Snowpack once reliably fed water into the Colorado River, yet winter precipitation across the Four Corners has dropped by roughly 23 percent since 1980. Reservoirs and ranchers feel the strain each spring.



Researchers have linked the ongoing shortage of rain directly to a warming Pacific and to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01728-x">anthropogenic aerosols</a> - tiny pollution particles that alter atmospheric circulation. 



The evidence shows that drought conditions in the American Southwest are now effectively locked in as the climate continues to warm.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-megadrought-becomes-the-new-normal">Megadrought becomes the new normal</h2>



“What we find is that precipitation is more directly influenced by climate change than we previously thought, and precipitation is pretty sensitive to these external influences that are caused by humans,” said Flavio Lehner, assistant professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at <a href="https://cornellbigred.com/">Cornell University</a>.



Professor Lehner’s team combed through decades of climate‑model runs to untangle overlapping drivers.



Tree‑ring reconstructions show that the current Southwest megadrought is the driest 22‑year span since at least 800 CE. The finding puts today’s water crisis in a millennium‑scale context.



Lower precipitation, not just higher temperatures, sets this megadrought apart because it saps <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-soil-moisture-can-predict-severe-storms/">soil moisture</a> before summer even starts. That early‑season deficit undercuts the snowpack that supplies two‑thirds of regional river flow.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pollution-alters-storm-paths">Pollution alters storm paths</h2>



“In our models, if we see a warming trend in the tropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pacific-sea-levels-are-rising-faster-than-anywhere-in-the-world/">Pacific</a>, we would expect more precipitation in the Southwestern United States - but that’s not the case here,” said Yan‑Ning Kuo, doctoral student at Cornell University.



Her point underscores the role that pollution‑driven circulation changes play in overriding ocean patterns.



Particles from coal burning, industrial smokestacks, and vehicle exhaust in East Asia rise into the atmosphere and scatter sunlight, cooling the surface and nudging the jet stream northward. 



That shift encourages a persistent high‑pressure ridge over the North Pacific that deflects winter storms away from Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California.



China’s air‑quality campaign cut average <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332221001081">PM2.5 levels</a> by about one‑third between 2013 and 2019. Still, the Cornell team warns that rising greenhouse gases will overpower those short‑term gains.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pacific-can-t-deliver-rain">Pacific can’t deliver rain</h2>



In a typical <a href="https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/elnino/what-is-la-nina">La Niña</a>, cooler Pacific waters push the jet stream north, leaving the Southwest dry. Conversely, <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-el-nino-and-what-are-its-effects">El Niño</a> usually drapes moisture over the region, yet models show that warming and aerosols erase that benefit.



A <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/enso-and-southwest-united-states-megadrought">teleconnection</a> is a long‑distance link between climate features, and the new analysis finds that the Pacific‑to‑Southwest link has weakened. That subtle change allows a stubborn North Pacific high‑pressure system to settle in more often.



Between 1980 and 2014, soil moisture in the Southwest declined faster than at any other time in the past century, dropping by about 0.15 inches per decade. Less moisture in the ground means more summer heat spikes, as dry soils can’t cool the air through evaporation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-water-stress-is-locked-in">Water stress is locked in</h2>



Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, has hovered at just 35 percent of capacity for three straight years. Mandatory cutbacks on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/colorado-river-basin-has-lost-enough-water-to-fill-lake-mead/">Colorado River</a> allocations kicked in after the lake dropped below 1,075 feet.



<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/chapter/chapter-8/">IPCC models</a> project that every 1.8°F of global warming could trim cool‑season precipitation in the Southwest by another four percent. That figure mounts because a warmer atmosphere pulls extra water from soils and plants, intensifying drought even if rain totals held steady.



Cities from Phoenix to Albuquerque already rely on indoor conservation and reclaimed water to stretch supplies. But climate‑induced precipitation losses eat into the margin of safety those programs provide.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-slowing-the-southwest-megadrought">Slowing the Southwest megadrought</h2>



Sulfur‑cutting fuel rules and clean‑energy mandates have begun shrinking <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reducing-aerosol-pollution-ironically-causes-more-wildfires/">aerosol emissions</a> from ships and factories. Cleaner air could, in theory, ease the North Pacific high and let more storms through.



The Cornell study warns that warming trends across the tropics may soon override any aerosol relief. Warmer seas pump extra heat into the atmosphere, reinforcing the pattern that steers wet winter systems elsewhere.



Scientists suggest ramping up soil‑moisture monitoring and forest‑thinning projects so managers can react quickly to dry spells. Improved early‑warning tools could buy precious time for farmers and power grid operators. 



For now, the Southwest must plan for decades of megadrought, not just dry years. Water managers, residents, and policymakers face a future where every raindrop matters.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01728-x">Nature Geoscience</a>.



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Why the Southwest megadrought is here to stay

Snowpack once reliably fed water into the Colorado River, yet winter precipitation across the Four Corners has dropped by roughly 23 percent since 1980. Reservoirs and ranchers feel the strain each spring. Researchers have linked the ongoing shortage of rain directly to a warming Pacific and to anthropogenic aerosols - tiny pollution particles that alter atmospheric circulation. The evidence shows that drought conditions in the American Southwest are now effectively locked in as the climate continues to warm. Megadrought becomes the new normal “What we find is...

Each year, humpback whales migrate from warmer, temperate waters to the icy Antarctic to gorge themselves on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-krill-can-distinguish-night-from-day-even-in-polar-winter/">krill</a>. These small, shrimp-like crustaceans are rich in nutrients and in the southern summer they become so abundant that the whales’ journey is well rewarded. The frigid waters become so crowded with krill that they were once considered an unlimited source of food, especially in the light of the removal of more than 2 million baleen whales from the Southern Ocean during the 20th century.



However, as with most ecosystems, the components of the Antarctic food webs are interconnected and none of them is inexhaustible. There is no surplus of krill, especially as whale populations have shown recovery and as global warming begins to change the Antarctic ice sheets.



In new collaborative research led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">University of California, Santa Cruz</a>, the rate of pregnancy in a population of humpback whales was determined over an eight year period (2013 to 2020). Biopsy samples taken from the whales found off the West Antarctic Peninsula were used for genetic analysis, and to determine the levels of hormones, particularly progesterone. The results, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16559">Global Change Biology</a>, indicate that the proportion of females that were pregnant varied considerably each year over the research period.&nbsp;



When the researchers linked the pregnancy rates to the abundance of krill in the waters of the West Antarctic Peninsula, they found that more females were pregnant in years following seasons of krill abundance. In 2017, after a year in which krill populations flourished, 86 percent of the female humpbacks were pregnant. However, in 2020, following a year in which krill populations were less successful, the pregnancy rate plummeted to only 29 percent.&nbsp;



Humpback whales only feed in the Southern Ocean for a few months of the year, and the females fast for most of the rest of the time, even while they are pregnant and nursing calves. This means that the nutrient and energy boost obtained from feeding on thousands of tons of krill during the brief summer visits to the Antarctic, is critical for reproductive success.&nbsp;



According to lead author Logan Pallin, the study demonstrates for the first time the link between population growth and krill availability in Antarctic whales.



“This is significant because, until now, it was thought that krill were essentially an unlimited food source for whales in the Antarctic,” said Pallin. “Continued warming and increased fishing along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, which continue to reduce krill stocks, will likely impact this humpback whale population and other krill predators in the region.”



Professor Ari Friedlaender noted that the Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing some of the fastest climatic warming of any region on the planet. Winter air temperatures have risen significantly since the 1950s, and the annual sea ice extent is, on average, 80 days shorter than four decades ago. These conditions are likely to affect the survival of krill populations negatively.



“Krill supplies vary depending on the amount of sea ice because juvenile krill feed on algae growing on sea ice and also rely on the ice for shelter,” Friedlaender said. “In years with less sea ice in the winter, fewer juvenile krill survive to the following year. The impacts of climate change, and likely the krill fishery, are contributing to a decrease in humpback whale reproductive rates in years with less krill available for whales.”



In recent decades, people have found uses for krill as a food source and medicinal treatments, and there is now a commercial fishery operating in the waters off the West Antarctic Peninsula. The total global harvest of krill from all fisheries is about 150–200,000 tons a year, though only a small percentage of this is for human consumption. The majority is utilized as fish food in aquaculture, bait, and livestock and pet food. Krill oil and enzymes are also used in various medicinal treatments.



Study co-author Chris Johnson is the global lead of the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Protecting Whales &amp; Dolphins Initiative. He said this research shows that highly precautionary management measures are needed to protect all Antarctic marine life that depends on krill for its survival, including blue, fin, humpback, minke, and southern right whales, as well as other krill predators such as penguins, seabirds, seals, and fish. &nbsp;



Furthermore, understanding how climate-mediated variation in prey availability influences humpback whale population dynamics is critical for focused management and conservation actions, particularly in light of changing temperatures in the Antarctic.&nbsp;



“This information is critical as we can now be proactive about managing how, when, and how much krill is taken from the Antarctic Peninsula,” added Pallin. “In years of poor krill recruitment, we should not compound this by removing krill from critical foraging areas for baleen whales.”



“Krill are not an inexhaustible resource, and there is a growing overlap between industrial krill fishing and whales feeding at the same time,” Johnson said. “Humpback whales feed in the Antarctic for a handful of months a year to fuel their annual energetic needs for migration that spans thousands of kilometers. We need to tread carefully and protect this unique part of the world, which will benefit whales across their entire range.”



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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



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Humpback whale reproduction is linked to krill abundance

Each year, humpback whales migrate from warmer, temperate waters to...

Recent studies have shown that the loss of species from plant communities can reduce ecosystem functions such as productivity, soil health, and carbon storage. This reduced functioning can destabilize ecosystems in the long term, disrupting their ability to provide essential services to our planet. However, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.uzh.ch/en.html">University of Zurich</a>, assessing such processes is only possible if experiments can be conducted for a sufficient length of time.



The scientists investigated the stability of plant biomass production over two decades in one of the longest grassland <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biodiversity-loss-weakens-ecosystem-functioning/">biodiversity</a> experiments in the world, the <a href="http://the-jena-experiment.de/">Jena Experiment</a> in Germany. The analysis revealed that, after more than a decade, plant species in more diverse communities complemented each other in producing stable biomass.&nbsp;



By contrast, if plant diversity was low, community biomass varied more dramatically from year to year. Moreover, due to large fluctuations in species populations, species-rich communities had not yet stabilized during the first decade of the experiment.



“We now realize that the mechanisms by which diverse species communities maintain ecosystem functioning in the long term are continually developing even after two decades,” said study lead author Cameron Wagg, an expert in agroecology, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning at the University of Zurich.



“These novel results fit with other recent findings of our research group, suggesting that over time evolutionary processes in diverse plant communities select the most ‘collaborative’ plant genotypes among the different species, thus increasing division of labor, community productivity and ecosystem stability,” added study senior author Bernhard Schmid, a biologist at the same university.&nbsp;



These findings suggest that, since ecosystem stability is crucial in the face of environmental perturbations, older and more diverse ecosystems should be valued and safeguarded in a rapidly changing world such as ours.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35189-2">Nature Communications</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



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Grassland ecosystem stability is driven by biodiversity

Recent studies have shown that the loss of species from...

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-evidence-suggests-earths-inner-core-is-rotating/">Earth’s inner core</a> – a scorching ball of solid iron located three thousand miles below the surface inside a liquid outer core – generates electric currents that turn into a magnetic field surrounding out planet and protecting living organisms from the most damaging cosmic radiation.&nbsp;



While in the mid-1990s scientists discovered that the inner core is spinning at its own pace, slightly faster than the rest of the planet, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://english.pku.edu.cn/">Peking University</a> in China has now found that around 2009, the core slowed its rotation, becoming similar with that of the surface for a while, and is now lagging behind it.&nbsp;



According to the scientists, a similar phenomenon seems to have happened in the late 1960s and early 1970s, suggesting that it could represent a 70-year cycle of the inner core’s speeding up and slowing down.



Since the core is buried deep between the Earth’s mantle and crust, it cannot be visualized directly. However, scientists can use seismic waves triggered by earthquakes to infer what is happening in our planet’s deepest parts. Since these waves travel at different speeds that depend on the temperature and density of the rock, they act as a type of X-ray for the Earth.&nbsp;



By examining seismic waves traveling from specific sites of earthquakes to the opposite side of the planet, and passing through the core on their way, the researchers analyzed time lags and perturbations in these waves which offered them indirect information about the core.



The analysis revealed that the core has recently slowed its rotation. “Most of us assumed that the inner core rotated at a steady rate that was slightly different from the Earth,” said Paul Richards, a seismologist at <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a>. “The evidence accumulates, and this paper shows that the evidence for [faster] rotation is strong before about 2009, and basically dies off in subsequent years.”



Although the reasons of this shift are not yet clearly understood – and the change itself is debated by some scientists – the behavior of the core appears to be connected to small changes in the length of the day, which has been growing by milliseconds over the past centuries because of other forces too, such as the moon’s pull on our planet. However, after removing predictable fluctuations in the length of a day due to moon’s forces, the scientists found that there are changes appearing to track with the 70-year oscillation in the inner core’s rotation.



Further research is needed to precisely understand the core’s behavior in order to shed more light on the Earth’s formation and how its innermost layers affect life on its surface.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-01112-z">Nature Geoscience</a>.&nbsp;



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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



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Earth’s inner core is slowing down

The Earth’s inner core – a scorching ball of solid...

Pheasants are more likely to be killed by predators in unfamiliar areas, according to a study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/undergraduate/">University of Exeter</a>. The experts note that most animals know the central areas of their home ranges better than the edges.



For the investigation, the researchers tested the cognitive abilities of more than 100 captive-reared pheasant chicks. The birds were then tagged and released into the wild.&nbsp;



During a six-month study period, about 40 percent of the pheasants were killed by predators, which were primarily foxes.&nbsp;



The results show that the pheasants were far more likely to be killed near the edge of their range. The researchers say this was due to inexperience in these areas, because other birds that knew the same spots well were not likely to die there.



“For pheasants, experience within an area is much more important for predicting whether they are killed by predators than how dangerous the area is itself,” said study lead author Dr. Robert Heathcote.



“Ambush predators like foxes are quite habitual in their hunting behavior, so local pheasants may learn particular locations where foxes prefer to stalk their prey or lie in wait."



“Another explanation is that, with time, pheasants might gain more knowledge about the fastest and safest escape routes should they be attacked."



“Our study suggests this might cause pheasants to evolve better spatial memory, allowing them to expand the region that they have detailed knowledge about.”



Before their release, the birds were tested on two kinds of spatial memory by using a maze and a memory task. Ultimately, the researchers found that chicks with greater cognitive abilities grew up to have a larger range.



“One of the tasks we presented the chicks was to learn to navigate through a carefully designed maze to test for navigation-related spatial cognition including spatial reference memory," said study co-author Dr. Mark Whiteside.



“The ability to remember locations such as sites for foraging, drinking and refuge could explain why individuals that performed well on this task had larger home ranges after their release into the wild."



“Their performance in these tests that were administered when the birds were just a few weeks old went on to predict their chance of being killed by foxes months later.”



The team was able to establish the cause of death by using a novel reverse-GPS tracking system developed by Professor Sivan Toledo of Tel-Aviv University and Dr. Yotam Orchan of Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The high-precision system enabled the team to determine the exact timing, location, and cause of death among tagged birds.



“Our findings show that basic spatial abilities, revealed by tests in mazes, relate to real-world space use in the wild and, crucially, affect the survival of individuals in the face of predation,” said study co-author Dr. Joah Madden.



“We demonstrate that knowing about an area helps pheasants stay alive, and this means that these cognitive abilities can be shaped by natural selection. We now understand a bit more about how cognitive abilities can evolve.”



The research, which was funded by the European Research Council, is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology and Evolution</a>



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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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Pheasants are most vulnerable in unfamiliar territory

Pheasants are more likely to be killed by predators in...

New research led by the <a href="https://www.nioz.nl/en">Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research</a> (NIOZ) has found that a type of bacteria (Rhodococcus ruber) can eat and actually digest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-pollution-is-a-planetary-emergency/">plastic</a> particles. By using a model study with plastic in artificial seawater in the laboratory, the experts calculated that bacteria can break down about one percent of the fed plastic per year into carbon dioxide and other harmless substances.



“But this is certainly not a solution to the problem of the plastic soup in our oceans. It is, however, another part of the answer to the question of where all the ‘missing plastic’ in the oceans has gone,” said study lead author Maaike Goudriaan, a doctoral student in Microbiology and Biogeochemistry at NIOZ.



For these experiments, the scientists manufactured a special type of plastic with a distinct form of carbon (13C) in it. When fed to the bacteria after pretreatment with UV radiation mimicking sunlight in a bottle of simulated seawater, the special version of carbon appeared as CO2 above the water. “The treatment with UV light was necessary because we already know that&nbsp;sunlight partially breaks down plastic&nbsp;into bite-sized chunks for bacteria,” Goudriaan explained. “This is the first time we have proven in this way that bacteria actually digest plastic into CO2&nbsp;and other molecules.”



While scientists already knew that this bacterium&nbsp;can form a so-called biofilm on plastic in nature, and that the plastic disappears under that biofilm, this study is the first to prove that the bacteria actually digest the plastic.



By calculating the total breakdown of plastic into CO2, the researchers found that the bacteria can break down about one percent of the available plastic per year. “That’s probably an underestimate,” Goudriaan said. “We only measured the amount of carbon-13 in CO2, so not in the other breakdown products of the plastic. There will certainly be&nbsp;13C in several other molecules, but it’s hard to say what part of that was broken down by the UV light and what part was digested by the bacteria.”



However, as Goudriaan stresses, microbial digestion is far from being a solution to the major problem of plastic pollution. “These experiments are mainly a proof of principle. I see it as one piece of the jigsaw, in the issue of where all the plastic that disappears into the oceans stays. If you try to trace all our waste, a lot of plastic is lost. Digestion by bacteria could possibly provide part of the explanation.”



Further research is needed to investigate whether bacteria&nbsp;also eat plastic “in the wild,” with some promising results already arising from experiments with real sea water and sediment collected from the Wadden Sea floor. “The first results of these experiments hints at plastic being degraded, even in nature. A new PhD student will have to continue that work. Ultimately, of course, you hope to calculate how much plastic in the oceans really is degraded by bacteria. But much better than cleaning up, is prevention. And only we humans can do that,” Goudriaan concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114369">Marine Pollution Bulletin</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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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



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Bacteria can eat and digest plastic

New research led by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">University of California, Santa Cruz</a> has investigated how different populations of red <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-urchin-behavior-drives-destruction-of-kelp-forests/">sea urchins</a> – a commercially valuable species – responded to changes in their environments. The analysis revealed that red sea urchin populations in Northern and Southern California are both adapted to their local environmental conditions, but differ in their vulnerability to future climate change and ocean acidification.&nbsp;



Although sea urchins in Southern California are already adapted to warmer conditions, the scientists estimate that further warming of the habitats may be more than they can tolerate.



“Red sea urchins from the Southern California population were much more sensitive to environmental changes than those from Northern California, and we think that is likely because they are already closer to some kind of thermal limit,” said study senior author Kristy Kroeker, a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz.



The scientists examined the effects of three key environmental variables in sea urchins’ habitat: water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH (a variable measuring the level of ocean acidification). All of these variables are affected by climate change, which is warming the oceans, reducing oxygen levels in the water, and increasing acidification through the absorption of CO2 by seawater.



Currently, Northern California sea urchin populations are already adapted to more acidic, less oxygenated, and colder conditions than their Southern Californian counterparts. By exposing sea urchins from both populations to projected future conditions simulated in the laboratory, the researchers found that Northern California sea urchins experienced lower mortality than the Southern Californian ones.



“Despite the Northern California populations being in more acidic, lower-oxygen conditions in the future, it was the Southern California populations that were much more impacted,” said Kroeker.&nbsp;



This is surprising since the Northern Californian populations are already adapted to seasonal changes in which temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH all decrease in concert. With climate change, this so-called “covariance structure” will be broken: while dissolved oxygen and pH will decrease further, temperatures will rise.



“It’s breaking down the environmental covariance structure they’re adapted to, so our prediction was that this would make them more vulnerable. But that’s not what we found,” Kroeker said.



These discoveries suggest that water temperature is a critical variable for red sea urchins. Thus, with already warmer temperatures, the Southern Californian coastal waters may not have to get much warmer to reach temperatures inhospitable to their inhabitants.



“We should not assume that a species’ vulnerability to climate change is the same across its whole range. Each population is adapted to local conditions, and not all populations are going to respond similarly to global climate change,” Kroeker concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade2365">Science Advances</a>.&nbsp;



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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



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Some red sea urchins will tolerate climate change better than others

A new study led by the University of California, Santa...

It only takes one degree of warming to change a species, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a>. The researchers looked at the climate responses of individual species by analyzing natural history collections, which they say are an underexploited resource for long-term ecological research.



“Natural history collections can provide unique insight into a wide range of ecological responses over a period of time that is much greater than what most ecological monitoring programs manage. So the collections are an essential and invaluable source for ecological research over time," said study lead author Professor James D. M. Speed.



All of life on Earth is affected by the surrounding environment, so it is clear that climate change has an impact on species around the world. What is not as clear, however, is how each individual species will respond to specific changes in temperature.



“The climate affects the life cycle of species, the number of individuals of a species, the overall number of species and the composition and distribution of species in an area,” said Professor Speed.



To investigate how the climate affects individual species, the team set out to examine how plants and animals have been affected by temperature changes in Norway over a long period of time.



“We used museum collections that have been built up over 250 years to measure the ecological response to climate change in central Norway,” said Professor Speed. “We looked at a number of species, including vertebrates, invertebrates, plants and fungi."



Animal and plant specimens preserved in museum collections hold valuable insight into how we can expect climate change to progressively affect our world today.&nbsp;



“What these data and the objects in the museum collections have in common is that studying climate change was not one of their purposes when they were collected. Only now are we seeing that the collections are relevant and that we can use them for such a purpose,” said study co-author Tommy Prestø “It’s really interesting to be able to show that we can use the museum collections in new and innovative ways."



The results of the analysis clearly indicate that even a single degree of warming can induce major changes. The researchers found that:



<ul><li>The number of zooplankton decreases by almost 7,700 individuals per cubic meter of water per degree warmer in Jonsvatnet, a lake in Trondheim.</li><li>The number of nesting birds is decreasing by two fewer breeding territories per square kilometre per degree warmer in Budalen in Trøndelag county.</li><li>Flowering plants bloom earlier throughout Trøndelag, on average two days earlier per degree warmer.</li></ul>



The researchers also determined that when some species change, the life cycle of other species can change as well. “We can see a clear, regional connection with the climate,” said Professor Speed.



“For certain plant species, we’ve found that they’re flowering on average nine days earlier per century," said Presto. "This means that some of our plant species bloom three weeks earlier now than they did 250 years ago."



“But not everything changes with the climate. Some aspects of nature are more resilient. Overall, the distribution of species and species diversity stays stable over time. That surprised us,” said Professor Speed.



Fluctuations in the number of animals and species composition do not directly follow fluctuations in temperature, noted the researchers. A time period of 250 years can have both periods of warming and a stable climate, which means that species could have delayed responses to climate change.&nbsp;



The greatest immediate threat to plants and animals may be land-use changes such as deforestation. The International Nature Panel IPBES reports that land-use changes have had the largest relative negative impact on nature since 1970.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9471">Ecology and Evolution</a>.



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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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Just one degree of warming can change a species

It only takes one degree of warming to change a...

The tropical Pacific Ocean is home to most of the islands on Earth, including reef islands and atoll reefs. A new study led by <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au/">Flinders University</a> in Australia has found that Southeast Asian regions of the Pacific produce more <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au/">fish</a> than all the world’s largest coastal upwelling areas combined, despite many scientists previously believing that tropical oceans are low in both nutrients and phytoplankton productivity.



According to the experts, transient short-lived wind events trigger the formation of massive phytoplankton blooms – which occupy the base of many marine food webs – close to tropical reef islands, such as the disputed Spratly Island in the South Island Sea, as well as a variety of other islands in the Pacific Ocean.



“The key here is that the tropical Pacific contains thousands of such islands, which implies that tropical wind events can create a large network of marine ecosystems existing year-round and spanning thousands of kilometers, possibly forming one of the largest upwelling biomes on Earth,” said study lead author Jochen&nbsp;Kaempf, an associate professor of Coastal Oceanography at Flinders.



Upwelling is a physical process which enriches oceans’ surface waters with dissolved nutrients, thus fueling the production of phytoplankton. The scientists discovered that coastal winds are the main drivers of the most productive upwelling systems on our planet, including those forming on the coasts of California and Peru-Chile, which are major global fish producers.



“We believe that this (Asia-Pacific) upwelling biome provides critical feeding habitats for migratory marine species such as sea turtles, tuna, and whales,” Kaempf explained. “For instance, pygmy blue whales migrate from their feeding habitat in upwelling regions of southern Australia to their breeding grounds in Indonesian waters, where they seem to gather near Christmas Island and volcanic arc islands of the Banda Sea. Our findings suggest that this behavior is primarily feeding-related.” &nbsp;



These findings opens new paths for examining the phytoplankton bloom mechanisms in tropical oceans, especially in the light of new worrisome phenomena caused by climate change, such as sea-level rise, enhanced wave erosion, and shifts in tropical rainfall and winds patterns.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10872-022-00673-2">Journal of Oceanography</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



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Tropical winds support the world's most productive ocean systems

The tropical Pacific Ocean is home to most of the...

Tree leaves have highly different lifespans. For instance, monkey puzzle tree leaves can live for over two decades, and Picea growing in the Chinese Gongga Mountains can thrive for thousands of years, growing in harsh environments with leaves that last about 20 years. On the other hand, maple leaves last only a season, and blueberry leaves may survive for just three months.&nbsp;



According to a recent study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add5667">Science Advances</a>, these major differences are driven by the “economic” choices faced by different <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/in-tropical-forests-lightning-strikes-the-most-resilient-trees/">trees</a>.



“We already knew that conifers and other evergreen trees make longer-living leaves the closer they are to the poles,” said study lead author Han Wang, an expert in Plant Ecology at the <a href="https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/">Tsinghua University</a> in Beijing. “Deciduous trees do the opposite. Their longest lasting leaves are found at the tropics.”



“And we knew that long-lived leaves tend to be tougher and thicker, and more expensive to build. Now, we have identified the major environmental factors at play, and summarized them in two equations. These leaf economic traits are fundamental to the carbon cycle and nutrient economy.”



The scientists tested their equations on data about thousands of tree species from hundreds of ecosystems worldwide. “Each species is essentially taking a punt on the best way to maximize carbon absorption,” said study co-author Ian Wright, a plant ecologist at the <a href="https://www.mq.edu.au/">Macquarie University</a> in Australia.



“Evergreen conifers growing in poor soil in areas with a long cold winter can only thrive if they make long term investments in their leaves. Whereas deciduous trees, like the maple, race to create new leaves and capture carbon in the summer sun before leaf-drop in autumn. The economically rational decision for a maple tree is to invest in fast growing, cheap but flimsy leaves.”



These findings have the potential of turning Ecology into a predictive science that will enable the construction of better, more accurate global and regional climate models, while allowing land managers to better model forests and other types of vegetation in order to predict how climate change will affect a variety of ecosystems, and farmers to better estimate crop yields and the impact of climate change on agriculture.



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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



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Why do some leaves live longer than others?

Tree leaves have highly different lifespans. For instance, monkey puzzle...

Scientists have long argued that intact <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/diverse-forests-are-more-resilient-and-productive/">forests</a> are major climate regulators and harbors of biodiversity. Unfortunately, such forests are currently disappearing at an alarming rate. While agriculture has previously been considered the main culprit behind forest loss, a new study led by <a href="https://www.fudan.edu.cn/en/">Fudan University</a> in China has found that multiple industries are in fact to blame too.&nbsp;



For instance, for forest loss associated with the 2014 world economy, more than 60 percent was related to final consumption of non-agricultural products, including minerals, metals, and wood-related goods. Moreover, according to the experts, international trade markets should also be taken into account when designing conservation strategies.



“Regional land use change is no longer simply driven by local demand; it is also indirectly influenced by international markets and the surging consumption of land-based products,” the study authors explained. “Countries with forest conservation goals can import finished land-based products via global supply chains, displacing land-use pressure and related eco-environmental impacts outside their own territory borders.”



By using multi-source geographic information data and economic modelling, the scientists evaluated both the direct and the indirect causes of forest loss. While previous research has largely focused on deforestation (the complete removal of tree cover), this new study also highlighted the insidious roles played by degradation and fragmentation.



“Even the removal of narrow tracts of forests can affect overall forest structure and composition. Considering the exceptional conservation value of intact forest landscapes in terms of stabilizing terrestrial carbon stocks and harboring biodiversity, intact forest landscapes loss displacement can also reflect potential indirect driving forces behind carbon emissions and biodiversity loss,” the authors wrote.



“It is widely thought that beef production drives deforestation in the Amazon, but it is hard for consumers to realize that the production of highly processed equipment may involve timber and metals produced at the expense of intact forest and that services provided by tertiary sectors may be supported by electricity generated from oil and gas associated with this loss. The more dispersed nature of intact forest loss drivers and their indirect links to individual final consumers call for stronger government engagement and supply-chain interventions,” they concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.12.006">One Earth</a>.



—



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



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Forests face threats from multiple industries

Scientists have long argued that intact forests are major climate...

In November 2018, the Camp Fire – one of the deadliest and most destructive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/record-breaking-wildfire-years-are-just-getting-started/">wildfires</a> in California history – wiped out 239 square miles, destroying 18,804 structures and killing 85 people. Three years later, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">University of California, San Diego</a> examined the psychological consequences of this devastating fire, and found that exposure to “climate trauma” resulted in increased mental health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression.



The scientists enrolled 27 individuals directly exposed to the Camp Fire (for instance, their homes were destroyed), 21 indirectly exposed (who witnessed the wildfire, but were not directly affected), and 27 control individuals. All participants were asked to perform a series of cognitive tests, while their brain activity was measured by electroencephalography (EEG).



The analysis revealed that fire-exposed individuals displayed increased activity in brain areas involved in cognitive control and interference processing (the ability to cope with intrusive, disturbing thoughts).



“To function well day-to-day, our brains need to process information and manage memories in ways that help achieve goals while ignoring or dispensing with irrelevant or harmful distractions,” said study senior author Jyoti Mishra, an associate professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. &nbsp;



“Climate change is an emerging challenge. It is already well-documented that extreme climate events result in significant psychological impacts. Warming temperatures, for example, have even been linked to greater suicide rates. As planetary warming amplifies, more forest fires are expected in California and globally, with significant implications for mental health effects.”



“In this study, we wanted to learn whether and how climate trauma affected and altered cognitive and brain functions in a group of people who had experienced it during the Camp Fire. We found that those who were impacted, directly or indirectly, displayed weaker interference processing. Such weakened cognitive performance may then impair daily functioning and reduce wellbeing.”&nbsp;



While none of the participants from the control group reported any trauma, 67 percent of the individuals directly exposed to the wildfire and 14 percent of those indirectly exposed reported struggling with traumatic effects even years after the event.



These findings could help guide efforts to develop resiliency intervention strategies in case of future similar events. “As the planet warms, more and more individuals will face extreme climate exposures, like wildfires, and having therapeutic tools that can address underlying neuro-cognitive issues will be an important complement to other socio-behavioral therapies,” Mishra concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000125">PLOS Climate</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



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“Climate trauma” chronically affects survivors of wildfires

In November 2018, the Camp Fire – one of the...

In our daily lives we are exposed to numerous objects that we need to recognize. For example, if something flies past the window at dusk, we would probably like to know whether this was a bird, a bat or a drone. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-engineer-their-petals-to-be-visually-attractive-to-bees/">Visual</a> object recognition is seldom based on what our eyes perceive alone, but is influenced by the context and by our prior experiences. In addition, a new experimental study shows that what we see can also be modified by sounds that we hear at the same time, meaning that sounds can alter the way in which we perceive visual cues.&nbsp;



The research study, published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09567976221121348">Psychological Science</a>,&nbsp;suggests that relevant audio cues can help us to recognize objects more quickly and accurately, but can also alter our visual perception. If we see a bird and hear birdsong, we quickly identify a bird. But if the presence of a bird is associated with the call of a squirrel, we become less sure of what we are looking at. The brain therefore makes use of audio input to help us decide what, exactly, we are seeing.&nbsp;



“Your brain spends a significant amount of energy to process the sensory information in the world and to give you that feeling of a full and seamless perception,” said study lead author Jamal R. Williams from the UC San Diego. “One way that it does this is by making inferences about what sorts of information should be expected.”&nbsp;



In the natural world, sounds are reliable predictors of the objects that cause them – dogs bark and cats meow. In this way, sounds provide independent and informative cues about the visual world. However, when we use these trusted audio cues during the early stages of identifying a visual object, they can lead us to selectively process only certain aspects of the visual features.



Williams explained that “informed guesses” based on audio input can help us to process information more quickly, but they can also lead us astray when what we’re hearing doesn’t match up with what we expect to see.&nbsp;



The researchers conducted three experiments in which participants were shown ambiguous images of objects morphing into other objects. For example, a plane became a bird and the images shown to participants could come from anywhere along the process and have features of both a plane and a bird.



In the first experiment, 40 participants were presented with ambiguous figures and, at the same time as they were trying to discriminate the nature of the object, the researchers played either a sound related to the image (birdsong or the buzz of a plane), or an unrelated sound (such as a hammer hitting a nail). After exposure to the image, participants were asked to recall which stage of the object morph they had been shown.&nbsp;



To identify the stage that they recalled, the participants used a sliding scale that could be moved in either direction, more towards a recognizable bird or more towards a recognizable plane. The results revealed that participants made their object-morph selection more quickly when they heard related (versus unrelated) sounds and that they shifted their object-morph selection to match more closely the related sounds that they had heard.&nbsp;The findings indicate that, when visual input is not clear-cut, the role of relevant sounds may modulate our visual perception.



“When sounds are related to pertinent visual features, those visual features are prioritized and processed more quickly compared to when sounds are unrelated to the visual features. So, if you heard the sound of a birdsong, anything bird-like is given prioritized access to visual perception,” Williams explained. “We found that this prioritization is not purely facilitatory and that your perception of the visual object is actually more bird-like than if you had heard the sound of an airplane flying overhead.”&nbsp;



The researchers wondered at what stage of visual recognition the audio input was having its influence – was this during the stage of visual discrimination or during the time that the participants made their decision about the object’s identity. The second experiment presented 105 participants with similar ambiguous images but coincided the audio stimuli with either the object recognition stage (when the image was on the screen) or the decision-making stage (after the image was removed and the participant had to choose its identity).&nbsp;&nbsp;



Once again, the audio input was found to influence participants’ speed and accuracy when the sounds were played while participants were viewing the object morph, but it had no effect when the sounds were played while they reported which object morph they had seen.&nbsp;The researchers concluded that real-world sounds primarily affect the perceptual process, and not the decisional process.



In the third and final experiment, the researchers played the sound to 40 participants before the object morphs were shown to them on screen. The aim of this was to test whether prior audio input influenced visual perception by affecting people’s expectations and priming them to pay more attention to certain features of the objects. This was also found to have no effect on participants' object-morph selections.&nbsp;



The experts conclude that, when taken together, these findings suggest sounds alter visual perception only when audio and visual input occur at the same time.&nbsp;



“Our results suggest that naturalistic auditory information alters the representations of objects we see. Specifically, we found that visual features of object representations are shifted toward features that are congruent with a concurrent auditory stimulus: the same ambiguous object (e.g., a 50 percent seal and 50 percent hammer morph) was perceived as more hammer-like when paired with a hammer sound and more seal-like when paired with the sound of seal barking," wrote the study authors.



“This process of recognizing objects in the world feels effortless and fast, but in reality it’s a very computationally intensive process,” said Williams. “To alleviate some of this burden, your brain is going to evaluate information from other senses.”&nbsp;



The researchers would like to build on these findings by exploring how sounds may influence our ability to locate objects, how visual input may influence our perception of sounds, and whether audiovisual integration is an innate or learned process.&nbsp;



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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



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Sounds can change the way we see things

In our daily lives we are exposed to numerous objects...

Green,Ecoduct,Over,An,Empty,Highway,During,Sunset.

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A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that wildlife tunnels significantly reduce amphibian road mortality during seasonal migrations. 



Frogs and salamanders often cross roads to reach breeding ponds each spring, but many are killed by vehicles. 



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vermont</a>, in collaboration with local citizens and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, installed two underpass tunnels in 2015. 



Over a 12-year monitoring period, they observed an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths, and up to 94% for non-climbing species like salamanders. 



The study used a before-after-control-impact design and documented more than 5,200 amphibians, highlighting the tunnels’ effectiveness even in nearby buffer zones.



Funded at $342,397 - far cheaper than wildlife crossings for large mammals - the project showcased the power of community-led conservation.



Local groups initiated the effort after observing mass amphibian deaths. Wildlife cameras later captured over 2,200 amphibians using a tunnel in just one spring, along with other species like raccoons and bobcats, indicating wider ecosystem benefits.



This marks the first peer-reviewed, long-term data set in the northeastern U.S. confirming amphibian-specific underpasses work. 



The study urges transportation departments to incorporate these designs into road planning and highlights how community action, thoughtful infrastructure, and persistence can make a real difference for biodiversity.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1617138125000780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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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



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Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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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



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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



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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



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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



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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



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Ocean heat influences regional climate

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