 400 times finer than what is currently captured from space-based thermal instruments. 

“In an urban context, this will help to understand and model thermal activity and ventilation in and around individual cities and inform planning and ‘climate-adaptive’ building design to deal with heatwaves such as those experience in western Europe during June,” explains Dr. Darren Ghent of the <a href="https://le.ac.uk/">University of Leicester</a> and member of the LSTM Mission Advisory Group. 

Data gathered from rural areas would potentially provide major benefits for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/food-production-environmental-impact/">food production</a> and sustainable water use. 

“At the expected resolution it will be possible to monitor the temperature of individual fields, enabling growers to tailor irrigation regimes to specific crops and locations,” says Ghent.

With the Earth’s population expected to hit nine billion by 2050, the pressure on our planet’s water resources is mounting. “Agriculture already accounts for the use of 70% of global freshwater. Increased water withdrawals to keep up with future food demands combined with water scarcity and variability issues due to the effects of climate change will be challenging,” says Ghent. “The field-level temperature information from LSTM will increase the efficiency of individual farms in a changed environment.”

As the intricacies of our climate become even more important to understand with the effects of climate change, access to detailed climate data is at a premium. The efforts behind projects such as this could help increase our resilience to climate change as we gain a better understanding of the planet on which we live.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: ESA

How thermal imaging could help us better prepare for climate change

How thermal imaging could help us better prepare for climate...

Destructive free radicals may actually play a helpful role in marine ecosystems. In the human body, reactive oxygen species are unstable molecules containing oxygen that react aggressively with other molecules in a cell. The accumulation of these destructive free radicals can cause serious and even fatal damage to cells.

Reactive oxygen species also exist in marine ecosystems, where they are thought to degrade the cells of organisms such as <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/hydrothermal-vents-phytoplankton-blooms/">phytoplankton</a>. However, researchers at <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">UC San Diego</a> have now discovered that these molecules may actually play a beneficial role in the ocean.

The study has revealed that a reactive oxygen species produced by the marine diatom Thalassiosira oceanica is helpful in protecting its cells from overproducing a compound that powers photosynthesis. 

The findings could have implications for marine organisms and their chemical environment. The type of reactive oxygen species examined for the study is known as superoxide, which is a charged oxygen atom. 

Scientists believe superoxide may be responsible for the fish fatalities associated with toxic algae blooms, which highlights the need for a better understanding of how and why it is produced in certain circumstances. 

The contrasting positive and negative effects of superoxide could be a critical factor in how marine ecosystems respond to climate change. According to study lead author Julia Diaz, it is possible that superoxide production could help to mitigate excessive stress on the ocean. 

A compound produced by T. oceanica called NADPH is the power source that allows the diatoms to convert carbon into carbohydrates. In the presence of very bright light, however, T. oceanica can produce too much NADPH.

The team analyzed superoxide production in diatoms at various light levels and concluded that it protects cells at times when too much NADPH is produced. The reactive oxygen species acts like a surge protector that keeps energy flowing at safe levels. 

"Our findings point to a new role for reactive oxygen species in the photosynthetic health of this diatom. The next challenge is to determine whether this process also exists in other phytoplankton species," said Diaz.

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Julia Diaz

Destructive free radicals may actually play a helpful role in marine ecosystems

Destructive free radicals may actually play a helpful role in...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/">University of Vermont</a> have developed a new framework for exploiting plant odors to keep away pests. The study is the first of its kind to demonstrate that the similarity of odors and shared genetics among <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plants-defense-gut-insects/">plants</a> can predict their ability to repel insects. 

The team applied their concept to the swede midge, a tiny fly that poses a major threat to broccoli, kale, and other cabbage-family crops in the Northeastern United States. The damage caused by the midge larvae is not observable until it is too late. In areas where the midge has become well established, the pest can cause 100 percent crop losses.

The experts found that particular essential oils including garlic, spearmint, thyme, eucalyptus lemon, and cinnamon bark were most effective at repelling the midge. This is a welcome discovery for organic farmers who have no solution for managing the pest.

"People often think more aromatic plant oils, like mint, basil and lavender will repel insects, but usually there is no rhyme or reason for choosing," said study senior author Professor Yolanda Chen. "It turns out that as we go along the family tree, plants that are more distantly related from the host plant are generally more repellent."

In order to survive, midge larvae must feed on the brassica plant family, which includes many popular vegetables like broccoli and cabbage, Laying eggs on the wrong plant would kill off the midge's offspring.

"Smell plays a major role in host location," said study lead author Chase Stratton. "Just one landing of one fly is enough to cause marketable damage."

Stratton identified essential oils from 18 plants that are related to brassica host crops to varying degrees. The researchers theorized that oils from plants that are more distantly related to brassicas would be more repellent to the midge. 

To test the theory, the team observed the responses of female midges as they were introduced to broccoli plants that had been sprayed with each of the essential oils. The experiment revealed that the midges were less likely to lay their eggs on broccoli plants that had been treated with essential oils, and they avoided some oils more than others. 

Overall, oils from plants that were more distantly related to brassicas were more likely to repel the midges. Odors that varied more in their chemical structures were also more likely to be repellent. 

On the other hand, the oil that was found to be the most effective repellent was spearmint, which actually had odors more similar to the brassica crop.

"Biologically, it makes sense that midges would be able to detect and avoid these plants because the similar odors would make it easier for them to misinterpret these plants as hosts, which would be deadly for their offspring," said Stratton. "For swede midge, garlic appears to be one of the most promising repellents, particularly because certified organic products using garlic are already available for growers."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>. 

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Insect Agroegology and Evolution Lab / University of Vermont

Natural plant odors may be an effective pest repellent for crops

Researchers at the University of Vermont have developed a new...

Scientists uncover new clues about how the brain smells. A team of neuroscientists from <a href="https://www.cshl.edu/">Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL)</a> have discovered that, unlike prior studies that showed predictable links between molecular properties of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/odors-healthy-animals-change/">odors</a> and early stage activity in the olfactory system, these correlations "held little predictive power when new odor pairs or shuffled properties were tested."

These new findings are published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/neuro/">Nature Neuroscience</a>.

"We don't really know what the brain is looking for [when it comes to smell], and we don't know what physical or chemical features, if any, the brain extracts," said Florin Albeanu from CSHL.

It’s understood that odor particles first enter via the nasal cavity, where they are bound to odorant receptors expressed by the olfactory receptor neurons within the sensory tissue. Then, the olfactory bulb processes information sent up from the receptors. 

It then sends this information to processing areas in the brain, including the cerebral cortex, where the olfactory output messages are analyzed and broadcasted throughout the brain, eventually being conveyed back to the bulb. Scientists uncover new clues about how the brain smells

"Rich feedback makes the olfactory system somewhat different from the visual system," Alexei Koulakov said. "Olfactory experience is very subjective, perception of smells actually depends on the context, and on an individual's prior experience."

Therefore, Albeanu and Koulakov believe it’s probably that the entry-level of olfactory inputs and the further processed bulb outputs pick up on the different aspects of smell.

These new results provide an opportunity to build a more comprehensive computational model for the odor space that captures the differences in informational relevance for scent features across the landscape of olfactory processing.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Yuganov Konstantin

Scientists uncover new clues about how the brain smells

Scientists uncover new clues about how the brain smells. A...

Researchers from <a href="https://www.colostate.edu/">Colorado State University</a> suggest that a new approach must be taken to understand the environmental risks within the current <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/age-of-man-scientists-officially-recognize-the-anthropocene-era/">Anthropocene</a> geological age, in which humans are the dominant force of environmental change. 

"The Anthropocene is a time of rapid global change — socially, environmentally, and geophysically," said lead author Patrick Keys, a research scientist in the <a href="https://sustainability.colostate.edu/">School of Global Environmental Sustainability at CSU</a>. "Typical notions of neatly and cleanly delineating complex environmental risks are changing in unexpected ways. It's becoming clear that a more holistic perspective, including social history, power relations, and environmental ethics may be important components of Anthropocene risks."

Keys provided the Syrian civil war, believed to be driven by drought and climate change, as an example, stating that although these two causes are more than likely at play, incentives by Syrian government officials that kept farmers on agriculturally precarious land for decades hugely contributed to the climate impact the war revolves around today. 

"If we ignore the social and political economic factors that deliver us to this present, we will attribute an event to being caused by the environment when, in fact, that was just one cause or the icing on top of the cake,” Keys said. “If we look at things only in the present, we will come up with solutions to a problem defined in the present, but we may not be defining the problem correctly."

This new study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/natsustain/">Nature Sustainability</a>.

"As the Anthropocene unfolds, navigating new and emerging risks will require considering changes that happen over years, decades, centuries, or even millennia." Keys said. "In this increasingly interconnected and accelerating world, it's on us to really educate ourselves about how to interact intelligently and meaningfully to work toward a more sustainable world."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Nicole S Glass

Scientists warn a new approach must be taken to deal with Anthropocene risk

Researchers from Colorado State University suggest that a new approach...

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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



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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

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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



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 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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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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



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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" 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.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

[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



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

[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



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

[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



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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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



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...