Recent research has revealed a startling connection between plastic production and pollution, with every 1% increase in plastic production leading to a corresponding 1% rise in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-win-the-battle-of-planet-vs-plastic-drastic-changes-are-needed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plastic environmental pollution</a>. The study, published in Science Advances, marks the first robust quantification of this global relationship.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-corporate-culprits-in-plastic-production">Corporate culprits in plastic production</h2>



The investigation was conducted by an international team from the United States, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Estonia, Chile, Sweden, Canada, and the United Kingdom. 



The findings point to 56 global companies, mainly in the food, beverage, and tobacco sectors, as being responsible for more than half of all branded <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-plastics-treaty-tackles-the-pollution-problem-directly-at-the-source/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plastic</a> pollution. 



Notably, The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coca-cola-pepsi-among-top-contributors-to-plastic-waste/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coca-Cola Company</a> emerges as the top polluter, responsible for 11% of branded waste, followed by PepsiCo at 5%, and both Nestlé and Danone at 3%.



This significant and disturbing study utilized data from over 1,576 brand audits spanning 84 countries, gathered over five years by more than 200,000 volunteers through initiatives like Break Free From Plastic and 5 Gyres’ TrashBlitz app. 



These brand audits involve volunteers conducting waste clean-ups and documenting the brands on the collected pollution, providing a ground-level view of the impact of plastic production.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reducing-plastic-production">Reducing plastic production</h2>



The pervasive nature of plastic pollution across diverse geographical locations and waste management systems indicates that a reduction in plastic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-production-must-be-phased-out-to-stop-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">production</a>, especially within the fast-moving consumer goods sector, could dramatically lessen global plastic pollution. 



As discussions unfold at the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/nations-agree-end-plastic-pollution" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Plastics Treaty</a> negotiations this month in Ottawa, Canada, this research could greatly influence the adoption of high-ambition, legally binding provisions focusing on corporate accountability and the promotion of sustainable practices like reuse and refill systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-community-explains-the-study-s-significance">Scientific community explains the study's significance</h2>



“When I first saw the relationship between production and pollution, I was shocked… But it gives me hope that reducing plastic production and shifting towards more durable and reusable products would have a strong positive impact on the environment,” stated Win Cowger, researcher at the <a href="https://mooreplasticresearch.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research</a>.



“I urge world leaders at INC-4 to listen to the science, and to consider the clear link between plastic production and pollution during negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty,” added Dr. Lisa Erdle of The 5 Gyres.



Sybil Bullock from <a href="https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Break Free From Plastic</a> calls attention to the persistent shortcomings of major corporations in reducing their plastic impact, advocating for, “a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty that mandates significant cuts in plastic production and stops corporations from flooding the planet with single-use plastic.”



Dr. Jorge Emmanuel critiques the often-misguided blame placed on poorer countries for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-plastic-pollution-has-become-a-global-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">global plastic pollution</a>. He reflects on the role of global companies since the 1960s in introducing single-use plastics that displaced traditional, sustainable practices.



Dr. Kathy Willis highlights the major role that single-use packaging plays in branded plastic pollution, stressing the importance of, “data [that] can help inform ways to address plastic production and reduce plastic waste ending up in the environment.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-urgent-need-for-systematic-reform-and-policy-change">Urgent need for systematic reform and policy change</h2>



The comprehensive results of this study distinctly illustrate the direct correlation between plastic production and environmental pollution, while emphasizing the pressing necessity for systemic reforms. 



These changes are crucial not only for improving current conditions but also for ensuring long-term environmental sustainability.



Promoting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/markets-punish-corporations-that-ignore-climate-environmental-pollution-risks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">corporate accountability</a> and supporting sustainable methods can lead to substantial ecological advantages. By adopting responsible production practices and reducing plastic waste, companies can make a meaningful impact on global pollution levels.



Furthermore, as international discussions progress, the findings of this study are invaluable in pushing for effective and binding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-interlinked-crisis-of-plastic-pollution-and-global-warming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">environmental policies</a>. 



This research equips policymakers and advocates with the evidence needed to implement stringent regulations that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/big-chemical-companies-hide-pollution-behind-subsidiaries/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hold corporations accountable</a> and foster a shift towards more sustainable industrial practices.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-strategies-to-reduce-plastic-production">Strategies to reduce plastic production</h2>



Reducing plastic production involves a multifaceted approach that incorporates regulatory, corporate, and community actions. Here’s a detailed breakdown of each strategy:



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implement-regulations">Implement regulations</h3>



<ul>
<li>Ban single-use plastics: Some governments have started banning or restricting the use of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-biggest-environmental-impacts-of-single-use-plastics-are-largely-overlooked/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">single-use plastic</a> items like straws, bags, and food containers.</li>



<li>Quotas and tariffs: Implementing quotas on the amount of plastic that can be produced and imposing tariffs on plastic imports can reduce the availability and affordability of plastics.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-promote-sustainable-alternatives">Promote sustainable alternatives</h3>



<ul>
<li>Research and development: Investing in the development of alternative materials such as plant-based <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-plastic-straws-degrade-faster-than-others/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bioplastics</a> that degrade more quickly and have a lower environmental impact.</li>



<li>Support for alternatives: Providing subsidies or tax breaks for companies producing and using alternative, sustainable materials.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-enhance-recycling-programs">Enhance recycling programs</h3>



<ul>
<li>Improve recycling infrastructure: Upgrading facilities and technologies to handle a broader range of plastic products and improve the efficiency of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-recycling-day-creating-a-healthier-planet-for-all/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recycling processes</a>.</li>



<li>Standardize recycling practices: Creating uniform guidelines for recycling across regions to maximize participation and effectiveness.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-corporate-responsibility">Corporate responsibility</h3>



<ul>
<li>Product redesign: Companies can redesign products to use less plastic or replace plastic with other materials. For example, using glass or metal which are more easily recyclable and often more sustainable.</li>



<li>Extended producer responsibility: Implementing policies where manufacturers are responsible for the entire <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biodegradable-breakthrough-plastics-that-wont-make-us-sick/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lifecycle of their products</a>, including disposal and recycling.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-consumer-awareness-on-plastic-production">Consumer awareness on plastic production</h3>



<ul>
<li>Educational Campaigns: Conducting campaigns to educate the public about the impacts of plastic pollution and how to reduce plastic use.</li>



<li>Promoting Reuse: Encouraging consumers to use reusable items, like shopping bags, water bottles, and containers.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-economic-incentives">Economic incentives</h3>



<ul>
<li>Grants and Loans: Offering financial support to start-ups and businesses that are developing plastic alternatives or improving recycling technologies.</li>



<li>Penalties for High Plastic Use: Imposing fines on companies that exceed a certain level of plastic use or waste, incentivizing them to find greener solutions.</li>
</ul>



By integrating these strategies, communities, nations, and businesses can significantly cut down on plastic production, leading to a cleaner and more sustainable environment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastic-pollution-and-the-path-towards-sustainability">Plastic, pollution, and the path towards sustainability</h2>



In summary, this important study has exposed the undeniable link between plastic production and pollution, pinpointing the fast-moving consumer goods sector as the key contributor to this global crisis. 



As world leaders convene to negotiate a Global Plastics Treaty, this research serves as a crucial plea for decisive action. We must demand corporate accountability, prioritize plastic production reduction measures, and promote reuse and refill systems. 



The path forward is clear: by holding corporations responsible for their role in the plastic pollution predicament and focusing on reducing production, we can work towards a cleaner, more sustainable future for our planet. The time for action is now.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adj8275" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>



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Every increase in plastic production results in identical increase in plastic pollution

Recent research has revealed a startling connection between plastic production and pollution, with every 1% increase in plastic production leading to a corresponding 1% rise in plastic environmental pollution. The study, published in Science Advances, marks the first robust quantification of this global relationship. Corporate culprits in plastic production The investigation was conducted by an international team from the United States, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Estonia, Chile, Sweden, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The findings point to 56 global companies, mainly in the food, beverage, and...

The evolution of our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dozens-of-free-floating-planets-found-in-the-milky-way/">planet</a> is a story of gradual cooling. While 4.5 billion years ago, extreme temperatures and a deep ocean of magma prevailed on the surface of the Earth, the planet’s surface shifted to a cooling phase over the next millions of years that formed a brittle crust. However, the immense thermal energy emanating from the Earth’s core set various dynamic processes in motion, such as plate tectonics, volcanism, and mantle convection.



There is still no scientific consensus regarding how fast the Earth has cooled, or how long it will take until the heat-related dynamic processes mentioned above will stop due to cooling. By investigating the thermal conductivity of the minerals which form the boundary between the Earth’s core and mantle, a research team led by <a href="https://ethz.ch/en.html">ETH Zürich</a> has found that the Earth may in fact be cooling much faster than initially estimated.



Studying this boundary layer, formed mainly of a mineral called bridgmanite, is important since it is the place where the viscous rock of the Earth’s mantle is in direct contact with the hot iron-nickel melt of its outer core, causing significant heat flow.



The scientists used a recently developed optical absorption measurement system in a diamond unit heated with a pulse laser in order to measure the thermal conductivity of bridgmanite in the laboratory, under the pressure and temperatures prevailing inside the Earth.



“This measurement system let us show that the thermal conductivity of bridgmanite is about 1.5 times higher than assumed,” reported study lead author Motohiko Murakami, a specialist in Earth Sciences at ETH Zürich. This finding suggests that the heat flow from the Earth’s core into the mantle is higher than estimated, a phenomenon which increases mantle convection and accelerates the cooling of the Earth.



Moreover, Murakami and his colleagues also discovered that rapid cooling of the mantle will turn bridgmanite into the mineral post-perovskite which, once predominant, will further accelerate the cooling of the mantle due to its higher efficiency in conducting heat.



“Our results could give us a new perspective on the evolution of the Earth’s dynamics. They suggest that Earth, like the other rocky planets Mercury and Mars, is cooling and becoming inactive much faster than expected,” Murakami explained.



Further research is needed to find out how long it will take for convection currents in the mantle to stop. &nbsp;“We still don’t know enough about these kinds of events to pin down their timing,” concluded Murakami.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X21005859?via%3Dihub#!">Earth and Planetary Science Letters</a>.



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earth’s interior is cooling faster than previously thought

The evolution of our planet is a story of gradual...

New research led by <a href="https://newbrunswick.rutgers.edu/">Rutgers University – New Brunswick</a> and funded by <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a> has discovered the structures of proteins that might have been responsible for the origins of life from the “primordial soup” of chemical elements of ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/earth-humans-and-all-living-creatures-are-made-from-stars/">Earth</a>. By investigating how primitive forms of life on our planet originated from simple, non-living materials, scientists finally managed to address one of the mysteries of modern biology.



“We have very little information about how life arose on this planet, and our work contributes a previously unavailable explanation,” said study lead author Yana Bromberg, a professor of Microbiology and Bioinformatics at Rutgers.&nbsp;



According to Professor Bromberg and her colleagues, all living organism would have needed to collect and store energy from sources such as the Sun or hydrothermal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-sea-vents-are-favorable-to-the-formation-of-life/">vents</a>. In molecular terms, this would entail the ability to shuffle electrons. And since the best elements for electron transfers are metals and most activities connected to life are carried out by proteins, the researchers decided to investigate proteins that bind metals as potential precursors to living organisms.



By applying advanced computational methods, the scientists found that the majority of metal-binding proteins are similar regardless of the type of metals they bind to, the organism they come from, or their overall functionality.&nbsp;



“We saw that the metal-binding cores of existing proteins are indeed similar even though the proteins themselves may not be. We also saw that these metal-binding cores are often made up of repeated substructures, kind of like LEGO blocks,” explained Professor Bromberg. &nbsp;&nbsp;



“Curiously, these blocks were also found in other regions of the proteins, not just metal-binding cores, and in many other proteins that were not considered in our study. Our observation suggests that rearrangements of these little building blocks may have had a single or a small number of common ancestors and given rise to the whole range of proteins and their functions that are currently available - that is, to life as we know it.”&nbsp;



“This explanation could also potentially contribute to our search for life on other planets and planetary bodies. Our finding of the specific structural building blocks is also possibly relevant for synthetic biology efforts, where scientists aim to construct specifically active proteins anew,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Study sheds new light on the origins of life on Earth

New research led by Rutgers University – New Brunswick and...

A new study from <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/">Australian National University</a> (ANU) creates a stark choice: step up conservation efforts or lose the regent honeyeater, a beautiful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/songbirds-and-humans-use-similar-speech-patterns/">songbird</a>, within 20 years. The new study reveals that even the current intensive conservation efforts aren’t enough.



“The regent honeyeater population has been decimated by the loss of over 90 per cent of their preferred woodland habitats,” said study lead author Professor Rob Heinsohn.



"Less than 80 years ago, it was one of the most commonly encountered species, ranging from Adelaide to Rockhampton. Now it is on track to follow the dodo into extinction.”



There are currently less than 300 regent honeyeaters left, making it one of Australia’s rarest birds. Habitat destruction forces the remaining honeyeaters to compete with larger birds for less habitat.



In 2015 the ANU researchers began an intensive research project focused on gaining greater understanding of the regent honeyeater’s decline. After years of field work, the scientists discovered that the decline in nest success was due to predation by other bird species and possums.&nbsp;



In the new research, the scientists used their hard won field data to create a population model that predicts the bird’s future population.&nbsp;



“Our models show that current conservation efforts have provided essential life support for the regent honeyeaters, but do not go far enough," said study co-author Dr. Ross Crates. “We were able to isolate the three key conservation priorities necessary to secure the birds’ future."&nbsp;



The first conservation priority the research lays out is a doubling of nest success rates in both wild and zoo bred animals, facilitated by protecting the nests from predators.&nbsp;



Next captive breeding efforts releasing birds into the Blue Mountains must increase and remain steady for twenty years in addition to nest protection.&nbsp;



Lastly, the research emphasizes that the regent honeyeater can only survive into the future if more habitat is preserved and restored.&nbsp;



“Without more habitat, reintroductions and nest protection efforts will be futile, because the flock sizes will never reach the critical mass needed for the birds to breed safely without our protection," said Professor Heinsohn.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"Our study provides both hope and a dire warning - we can save these birds, but it will take a lot of effort and resources over a long time to pull it off.”&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biological-conservation">Biological Conservation</a>.



---



By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How can we save the regent honeyeater from extinction?

A new study from Australian National University (ANU) creates a...

A new study led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has found an increase in the diversity of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-can-help-sustainably-extract-rare-earth-elements/">bacteria</a> in the genus Vibrio in UK waters. Scientists discovered V. rotiferianus and V. jasicida, two species that have never been detected in the waste of this region before.&nbsp;



The increase in diversity of Vibrio bacteria may harm sea creatures such as shellfish, and can also be harmful to humans.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



"Vibrio species can often be found in UK waters in summer, when temperatures are more favourable for them," said <a href="https://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile/index.php?web_id=sariqa_wagley">Dr. Sariqa Wagley</a>. "With sea-surface temperatures rising due to climate change, Vibrio activity in the waters is more common, and the diversity of Vibrio species is now increasing. We found Vibrio parahaemolyticus – the leading cause of seafood-borne gastroenteritis worldwide – at Chichester Harbour."Despite the potential health concerns, Dr. Wagley points out that there are easy ways to avoid sickness, even with the spread of bacteria from food.&nbsp;



"It is important to note that thorough cooking kills harmful Vibrio bacteria in seafood. However, increasing abundance and diversity of Vibrio bacteria creates health risks not only for people eating seafood, but for those using the sea for recreation purposes – either due to swallowing infected seawater or from the bacteria entering exposed wounds or cuts.”



Besides their direct impact on human health, Vibrio bacteria have significant indirect impacts, including harm to the shellfish industry.&nbsp;



"Vibrio bacteria are also a threat to a variety of marine species including shellfish themselves. Disease costs the global aquaculture industry £6 billion a year, and this burden of disease can be devastating," said Dr. Wagley.



"We have not seen mass mortality of shellfish due to Vibrio bacteria here in the UK yet, but this has occurred elsewhere – including in France and Australia."



The research highlights the need for careful monitoring of the situation, both for human health as well as marine biodiversity.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/water-research">Water Research</a>.



Image Credit: Dr. Luke Helmer



---



By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New bacteria found in the UK linked to warming waters

A new study led by scientists from the University of...

According to current scientific knowledge, the history of life on Earth was marked until now by five mass <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/volcanic-fertilization-led-to-severe-mass-extinction-event/">extinctions</a>, which were caused by natural phenomena and resulted in great global losses of biodiversity. In a new study, a group of biologists from <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/">University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa</a> and the <a href="https://www.mnhn.fr/en">National Museum of Natural History</a> in Paris, France, argue that we are currently experiencing a Sixth Mass Extinction which, in contrast to the previous ones, is caused entirely by human activities.



By extrapolating from estimates obtained through the analysis of snail and slug populations, the scientists have shown that, since 1500, the Earth could have lost between 7.5 percent and 13 percent of the approximately two million of known species, thus between 150,000 to 260,000 species.



“Drastically increased rates of species extinctions and declining abundances of many animal and plant populations are well documented, yet some deny that these phenomena amount to mass extinction,” said&nbsp;study lead author Robert Cowie, a research professor of Biosciences at the University of Hawai’i.



“This denial is based on a biased view of the crisis which focuses on mammals and birds and ignores invertebrates, which of course constitute the great majority of biodiversity. Including invertebrates was key to confirming that we are indeed witnessing the onset of the Sixth Mass Extinction in Earth’s history.”



According to Professor Cowie and his colleagues, the situation is not the same everywhere on Earth. Although increasingly more marine species are threatened, the crisis affecting the seas and oceans is not so severe as that impacting the land. Moreover, on land, island species are more affected than continental ones, and a much larger number of terrestrial animals are endangered in comparison to plants.



Unfortunately, this ongoing extinction is denied by most of the people, including key political actors and policy-makers, and while conservation initiatives have been successful for certain charismatic animals, they cannot target all endangered species and reverse the overall thread of extinction.



“Despite the rhetoric about the gravity of the crisis, and although remedial solutions exist and are brought to the attention of decision-makers, it is clear that political will is lacking,” said Professor Cowie. “Denying the crisis, accepting it without reacting, or even encouraging it constitutes an abrogation of humanity’s common responsibility and paves the way for Earth to continue on its sad trajectory towards a Sixth Mass Extinction.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12816">Biological Reviews</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The Sixth Mass Extinction is currently in progress

According to current scientific knowledge, the history of life on...

In the past, when climates changed, forests became distributed more to the north or to the south of their previous locations. This is not to say that the trees, themselves, moved. Rather, the ranges of the tree species changed. For example, fossil plant and pollen records show that the ranges of tree species shifted northward at a rate of 50km per century as the climate warmed after the retreat of the North American ice cap.&nbsp;



Tree range migration is facilitated by the movement of seeds. When the climate changes, trees begin to form more seeds; these get spread around by dispersal agents and may germinate in areas that are more favorable for growth. Although wind and water may carry some seeds, the vast majority of trees depend on animals to disperse them to new areas. But now, many of these seed-dispersing animals are themselves threatened, as climate changes and habitats are lost.



In&nbsp;<a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk3510?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D84587913426847399401258317155412422308%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1641994662">a study</a>&nbsp;featured on the cover of this week’s issue of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>, U.S. and Danish researchers consider how the loss of species of birds and animals will impact the ability of plants to adapt to human-induced climate change in future. While animals can often fly, walk, run or swim to more suitable areas, trees cannot escape the heat. Tree species that need to move their offspring away from warmer temperatures will only be able to do so via the activities of seed-dispersal agents, such as mammals and birds.&nbsp;



“Some plants live hundreds of years, and their only chance to move is during the short period when they're a seed moving across the landscape,” said <a href="https://www.rice.edu/">Rice University</a> ecologist&nbsp;<a href="https://www.evanfricke.com/">Evan Fricke</a>, the study's first author. “If there are no animals available to eat their fruits or carry away their nuts, animal-dispersed plants aren’t moving very far."



In collaboration with researchers from the University of Maryland, Iowa State University and Aarhus University, the Rice team used machine learning and data from thousands of field studies to map the contributions of seed-dispersing birds and mammals worldwide. They compared maps of seed dispersal today with maps showing what dispersal would look like if there were no human-caused extinctions or species range restrictions.



The experts also used data synthesized from field studies around the world to train a machine-learning model for seed dispersal, and then used the trained model to estimate the loss of climate-tracking dispersal caused by animal declines.



Fricke explained that developing estimates of seed-dispersal losses due to animal and bird extinctions or changes in their ranges required two significant technical advances: “First, we needed a way to predict seed-dispersal interactions occurring between plants and animals at any location around the world."



For this, they used data on species interactions from over 400 field studies that detailed how many seeds are dispersed by particular species of birds and mammals, how far they are dispersed and how well those seeds germinate. Based on this data, the researchers could predict interactions between plants and seed dispersers.



“Second, we needed to model how each plant-animal interaction actually affected seed dispersal,” said Fricke. “For example, when an animal eats a fruit, it might destroy the seeds or it might disperse them a few meters away or several kilometers away.”



The results of the study showed that many seed-dispersing mammals and birds have already been lost, particularly in temperate regions across North America, Europe, South America and Australia. In addition, if currently endangered species go extinct, tropical regions in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia would be severely affected.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We found regions where climate-tracking seed dispersal declined by 95%, even though they’d lost only a few percent of their mammal and bird species,” said Fricke.&nbsp;



The findings showed that the ability of animal-dispersed plants to keep pace with climate change has been reduced by 60% due to the loss of mammals and birds that help such plants adapt to environmental change.&nbsp;



“In addition to the wake-up call that declines in animal species have vastly limited the ability of plants to adapt to climate change, this study beautifully demonstrates the power of complex analyses applied to huge, publicly available data,” said Doug Levey, program director of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Biological Sciences, which partially funded the work.



Fricke explained that the study is the first to quantify the scale of the seed-dispersal problem globally and to identify the regions most affected. He emphasized that declines in the populations of seed dispersers highlight an important intersection between the climate and biodiversity crises impacting natural environments today.



“Biodiversity of seed-dispersing animals is key for the climate resilience of plants, which includes their ability to continue storing carbon and feeding people,” he said, adding that restoration of ecosystem connections in natural habitats could counteract some declines in seed dispersal, but not all of them. People also rely, both economically and ecologically, on seed-dispersing birds and mammals to ensure the supply of important resources.&nbsp;



“Large mammals and birds are particularly important as long-distance seed dispersers and have been widely lost from natural ecosystems,” said Svenning, the study’s senior author. “The research highlights the need to restore faunas to ensure effective dispersal in the face of rapid climate change.”&nbsp;



“When we lose mammals and birds from ecosystems, we don’t just lose species. Extinction and habitat loss damage complex ecological networks," said Fricke. "This study shows animal declines can disrupt ecological networks in ways that threaten the climate resilience of entire ecosystems that people rely upon.”



---



By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Some plants won't survive the loss of seed-dispersing animals

In the past, when climates changed, forests became distributed more...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.rsmas.miami.edu/">University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science</a> has found that the locations and timing of tiger <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sharks-important-deserve-protections/">shark</a> movements in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean have shifted due to rising ocean <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marine-heatwaves-could-severely-affect-the-fishing-industry/">temperatures</a> caused by climate change. By pushing tiger sharks outside of protected areas, these climate-induced factors make the animals more vulnerable to commercial fishing.&nbsp;



The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) is the largest cold-blooded predator in tropical and warm-temperate seas and oceans. While waters off the United States’ northeast coast have historically been too cold for these fierce predators, recent increases in ocean temperatures have made them suitable.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag, the director of the University of Miami’s <a href="https://sharkresearch.rsmas.miami.edu/">Shark Research and Conservation Program</a>. “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.”



Professor Hammerschlag and his colleagues analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, together with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/document/cooperative-shark-tagging-program">Cooperative Shark Tagging Program</a>, in order to assess how changes in water temperatures affected shark habitats and movements.



They found that during the last decade (when ocean temperatures were the warmest on record), for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. Moreover, they also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



According to the scientists, these results have greater ecosystem implications. “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.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16045">Global Change Biology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Tiger shark migrations are shifting as temperatures rise

A new study led by the University of Miami Rosenstiel...

Climate change seems like such an overwhelming crisis that it is hard to know what we, as ordinary individuals, can do to help the situation. Recycling our waste and using <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/meltwater-influences-carbon-storage-in-the-arctic/">water</a> sparingly are such small contributions that they seem totally ineffective. A new study, however, has shown that we can have a significant impact on our own environmental footprint by simply changing one food item in our daily diets.



Researchers from <a href="https://tulane.edu/">Tulane University</a> calculated how much of a difference people could make if they swapped one high-impact food item for similar, more sustainable and planet-friendly options.&nbsp;



The impact of each type of food was assessed using data that the researchers gathered on the greenhouse gas emissions and water usage involved in its production, and this information was linked to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm">a large federal survey</a> that reported on what more than 16,000 Americans ate each day.&nbsp;



Using this information, the researchers examined how the changes in diet would impact two statistics – the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the diet, and the impact on the water scarcity footprint. This is a measure of the irrigated water used to produce the foods eaten, taking into account regional variations in water scarcity.



According to the results, beef is the dietary item with the highest environmental impact and around 20 percent of the people surveyed said they ate at least one serving of it each day. The study found that, if people replaced one serving of beef each day with a more environmentally-friendly option, such as turkey, the greenhouse gases emitted in the production of their diet overall, would fall by an average of 48 percent, while the water-usage impact would be reduced by 30 percent.



“People can make a significant difference in their carbon footprint with very simple changes – and the easiest one would be to substitute poultry for beef,” said study&nbsp;<a href="https://sph.tulane.edu/sbps/diego-rose">lead author Diego Rose</a>, a professor of Nutrition and Food Security at Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.



The researchers also examined how the change would affect the overall environmental impact of all food consumption in the U.S. in a day – including the 80 percent of diets that would not change at all. If only the 20 percent of Americans who ate beef in a day switched to something else for one meal, that would reduce the overall carbon footprint of all U.S. diets by 9.6 percent and reduce water-use impacts by 5.9 percent.



Although swapping beef had the greatest impact, they also measured the impact of changing other items. For example, replacing a serving of shrimp with cod reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent; replacing dairy milk with soymilk resulted in an 8 percent reduction.&nbsp;



The greatest reduction in the water scarcity footprint came from replacing asparagus with peas, resulting in a 48 percent decrease. Substituting peanuts in place of almonds decreased the water scarcity footprint by 30 percent.



Although this study focused on the impacts of simple dietary changes that could be made by individuals, it is clear that climate change is a massive and complex issue that requires coordinated responses on governmental and international levels. However, this should not detract from the importance of the small changes we can all make as individuals.



“The changes needed to address our climate problems are major. They are needed across all sectors and along all levels of human organization from international agencies to federal and state governments to communities and households,” said Professor Rose.&nbsp;



“Many individuals feel strongly about this and wish to change our climate problem through direct actions that they can control. This, in turn, can change social norms about both the seriousness of the problem and the potential solutions that can address it. Our study provides evidence that even simple steps can assist in these efforts,” he concludes.



The study is published in&nbsp;<a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn">The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Small dietary changes have big environmental benefits

Climate change seems like such an overwhelming crisis that it...

Methane emissions have been identified as high priority during recent climate talks in Glasgow. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/meltwater-influences-carbon-storage-in-the-arctic/">carbon</a> dioxide. In fact, it is 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide over the first 20 years it’s in the atmosphere and roughly 25 times stronger for the first 100 years.&nbsp;



A recent study from the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFe-pfe0a9bDvWy74Jd7vFg">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> has revealed a new way to remove methane from the atmosphere using clay. 



"Climate action scenarios that limit changes in global temperature to less than 1.5 °C require methane controls, yet there are no abatement technologies effective for the treatment of low-level methane," wrote the study authors.



"Here, we describe the use of a biomimetic copper zeolite capable of converting atmospheric- and low-level methane at relatively low temperatures."



Drilling for natural gas is one of the primary sources of methane, but agricultural activities such as dairy farming serve as the largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions. 



“A lot of the methane that comes into the atmosphere is from distributed and diffuse sources, so we started to think about how you could take that out of the atmosphere,” explained Professor Desiree Plata.



The new method of methane capture involves combining copper with zeolite, a type of clay used in cat litter. For the study, particles of the copper-enhanced zeolite material were placed in a reaction tube and were heated from the outside as streams of gas varying in concentration from two parts per million to two percent flowed through the tube. 



The new method has several advantages over older methods of methane capture. For example, the clay technique is cheaper, as other methods require catalysts of platinum or palladium. Other known strategies also require high temperatures of at least 600 degrees Celsius and cycling between oxygen rich streams and methane rich ones, creating high explosion risks.



“The 600 degrees where they run these reactors makes it almost dangerous to be around the methane," said doctoral student Rebecca Brenneis. "They’re solving the problem by just creating a situation where there’s going to be an explosion.”



Unsurprisingly, the older methods of methane capture have a very limited range of uses. The new technique seems to reach its peak performance at around 300 degrees Celsius, using less energy and being less dangerous. 



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/aeacc4">ACS Environmental Au</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Clay could help reduce methane emissions

Methane emissions have been identified as high priority during recent...

Clothes that are dried regularly in a household tumble dryer eventually lose their “fluffiness” and become threadbare. Ever wonder what happens to the fibers that come off these clothes? We know that clothes lose microfibers while being churned around in a washing machine, but little is known about the relative contribution of air from clothes dryers to the problem of microfiber pollution in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eating-less-meat-is-better-for-animal-welfare-and-environmental-health/">environment</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In a new study from City University of Hong Kong, experts report that air released from a household dryer could discharge up to 120 million microfibers annually, which is considerably more than the discharge in wastewater from a washing machine.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Microfibers are ultra-fine threads of fabric that have a diameter of less than 10 micrometers, about one-fifth of the diameter of a human hair. Microfibers can arise from synthetic fabrics such as polyesters, polyamides (nylon, Kevlar) and polypropylene, that are used to make clothing, upholstery and accessories.&nbsp;



These synthetic fibers are environmentally unfriendly because they are not biodegradable, are manufactured from petrochemicals which are non-renewable, and are highly flammable. The authors state in the study that the global use of synthetic fibers has increased, and that the use of polyester fibers in particular has reached 76.66 million tons per year and now accounts for 55% of the global clothing market.



Synthetic microfibers also form part of the category of pollutants known as microplastics. When synthetic fabrics are laundered, the waste water is released into aquatic environments carrying a significant load of microfibers. Microfibers pose a threat to aquatic organisms and their environment. Additionally, these persistent microplastics have been found in air, in terrestrial environments and in the feces of humans and some domestic animals. The fibers can be irritants when ingested or inhaled, and can also absorb and transport pollutants over long distances.&nbsp;



In the study by Danyang Tao, Kai Zhang and Kenneth Leung, microfibers generated by both cotton and polyester clothing while in a dryer were collected and counted in order to estimate the quantity released into the outdoor air from a household’s laundry each year. The researchers dried clothing items made of polyester and those made of cotton separately in a tumble dryer that had a vent pipe to the outdoors.&nbsp;



They connected the outlet pipe to an air sampling machine that measured the volume of air passing through and collected the suspended particles. The microfibers were filtered onto filter paper and the particles that had been airborne in the sample were counted. The air sampling machine ran for 15 minutes for each sample.



The results showed that both types of clothing produced microfibers which, according to the team, probably arise from the friction of the clothes rubbing past each other as they tumble around. For both fabrics, the dryer released between 1.4 and 40 times more microscopic fragments than are generated in waste water by washing machines. (A pair of jeans can release around 56,000 microfibers into the waste each time it is washed.)



The researchers also found that the release of polyester microfibers increases with the size of the load in the dryer, whereas the release of cotton microfibers remains constant, regardless of the load size. According to the study authors, a possible explanation is that some cotton microfibers aggregate and cannot stay airborne, but this is not the case for polyester.&nbsp;



Finally, the team estimated that between 90 and 120 million microfibers are produced and released into the air outside by the average single Canadian household’s dryer every year. The experts suggest that additional filtration systems need to be fitted to dryer vents in order to control the release of these airborne microfibers into the environment.&nbsp;



The study is published in the ACS journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/estlcu">Environmental Science &amp; Technology Letters</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Clothes dryers release millions of microfibers into the air

Clothes that are dried regularly in a household tumble dryer...

Melting ice caps, starving polar bears, devastating hurricanes, uncontrollable wildfires, desertification and famine - the list of problems associated with climate change continues to grow. A new study from Potsdam scientists has added yet another consequence to this list, as the team has found that rainy days have a negative impact on the economy.&nbsp;



The study, which is published the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>, shows that an increase in rainy days caused by burning fossil fuels is likely to hurt the economy, and wealthy nations will be the hardest hit.&nbsp;



The research was led by Leonie Wenz of the <a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home">Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research</a> (PIK) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC).



“This is about prosperity, and ultimately about people’s jobs," said Wenz.&nbsp; "Economies across the world are slowed down by more wet days and extreme daily rainfall – an important insight that adds to our growing understanding of the true costs of climate change,”



Warm air holds more water than cold air, and as our atmosphere warms due to climate change, more water can be carried by clouds and released as rain. This means that due to climate change, rainfall is likely to continue to increase across many parts of the world.&nbsp;



For the investigation, the scientists analyzed data from 1,500 regions over the last 40 years showing the connection between an increase in rainy days and a decline in the economy.&nbsp;



“Our study reveals that it’s precisely the fingerprint of global warming in daily rainfall which have hefty economic effects that have not yet been accounted for but are highly relevant," said study co-author Anders Levermann.



"Taking a closer look at short time scales instead of annual averages helps to understand what is going on: it's the daily rainfall which poses the threat. It’s rather the climate shocks from weather extremes that threaten our way of life than the gradual changes. By destabilizing our climate we harm our economies. We have to make sure that our burning of fossil fuels does not destabilize our societies, too.”



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rainy days put a damper on economic growth

Melting ice caps, starving polar bears, devastating hurricanes, uncontrollable wildfires,...

Florida is rapidly increasing the installation of utility-scale solar energy (USSE) facilities, aiming to decrease greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/u-s-greenhouse-emissions-rebounded-in-2021/">emissions</a> and mitigate climate change. Over the next decade, the solar capacity of the state is expected to increase from 1,743 to 12,537 megawatts. However, the expansion of sustainable energy comes with a cost: the installation of USSE facilities may significantly impede the habitats and movements of an already endangered species, the Florida panther.



This magnificent animal once ranged throughout the entire southeastern United States. Today, it is restricted to roughly five percent of its historical range in South Florida. The panthers need corridors for dispersal and have extremely large home ranges of up to 200 square miles. Their survival relies on their ability to move unimpeded from one protected area to another through wildlife corridors.



By using panther radio-telemetry data collected by the <a href="https://myfwc.com/">Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission</a> (FWC) from 1981 to 2020, a research team led by <a href="https://www.fau.edu/">Florida Atlantic University</a> (FAU) analyzed the impact the installation of USSE facilities may have on panther habitat suitability and mobility. The scientists found nine facilities located within major corridors currently used by Florida panthers, as well as over 20 other facilities that may impede to some degree the animals’ core habitats and dispersal areas.



“Our study suggests that in the drive to shift our energy production to carbon neutral sources, while maintaining maximum profitability, wildlife outside human dominated landscapes with large ranges and dispersal potentials may be pushed into less favorable habitat or cut off completely from available habitat by degradation of corridors,” said study senior author Olena V. Leskova, a doctoral student in Geosciences at FAU.



“Formally protecting and enhancing the remaining corridors between core areas at the landscape-scale will potentially ameliorate, or mitigate, the impacts already evident after installation of some facilities, and may prevent foreseeable impacts with additional planned facilities,” added study co-author Scott H. Markwith, a professor of Geosciences at FAU.



“Restoring dispersal corridors and gene flow throughout Peninsular Florida is critical to the Florida panther, its prey, and ancillary species that benefit from a connected Florida ecosystem. This, in turn, will benefit biodiversity and species resiliency at the landscape-scale.”



The researchers expect other species, such as gopher tortoises, Florida scrub jays, eastern indigo snakes, Florida black bears, or Florida burrowing owls, to be affected by the building of these large facilities in parts of their territories too.&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652664">Journal of Applied Ecology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Switching to solar energy affects endangered Florida panthers

Florida is rapidly increasing the installation of utility-scale solar energy...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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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

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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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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...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

[sendtonews key="fxH3eJHEkQ-2010196-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

[sendtonews key="Ccjk8KEMzv-2550719-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

[sendtonews key="6SdlLLbt0t-1988946-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NTU...

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

Ocean heat influences regional climate

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



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



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



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



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



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



Image/ Video Credit: ESA



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

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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

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



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



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



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



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

Monitoring deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

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