Floating photovoltaics (FPV), or “floatovoltaics,” are spreading across water bodies worldwide. From California’s vineyards to China’s massive energy projects, these solar systems glide atop irrigation ponds, reservoirs, and wastewater treatment plants. 



They produce clean energy without consuming precious land, a seemingly perfect solution in a space-constrained world.



But the water beneath these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/floating-solar-panels-could-power-entire-countries/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">panels</a> isn’t empty. It teems with life. Birds drift, dive, nest, and hunt in these waters. As FPV systems expand, they introduce a new dynamic to these habitats - and nobody knows yet what the consequences might be.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-floating-solar-and-bird-habitats">Floating solar and bird habitats</h2>



A recent study from the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Davis</a>, published in the journal Nature Water, raises a vital question: Can renewable energy and wildlife coexist without collateral damage? The researchers, part of the UC Davis Wild Energy Center, are among the first to examine how waterbirds respond to FPV systems.



“That’s why it’s so important to understand how waterbirds are going to respond to floating solar and if there is the possibility for conservation concessions at new floating solar facilities,” said Elliott Steele, a postdoctoral scholar with the UC Davis Wild Energy Center within the Energy and Efficiency Institute.



Steele’s words are urgent. Bird populations are plummeting. Habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and avian influenza have combined into a perfect storm of threats. If floating solar disrupts waterbird behavior, it could exacerbate an already dire situation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bird-responses-to-floating-solar-systems">Bird responses to floating solar systems</h2>



Imagine a black-crowned night heron standing motionless on a solar <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/floating-solar-panels-could-power-every-home-in-the-u-s/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">panel</a> before dawn. Below, cormorants dart through the water, jostling for a place to perch. A black phoebe builds a nest beneath the panels, sheltered but close to human-made structures.



These are not imagined scenes. During their fieldwork, the UC Davis researchers observed all these behaviors. Birds are not just interacting with FPV systems — they are adapting to them, sometimes in unexpected ways.



“Our team has been documenting such a diversity of bird <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/floridas-waterbirds-expert-divers-with-bold-hunting-techniques/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">behavior</a> with floating PV, so we immediately knew this was a very important interaction, especially given the precipitous decline in waterbird numbers globally,” said senior author and UC Davis Professor Rebecca R. Hernandez.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-benefits-and-risks-of-floating-solar">Benefits and risks of floating solar</h2>



Renewable energy projects have not always considered <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/saving-americas-birds-scientists-declare-a-full-on-emergency-in-the-us/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildlife</a>. Now, as FPV systems expand, researchers are determined not to repeat past mistakes. The UC Davis team identified five areas demanding urgent study.



First, the researchers are exploring how waterbirds interact with FPV structures, questioning whether these birds use the solar panels as nesting sites, hunting perches, or safe resting places.



In addition, they are investigating the direct and indirect effects of FPV systems on waterbirds. While a panel may provide shelter to one species, it may simultaneously deter another.



The team is considering how conservation strategies can be tailored to specific sites, regions, and seasons, recognizing that bird populations vary significantly in their behaviors and needs.



Furthermore, they are examining how best to design monitoring systems at FPV sites. Should they rely on cameras, sensors, or traditional bird counts to collect data effectively?



The researchers are also assessing the potential for pollutants to be released from FPV systems. If such contamination occurs, they aim to determine what can be done to mitigate the risks to aquatic and avian life.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rethinking-renewable-energy-design">Rethinking renewable energy design</h2>



Study co-author Emma Forester is a Ph.D. candidate with the UC Davis Land, Air and Water Resources department and the Wild Energy Center.



“There are some things we wished we’d known before other kinds of renewable energy were developed,” said Forester.



“While we’re at this critical threshold of renewable energy <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solar-panels-are-1000-times-more-powerful-with-new-tech-breakthrough/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">development</a>, we want to put more thought into the design that can benefit birds and other wildlife as we go forward.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-balancing-act-energy-vs-ecology">The balancing act: Energy vs. ecology</h2>



Floating solar systems present a compelling case for water conservation. They can reduce evaporation by shading the water surface, an added benefit in drought-prone areas. But there’s a catch.



While some birds, like the black-crowned night heron, seem to thrive on the panels, others might not. Researchers observed birds using FPV systems in various ways - nesting, perching, feeding - but the long-term impacts remain unclear.



And then there’s pollution. Solar panels are not inert objects. As they age, they can degrade, releasing chemicals into the water. What happens to the fish, algae or the birds? These questions linger, unanswered.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-designing-for-wildlife">Designing for wildlife</h2>



To ensure that FPV systems are truly green, wildlife considerations must be integrated from the start. 



Hernandez and her team emphasize that waterbirds are ideal subjects for these studies. They occupy both the water and the air, making them sensitive indicators of environmental change.



But there’s a deeper challenge. Conservation strategies that work in California may fail in Florida. Solutions for herons may not suit cormorants. Customization is key.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-at-stake">What’s at stake</h2>



Floating solar may be new, but the questions it raises are not. When energy projects collide with nature, unintended consequences often follow. As renewable energy scales up, researchers must consider not just the panels but the ecosystems they disrupt.



Floating solar has enormous potential. But without rigorous, long-term studies, that potential could come at a steep ecological cost. For now, the researchers at UC Davis are watching the waterbirds - and hoping the world will pay attention.



The study, funded by the <a href="https://uckeepresearching.org/california-climate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">California Climate Action Seed Grant</a>, <a href="https://www.enelgreenpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Enel Green Power</a>, and several U.S. government agencies, is a starting point. 



The research team includes scientists from UC Davis, the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Geological Survey</a>, the <a href="https://www.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Central Florida</a>, <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lancaster University</a>, and <a href="https://www.enelgreenpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Enel Green Power</a> in Italy.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00429-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Water.</a>



Image Credit: Rebecca R. Hernandez, UC Davis.



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Floating solar panels affect bird habitats in unexpected ways

Floating photovoltaics (FPV), or “floatovoltaics,” are spreading across water bodies worldwide. From California’s vineyards to China’s massive energy projects, these solar systems glide atop irrigation ponds, reservoirs, and wastewater treatment plants. They produce clean energy without consuming precious land, a seemingly perfect solution in a space-constrained world. But the water beneath these panels isn’t empty. It teems with life. Birds drift, dive, nest, and hunt in these waters. As FPV systems expand, they introduce a new dynamic to these habitats - and nobody knows yet what the...

The <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">Environmental Protection Agency</a> (EPA) announced Thursday that it would not ban chlorpyrifos, a commonly used <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/us-use-harmful-pesticides/">pesticide</a> that has been linked to health problems in children. 

Although it has been banned from household use, it is still commonly used by farmers. The EPA cited a lack of reliable evidence proving that exposure to the pesticide is dangerous in a statement explaining the decision. 

Currently, the pesticide is used to treat more than 50 cereal, fruit, and vegetable crops in the US, but growing concerns about the health risks led to many calling for a ban of the substance. 

In 2015, the EPA under the Obama Administration produced several studies showing that chlorpyrifos can disrupt brain development, causing major damage. The findings led to a proposed ban that had yet to be put in effect. 

In 2017, Scott Pruitt halted the ban and reversed the decision which led to a series of lawsuits challenging Pruitt. 

In April, the EPA was ordered to decide once and for all whether to ban chlorpyrifos. 

Thursday’s announcement was a welcome relief to farmers and the chemical industry that had been lobbying hard for the continued use of the pesticide. 

“The availability of pesticides, like chlorpyrifos, is relied upon by farmers to control a variety of insect pests and by public health officials who work to control deadly and debilitating pests like mosquitoes,” said Chris Novak, chief executive of <a href="http://www.croplifeamerica.org/">CropLife America</a>, in a statement.

However, there are many still opposed to the decision, and environmental and health groups will continue to try and get the pesticide banned. 

“By allowing chlorpyrifos to stay in our fruits and vegetables, Trump’s EPA is breaking the law and neglecting the overwhelming scientific evidence that this pesticide harms children’s brains,” said Patti Goldman, a lawyer for <a href="https://earthjustice.org/">Earthjustice.</a> 

This decision is not the only move this year by the EPA that seemingly disregards the risks to human health or the environment. 

The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/climate/epa-chlorpyrifos-pesticide-ban.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">New York Times</a> reports that the EPA announced it would not ban the use of asbestos, only restrict it. Another ruling prohibits surprise inspections of power plants. 

The agency has also approved the use of a pesticide that is harmful to bees. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Fotokostic

EPA won’t ban harmful pesticide linked to health problems in children

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Thursday that it would...

Bureau of Land Management continues to plot a new course under Trump. The <a href="https://www.blm.gov/">Bureau of Land Management</a> (BLM) doesn’t usually garner as much attention as other land management agencies in the US. There’s no ursine spokesperson like Smokey the Bear for the Forest Service, no hugely famous parks like Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. The BLM doesn’t seem to be as well known by many members of the public, yet it quietly oversees the management of more land than any other US agency. 

The BLM oversees the management of roughly <a href="https://www.blm.gov/about/what-we-manage/national">245 million acres</a>, about one tenth of America’s total land. The BLM also manages 700 million acres of subsurface minerals, along with <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/monuments-ncas">28 National Monuments</a>, 17 National Conservation Areas, and other areas including a forest reserve. The BLM, like the <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/">US Forest Service</a>, is a multiple-use conservation agency, balancing priorities of grazing, recreation, mineral extraction and wildlife habitat, among others. As a multi-use agency, there are potential conflicts between varying management goals, conflicts managed by the agency’s leadership. 

As a federal agency based in Washington DC and managing mostly western land (in the <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/eastern-states">eastern states</a> there are only five BLM sites in three states), the BLM has often been met with distrust by many westerners. The BLM is not unique in this regard, as the Forest Service and the National Park Service were also at odds with those in the west wanting to exploit as much of the land as possible for personal gain. As with many other conservation agencies under the Trump administration, the BLM has turned over a new leaf, giving its critics much of what they asked for and steering the agency in a new direction.


The BLM has changed leadership drastically, but it’s also changing its home headquarters in an apparent effort to be more accessible to those living near the land they manage. In an interesting twist, the BLM has chosen my old hometown, Grand Junction, Colorado, as its new headquarters, <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2019/07/15/gardner-says-blm-will-indeed-move-to-grand-junction-after-yearslong-campaign/">CPR</a> reports. Grand Junction is of course close to a great deal of BLM land, and it’s also a city with an <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/grandjunctioncitycolorado/PST045218">estimated population</a> of 63,374 people, quite a change from Washington, DC. 

The argument for moving the BLM headquarters to the western US is an old one, championed by western politicians including Colorado Republicans and former Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke. Moving the BLM seems to be along the same vein of argument for turning over federal land to the states for local citizens to manage rather than Washington. The thinking goes that if state governments can’t manage the land themselves, bring the land managers to the land they’re managing. 

Arguments such as these were used to shrink <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/canyon-tree-frogs-bears/">Bear’s Ears National Monument</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trump-grand-staircase-escalante/">Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument</a>, both managed by the BLM. Many supporters of the monuments, especially Bear’s Ears, contend that it was supported by locals – Native Americans who were not consulted properly when the monument was shrunk under Trump. In reality, the issue is about capitalist exploitation or conservation more than it is about local or national governance. It’s unclear what real policy changes will be made by moving the physical location of the BLM, but it seems to be one of the less controversial changes.

The new second in command at the BLM started work on July 15 along with the leadership of the Department of the Interior as a whole also signal changes in the department that may undermine the conservation goals of the agency. William Perry Pendley, the new second in command at the BLM, was previously a right wing lawyer and pundit who claims climate change is “junk science,” <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/07/17/senior-bureau-land-management-official-right-wing-pundit-who-has-said-climate-change-isn-t-real-and/224235">Media Matters</a> reports. Pendley has also baited Kamala Harris and others with race-tainted, ignorant tweets. In one tweet, Pendley said,

“There was a little boy in Cheyenne, Wyoming who was bused to five different elementary schools. That little boy was me.  I got over it @KamalaHarris you should too.”

It seems Pendley doesn’t even understand the basics of busing and whether Kamala Harris was for or against it. More disturbing perhaps for his new role, Pendley’s views seem to fly in the face of BLM’s management role. Pendley was previously President of Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative non-profit based in Colorado. 

According to Mountain States Legal Foundation’s <a href="https://mslegal.org/about/">website</a>, their goal is “defending the constitution, protecting property rights, and advancing economic liberty.” The non-profit goes on to name as enemies of their goal as “big government agencies, well-funded liberal special interest groups…unaccountable bureaucrats...”

Of course bureaucracy and ‘big government’ are parts of the BLM as a federal agency, more disturbing is that the non-profit goes on to deride as attacks on liberty, regulations on hunting, fishing and ranching, basic public land regulations that are an integral part of the BLM’s mission. Indeed, the main mission of the Mountain States Legal Foundation seems to be to challenge in court environmentalists and land or environmental regulatory agencies to protect people’s ‘right’ to use or abuse land as they see fit no matter the environmental cost. 

Besides denying climate change science, Pendley himself has called the Endangered Species Act ‘a joke’. This is in line with the new direction BLM and other agencies seem to be taking under Trump. 

<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060344589">E&amp;E News</a> reports that Casey Hammond, Acting Director of the BLM, was told to remove standard language from the BLM news releases that describe the agency as helping to conserve public lands for future generations. Casey Hammond also spoke at a <a href="https://prfamerica.org">Property Rights Foundation of America</a> meeting, an organization eerily similar in its outlook to the Mountain States Legal Foundation. 

All of this together, as well as Secretary of the Interior Bernhardt’s own roots in Rifle Colorado, a <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Rifle,+CO/Grand+Junction,+CO/@39.2992864,-108.1643056,10z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m2!1m1!1s0x874138d074187a9b:0xe5f163529c2b1c67!1m2!1m1!1s0x8746d6e322e77057:0xcc63f451cebf7c56!3e0">mere hour drive</a> from Grand Junction, make the physical move of the BLM seem calculated and sinister to those who care about public land or conservation. Bernhardt is of course a former oil lobbyist himself. It’s easy to imagine that a Bureau of Land Management with new leadership and new headquarters will indeed no longer be involved in conserving public lands for future generations but privatizing public resources for the benefit of a few.                                   

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Krista Hardin

Bureau of Land Management continues to plot a new course under Trump

Bureau of Land Management continues to plot a new course...

Philippe Crombé from Belgium’s <a href="https://www.ugent.be/en">Ghent University</a> believes that the development of new stone tools by European hunter-gatherers during the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/chewing-gum-first-humans-scandinavia/">Mesolithic Era</a> (about 11,000 to 6,000 years ago) were created in response to a rapidly changing climate. 

At this time, global warming occurred at a rate of ca. 1.5 to 2°C per century, thus causing many issues like the ones we are seeing today — rising sea level, drought, wildfires, and plant and animal migrations. To properly keep up with their changing environment, Crombé witnessed a shift in the design of microliths such as small stone arrowheads and hunting barbs.

Crombé used Bayesian modelling to link 228 radiocarbon dates correlating with Mesolithic sites along the southern North Sea basin to the various microliths discovered at these sites. And he realized that the variation in microlith shapes is much more complex than previously thought.

Crombé believes that different microlith shapes were developed to distinguish different groups living along the North Sea basin. And as the sea level began to rise, these groups migrated to new areas where they had to compete for territory and use symbols to identify which group they came from.

The study, published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>, also shows that developments in microlith shapes appear to be linked to short but important climatic events, most likely connected to increasing environmental and demographic changes. For example, triangle-shaped microliths were made after an abrupt cooling period in the Early Mesolithic Era, which is associated with wildfires and erosion. And another cooling climate event 1,000 years later is linked to the creation of small “backed bladelets” and “invasively retouched microliths.”

A third cooling period 1,000 years later than that introduced new trapeze-shaped arrowheads. Although more research is needed, Crombé believes that approaching these findings holistically can help him determine if climatic and environmental changes affected more than just microliths during the Mesolithic Era.

"In response to rapid climate warming some 11,500 years ago, hunter-gatherers along the southern North Sea (NW Europe) faced similar environmental changes as we encounter today, such as rapid sea level rise, increased drought and wildfires and migration of people, plants and animals,” he said. “By studying the hunting equipment, this paper investigates how these hunter-gatherers coped with these changes."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Ulco Glimmerveen

Changing climate may have influenced Mesolithic hunter-gatherer stone tools

Philippe Crombé from Belgium’s Ghent University believes that the development...

The world’s largest invertebrate fishery which harvests Humboldt squid completely collapsed in 2015 with no signs of recovery, and now researchers finally know why. 

In a new study, researchers from the <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">University of Stanford</a> discovered that shifting weather patterns and changes in the ocean played a major role in the collapse of the fishery.

Squid declines could cause problems for fishery-dependent economies and marine ecosystems, and the researchers say that other major fisheries could experience similar collapses. 

“What is happening with the jumbo squid is indicative of larger changes impacting marine organisms and ecosystems across the northeast Pacific,” said Timothy Frawley, the lead author of the study. “In many respects these squid, with their unique and adaptive survival strategies, function as sentinels of environmental change.” William Gilly, professor of biology, was senior author of the study.

For the study, the researchers reviewed and analyzed fishery records, oceanographic data, and biological measurements of over 1,000 squid. 

By filtering through years of data, the researchers were able to identify key habitat and climate changes that impacted fishery productivity, squid size, and squid lifespan. 

Over the past decade, current and circulation patterns in the Gulf of California shifted, causing ocean temperatures to increase across the region. Warm, nutrient-poor waters are inhospitable for both Humboldt squid and their prey. 

To adapt to their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/squid-flourish-changing-climate/">changing habitat</a>, the squid have gotten smaller, shortened their lifespans, and they also reproduce earlier.

“You can think of it as a sort of oceanographic drought,” said Frawley. “Until the cool-water conditions we associate with elevated primary and secondary production return, jumbo squid in the Gulf of California are likely to remain small.”

It’s possible that overfishing has also led to the collapse of the fishery but even now with all fishing ceased, the squid are still smaller than normal. 

“These results show that our traditional understanding of the dynamics underlying fisheries, their management and sustainability are all at risk when environmental change is rapid and persistent,” said Larry Crowder, a co-author of the study.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

What caused the sudden jumbo squid declines in Mexico?

The world’s largest invertebrate fishery which harvests Humboldt squid completely...

Climate engineering has been gaining traction in recent years with proposals ranging from creating artificial rain to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/artificially-cooling-atmosphere-geoengineering/">spraying aerosols in the atmosphere</a> that will help cool the planet.

But these “planet hacking” methods are also viewed as extreme and are not without their risks and high economic costs. 

As impacts of climate change become more severe, high-risk, high-cost geoengineering may outweigh the projected socio-economic and environmental costs of rising sea levels. 

A new study published in the journal Science Advances details an extreme but potentially successful solution that could help stabilize the West Antarctic ice sheet. 

If the West Antarctic ice sheet melts, projections estimate that it could raise sea levels by nearly ten feet, enough to cause significant damage and displace populations in New York, Calcutta, Shanghai, and Tokyo. 

The ice sheet is already melting, and in this new study, a potential solution to stop it would be to cover the area in artificial snow. 

Pumping ocean water onto the coastal areas of the region and converting the water into snow could help stabilize the ice sheet. While the solution is doable and not as risky as other potential stabilizing proposals, the researchers of the study warn that it would be incredibly costly. 

Not only would the artificial snow come with a hefty price tag, but carrying out the plan could harm marine wildlife.

For the study, the researchers used a 3-D Parallel Ice Sheet Model to simulate how creating artificial snowfall around the Thwaites Glacier and Pine Island would impact melting rates. 

Artificial snowfall would increase surface elevation and could reduce sea level by two to five centimeters. To achieve this, it would require at least 7,400 gigatons of artificial snow applied over ten years, 

The study did not factor in projected warming or changes in precipitation which could influence ice sheet collapse, but the research does propose a potentially effective, albeit costly, solution to prevent future catastrophic sea-level rise.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, Earth.com Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Artificial snow could help stabilize the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Climate engineering has been gaining traction in recent years with...

Protecting what’s left of South America’s largest savanna. Home to jaguars, giant armadillo, the endangered maned wolf, and over 10,000 species of plants, the Cerrado is one of the largest savannas in South America. Once spanning an area half the size of Europe, this <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/biodiversity-loss-human-rights-issue/">biodiversity</a> hotspot has been reduced to a mere shell of its former self. 

In a new study, researchers from the <a href="http://www.iiasa.ac.at/">International Institute for Applied System Analysis </a>(IIASA) examined how mandates that protect the Amazon from deforestation and agriculture might benefit the Cerrado. 

Less than 20 percent of the Cerrado remains undisturbed. Despite being home to a rich array of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth, it’s one of the least protected and over-exploited regions in Brazil. 

Since 2015, 48 percent of Brazil’s soybeans have been harvested in the Cerrado. Only 13 percent of the Cerrado is protected, a stark difference from the neighboring Amazon where nearly half of the rainforest is protected. 

The Cerrado is viewed as prime real estate for soybean cultivation. However, in the Amazon, the Amazon Soy Moratorium ensures that soy cannot be bought if it was grown on recently deforested land.

Researchers from the IIASA and<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_for_Space_Research"> Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research </a>examined how expanding the Amazon Soy Moratorium to the Cerrado would impact soybean production. 

“Our study presents the first quantitative analysis of expanding the soy moratorium from the Amazon to the Cerrado and could be used by traders and consumer markets to adjust their supply chains,” said Aline Soterroni, a leader of the study. 

If the Cerrado was granted similar protections to the Amazon, the researchers found it could prevent 3.6 million hectares of native vegetation from being converted to soybean crops between 2020 and 2050. 

Not only would millions of hectares be saved from soybean monoculture, but it would also reduce the risk of further biodiversity declines. If Brazil were to implement such protections, it would only require a decrease in soybean cultivation of one million hectares. 

The Cerrado is not without its advocates, and many companies are working to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains due to growing consumer awareness. 

This recent study proves that it is possible to protect the Cerrado and expand agriculture to benefit economic growth, but a mix of both public and private policies are needed. 

“According to our model, expanding the Amazon Soy Moratorium to the Cerrado can avoid the loss of a significant amount of native vegetation while simultaneously achieving soybean production goals,” said Soterroni. “We also show that the Forest Code is not enough to protect the area given its low level of legal reserve requirements and its historical lack of enforcement.” 

The researchers say that urgent action is needed to make Brazil’s soy trade more sustainable and expand conservation. 

The researchers published their findings in the journal Science Advances. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Kleber Silva

Protecting what’s left of South America’s largest savanna

Protecting what’s left of South America’s largest savanna. Home to...

New framework makes it easier to track changes in the carbon budget. Researchers at the <a href="http://www.iiasa.ac.at/">International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis</a> (IIASA) have developed a new framework that will help scientists determine which circumstances affect the size of the remaining carbon budget and how these factors interact.

Over the last decade, research has shown that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/high-altitude-clouds-global-warming/">global warming</a> strongly corresponds with rising atmospheric CO2 levels. This enables experts to calculate the remaining carbon budget, which is an estimate of how much CO2 can still be released while limiting temperature rise to a certain target level. 

Policymakers, investors, and organizations are increasingly relying on carbon budgets to analyze the potential of low-carbon policies and technologies. Recent estimates have varied due to circumstances and natural processes that are more complicated to project than CO2 emissions. For example, there is uncertainty regarding the non-CO2 gases that also influence global warming, such as methane and aerosols. 

In the current study, the researchers have created a new framework for understanding and tracking changes in the carbon budget. The team has concluded that the size of the remaining carbon budget can be determined by using five main factors: the amount of warming expected per ton of CO2 emissions, the amount of warming observed until today, the amount of future warming expected from gases other than CO2, whether warming stops instantly once CO2 emissions hit net zero, and whether there are any additional reinforcing cycles in the Earth system that have not been sufficiently considered. New framework makes it easier to track changes in the carbon budget

Study lead author Joeri Rogelj is a senior researcher with the IIASA Energy Program.

"Our paper provides a new tool to clearly communicate up to date insights about carbon budgets. With the framework, changes can be pinpointed to single contributions that are much easier to understand. This should increase confidence in carbon budget estimates among policymakers, or at least their advisors, because changes in carbon budget estimates cease to appear to be random but rather are the result of clear progress of science in various areas," explained Rogelj.

"The remaining carbon budget is a key quantity for defining the challenge of limiting climate change to safe levels. With this paper, we can understand and track this quantity much better. If you carefully look at carbon budgets, they become easy to understand. The fog is lifted, so to speak, and shows even more clearly that the remaining carbon budget to limit global warming to safe levels is tiny - action in the next decade is essential to stay within it."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Mykhailo Pavlenko

New framework makes it easier to track changes in the carbon budget

New framework makes it easier to track changes in the...

Historic wildlife bust highlights how the black market threatens ecosystems. When we think of the impact of industry on the environment, we tend to think of legal industry. The impact of pollution from mining, deforestation from logging or farming, and overfishing may all come to mind. Unfortunately, illegal industry that is beyond the realm of normal governmental regulation has an impact on wildlife populations and the environment as well. 

According to the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/international/travel-and-trade/illegal-wildlife-trade.html">US Fish &amp; Wildlife Service</a>, the trade of illegal wildlife is thought to be a multi-billion dollar business. Many animals have been used to highlight the dangers of this illegal trade and promote tougher laws and regulations. Rhinoceros, elephants, even the lesser known but more interesting pangolin are widely known to be harmed by the illegal trade in animal parts. 

Less often considered but no less detrimental to wild ecosystems is the illegal trade in exotic pets. As we’ve reported, exotic pets can be <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cassowary-kills-owner-exotic-pets/">dangerous</a> and harmful to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exotic-pet-trade-tiger-gecko/">animal populations</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exotic-pets-threaten-ecosystems/">local ecosystems</a>. In Latin America, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/wildlife-trafficking-149079896/">Smithsonian</a> reports that biologists have found as much as 30% of parrot nests raided for the pet trade. I’ve been disappointed while volunteering in parrot conservation work in the Bahamas to find nest cavities cleared of parrot chicks overnight. Historic wildlife bust highlights how the black market threatens ecosystems

Wildlife smuggling as a whole, beyond just the illegal pet trade, is a large and global affair in cases involving hundreds of countries and transnational borders. The illegal wildlife trade can also be fairly localized. Parrots, monkeys and other wild animals have been traditionally kept as pets in Latin America. Many North Americans remember fondly pet lizards, raccoons or turtles from their youth. <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/wildlife-trafficking-149079896/">Smithsonian</a> reports that 30% of Brazilians and 25% of Costa Ricans recently surveyed said they’ve kept wild animals as pets. Wild pets kept in their home country are not technically ‘exotic’ but they certainly damage wild populations. These pets can also fuel the illegal export of other animals out of the country, where they become truly exotic pets.     

There are obviously terrible examples from the exotic pet trade like pet monkeys, but historically even the decline of Texas' horned lizards was contributed to by the pet trade. The trade in horned lizards has declined and there's hope that their populations will <a href="https://www.news-journal.com/efforts-continue-to-save-support-secure-texas-horny-toads/article_324be126-c45d-11e8-97f0-77cedde7991a.html">rebound</a> but not so with many other exotic pets. The popularity of exotic pets can be partially blamed on e-commerce and social media. Videos of adorable slow loris' abound online, despite that the animals cruelly have teeth pulled to make them 'safe' for human contact. 

Beyond the cruelty, removing the slow loris and other animals from the wild makes it harder for the wild population to exist at all. In places like Madagascar, radiated tortoises have been smuggled out of the country for the pet trade, decimating the wild population. 

Not only can the removal of an animal from the wild hurt the ecosystem, it can be damaging later when an irresponsible pet owner dumps an unwanted animal in an environment it isn’t native to. The introduction of burmese pythons to the Florida Everglades is a perfect example of a non-native animal taking root with detrimental consequences. Beautiful but dangerous lion fish have also taken a toll on the ecology of the Caribbean and surrounding areas, including marine ecosystems off Florida. Without the trade in exotic pets, both the legal and illegal, it seems unlikely that these invasive non-native species would have made it into the US in viable numbers. 

Related to the smuggling of wild animals is the increased traffic in plants both live plants taken illegally for sale as house plants and the poaching of endangered trees for high end and illicit furniture.

Of course, government agents the world over have been fighting the illegal trade in live wildlife as well as parts from endangered species. It's not just the trade itself that damages the environment and wildlife, it is also the money from it that contributes to other types of organized crime. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wildlife-heroin-trafficking-ring-africa-bust-southern-district-new-york-fish-and-wildlife/">CBS</a> reported earlier this year on a case where an organization was caught smuggling wildlife as well as heroine. A <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34395.pdf">congressional report</a> says that wildlife smuggling is sometimes even connected to foreign military groups, insurrectionists and crime syndicates. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/10/740330108/worldwide-smuggling-crackdown-rescues-endangered-wildlife">NPR</a> reported earlier this month on one of the largest wildlife smuggling busts to date. The bust was coordinated by the World Customs Organization and Interpol, seizing apes parrots, big cats and elephant tusks among other living wildlife and remains. Nearly 2000 species of wildlife and plants were seized in the bust. 

The operation was dubbed "Operation Thunderball" and worked out of Singapore, ultimately arresting 600 suspects. This crackdown is the third in large scale crackdowns and the first to involve more than 100 countries. Other related projects under <a href="https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Environmental-crime/Wildlife-crime">Interpol</a> have been successful and are increasingly large scale. Operations under Project Wisdom, for instance, have led to the arrest of 1,100 people with conviction rates of over 80% and seizure of 50,000 carved ivory items. Project Wisdom is focused solely on elephants and rhinoceros. Other operations focus on different regions or different specific wildlife species, like Asia or tigers.

Much of the trade in animal parts as well as exotic pets is premised on ignorance, superstition, or a simple lack of caring on the part of the end consumer. I’ve seen bushmeat markets in west Africa where Nile monitors are sold alive in cramped mesh sacks, sometimes next to grilled monkey. From the comfort of a couch at home, sugar gliders, koalas, monkeys and slow lorises seem like adorable pets, and it’s easy to not consider how a parrot comes to be at a pet shop. 

For those desperate for cures to a host of ailments in China, things like tiger bones or rhinoceros horn might seem to be miracle drugs to those who don’t know better. For as long as human history, we’ve exploited wildlife in all these ways but for most of that time it was fairly localized. With global networks of consumers, we can detachedly destroy wildlife on the other side of the globe by our consumption. It’s up to us as global consumers to also shoulder the responsibility of global citizens. Supporting agencies that bust illegal trafficking and not participating in trafficking is a good start.                

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/RossHelen

Historic wildlife bust highlights how the black market threatens ecosystems

Historic wildlife bust highlights how the black market threatens ecosystems....

Many species, including predators like pumas and bobcats, view humans as an apex predator and lay low when they sense we’re around. 

This creates a chain reaction of fear that sends ripples through the food web, according to a new study published in the journal Ecology Letters that sheds light on how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/selfies-animals-danger/">humans impact wildlife</a>. 

There’s a well known saying that “while the cat’s away, the mice will play,” but researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">University of California, Santa Cruz</a> discovered that this saying was true in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

When humans are around, pumas, opossums and other medium-sized carnivorous predators hide away, keeping their movement and activity to a minimum.

Without bobcats and pumas to worry about, smaller prey animals like deer mice and woodrats took advantage of the opportunity created by humans and bravely forage outside of their typical range. 

“Humans are sufficiently scary to pumas and smaller predators that they suppressed their behavior and changed the way they used their habitats when they thought we were around,” said Justin Suraci, a lead author of the study. “The most surprising part was seeing how those changes benefit rodents.”

For the study, the researchers placed 25 speakers in a grid pattern across two remote research sites and played recordings of human voices or tree frogs through the speakers while monitoring the areas. 

When pumas nearby heard the human voices, they slowed their movements and stayed away from the direction of the sound. However, when the pumas heard the tree frogs, it didn’t impact their behavior. 

Bobcats were more active at night when they heard the human voices, skunks decreased their activity by 40 percent, and opossums foraged 66 percent less when they heard the human recordings. 

“Bobcats pretty much gave up on daytime activity, shifting almost entirely to the night, when they presumably feel safer,” said Suraci. “These predators aren’t necessarily leaving the area, they’re just less active, presumably because they’re hiding more.”

[caption id="attachment_1875296" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/deer-mouse.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875296" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/deer-mouse.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="371" /></a> Deer mouse, Image Credit: Aria Crabb[/caption]

Smaller animals had the opposite reaction. While the pumas kept a low profile, deer mice foraged further and foraging among mice and woodrats increased by 17 percent. 

“Just the fear of humans can affect how wildlife use the landscape and how they interact with each other,” said Suraci. “It turns out, the mere perceived presence of humans triggers a disruption of natural predator-prey interactions--and rodents really benefit. They’re not too averse to people, so they’re taking advantage of the opportunity.”

Even though mice and rats benefit from the changes in activity, overtime long-term behavior changes could reduce food intake and hunting activity among top predators in the area.  

“Humans are incredibly lethal,” said. “We are major predators, and thus a source of fear, for a lot of these species. What’s novel about this study is that we can see what that fear looks like in the environment at a relatively large scale.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Main Image Credit: Shutterstock/Baranov E

Human sounds cause predators to hide, while prey bravely venture out

Many species, including predators like pumas and bobcats, view humans...

Decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits was due to incompetence and grazing. Recently, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/washingtons-pygmy-rabbits-challenges/">I reported</a> on the reintroduction of Washington State’s pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) population. But how did the rabbits decline in the first place? After all, despite the comeback of pygmy rabbits in Washington, full blooded Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits (the original population) are not part of that comeback. Instead, the rabbits were bred with nearby relatives to create hybrid rabbits that have been reintroduced. 

After the original article was published, I was contacted by Steven Herman, a biologist who worked on early recovery efforts of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits. Dr. Herman shared that the original Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits might have been saved if it wasn’t for incompetence. As with much conservation and land use in the arid American west, cattle were involved. Decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits was due to incompetence and grazing.

A 2003 <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/53/8/759/269635">paper</a> from Bioscience points out the importance of ranching to the ‘new west’. Ranching is often seen as an alternative to intensive development and a benign pursuit that has limited impact on conservation. 

“If biological conservation is to be successful on the western grasslands and shrublands, ranchers must be central to any plan,” the paper’s authors wrote.

Opinions are divided on the impact of grazing and whether it is beneficial to biodiversity and ecosystem function or not. Although it is worth noting that ungulates (bison, etc.) have grazed the plains of the United States for a long period of time beyond the introduction of cattle. One thing is certain about the role of cattle, which is that they are the livelihood of many in the American west and are also cultural icons in their own right. Ranching as we know it is dependent on the use of public lands, according to a 2015 <a href="https://academic.oup.com/af/article/5/4/32/4638743">paper</a> in Animal Frontiers. But ranching is also dependent on cooperative public land managers.

In 1994, while the last of Washington’s pygmy rabbits were living on only 3,500 acres of sagebrush-dominated land in Douglas County, Steven Herman wrote a paper about the Coordinated Resource Management Plan (CRMP) of this last pygmy rabbit stronghold. At that time, the plan included increasing grazing by 20%, an action justified by saying that rabbits and cattle were ‘compatible’ going so far as to claim that the pygmy rabbits might benefit from grazing. 

Dr. Herman debates these claims, saying they’re at odds with what we know of the rabbits and their ecosystem. The parcel in question, Sagebrush Flats, is the last of the wild Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit’s range and was purchased by the Washington Department of Fish &amp; Game as the rabbits were declining. 

Beyond increasing the amount of cattle on the Sagebrush Flats parcel, the Washington Department of Fish &amp; Game also made water available to cattle in areas previously inaccessible to the ungulates. This encouraged cattle to move to parts of the land where they hadn’t damaged as much previously. According to Dr. Herman grazing contributed to the decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits and a 2004 paper in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222038153_Effects_of_cattle_grazing_on_ecology_and_habitat_of_Columbia_Basin_pygmy_rabbits_Brachylagus_idahoensis">Biological Conservation</a> backs him up.

According to the paper, the decline of the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits was most likely due to “the combined results of habitat degradation and fragmentation, disease, and predation.”

Cattle played a role in habitat degradation and fragmentation as well. Research found significantly more pygmy rabbit burrows in areas without grazing than in areas where grazing was allowed. Grazing in the late summer and winter also removed roughly 50% of grass cover, leaving much less nutrition for the rabbits. The pygmy rabbits in winter make grass less than 2% of their diet (when they eat mainly sagebrush) but in late summer, grasses and forbs make about 53% of their diets. Because of less food, the pygmy rabbits were obviously unable to live in high abundance in graded areas. 

It is a complicated issue, though. Depending on the intensity and season of grazing, cattle can reduce grasses but also increase the size of sagebrush. Pygmy rabbits are known to choose areas with taller and denser sagebrush as the most important part of their range. The downside of cattle is the removal of the grasses and forbs that the pygmy rabbits also rely on, as well as decreasing the ability of sagebrush to regenerate by ripping it out by the roots. Interestingly, other less well understood factors played a role in why less pygmy rabbit burrows are to be found in grazed areas as opposed to un-grazed areas. 

Cottontail rabbits do not dig their own burrows like pygmy rabbits do, instead they occupy burrows dug by other animals. In grazed areas, more cottontails occupy pygmy rabbit burrows than in areas that aren’t grazed. Cattle also sometimes collapse burrows of pygmy rabbits, a good reason for the rabbits to stay away. It’s also interesting to note that pygmy rabbits in this part of the American west didn’t evolve with large amounts of ungulates. Instead of large densities of bison as in other plains areas, there were originally only smaller populations of deer, elk and pronghorn. The misunderstandings and ignorance surrounding the needs of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits also contributed to early failures in captive breeding. 

Originally, 16 Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits were captured for captive breeding. These rabbits represented a unique race of pygmy rabbits, separated from their nearest relatives by roughly 40,000 years of evolution. These rabbits were first offered only sagebrush as food, without the grasses and forbs necessary for their successful reproduction. Unsurprisingly, the early rabbit breeding efforts didn’t fare well. Some of these first rabbits died in captivity. After these failures, pygmy rabbits from Idaho were introduced into the population and with changes in diet and a ‘semi-wild’ enclosure more closely replicating nature, the rabbits started breeding. 

Unfortunately, it seems that a mix of an over-friendly bias towards grazing as well as an incompetent misunderstanding of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit diet led to the extinction of the population. Although there are pygmy rabbits being reintroduced into Washington and they’re likely to serve the ecosystem well, we can’t claim that the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is still truly alive.         

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Randy Bjorklund

Decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits was due to incompetence and grazing

Decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits was due to incompetence and...

New evidence links climate change to California’s worsening wildfire seasons. Wildfires are becoming more frequent, widespread, and severe in the state of California and other regions across the globe. 

California has a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-western-united-states/">long history of fires</a>, but as the fires grow in size and severity every year, many continue to question if climate change is to blame. 

A new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.earth.columbia.edu/">Earth Institute at Columbia University</a> offers new evidence of how human-driven climate change is worsening California’s wildfire seasons. 

The study, published in the journal Earth’s Future, considers many different factors that increase the risk of wildfires, and the researchers analyzed more than 100 years of data. New evidence links climate change to California’s worsening wildfire seasons

The researchers found that the large summer fires in recent history have a strong link to drier ground conditions due to increases in temperature. Not only have fires become more frequent and widespread over the years, but wildfires could get exponentially worse in the next 40 years. 

“The ability of dry fuels to promote large fires is non-linear, which has allowed warming to become increasingly impactful,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Human-caused warming has already significantly enhanced wildfire activity in California, particularly in the forests of the Sierra Nevada and the North Coast, and will likely continue to do so in the coming decades.”New evidence links climate change to California’s worsening wildfire seasons

[caption id="attachment_1875273" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/multiple-fires.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875273" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/multiple-fires.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="549" /></a> Multiple large California wildfires on August 6, 2018, Image Credit: NASA[/caption]

In California, summer temperatures have risen 3.25 degrees Fahrenheit since 1896, but it wasn’t until the early 1970s that temperatures started to really climb.  

With this increase in summer averages, there was also an increase in fires which covered a wider area. From 1972 to 2018, there was a fivefold increase in area burned during summer fires and an eightfold increase in summer forest fires in general. 

The warmer temperatures sucked out more moisture from the soil and vegetation, making trees and plants more likely to burn during a fire and allowing fires to spread farther and faster. 

The process of warmer air drawing moisture from the ground is called vapor pressure deficit. 

The researchers discovered that vapor pressure deficit due to rising temperatures played a significant role in the increase in forest fires from 1972 to 2018 in some areas of California. 

Other factors like the seasonal variation in precipitation and temperature, habitat fragmentation, fire suppression, and growing infrastructure can also influence fire risk, the researchers say. 

“It’s not a surprise to see that climate has this effect in forests, but California is so big and so variable, there is no one-size-fits-all explanation for how climate might affect wildfires across the board,” said the Park Williams, the lead author of the study. “We have tried to provide one-stop shopping to show people how climate has or, in some cases, hasn’t affected fire activity.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Main Image Credit: Shutterstock/Kevin Key

New evidence links climate change to California’s worsening wildfire seasons

New evidence links climate change to California’s worsening wildfire seasons....

New model can predict paths of particles emitted after geological disasters. Researchers working with the <a href="https://www.aip.org/">American Institute of Physics</a> have constructed a model drawing on chaos theory to help predict how particles move through the atmosphere after being emitted from a large geological event like a volcanic eruption or industrial accident. The hope is that by understanding how these particles travel, the model could be used to combat <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/solar-geoengineering-climate-change/">climate change</a>.

Researcher Tímea Haszpra used available wind data to develop the model, which follows air particles as they move around the globe. She was then able to generate maps using this information to predict how particles from specific events could be dispersed within the atmosphere. New model can predict paths of particles emitted after geological disasters

"One of the most surprising parts of the research is the wide range of individual lifetimes," she said. "Lifetimes ranged from about two to 150 days for typical volcanic ash particles. More than 10% of smaller particles survive in the atmosphere as much as one year, and more than 1% survive two years."

When moving about the atmosphere, a chaotic particle’s motion is fractal, and is governed by a “chaotic saddle.” When mapped out, the paths of each particle show properties that are united by the changes in atmospheric flow, like sitting on the saddle, before they fall off the saddle and touch down on Earth.

[caption id="attachment_1875270" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/map.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875270" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/map.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="534" /></a> Geographical distribution of the lifetime tau of particles, Image Credit: Tímea Haszpra[/caption]

Particles usually stay in the air for about a month before falling. However, Haszpra found that some particles in one area of a map could stay in the atmosphere up to 10 times longer as nearby particles. The lifetimes depend on seasons.

Haszpra also found that particles coming from locations around the equator remain in the atmosphere for the longest period of time. In fact, particles smaller than one micron could stay within the atmosphere for years before falling.

These findings, <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.5110385">published in Chaos</a>, could potentially inform future efforts that have been priorly suggested to use sun-reflecting air particles to counteract climate change. Haszpra plans to expand on these findings to incorporate historical meteorological data and climate models to better understand how particle dispersion could change depending on the changing climate.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Shutterstock/LukaKikina

New model can predict paths of particles emitted after geological disasters

New model can predict paths of particles emitted after geological...

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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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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



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 



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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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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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



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Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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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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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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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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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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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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