The Arctic has always seemed like the perfect place to hide secrets. Thick ice, biting winds, and months of darkness. For years, people believed that during the coldest ice ages, the Arctic Ocean vanished beneath an enormous ice shelf, one as thick as a skyscraper is tall.



That idea has stuck around for decades. A slab of ice, nearly a kilometer deep, covering the entire Arctic? It sounded dramatic. But not every dramatic story survives forever. A new study now shatters this icy myth.



In a study published in the journal Science Advances, scientists explain why this old theory no longer holds up. Their findings suggest something else happened during the last 750,000 years. 



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-climate-will-permanently-change-by-2050-scientists-warn/">Arctic</a>, even in its most brutal days, wasn’t entirely sealed under thick ice. Instead, it had patches of open water. Life kept going. The sea ice came and went with the seasons.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-mud-shows-open-arctic-seas">Ancient mud shows open Arctic seas</h2>



The researchers dug deep. They drilled into the seafloor of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-peatlands-are-spreading-as-temperatures-rise/">Arctic</a>-Atlantic gateway and the Nordic Seas. There, buried in the mud, they found tiny fingerprints left by algae.



Some of these algae bloom only in open waters. Others live under seasonal sea ice, the kind that melts and freezes every year. These ancient traces told a clear story.



“Our sediment cores show that marine life was active even during the coldest times,” said Jochen Knies, lead author of the study from <a href="https://en.uit.no" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UiT The Arctic University of Norway</a>, Tromsø. 



“That tells us there must have been light and open water at the surface. You wouldn’t see that if the entire Arctic was locked under a kilometre-thick slab of ice.”



That’s not all they found. A molecule called IP25 showed up again and again in the sediments. This molecule comes from algae that thrive in seasonal sea ice. Its steady presence revealed a world where sea ice wasn’t permanent. It came. It melted. It returned again.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-life-survived-through-ice-ages">Arctic life survived through ice ages</h2>



Sea ice wasn’t the only thing that moved with the seasons. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-grazers-secretly-shape-plant-growth-and-survival/">ocean</a> itself stayed alive. Phytoplankton, the tiny floating plants of the sea, kept growing, even when the cold hit hard.



Biomarkers of phytoplankton like epi brassicasterol and dinosterol showed up consistently in the sediment cores. These tiny clues pointed to a surprising fact. Life did not vanish during glaciations. It slowed down, but it never stopped.



Even during the Last Glacial Maximum, around 21,000 years ago, the sea ice still followed a seasonal rhythm. The same thing happened about 140,000 years ago during an even colder spell.



The Arctic breathed. It froze in winter. It opened in summer. And where light could sneak through, life flourished.



Some giant icebergs also roamed the seas during these cold spells. They were like wandering giants, breaking free from Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. 



The icebergs sometimes got stuck on shallow shelves, leaving deep marks on the seafloor. Yet, these icebergs were visitors, not rulers. They never formed a permanent lid over the entire ocean.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-ice-was-not-permanent">Arctic ice was not permanent</h2>



To double-check their findings, the scientists turned to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-meltdown-is-accelerating-global-warming-already-changing-earth-in-unimaginable-ways/">climate</a> models. They used the AWI Earth System Model, a detailed computer simulation of ancient climates.



These simulations showed the same thing the sediments revealed. Even during extreme cold, warm Atlantic waters kept sneaking into the Arctic. This flow of water stopped the ocean from freezing solid.



“The models support what we found in the sediments,” said Knies. “Even during these extreme glaciations, warm Atlantic water still flowed into the Arctic gateway. This helped keep some parts of the ocean from freezing over completely.”



The models also captured the restless movement of sea ice. It spread in winter. It melted back in summer. It drifted along powerful ocean currents like the Transpolar Drift and the Beaufort Gyre.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-glimpse-of-the-arctic-at-its-coldest">A glimpse of the Arctic at its coldest</h2>



There was one chapter in this icy story that stood out. It happened during Marine Isotope Stage 16, about 650,000 years ago. That’s when the biomarkers nearly vanished.



It looked as if the Arctic locked itself down for a brief time. No sign of open water. No hint of seasonal ice. Just endless cold.



This period lines up with the coldest known stretch of the Quaternary period. Carbon dioxide levels dropped to their lowest point, around 180 parts per million. Everything about this time screams extreme cold.



“There may have been short-lived ice shelves in some parts of the Arctic during especially severe cold phases,” said Knies. “But we don’t see any sign of a single, massive ice shelf that covered everything for thousands of years.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-giant-ice-shelf-theory-now-disproved">Giant ice shelf theory now disproved</h2>



For years, scientists pointed to strange patterns on the seafloor as proof of an ancient Arctic ice shelf. Deep scours, ridges, and grooves looked like evidence of ice pressing down on the ocean floor.



But this study offers a new explanation. Those marks may have come from huge icebergs drifting through the Arctic. These giants could easily gouge the seafloor during their journeys.



The researchers also stress a crucial difference. Sea ice is not the same as ice shelves. Sea ice forms and melts every year. Ice shelves are thick, massive slabs of ice that grow from glaciers on land.



If the Arctic ever had an ice shelf, it likely existed long ago - perhaps during the Mid Pleistocene transition between 950,000 and 790,000 years ago. Since then, the Arctic has danced between ice and water, never staying frozen solid for long.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-s-past-shows-it-may-survive-future">Arctic’s past shows it may survive future</h2>



This isn’t just a story about ancient ice. It’s also a warning for today. The Arctic is changing fast. The more we understand its past, the better we can predict its future.



“These past patterns help us understand what’s possible in future scenarios,” said Knies. “We need to know how the Arctic behaves under stress and what tipping points to watch for as the Arctic responds to a warming world.”



The Arctic has shown time and again that it doesn’t like to sit still. Even at its coldest, it found ways to stay partly open. It allowed life to hold on.



Today, the Arctic faces a new kind of challenge. Warming is accelerating faster than anything in the past. But this study reminds us that the Arctic has always been more dynamic than we thought. It has never been just a frozen wasteland.



Its icy history tells a story of change, survival, and resilience. The future may still surprise us, just like its hidden past has done.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu7681" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



-----



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Arctic Ocean stayed partly open during harsh ice ages

The Arctic has always seemed like the perfect place to hide secrets. Thick ice, biting winds, and months of darkness. For years, people believed that during the coldest ice ages, the Arctic Ocean vanished beneath an enormous ice shelf, one as thick as a skyscraper is tall. That idea has stuck around for decades. A slab of ice, nearly a kilometer deep, covering the entire Arctic? It sounded dramatic. But not every dramatic story survives forever. A new study now shatters this icy myth. In a study...

A recent investigation has found that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for the degradation of staple crops such as rice and wheat, which are becoming less nutritious. Over the next three decades, 175 million people could become zinc deficient and 122 million people could become protein deficient as a direct result of human activities. 

In addition, more than one billion women and children are at risk of losing a large amount of their dietary iron intake, increasing the threat of anemia and other diseases.

Study lead author Sam Myers is the principal research scientist at <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/">Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health</a>.

“Our research makes it clear that decisions we are making every day - how we heat our homes, what we eat, how we move around, what we choose to purchase--are making our food less nutritious and imperiling the health of other populations and future generations,” said Myers.

Currently, there are more than two billion members of the global population that are deficient in one or more nutrients. The majority of our key nutrients come from plants, including 63 percent of dietary protein, 81 percent of iron, and 68 percent of zinc.

It has been shown in previous research that higher levels of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/permafrost-thawing-release-co2/">atmospheric CO2</a> lead to crop yields that are less nutritious, with concentrations of iron and protein that are up to 17 percent lower when crops are exposed to CO2 concentrations of 550 parts per million (ppm) during growth.

For the current study, the team set out to develop the most accurate analysis of the global health burden that could be caused by CO2-related nutrient shifts in crops across 151 countries.

The study showed that by the middle of this century, when atmospheric CO2 concentrations are expected to reach around 550 ppm, roughly 175 million people could become deficient in zinc and 122 million people could become protein deficient. An additional 1.4 billion women and young children will be at risk of iron deficiency.

The researchers pointed out that billions of people that already live with nutritional deficiencies would experience worse conditions if crops became less nutritious.

“One thing this research illustrates is a core principle of the emerging field of planetary health,” said Myers. “We cannot disrupt most of the biophysical conditions to which we have adapted over millions of years without unanticipated impacts on our own health and wellbeing.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Human activity could cause crops to become less nutritious

A recent investigation has found that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions...

Since they escaped captivity in Devon, a group of eager beavers have “transformed” a valley  with a network of sturdy dams.

The beavers are thought to have been released, either by accident or in an unlicensed release, in 2005 near Percy’s Country Hotel in Devon. The <a href="https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/">Devon Wildlife Trust</a> applied to turn the accidental escape into a licensed trial reintroduction.

It’s been a reintroduced-to-the-wild success, and researchers are learning valuable lessons about water management from the network of the 100-foot dams the population of beavers have built in the years since.

“Beaver engineering at Combeshead, particularly the building of dams has transformed the environment, increasing water storage and creating diverse wetlands,” Dr. Alan Puttock of the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> told the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/">Daily Mail</a>. “Our research has shown that beaver activity can slow the flow of water following rain storms potentially providing a valuable component to future flood and land management strategies.”

The study found that the beaver dams prevent nutrients and soil from being carried downstream during by trapping sediment, benefiting soils both upstream and downstream.

A study released in May found that 70 percent of the sediment trapped by the dams had eroded from grassland fields farther upstream. 

“We are heartened to discover that beaver dams can go a long way to mitigate this soil loss and also trap pollutants which lead to the degradation of our water bodies,” Dr. Richard Brazier, who led the study, said in a press release. 

The Eurasian beaver was native to the British Isles, but was hunted to extinction there – and in many areas of Europe – when beaver fur became a hot commodity. The last recorded beaver seen in the UK was shot in Scotland in 1526. 

The Devon study shows that reintroducing eager beavers and their engineering to other parts of the UK could help the islands’ ecology.

“Were beaver dams to be commonplace in the landscape we would no doubt see these effects delivering multiple benefits across whole ecosystems, as they do elsewhere around the world,” Brazier said.

Research funding came from <a href="http://www.westlandcs.co.uk/">Westland Countryside Stewards</a> and the <a href="https://nerc.ukri.org/">Natural Environment Research Council</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="http://www.earth.com">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Eager beavers could benefit British agriculture

Since they escaped captivity in Devon, a group of eager...

Tropical Storm Lane may have been downgraded from a Category 5 hurricane over the past few days, but it still caused plenty of havoc for Hawaii.

The winds slowed to about 60 miles per hour, but the slow-moving storm poured nearly four feet of rain on the eastern side of the Big Island, already dealing with damage from volcanic activity. At Hilo, nearly 32 inches of rain were recorded as of Saturday evening. 

Flash flood warnings were in effect after dozens of landslides closed several roads.

Maui was also hard-hit by the storm, as residents <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/24/us/maui-hawaii-brush-fire/index.html">battled a pair of brush fires</a> that led to evacuations and burned homes.

<a href="http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts">Hawaii County Civil Defense</a>, which was organizing the emergency response to Tropical Storm Lane, had not yet been able to assess the damage as of Saturday afternoon, spokeswoman Kelly Wooten told the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a>.

No injuries or deaths had been reported, but cleaning debris and damage from landslides had been keeping the agency busy, she said.

“Over the last couple of days, it was just one after another,” Wooten told the newspaper. “They would be cleaned up by a road crew and then another one would happen down the road.”

Tropical Storm Lane had an impact on the state’s tourism trade, with the <a href="https://www.pacificaviationmuseum.org/">Pacific Aviation Museum</a> announcing that Pearl Harbor-related sites would be closed until Monday.

But souvenir shops were already printing “I survived Hurricane Lane” T-shirts, according to <a href="https://twitter.com/kurtsevits/status/1033597728205418496">one tweet</a>.

And while beaches were closed by Tropical Storm Lane, a few hundred beach lovers braved the bad weather. 

“If I thought it was really bad, I wouldn’t go out,” surfer Ikaika Kailiawa told the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-hurricane-lane-beaches-20180825-story.html">Los Angeles Times</a> on Saturday. “But it’s not that bad.”

Flash flood warnings for Hilo, Hawaii – issued by the <a href="https://www.weather.gov/">National Weather Service</a> – were still in effect late Saturday night, however. Downpours were expected to continue until Monday, but the rain could ease by Tuesday, according to <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/">Accuweather</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="http://www.earth.com">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Image credit: <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/92649/hurricane-lane-approaches-hawaii">NASA Earth Observatory</a>

Tropical Storm Lane drenches Hawaiian islands

Tropical Storm Lane may have been downgraded from a Category...

New satellite images show a world on fire. This summer, wildfires have been plaguing the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-burning-two-million-acres/">western United States</a>, and California's Mendocino Complex Fire broke records as the state’s largest wildfire in history. 

Wildfires across the world seem to be getting more severe, spreading further and putting more people at risk. 

Now, a new image from the <a href="https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?p=geographic&amp;l=VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor,MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Fires_Aqua(hidden),VIIRS_SNPP_Fires_375m_Night,VIIRS_SNPP_Fires_375m_Day,MODIS_Fires_All(hidden),MODIS_Fires_Terra(hidden),Reference_Labels(hidden),Reference_Features(hidden),Coastlines(hidden)&amp;t=2018-08-22-T00%3A00%3A00Z&amp;z=3&amp;v=-443.9184061044004,-146.49908892909963,420.0815938955996,280.4384110709004">NASA Worldview</a> shows the Earth covered in concentrated patches of red dots which represent the actively burning fires right now. 

The image shows just how widespread fires are across the globe due to the warm and dry weather conditions brought on by climate change. 

NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview was able to create the image of the fires by sifting through 700 satellite images and overlaying the images on top of each other to create an accurate picture of how the earth looks in real time. 

This recent image shows that Africa and Chile along with other parts of South America have the most concentrated areas of fires. In Africa, the fires are most likely agricultural fires purposely set to help clear land and burn unwanted plants. 

As important as clearing fires are in Africa, they cause an increase in pollution and degrade air quality. 

In South America, Chile has been dealing widespread wildfires, only made worse by the dry and hot weather that the country has been experiencing as of late. 

“Besides low humidity, high winds and extreme temperatures--some of the same factors contributing to fires raging across the United States--central Chile is experiencing a mega-drought and large portions of its diverse native forests have been converted to more flammable tree plantations,” researchers from <a href="http://www.montana.edu/">Montana State University</a> recently wrote in <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-08-massive-south-central-chile.html#jCp">a new study. </a>

In another part of South America, both wildfires and man-made fires are currently burning through Brazil. 

Like in Africa, deliberate fires can help clear land for agricultural or grazing use in Brazil, but these fires can get out of hand and spread further than their controlled limits. 

Australia is another country where fires are quickly getting out of hand exacerbated by climate conditions. Bushfires in the remote regions of the country spread fast and an increase in temperatures is drawing out Australia’s fire season. 

As seen in some parts of the United States, urban sprawl into more remote brush territory puts more people at risk when these wildfires burn through the area. 

An increase in temperature and drought can be linked to many of the world’s wildfires and as the effects of climate change get more severe, so too will wildfire events across the world. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

New satellite images show a world on fire

New satellite images show a world on fire. This summer,...

A recent study by <a href="https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/">Eco Experts</a> has ranked the world's best and worst cities based on various types of obstruction, including air, light, and noise pollution. Cairo topped the list as the most polluted city, while Zurich received the highest score and was ranked as the world's cleanest city.

On the Eco Experts <a href="https://blog.theecoexperts.co.uk/most-polluted-cities">blog</a>, Fran Whittaker-Wood explained: “When you think of pollution, you’ll probably be imagining smog-filled air hanging over cities and shrouding the tops of skyscrapers. But there are other kinds of pollution - some visible, some invisible - that can make life in an already noxious city that bit more unpleasant. Think deafening noises and blinding lights.”

The study was focused on 48 cities, using <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-heart-structure/">air pollution</a> data from the <a href="http://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> (WHO). The team also accessed information from lightpollution.info, while noise pollution data was obtained from the Mimi Hearing Index.

According to the WHO, 9 out of 10 people around the world are exposed to air pollution. The organization estimates that around seven million people die every year from exposure to fine particulate matter. These small particles can invade the body and cause serious cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, such as heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, and respiratory disease.

The Eco Experts pointed out that the health impacts of noise and light pollution are just as concerning and are often underestimated.

“Studies have linked intense noise to heart disease, high blood pressure and stress, while prolonged exposure to bright lights has been found to cause sleep deprivation and diabetes,” wrote Whittaker-Wood.

The study revealed that Cairo is the most toxic city, scoring in the bottom three for air, light, and noise pollution. Delhi, India, came in as the second most polluted city. Three cities in China also ranked in the worst top ten, while Los Angeles ranked as the tenth most polluted city in the world.


Zurich, which is the largest city in Switzerland, scored as the least polluted city overall. A total of six German cities were ranked among the best top ten, including Munich, which came in third.

For more information on the best and worst cities on this list and how they were scored by the Eco Experts, visit: <a href="https://blog.theecoexperts.co.uk/most-polluted-cities">https://blog.theecoexperts.co.uk/most-polluted-cities</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Which cities have the most overall pollution?

A recent study by Eco Experts has ranked the world's...

As the smoke from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-burning-two-million-acres/">wildfires</a> along the West coast continues to drift across the Pacific Northwest, the air quality in some regions has taken a nosedive. By Wednesday afternoon, the Air Quality Index (AQI) rose to 186 in Seattle, which is classified as “unhealthy.” 

According to <a href="https://www.usnews.com/">U.S. News &amp; World Report</a>, the air in some areas of the city hit the point of being “very unhealthy” when the AQI reached 201 the same day. The news agency pointed out that <a href="http://berkeleyearth.org/">Berkeley Earth</a> compares human exposure to an AQI of 150 to smoking seven cigarettes a day.

Department of Ecology spokesman Andy Wineke explained that websites and agencies measure air quality using different standards. 

“Ours are generally one level above what is listed on the (national) smoke blogs,” Wineke told <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/">The Seattle Times</a>. “We know it’s confusing, but our standards are more protective and we think that’s the right tack to take on Washington pollution.”

Wineke suggested that the comparison of air pollution to smoking cigarettes is not really accurate, telling The Seattle Times, “Cigarette smoke and wildfire smoke are very different kinds of exposures.”

Regardless, air pollution still poses risks to cardiovascular and respiratory health, and one of the biggest threats comes from fine particulate matter (PM2.5). These particles are small enough to penetrate the lungs and cause damage. For example, PM2.5 exposure had been found to significantly increase the risk of serious conditions such as respiratory disease and lung cancer.

After days of unhealthy air quality, the wind pushed out a lot of the smoke and the skies began to clear over Seattle on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, for this region of the country, the smoke will periodically return as long as the fires continue to burn.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Wildfire smoke has made Seattle air dangerous to breathe

As the smoke from wildfires along the West coast continues...

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I, a character proposes a unique torment for his enemy: he will train a starling to repeat his name and “gift” it to him as a means of inflaming his anger.

Starlings, like their close relatives the mynas, are indeed skillful mimics. But their aptitude for torment lies more in their adaptable nature and ferocious reproductive capabilities than in their parrot-like tendencies. Native to Eurasia and northern Africa, they are now nearly global in distribution. And outside their native range, they have proven to be nothing short of a plague.

Like many invasive species, common starlings (Sturnis vulgaris) were ushered into their non-native range intentionally—with generally beneficent motives. 

In Australia, where they were introduced in 1857, and New Zealand, where they were introduced in 1862, they were intended to control agricultural insect pests. Starlings are indeed voracious insect predators. They possess a uniquely strong jaw that allows them to penetrate the ground while foraging and open their beak, pushing aside the soil and allowing easier access to subterranean creatures. 

This digging functionality is a formidable adaptation in a predator of terrestrial invertebrates. They will eat anything from caterpillars to beetle larvae to millipedes, in addition to vegetable matter. While their presence may have had some small effect on the insect pests of Australia and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/winter-rain-southwest-new-zealand/">New Zealand</a>, it was outweighed by their competitive advantage over native species, which they continue to threaten and displace to this day. 

In North America, the motivations were, let’s face it, dumber. Or at least less pragmatic. People thought that starlings were pretty They reminded them of their European homeland. Entire societies dedicated to the notion of introducing common European and foreign species sprung up in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

These so-called “acclimatization societies” released numerous species of animal into North America simply because of their perceived aesthetic value. This trend in some cases resulted in the decimation of entire ecosystems, as in the case of Hawaii, where native birdlife was outcompeted and likely diseased by an enormous suite of introduced birds from around the world. The results of these misguided exercises are still visible today to visitors of the Hawaiian islands, where one can see Brazilian cardinals and Asian zebra doves in the span of a minute. 

The starling introductions, though, created a disaster on a much larger scale. First introduced in Cincinnati in 1872, and later in New York City in 1877, and in Portland in 1889, the species did not really take off until the 1890 introduction in New York City. Eugene Schieffelin, the founder of the American Acclimatization Society (1871), had shipped to the city from England 60 starlings. Heedless of the bitter March weather, he loosed the birds in Manhattan. The next year, he released another 40. 

Unlike previous efforts, this one stuck, perhaps due to New York’s unique brand of hospitality: easy shelter in the eaves of buildings, relatively abundant green space, and plenty of trash, which starlings are not hesitant to eat. Though legend has it that Schieffelin was motivated by a love of Shakespeare, and intended to introduce all bird species mentioned in his plays to the Americas, <a href="https://timeline.com/sparrows-invasive-species-america-9546e6a9e57e">as writer Matt Reimann points out</a>, there is no explicit mention of this agenda in the recorded literature. 

Schieffelin was a Shakespeare aficionado, and he loved birds, but there is no evidence that the two were connected. He did, notably, play a part in the introduction another of the worst avian pests in the Americas: the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), which was supposed to control the linden moth and ultimately took over the continent. So did starlings. They had spread to the Mississippi River by 1928 and by 1942 had reached California. (There is some uncertainty as to whether the population that was released in Portland in 1889 migrated down the west coast or the eastern population migrated west.) 

Their depredations are multitude. Starlings are known to disrupt the breeding habits of other birds that nest in cavities. While <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02262.x">a 2003 study</a> showed that only sapsuckers, a type of woodpecker, were noticeably influenced by the presence of starlings, anecdotal evidence has indicated that they disrupt nesting in birds ranging from wood ducks to bluebirds. 

They have also been implicated in the spread of disease, both to native birds and to livestock and humans. They are known to be carriers of West Nile virus, which wreaked havoc on native bird populations, and have also been implicated in the transmission of Histoplasmosis to immunocompromised humans, and in the infection of pigs with gastroenteritis virus, which in one case was thought to have wiped out 10,000 pigs in a month (1978–79). 

The birds are thought to be the second most populous species in North America, just behind red-winged blackbirds, with which they sometimes flock. Estimates of their population on this continent alone exceed 200 million. And despite the idea that they are useful controllers of agricultural pests, they are more than willing to avail themselves of the fruits of agriculture themselves. One study suggested that they are responsible for <a href="http://www.rexano.org/Federal_Canada/PimentelEtal00CostExotics.pdf">over $800 million in crop damage</a> each year in the United States. 

Even in light of their rapacity, one has to admire these birds. In breeding plumage, the males are subtly lovely, boasting a mane of shimmering, oil-slick feathers that iridesce in shades of green and purple. The white tips on their feathers developed in the summer slowly wear away and leave them mostly black by winter. 

These feathers are perhaps even more beautiful to the birds themselves; <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/94/16/8618.full.pdf">a 1998 study</a> demonstrated that the feathers appear different in the presence of ultraviolet light, suggesting that the birds may be able to see patterns that we cannot. And their murmurations, coordinated flocking efforts executed largely in winter, when they aggregate in enormous numbers, are among the most mesmerizing of natural spectacles. Their ability to move in rolling waves, seemingly effortlessly coordinated, is a testament to the wonders of social evolution. 

In the face of their Hitchcockian ubiquity, eradication efforts have proven largely fruitless. So perhaps we ought to learn to enjoy them.

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Starlings, darling: The making of an American pest

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I, a character proposes a...

The Battle of Waterloo took place on June 18th in 1815 and is known as that battle that marked the final defeat of <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/battle-of-waterloo">Napoleon Bonaparte</a>. 

Now, a new study shows that the rainy weather that helped secure a victory for the Allied army was caused by a huge volcanic eruption on the Indonesian Island of Sumbawa two months prior to Waterloo. 

Researchers from Imperial College London discovered that electrified volcanic ash released high into the atmosphere can “short circuit” the ionosphere and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-volcanic-eruptions-slow-down-global-warming/">change global weather.</a>

The researchers theorize that in 1815, the eruption from the Indonesian volcano Mount Tambora emitted volcanic ash that disrupted the current in the ionosphere and caused heavy rain throughout Europe. 

It’s known that the Tambora eruption killed 100,000 people and created “a year without summer” in 1816.

This new study, though, shows that ash from eruptions can shoot higher into the atmosphere than previously realized and this can impact cloud formations and weather. 

The results were published in the journal Geology. 

“Previously, geologists thought that volcanic ash gets trapped in the lower atmosphere, because volcanic plumes rise buoyantly,” said Matthew Genge. “My research, however, shows that ash can be shot into the upper atmosphere by electrical forces.”

Genge developed a model that calculated how volcanic ash could be emitted into the atmosphere. Small particles, less than .2 millionths of a meter in diameter, are able to reach the ionosphere according to the model’s calculations. 


The electric charge of the particles is what drives them so high up according to the study. 

“Volcanic plumes and ash both can have negative electrical charges and thus the plume repels the ash, propelling it high in the atmosphere,” said Genge. “The effect works very much like the way two magnets are pushed away from each other if their poles match.”

Genge compared his model’s calculations with past weather records and found that weather patterns following the 1833 eruption of the volcano Krakatoa caused similar global weather disruptions to what was happening in Europe in 1815.

The research shows how impactful major volcanic eruptions can be and helps provide insight into how the Tambora eruption let the Napoleon's’ ultimate defeat.  

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

An Indonesian volcano eruption influenced the defeat of Napoleon

The Battle of Waterloo took place on June 18th in...

The Earth’s magnetic field is in a constant state of flux and every couple hundred thousand years or so, the poles undergo a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-magnetic-poles-flip/">complete reversal and flip</a>. 

Throughout Earth’s history the poles have flipped many times and as <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-poleReversal.html">NASA</a> points out, pole reversals are the “rule not the exception.” 

As a result, it’s not really a matter of if the poles will flip but when, and since we’re long overdue (roughly over 700,000 years) for a flip, many researchers are weighing on when the next flip may occur. 

A new study examining previous magnetic pole shifts through cave stalagmite samples found that a flip can occur within a matter of centuries.

More attention has been paid to the Earth's magnetic field because there is speculation that a flip may happen sometime in the near future. 

According to a piece in <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-an-anomaly-in-the-earths-magnetic-field-portend-a-coming-pole-reversal-47528">The Conversation,</a> the Earth’s magnetic poles are weakening and the strength of the magnetic field has been decreasing over the years. 

If a pole shift were to occur in our lifetime, researchers from the <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/">Australian National University </a>recently discovered that, based on previous shifts, it could happen over the span of a century or more. 

The researchers collected and analyzed stalagmites from a cave in Southwestern China in order to map the paleomagnetic record form 107,000 to 91,000 years ago, according to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6088607/Earths-magnetic-field-FLIP-sooner-previously-thought.html">the Daily Mail. </a>

Using both radiometric dating and magnetic analysis of a long stalagmite sample, the researchers discovered that the Earth’s magnetic field previously underwent a rapid reversal over a period of two centuries. 

The study provides important insight into the history of the Earth’s magnetic field and could help predict when the next flip will happen. 

If the poles were to flip in the immediate future, it could have devastating consequences. The Earth would be exposed to high concentrations of dangerous solar radiation and the Earth’s electric grid could go dark causing trillions of dollars in damage. 

That’s why it’s important to be as prepared as we can for an imminent flip. 

“Hopefully such an event is a long way in the future and we can develop future technologies to avoid huge damage, where possible, from such events,” Professor Roberts from the Australian National University’s Research School of Earth Sciences told the Daily Mail. “The record provides important insights into ancient magnetic field behavior,’ Professor Roberts said, ‘which has turned out to vary much more rapidly than previously thought.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Earth’s magnetic poles could flip relatively quickly

The Earth’s magnetic field is in a constant state of...

There is a growing collection of evidence that indicates Arctic warming will release massive amounts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-dioxide-record-broken/">carbon dioxide</a> sooner than what was previously estimated.

According to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>, a field experiment in northern Siberia has revealed that some surface layers of permafrost are no longer freezing, and land across the Arctic may be thawing much faster than what is understood.

Russian scientist Nikita Zimov led a team in April to drill into the soil in Cherskiy, located 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, which is normally one of the coldest places on the planet. The drilling uncovered thick, slushy mud up to a few feet underground.

Zimov told National Geographic that the ground in this region should be frozen solid until late spring. Usually, the topsoil of the Arctic freezes each winter and thaws in the summer. Zimov and his father Sergey, who is also a Russian scientist, said that this is the first winter they can remember that the soil simply did not freeze. 

Just beneath this layer of soil is permafrost that extends hundreds of feet deep, and has been frozen for hundreds to thousands of years. This permafrost, which stores billions of tons of carbon, will continue thawing at an accelerated rate without its protective layer of frozen ground.

A study published earlier this year in <a href="https://www.the-cryosphere.net/">The Cryosphere</a>, which was led by Nicholas Parazoo of NASA’s <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a>, also found that permafrost in the northern region of the Arctic is melting much sooner than anticipated. The scientists predicted that, during this century alone, the northernmost Arctic area will release just under 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide.

“We keep finding more surprises,” said Parazoo. “And the scary word in all of this is ‘irreversible.’ Once we thaw permafrost, it becomes very difficult to refreeze.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Permafrost is thawing and could release huge amounts of CO2

There is a growing collection of evidence that indicates Arctic...

After recent reports that over <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-plastic-waste-asia-africa/">eight million tons of plastic</a> enter the worlds ocean every year, efforts to combat the plastic pollution crisis have been on the rise.

From cities working to eliminate plastic bags from supermarkets to the recent announcement that the global coffee chain Starbucks will phase out<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2018/07/10/starbucks-to-ditch-plastic-straws-worldwide-for-adult-sippy-cups/#55ef0a04c9eb"> all plastic straws by 2020</a>, it seems more and more people are working to combat the dangers of plastic pollution in our waterways. 

However, these cleanup efforts often target the ocean and there is far less is known about how much plastic is entering and polluting freshwater lakes and rivers. 

One study found that microplastic particles <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0194970">were present in tap water</a> that was drawn from the Great Lakes in North America.

This means that plastic pollution could be just as pervasive and damaging in the crucial habitats of the Great Lakes as it is in the world’s oceans. But how do we estimate how much plastic is entering the lakes, where it comes from, and where it accumulates? 

Matthew J. Hoffman, an associate professor of Mathematical Sciences at the <a href="http://www.rit.edu/">Rochester Institute of Technology</a> used the calculations from the ocean plastic study and applied this to the Great Lakes. 

According to <a href="https://theconversation.com/tons-of-plastic-trash-enter-the-great-lakes-every-year-where-does-it-go-100423">The Conversation</a>, Hoffman’s estimates show that an estimated 10,000 tons of plastic enter the Great Lakes every year. Conversation author Chrissy Tyler worked with Hoffman to create simulations showing where the Great Lakes plastic accumulates, how it moves, and how it impacts freshwater wildlife. 

The researchers used similar computational methods used to map the movement of ocean plastic pollution to predict how large quantities of plastic would accumulate in Lake Erie, the 4th largest of the all the Great Lakes. 

What Hoffman and Tyler found was that unlike ocean plastic accumulation, the water currents and strong winds of Lake Erie would break up large patches of plastic and keep the plastic pollution moving. 

Much of any plastic in the Great Lakes would likely end up on the shores, and previous cleanup efforts have removed 16 tons of plastic on the beaches of the Great Lakes, showing that the simulations are accurate. 

The researchers also estimate that in regards to microplastic, currently four tons of microplastic is polluting Lake Erie and threatening its ecosystem. 

Three-dimensional distribution models also show that a portion of the plastic pollution in the Great Lakes will sink to the bottom. 

“According to our initial simulations, much of the plastic is expected to sink. This prediction is supported by sediment samples collected from the bottom of the Great Lakes, which can contain high concentrations of plastic,” the authors <a href="https://theconversation.com/tons-of-plastic-trash-enter-the-great-lakes-every-year-where-does-it-go-100423">wrote</a>. 

Understanding how plastic accumulates, travels, breaks up, and impacts wildlife is crucial for cleanup efforts. These recent projections prove that the Great Lakes and other major water sources besides than the ocean need to be considered in the conversation about plastic pollution. 

“Developing a complete picture of how plastic pollution travels through waterways, and which habitats are most at risk, is crucial for conceiving and testing possible solutions,” wrote Hoffman and Tyler. “With this information, government agencies and conservation groups can develop specific community education programs, target cleanup efforts and work with industries to develop alternatives to products that contain these materials.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="http://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

10,000 tons of plastic trash dumped in the Great Lakes each year

After recent reports that over eight million tons of plastic...

“In the land of the pale blue snow

Where it’s ninety-nine below,

And the polar bears are dancing on the plain,

In the shadow of the pole

Oh, my Heart, my Life, my Soul,

I will meet thee when the ice-worms nest again.”

-Robert Service, 1910

Glaciers initially seem barren of any sort of life.  I remember taking a bush plane off the glacial fields of Mount Denali, and the first small patches of green forest attack the senses with elation after weeks of icy monotones.  White, grey, blue and hues of the same are the dominant colors on glaciers. There is beauty in glacial scenery, no question about it, but it is a stark beauty stripped down to a limited pallet.  

Looking closer at ice though, changes perspective.  As hard as it is to believe, some <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pine-island-glacier-shrink/">glaciers</a> actually contain worms living inside chunks of ice, relatives of the more common earthworm.  When exposed to any sort of heat, the glacial ice worms (Mesenchytraeus solifugus) will die and melt around 40° F.  The worms are tiny, only about ¼ of an inch in length but common on glaciers of the North Cascade range of Washington.  The <a href="https://glaciers.nichols.edu/iceworm/">North Cascade Glacier Climate Project</a> estimated as many as 7 billion ice worms on one glacier on Glacier Peak in Washington.  The ice worms are in the same family as earthworms but obviously have some extremely unique adaptations.  

Ice worms were first discovered in Alaska, where <a href="http://www.robertwservice.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=306">Robert Service</a> enlarged their legend with exaggerations in his poetry.  So far ice worms have been found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and parts of Canada but nowhere else in the world.  It’s easy to understand that an animal which melts at 40°F would have a hard time crawling down from the mountains and spreading across the planet, even if there are glaciers elsewhere. 

Ice worms hide in glaciers during the heat of the day, coming to the surface of ice and snow during mornings and evenings.  Scientists aren’t sure whether the ice worms release a chemical antifreeze to create tunnels in ice or if they simply use cracks already there.  Interestingly the chemistry of ice worm proteins is different allowing (even obligating) them to live in cold environments. 

The diet of ice worms changes the common view of snow as pure and free from blemish.  Snowflakes are often formed when ice crystals bind to bacteria or other microbes living or dead.  <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-microbes-make-snow/">Scientific American</a> reports that microbiologist have found microbes at the center of snowflakes from places as far ranging as Canada, Montana, France and Antarctica.  Purified water without microbes has a harder time forming snowflakes. 

There’s also a lot more algae in snow than the casual observer is likely to guess.  Far from being pure or lifeless glacial ice and snow is full of microscopic or macroscopic but tiny life.  Some snow known as ‘watermelon snow’ can have a large density of a cold loving alga (Chlamydomonas nivalis) which colors it pink or reddish.  Even normal looking snow under closer examination reveals a thriving if simplified ecosystem which is sufficient to supply food for ice worms.  Ice worms have been observed with their tail end anchored in ice while their front (mouth) end moves through glacial melt-water, apparently searching for food.  Dissections of the worms have also revealed that their digestive content consists of single celled organisms, mainly algae but also bacteria and other microscopic creatures.

Given the number of ice worms found in some glaciers, their impact on local environments may be underestimated so far.  <a href="https://glaciers.nichols.edu/iceworm/">North Cascades Glacier Climate Project</a> estimated that with ice worms and other organisms living in glaciers, meltwater from glaciers could contribute over 500 million organisms to streams.

Sadly, the melting of glaciers may cause the end for the ice worm or at least some populations.  It’s impossible for ice worms to move from a melting glacier to a more stable one and although there are billions of the worms, they’re limited to a small part of the Earth.  

It isn’t just odd tiny worms making their lives out on the ice.  When I went to climb Mt. Denali I was a little bit surprised to learn that there were ravens willing to dig through feet of snow for buried food caches.  I was only a little surprised though; I’ve also seen corvids on Mt. Rainier’s glaciated slopes and in Rocky Mountain National Park in the winter. A few types of birds actually use glaciers as places to find food.  Smaller birds often eat worms and other invertebrates, while larger raptors sometimes eat other birds and small mammals on glaciers. 

Of course many penguins nest on ice sheets.  However, there is a less famous bird that nests on glaciers. The white-winged diuca-finch (Diuca speculifera) nests on glaciers through the Andes of Bolivia, Peru, northern Argentina and Chile.  A quick Google search yields images of typical round twig and grass type nests settled into the ghastly blue beauty of crevasses.  According to Wikipedia, the ‘glacier bird’ as the finch is sometimes called, lays two eggs in April or May, the young fledgling their nests in June or July.

According to <a href="https://www.audubon.org/">Audubon.org</a>, the white-winged diuca-finch is part of the Emberizidae family.  Distant relatives of the diuca-finch include Lapland longspur, American tree sparrow, and snow bunting.  All of these relatives breed in the Arctic but none of them actually nest on glaciers. Despite the dangers of nesting in a place as forbidding as an icy glacier, it certainly reduces the number of predators the white-winged diuca-finch must face.  At the moment, little is known about the glacier bird’s population but given its broad range, the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22723169/0">IUCN</a> considers it a species of least concern in terms of conservation.  

<a href="http://earthsky.org/earth/how-many-different-animals-live-on-glaciers">Earthsky.org</a> reported on the many mammals visit glaciers.  It’s possible that large mammals with a good deal of fur visit glaciers simply to cool off, like a large shaggy dog I once saw rolling in alpine snow on a Colorado summer day.  Caribou, musk ox, bison, elk, pica, big horn sheep and other herbivores have all been found on glaciers. 

Wolverines have been observed catching prey in glaciers.  Undoubtedly, meat left in the virtual icebox of a glacier would last longer and smell less, thus attracting fewer other animals to steal the kill.  

Glaciers are difficult places to do research and organisms like ice worms are hard to study.  There is still a lack of data and observations on glaciers, even as they continue to melt. 

Other organisms like the overly fluffy Woolly Bear Caterpillar live in the remote Arctic but not on glaciers and have incredible adaptations to the harsh cold.  A handful of animals like musk ox, penguins and polar bears are commonly known from the coldest parts of our planet but many more like ice worms are largely ignored by the public.  Most people don’t know about the <a href="https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Amphibians/Wood-Frog">Wood Frog</a> (Lithobates sylvaticus), a species that freezes in the northern winter, it’s heart ceasing to beat, seemingly dead until being thawed and revived in warmer weather.  Few people would suspect that jellyfish live in boreal waters or that strange fish live below ice shelves in Antarctica. 

The greatest tragedy of loss would be not fully understanding the depth of it.  As glaciers melt and the planet warms, what strange creatures do we stand to lose?             

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

What exactly is living in those icy cold glaciers?

“In the land of the pale blue snow Where it’s...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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Ocean heat influences regional climate

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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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