The Mediterranean has long been a crossroads of trade and tourism, yet its deepest pocket, the Calypso Deep, seemed beyond the reach of day-to-day pollution. 



That hope ended earlier this year when researchers reported plastic bags, glass shards, and crumpled cans resting 16,770 feet beneath the waves in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionian_Sea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ionian Sea</a>.



Their survey logged 167 items on the trench floor - 148 confirmed pieces of marine litter and 19 more that almost certainly came from people. 



By any measure, it is one of the densest concentrations of trash ever recorded in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-ocean-buffet-big-fish-are-surprisingly-reliant-on-the-twilight-zone/">dark zone</a> of the ocean.



The discovery arrives as global attention continues to focus on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/surprise-study-some-scientists-call-for-halting-ocean-plastic-cleanup-efforts/">plastic waste</a>. 



Videos of snagged sea turtles and bottle-strewn beaches have already ignited public concern, but those images barely hint at what sinks far below the reach of sunlight.



Now evidence from Calypso Deep shows that even the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/calypso" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mediterranean’s farthest recesses</a> are filling up.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-calypso-deep-is-full-of-plastic-waste">Calypso Deep is full of plastic waste</h2>



The team used the submersible <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSV_Limiting_Factor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Limiting Factor</a> to reach the bottom of a kidney-shaped trench roughly 12.4 miles long and 3.1 miles across. 



During a 43-minute trek near the seafloor of the Calypso Deep, cameras captured thousands of objects per square mile, mostly plastic waste discarded by humans.



A single straight-line pass of 2,130 feet was enough to confirm that human trash blankets large stretches of the basin. Most pieces were flexible plastics; glass, metal, and paper rounded out the list. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/marine-trash_Calypso-Deep-region_Mediterranean_study-map_UBarcelona_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/marine-trash_Calypso-Deep-region_Mediterranean_study-map_UBarcelona_1s.webp" alt="(A) General location of the Calypso Deep (box) in the Ionian Sea. PP: Peloponnese Peninsula. (B) Close up and general bathymetry of Calypso Deep (box) and surrounding area. For depth ranges, see color scale. (C) Detailed bathymetry of Calypso Deep with depth contours in meters. The position of the deepest point is indicated by the white dot, while the dive area is indicated by the red dot. Credit: University of Barcelona" class="wp-image-1976573"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(A) General location of the Calypso Deep (box) in the Ionian Sea. PP: Peloponnese Peninsula. (B) Close up and general bathymetry of Calypso Deep (box) and surrounding area. For depth ranges, see color scale. (C) Detailed bathymetry of Calypso Deep with depth contours in meters. The position of the deepest point is indicated by the white dot, while the dive area is indicated by the red dot. Click image to enlarge. Credit: University of Barcelona</figcaption></figure>



Even without animals caught on camera, the piles raise alarms because deep-sea communities recover slowly from disturbance.



Calypso Deep lies about 37 miles west of the Peloponnese coast inside the Hellenic Trench, a zone of steep, stepped walls prone to earthquakes. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastic-waste-rides-currents">Plastic waste rides currents</h2>



Weak currents, usually under 0.8 inches per second and rarely reaching 7 inches per second, let debris settle instead of sweeping it away.



“It comes from various sources, both terrestrial and marine. It could have arrived by various routes, including long-distance transport by ocean currents or direct dumping,” explains <a href="https://web.ub.edu/en/web/directori/?accio=SEL&amp;id=v759w8s35bo5v72r&amp;lang=ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Miquel Canals</a>, professor at the Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics at the University of Barcelona.



“Some light waste, such as plastics, comes from the coast and escapes to Calypso Deep, just about 37 miles away. Certain plastics, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-bag-bans-have-drastically-reduced-ocean-pollution/">like bags</a>, drift just above the seabed until they are partially or completely buried or break down into smaller fragments," Canals continued.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/marine-trash_Calypso-Deep-region_Mediterranean_litter-photos_UBarcelona_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/marine-trash_Calypso-Deep-region_Mediterranean_litter-photos_UBarcelona_1s.webp" alt="Examples of identified litter items with category attribution per material type (cf. Table 2). (A) Plastic bag, J3. (B) Plastic heavy-duty sack, J36. (C) Plastic sheet, J67. (D) Plastic food container made of hard plastic, J225. (E) Plastic heavy-duty sack, J36. (F) Plastic bag, J3 (G) Cups and lids of hard plastic, J227. (H) Plastic rope &gt; 1 cm in diameter, J49. (I) Paper cartons/Tetrapak (non-milk), J151. (J) Metal drink can, J175. (K) Glass bottle. Note sediment shadow with side scouring downwards of the bottle J200. (L) Plastic drink bottle. Credit: University of Barcelona" class="wp-image-1976569"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Examples of identified litter items with category attribution per material type. (A) Plastic bag, J3. (B) Plastic heavy-duty sack, J36. (C) Plastic sheet, J67. (D) Plastic food container made of hard plastic, J225. (E) Plastic heavy-duty sack, J36. (F) Plastic bag, J3 (G) Cups and lids of hard plastic, J227. (H) Plastic rope > 1 cm in diameter, J49. (I) Paper cartons/Tetrapak (non-milk), J151. (J) Metal drink can, J175. (K) Glass bottle. Note sediment shadow with side scouring downwards of the bottle J200. (L) Plastic drink bottle. Click image to enlarge. Credit: University of Barcelona</figcaption></figure>



Rivers, wind, and ship traffic all feed the stream of refuse heading offshore. As algae and other organisms cling to floating polymers, the added weight turns buoyant scraps into sinking hazards. The trench’s closed shape then locks the pieces in place.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-calypso-deep-as-a-plastic-graveyard">Calypso Deep as a plastic graveyard</h2>



Surface eddies often corral floating trash into the trench. When these eddies form over the Calypso Trench, some debris slowly falls to the bottom, aided by degradation and ballasting processes that increase its density. 



Surface currents can also carry debris northward from the Adriatic Sea through the Strait of Otranto and from waters off northwestern Greece. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/marine-trash_Calypso-Deep-region_Mediterranean_3D-model_UBarcelona_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/marine-trash_Calypso-Deep-region_Mediterranean_3D-model_UBarcelona_1s.webp" alt="(A) 3D model generated from a subset of video frames by reference to a litter item of known size shown in B. The white dashed line in A represents the camera frames along the Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) Limiting Factor moving path, whereas the red dashed line represents the frames counted between two items identified on the seabed. (B) Accumulation of litter items in the inner Calypso Deep with a litter item of known size (12 cm) used as a reference for 3D model generation. Credit: University of Barcelona" class="wp-image-1976567"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(A) 3D model generated from a subset of video frames by reference to a litter item of known size shown in B. The white dashed line in A represents the camera frames along the Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) Limiting Factor moving path, whereas the red dashed line represents the frames counted between two items identified on the seabed. (B) Accumulation of litter items in the inner Calypso Deep with a litter item of known size (12 cm) used as a reference for 3D model generation. Click image to enlarge. Credit: University of Barcelona</figcaption></figure>



The same circular flows that drive marine life cycles are now channeling waste into permanent graveyards at the very bottom of Earth's deepest bodies of water.



<a href="https://web.ub.edu/ca/web/actualitat/w/a-sea-of-rubbish-ocean-floor-landfills-?" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earlier work in 2021</a> showed the Strait of Messina carrying the world’s heaviest load of undersea garbage, confirming that the Mediterranean is especially at risk.



“We have also found evidence of boats dumping bags of rubbish, indicated by piles of assorted waste followed by an almost straight furrow," said Canals, expressing his frustration.



That is why the bottom of the Calypso Deep is littered with humans' plastic waste, and also why the problem will do nothing but continue to worsen.



"Unfortunately, when it comes to the Mediterranean, it is fair to say that ‘not a single inch of it is clean.’”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-do-we-go-from-here">Where do we go from here?</h2>



Unlike beaches and coastlines, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/99-percent-of-the-deep-ocean-floor-has-still-never-been-seen-by-humans/">ocean floor</a> remains largely out of sight, making it difficult to build social and political momentum for its conservation. 



Yet what settles at the bottom can influence marine life, food webs, fisheries, climate feedback loops, and even geological stability.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-mediterranean-nearly-lost-all-of-its-water-6-million-years-ago/">The Mediterranean</a> is an enclosed sea, surrounded by humanity, with intense maritime traffic and widespread fishing activity.



“Scientists, communicators, journalists, influencers - everyone with a platform - must work together. The problem is vast, even if it is not directly visible, and we cannot ignore it," Canals implored.



The trail of refuse from shorelines to Calypso Deep underlines a plain truth: plastics and other debris do not vanish once tossed aside. They ride currents, sink in stages, and ultimately collect in the planet’s most secluded hollows. 



The evidence provided by this research should galvanize global efforts - especially in the Mediterranean - to curb dumping, particularly of plastics, in line with the pending <a href="https://www.globalplasticlaws.org/un-global-plastics-treaty" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UN Global Plastics Treaty</a>.



From the North Atlantic’s first recorded litter in 1975 to the record densities documented across the Mediterranean today, the pattern remains the same - human waste reaches everywhere water flows.



We must do more, we must do better, and we must do it now.



-----



Thanks to the leaders of this research team - Miquel Canals of the <a href="https://web.ub.edu/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Barcelona</a>, Georg Hanke of the European Commission’s <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/about/departments-and-executive-agencies/joint-research-centre_en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Joint Research Centre</a>, François Galgani of <a href="https://www.ifremer.fr/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IFREMER</a>, and Victor Vescovo of <a href="https://caladanoceanic.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Caladan Oceanic</a>



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X25000852">Marine Pollution Bulletin</a>.



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Scientists make disturbing discovery on the deepest parts of the seafloor: 'Not a single inch of it is clean'

The Mediterranean has long been a crossroads of trade and tourism, yet its deepest pocket, the Calypso Deep, seemed beyond the reach of day-to-day pollution. That hope ended earlier this year when researchers reported plastic bags, glass shards, and crumpled cans resting 16,770 feet beneath the waves in the Ionian Sea. Their survey logged 167 items on the trench floor - 148 confirmed pieces of marine litter and 19 more that almost certainly came from people. By any measure, it is one of the densest concentrations of...

A new study from <a href="https://www.duke.edu/">Duke University</a> has found that the volume of water used for hydraulic fracturing jumped by 770 percent between 2011 and 2016 in the United States. Across all major shale gas and oil production regions in the country, the amount of water used per well was found to be on the rise.

In addition, the volume of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wastewater-oklahoma-quakes/">wastewater</a> generated by fracked oil and gas wells increased by 1,440 percent during the same research period. 

Study co-author Avner Vengosh is a professor of Geochemistry and Water Quality at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.


“While the extraction of shale gas and tight oil has become more efficient over time as the net production of natural gas and oil from these unconventional wells has increased, the amount of water used for hydraulic fracturing and the volume of wastewater produced from each well have increased at much higher rates, making fracking's water footprint much higher,” explained Professor Vengosh.

If the current rate of expansion continues, the water footprint from fracking could become up to 50 times larger by the year 2030. This raises some serious concerns, particularly in areas that are dry and have limited supplies of groundwater.

“Previous studies suggested hydraulic fracturing does not use significantly more water than other energy sources, but those findings were based only on aggregated data from the early years of fracking,” said Professor Vengosh.

“After more than a decade of fracking operation, we now have more years of data to draw upon from multiple verifiable sources. We clearly see a steady annual increase in hydraulic fracturing's water footprint, with 2014 and 2015 marking a turning point where water use and the generation of flowback and produced water began to increase at significantly higher rates.”

For the investigation, the researchers analyzed six years of data on water use and natural gas, oil and wastewater production for more than 12,000 individual wells. This data was then used to model future water use and wastewater production under two different scenarios.

According to the models, if the current gas and oil prices rise and production continues as it did in the early 2010s, water use and wastewater volumes could increase by 50 times in unconventional gas-producing regions and by 20 times in unconventional oil-producing regions by 2030.

“Even if prices and drilling rates remain at current levels, our models still predict a large increase by 2030 in both water use and wastewater production,” said PhD student and study lead author Andrew J. Kondash.


The research is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Avner Vengosh Vengosh, PhD, Duke University

Water used for fracking has surged by 770 percent since 2011

A new study from Duke University has found that the...

A new study published by <a href="https://www.cell.com/">Cell Press</a> has identified a species of phytoplankton that cause changes in the properties of clouds. According to the researchers, Emiliania huxleyi and a virus that is closely associated with it can influence cloud formation and movement. 

Study first author Miri Trainic is an Earth scientist at the <a href="http://www.weizmann.ac.il/pages/">Weizmann Institute of Science</a>.

“Our aim is to better understand the effects that marine ecology can have on atmospheric properties like radiation and cloud formation,” said Trainic. “This slim air-sea interface controls fluxes of energy, particles, and gases, so if we want to understand climate and climate change, we must understand how microscopic biological activity in the ocean alters this balance.”

When E. huxleyi is infected by the virus EhV, pieces of its shell that are made of chalky calcium carbonate are released into the air. These shell fragments then become part of a class of marine emissions called seaspray aerosols, or SSAs.

“SSAs are particles emitted into the atmosphere when bubbles in the ocean burst,” explained study co-author Ilan Koren. “They cover 70% of the atmosphere and can serve as cloud condensation nuclei, be surfaces for chemical reactions, and significantly contribute to the Earth radiation budget (the balance of how much solar energy Earth absorbs and how much it emits back into space) because they are very reflective.”


When the team observed a model of this process in the lab, they discovered that the volume of SSA emissions from E. huxleyi as well as the particles themselves were much larger than what was expected. The unanticipated abundance of bigger particles would be much more reflective and have a stronger influence on cloud properties.

“Although E. huxleyi is extremely abundant, responsible for algal blooms covering thousands of kilometers, we didn't expect to measure such a large flux of SSAs emitted from them into the air. Plus, we expected no larger than a 1-micron diameter but measured 3 and 4 microns,” said Trainic. “Before this work, we didn't know that such large particles would be so abundant in the marine-atmospheric size distribution.”


The experts were also surprised by the complex structure of the SSAs.


“What we found was that we don't need to look at just the size of the SSA, but also its density,” said Weizmann environmental scientist Assaf Vardi. “These ones are shaped like parachutes; they have an intricate structure of calcium carbonate with lots of space within it, which extends the particle's lifetime in the atmosphere."

The team plans to continue this research in regions such as Norway, where the <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/phytoplankton-blooms-across-lake-okeechobee/">phytoplankton blooms</a> and their SSA emissions can be observed in their natural environment.

“This study focuses on one species and its virus, but in a broader context it can show that the state of the atmosphere actually depends on the daily interactions in the seawater,” said Trainic. “Now we must do our best to further understand that relationship.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/iscience/home">iScience</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Phytoplankton can influence cloud formation and movement

A new study published by Cell Press has identified a...

Indicator species are animals whose health and population levels can be indicative of the health of the environments in which they live, and shifting factors within that environment that are changing significantly. Seabirds such as gulls are often indicator species, particularly for environmental changes that cause their populations to respond to shifts in their ocean habitat. 

A recent study in <a href="http://www.americanornithology.org/content/auk-ornithological-advances">The Auk: Ornithological Advances</a> reports on how multiple species of Arctic seabirds are responding to changes in their environment over the last four decades. The researchers have found evidence that the warming ocean is both directly and indirectly affecting seabird populations in Alaska.

Researcher Holly Goyert – formerly of the <a href="https://www.uidaho.edu/">University of Idaho</a> and now at the <a href="https://www.massachusetts.edu/">University of Massachusetts</a> – and colleagues used mathematical models to investigate the relationships between large, long-term datasets covering climate fluctuation, zooplankton abundance and distribution, and populations of certain seabird species in the ocean off Alaska from 1974 to 2014.

Their results showed that declines in populations of the Black-legged Kittiwake – a type of Arctic gull – are linked to declining zooplankton productivity. The species’ cousin – the Red-legged Kittiwake – is also experiencing a population decline, but this is more a result of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pacific-ocean-warming-arctic/">warming ocean surface temperatures</a>. 

Goyert explains their findings, “although Black-legged Kittiwakes are one of the more abundant gulls in the world, their populations are undergoing significant declines, which calls their global status into question. Our paper suggests that the deterioration of food web resources such as krill, which is related to warming oceans, has contributed to these declines.”

However, not every seabird species is experiencing population declines. Both Common and Thick-billed Murres, which are related to puffins, have shown to be resilient to climate change – and may even be benefitting. But other species are still struggling to adapt to a changing habitat, and this study is just the first attempt to determine how climate and habitat variability affect seabird population dynamics on a large scale. 

“Mass seabird deaths and breeding failures in recent years have the scientific community puzzled, and both appear to be climate-related,” says Melanie Smith, Director of Conservation Science at <a href="http://ak.audubon.org/">Audubon Alaska</a>, who was not involved in the study. “This study is an important step in clarifying the effects of changing climate on seabird population dynamics across Alaska. We can use what we’ve learned here to design detailed monitoring and to better anticipate population declines, improving managers’ ability to protect vulnerable species.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Climate change is taking a toll on Arctic seabird populations

Indicator species are animals whose health and population levels can...

As the world finally begins to come to terms with our addiction to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-history/">plastic</a>, <a href="https://conservingnow.com/plastic-bag-environmental-impact/">ConservingNow</a> has laid out the commonly understood view on plastic bags. Under the headline, “What We Know” the site lays out some basic facts:
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">“Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade – breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits. </li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">A plastic bag can take between 400 to 1,000 years to break down in the environment.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">As it breaks down, plastic particles contaminate soil and waterways and enter the food web when animals accidentally ingest them.”</li>
</ul>
The list continues on, filling the webpage with the sad, simple information of plastic bag use and disposal.  The article ends with a photo of trash heaped in a pile with dirt, probably at a landfill. 

It’s easy to think of disposable, one-time use plastic bags as a waste.  Those cotton or nylon totes with pictures of the globe or a panda or an idealized image of fresh produce are obviously more environmentally friendly than the hundreds of plastic bags clogging the landfills and oceans.  It’s good to remember that although well-meaning people and organizations promote those snappy shopping tote bags, someone’s also making a profit. When you buy a canvas bag from your local grocery store, you are buying a product that someone is selling to you.  When money is involved, there’s often a bias. 

A <a href="https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf">study</a> by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food released earlier this year counters the assumptions of many when it comes to shopping bags.  The research analyzed eight different types of bags for their environmental impact, including single use plastic bags, organic and traditional cotton bags.  It should be noted that one study in Denmark should not be taken as completely accurate for every country and every situation. Every study has flaws and this one is no exception.  Litter wasn’t considered as part of the environmental impact, which means sea turtles eating plastic bags they mistake for jellyfish was considered a ‘negligible’ impact. The study used the Danish system in which single use bags are assumed to be either recycled or incinerated.  The carbon produced in the production and shipping of the bag, as well as land and water use were considered. Also, only bags available in Danish grocery stores were considered, there was no look at people using their ordinary backpacks to carry groceries for instance. Environmental impact assessments are also complex.  No bag is going to score higher than others in every impact assessed, there are complex and different impacts that every production has on the environment. 

All of this said, the study in the end shows that single use, LDPE plastic bags, (that is the ones most commonly found in supermarkets) had the least environmental impact of all the bags assessed.  Of course it’s more complex than a simple answer. If you’re more concerned about a turtle choking on a plastic ‘jelly fish’ than global climate change, obviously plastic bags are still worse than cotton.  In the balance however, those throw away plastic bags are shown to generally have less impact than a reusable tote, if properly used. 

The Danish study also has end of life (disposal) recommendations for every bag they assessed.  You can minimize the environmental impact of your shopping bag by how you dispose of it. The study recommend that you do what for many is already common practice: you use that throw-away LDPE bag as a small trash bag.  

The breakdown beyond those single use bags shows that next in line for lowest environmental impact is an unbleached paper bag, followed by bleached paper bags.  I remember a time when getting a paper bag instead of a plastic one was considered the environmentally friendly option, even before reusable totes were popular. Next, synthetic reusable bags were assessed as having a lower environmental impact than cotton with woven Polypropylene being better than non-woven PP bags.  

Although plastic one-use bags seem to be the best option initially, for climate change alone, cotton bags must be reused only 52 times to be as good as throw away plastic.  For other environmental impacts however, those cotton bags must be reused 7,100 times, which seems like a tall order if not an impossible one. 

Strangely, organic cotton scored even worse on how much use you need to get out of it to make it environmentally sensible.  Organic cotton bags must be reused 20,000 times for shopping. I encourage anyone interested in lowering their environmental impact to look closely at those reusable bags, how much impact they have depends a lot on what they’re made of, counterintuitively cotton being the worst and synthetics being much better.  If you already have a shopping bag though, throwing it away is the worst thing you can do, reusing whatever you have as much as you can is the most important way to limit your environmental impact. 

It’s never a good practice to base all your decisions on one scientific study, and as I already mentioned, every study is flawed.  <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291023/scho0711buan-e-e.pdf">Another study</a> released in 2011 by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency that assessed the environmental impact of different shopping bags.  Like the Danish study, the one done in the UK is based on what is available in the UK as far as bags as well as recycling and trash disposal.  If you live outside the UK, such a study should be examined closely and applied elsewhere cautiously but it’s still quite relevant. 

The UK study came to largely the same conclusions as the later Danish study.  The British study found that most of the environmental impact of shopping bags comes from their production and resource consumption, with transport, packaging and disposal being less important in terms of environmental impact.  This goes a long way towards explaining why cotton, which uses a lot of land, water and fertilizer to produce could be more environmentally damaging than a plastic bag.

Surprisingly, the British study found that reusing throw away shopping bags has less overall environmental impact than recycling them after one use, even if they’re discarded.  This isn’t as applicable in the US as in the UK though because it’s based on a British system of incinerating plastic bags as a source of electricity (replacing fossil fuels like coal) rather than tossing them into a landfill.

<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/britains-lust-for-burning-trash-sends-recycling-goals-up-in-smoke/a-40094211">DW.com</a>, a German news organization, criticized the practice of trash incineration in Britain and across northern Europe.  If incineration continues to increase it means Britain will either have to import trash from other countries to keep incinerators open or else decrease recycling.  Obviously importing trash is an absurd proposal but it’s important to note that recycling is often exported to faraway places to be processed as well. China processed half of the world’s exported recycled plastic, paper and metal in 2016, according to <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/china-recycling-waste-ban_us_5a684285e4b0dc592a0dd7b9">Huff Post</a>.          

The British study didn’t show quite the extreme environmental impact as the Danish study, showing that cotton bags still have the biggest environmental impact in 7 out of 9 assessed categories even if reused 173 times.  It seems a bit more feasible for a person to reuse a cotton bag more than 173 times compared to the Danish study’s 7,100 to 20,000 times (depending on whether the cotton is organic or not). The British study confirmed that synthetic reusable bags have less environmental impact than cotton ones.  

In both studies, paper bags were not shown to be very environmentally friendly.  Paper bags need to be reused several times to lower their environmental impact to that of a single use plastic bag and unlike cotton or synthetic tote bags, paper bags don’t hold up for reuse very well.  I find this interesting because paper bags have long been assumed by environmentally considerate people to be better than plastic. 

The takeaway message for me is not to depend on any one product, whether it’s a reusable bag or reusable water bottle but instead, examine your own usage patterns.  If you have a reusable product, continue using it until it’s completely worn out and then if possible repurpose it, compost it or if need be recycle it. I’ve seen aluminum water bottles crop up in outdoor circles, branded as being environmentally friendly.  I wonder to myself how many people recycled their old plastic bottles to get new aluminum ones? Buying anything new has a negative environmental impact when compared to using something you already have. 

If it makes sense in your life to have a reusable tote, buy a used one if you can, sometimes second hand stores have one, sometimes a friend has an un-used one they got as a gift for donating to NPR or an environmental charity.  Maybe use a backpack or purse you already own instead of buying a new tote just for shopping. In reducing your environmental impact, it’s important to do your research and examine what you can do in your own life instead of depending on choosing between two products.  Also, it’s always good to remember that reusing and reducing your trash is more important than recycling, as recycling is still your last resort. 

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Reusable shopping bags may not be the perfect solution to plastic

As the world finally begins to come to terms with...

This summer, people across the globe have been <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heatwaves-severe-frequent/">feeling the heat</a>. In North America, summer kicked off with an unusually hot May after which followed long, dry, hot spells making for dangerous wildfire conditions. 

Wildfires even made their way as far as the Arctic circle and a worldwide heat wave drove record temperatures in the UK and parts of Europe. 

Unfortunately, 2018’s hot summer will most likely be the new norm in the coming years, as a new study found that the next five years could get even warmer than climate models had projected. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.cnrs.fr/index.html">French National Center for Scientific Research</a> (CNRS), the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> and <a href="https://www.knmi.nl/over-het-knmi/about">the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute</a> created a new system for predicting climate scenarios that veer from traditional simulation methods. 

The results were published in the journal Nature and show that globally, temperatures will be abnormally hot for the rest of 2018 through 2022. 

During the early 21st century, the Earth experienced a kind of lapse in global warming from greenhouse gas emissions. 

This lapse is called the global warming hiatus in the scientific community, but the new study shows that the hiatus is not a predictable event to base future climate conditions on and that temperatures will climb higher and higher in the next few years. 

Florian Sévellec, a CNRS researcher, helped develop a new climate modeling system that used statistical methods of 20th and 21st century climate simulations and then predicted future conditions based on those searches. 

The new method can also calculate simulations in just a few hundredths of a second on a laptop while other modeling methods can take up to a week to get results. 

The researchers found their method was comparable in accuracy and reliability to other methods but the system shows that future temperatures could be abnormally higher than previous estimates based on only carbon emissions from human activities.

The new system predicts that in the next few years, the frequency of cold events will greatly decrease and tropical storm activity will increase. 

The new system shows global averages will be hotter in the coming years but Sevellec plans to fine-tune the statistical method to make regional predictions and estimate future precipitation levels. 

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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>

The next five years are expected to be unusually hot

This summer, people across the globe have been feeling the...

New research from <a href="https://www.trentu.ca/">Trent University</a> could revolutionize the way we capture and store <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-capture-profitable-business/">carbon emissions</a> leaked into the atmosphere which could slow down climate change. 

According to the researchers, the solution lies in speeding up the formation of magnesite, a mineral that can store carbon but takes thousands of years to form in nature. 

During the recent <a href="https://goldschmidt.info/2018/">Goldschmidt Conference</a> in Boston, Trent researchers presented their findings and proposed possible uses for newly formed magnesite. 

The researchers' methods occur at room temperature which makes it an energy efficient process and economically viable. 

This would be important for mass production at the industrial level, which the researchers say would have to happen for any real impactful carbon capture to occur. 

Fast-forming magnesite could also store CO2 for a long time and prevent any further release into the atmosphere unlike natural carbon sinks like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/recent-drought-completely-shut-down-amazon-basins-carbon-sink/">forests</a> and oceans. 

The researchers realized that one ton of naturally-occurring magnesite can remove about a half a ton of CO2 from the atmosphere but the mineral takes a long time to form.

“Our work shows two things. Firstly, we have explained how and how fast magnesite forms naturally,” said Ian Power, the project leader of the study. “This is a process which takes hundreds to thousands of years in nature at Earth's surface. The second thing we have done is to demonstrate a pathway which speeds this process up dramatically.”

In order to remedy the slow rate of formation, the researchers used polystyrene microspheres which worked as a catalyst for the mineral. After 72 days, the researchers had fully formed magnesite ready for carbon capture. 

What’s especially exciting is that the polystyrene microspheres can be reused again. 

"Using microspheres means that we were able to speed up magnesite formation by orders of magnitude,” said Power. “This process takes place at room temperature, meaning that magnesite production is extremely energy efficient.” 

The researchers say that getting magnesite formation to the industrial level required to help combat climate change is a ways off, but that the results show that from a scientific perspective, it’s not an impossibility. 

“It is really exciting that this group has worked out the mechanism of natural magnesite crystallization at low temperatures, as has been previously observed - but not explained - in weathering of ultramafic rocks,” said Peter Kelemen, a professor at Columbia University who was not involved in the study. “The potential for accelerating the process is also important, potentially offering a benign and relatively inexpensive route to carbon storage, and perhaps even direct CO2 removal from air.”

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By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Ian Power

Scientists create mineral capable of capturing atmospheric CO2

New research from Trent University could revolutionize the way we...

Radiocarbon dating of an ancient olive branch found on the island of Santorini, home of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history, has shed new insight on the date of the eruption. 

It turns out that the Minoan eruption, which completely devastated cities along the Mediterranean and triggered a tsunami that legend has it drowned Atlantis, occurred a century earlier than previously realized. 

Previous dating of the Minoan eruption on the Island of Terea (now Santorini) placed the event during 1,500 BCE, according to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6042981/Ancient-olive-branch-dates-Bronze-Age-volcanic-eruption-Century-earlier-previous-estimates.html">Daily Mail</a>.

However, researchers from the <a href="http://www.weizmann.ac.il/pages/">Weizmann Institute of Science</a> in Israel examined a piece of charred olive wood and compared it to more current samples of olive wood to better understand how olive trees age.

[caption id="attachment_1217414" align="aligncenter" width="996"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/olive.png"><img class="size-large wp-image-1217414" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/olive-1024x630.png" alt="" width="996" height="613" /></a> Image Credit: Weizmann Institute of Science[/caption]

The results of the new study were published in the journal Scientific Reports and show that the eruption likely occurred between 1,627 and 1,600 BCE. 

It's commonly known that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/oldest-living-tree-europe/">trees develop rings</a> in their trunk and these rings can be used to date the trees’ age. It was assumed that olive trees worked in much the same way, however as the study found, this is not the case. 

Olive wood is abundant throughout the archaeological record and so it as an excellent aid for dating events and artifacts in the Mediterranean. 

For this study, the researchers compared 20 samples of olive wood taken from a living tree and 11 samples from a tree that had been cut down in 2013 to pieces of ancient olive wood that was discovered in fragments of volcanic rock. 

By examining both ancient and modern olive wood, the researchers discovered that olive wood doesn’t form rings in the same consistent way that other trees do. 

The researchers used radiocarbon dating to better date the trees and found that the ancient olive branch was buried under volcanic debris much earlier than previously thought. 

“The outermost rings of an olive branch buried during the Santorini volcanic eruption is regarded as crucial evidence for the date of this cataclysmic event,” the researchers told the Daily Mail.

“In both cases, we show that radiocarbon dates of the last formed wood along the circumference are not chronologically homogenous, and can differ by up to a few decades. Thus the outermost wood layer does not necessarily represent the date of the last year of growth.”

Now researchers have a better idea of when the Minoan eruption occured and based on the study’s findings, the event occurred decades earlier than previous estimates. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Olive branch reveals date of Mediterranean volcano eruption

Radiocarbon dating of an ancient olive branch found on the...

Researchers now have a better idea of the scope and magnitude of how drought impacts the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/amazon-rainforest-back-deforestation/">Amazon rainforest</a>, one of the world’s most important carbon sinks. 

Finding evidence of drought in the short term is not hard, vegetation tends to dry up and turn brown, trees lose their leaves, and dried out vegetation dies off.

But what about years following a drought when precipitation levels return to normal? How do you gauge recovery and drought legacy for something as massive as the Amazon rainforest?

Because of the Amazon’s role as major a carbon sink, storing excess carbon dioxide and limiting the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, monitoring and understanding the impacts of drought is important for management and conservation. 

A new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) used satellite data to map tree damage and mortality caused by a drought in the Amazon in 2005. 

The study, published in the journal Nature, is the first of its kind to calculate the long-term impacts or legacy, of drought in the rainforest. 

The Amazon is a natural carbon sink but in 2005, a severe drought caused the Amazon to lose more carbon than it was absorbing, around 270 million metric tons of carbon per year through 2008. 

“The old paradigm was that whatever carbon dioxide we put up in [human-caused] emissions, the Amazon would help absorb a major part of it,” said Sassan Saatchi of NASA's JPL.. “The ecosystem has become so vulnerable to these warming and episodic drought events that it can switch from sink to source depending on the severity and the extent.” 

Monitoring drought damage on the ground in specifically designated research sites by measuring tree damage and leaf loss only provides a small sliver of the whole picture. 

“The detailed measurements in these sites are extremely important for understanding forest function, but we can never use them to say what this giant ecosystem is doing in a timely fashion,” said Saatchi. 

The researchers used lidar satellite data from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System currently part of t the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat). Satellite data, unlike ground monitoring, can show wide-scale changes in canopy structure and leaf loss. 

After analyzing the data the researchers calculated the changes in biomass and carbon absorption in the Amazon through the years following the 2005 drought.

The researchers discovered that after a drought, tree loss and leaf loss resulted in declines in the Amazon’s canopy. Some parts of the Amazon showed declines of 35 inches a year after a major drought. 

As tree loss increases and the canopy shrinks, this, in turn, impacts precipitation, further aggravating the impacts of drought, drying up more vegetation and increasing carbon emissions. 

The researchers say that at its current rate of droughts, the Amazon could dry up with devastating consequences. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Drought leaves long-lasting damage in the Amazon

Researchers now have a better idea of the scope and...

When researchers model and estimate ancient climate conditions, they do so using sediment and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ice-cores-show-how-abruptly-climate-shifts-affect-earth/">ice cores</a> because each layer in the core sample can reveal important isotopic information about temperature, weather extremes, biomass, and precipitation when the layer was formed. 

But a new study has proven that we can discern climate and precipitation information by analyzing excavated bones and pots from ancient human settlements.

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> studied pots and bones excavated from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic city settlement of Çatalhöyük in southern Anatolia, Turkey which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC.

A well-documented climate change event occurred 8,200 years ago at the peak of the settlement’s existent, and the researchers used archeological remains to see how the ancient Neolithic people adapted. 

The settlement dealt with severe drought-like conditions due to a sudden decrease in global temperatures because a massive amount of glacial meltwater was released from a freshwater lake in northern Canada. 

The researchers discovered that during this time, sheep and goats were more popular for herders rather cattle because they are more drought resistant and the cut marks on the ancient bones found at the site showed that meat was a major food source during the drought. 

In the cooking pots, the researchers also analyzed cooking fats that lined the pots which clearly came from the sheep, goats and whatever ruminant (cud-chewing) animals could be spared for food. 

The results of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  show that animal fat remnants in pottery can be used to assess climate and precipitation conditions of ancient human settlements. 

The bones and fats show that meat was readily consumed because the drought would have hindered agricultural operations. 

Changes in the isotopic information in the hydrogen atoms found in the fats reflect a period of major climate change according to the study researchers. 

“It is really significant that the climate models of the event are in complete agreement with the H signals we see in the animal fats preserved in the pots,” said Richard Evershed, a co-author of the study. “The models point to seasonal changes farmers would have had to adapt to - overall colder temperatures and drier summers - which would have had inevitable impacts on agriculture.”

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By <a href="mailto:kayvadette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Çatalhöyük Research Project

How did ancient humans cope with climate change?

When researchers model and estimate ancient climate conditions, they do...

There may be hope for environmentalism to take priority even in America's current political climate. 

Discussions about climate change have seemed stuck between two angles. Despite mounting evidence that it’s a growing problem that must be addressed, many conservatives maintain that it’s something that can’t conclusively be proven or is simply a part of Earth’s natural cycle.

Meanwhile, environmental organizations have been infuriated by Trump’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trump-policies-cost-deaths/">un-environmentally friendly policies</a> and his unwillingness to acknowledge the realities of climate change. 

However, a new study found that younger generations of religious Americans are concerned for the environment and are driven towards stewardship, which means that religious groups may be able to bridge the political divide and foster pro-environmental policies. 

A study from the <a href="https://ku.edu/">University of Kansas</a> found that younger religious Americans are more concerned about the environment than older parishioners and the reason for this is a shift in the way church leaders discuss stewardship and care for the Earth. 

“The best way to account for this upsurge from about 1980 and on is that a lot of religious groups have actually started to talk to their parishioners about creation care -- a term used to avoid the political context attached to environmentalism,” said Lukas Szrot, who conducted the study. “Leaders felt that religious groups and churches needed to address this problem, and their members likely wanted to talk more about these issues.”

To better understand why younger religious Americans are more pro-environment, Szrot reviewed data from the 1973 to 2014 <a href="http://gss.norc.org/">General Social Survey</a>. 

In his research, Szrot includes a 1967 argument that western Christianity is extremely anthropocentric as well as recent comments critical of the United States’ lack of global leadership concerning environmental issues. 

Environmentalism in the US can be traced back to Puritans of the 17th Century who separated from the Church of England and upon arriving in America, felt bound by a duty to God to care for the land. 

In the 1970’s through the 1990’s, there was peak interest in environmentalism and environmental policies which Szrot believes is the driving influence for engagement among younger religious Americans today. 

"It's been rather uneven so far in a lot of ways. Environmental issues are much more polarized than the 1970s,” said Szrot. “There are definitely some challenges, but there is also the idea that the church has a sort of social-networking function as well. People who wouldn't normally associate with each other could instead get together. It is possible that in the long run, this will lead to new conversations about environmental issues in the United States.”

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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>

Young religious Americans show support for environmentalism

There may be hope for environmentalism to take priority even...

At the end of the last ice age, a period of deglaciation spurred the release of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-determine-how-last-ice-age-ended/">carbon dioxide from the ocean</a> up into the atmosphere further impacting warming patterns. 

Why atmospheric carbon increased to near pre-industrial levels has puzzled many researchers. 

Understanding how and why this occurred is important because of the possibility that history will repeat itself and mass carbon stores from deep below the ocean’s surface could max out Earth’s carbon budget and drive global warming to catastrophic levels. 

Researchers from<a href="https://oregonstate.edu/"> Oregon State University</a> conducted a study attempting to solve one of ancient Earth’s biggest mysteries, what caused the carbon increase during deglaciation at the end of the last ice age? 

The results were published in the journal Nature Geoscience. For the first time, scientists now have a better understanding of how carbon stores from the ocean might be released and emitted into the atmosphere. 

It all boils down to a “flushing” of the deep Pacific Ocean that occurs during warmer periods with increased ocean current speeds. 

“We've known that CO2 in the atmosphere went up and down in the past, we know that it was part of big climate changes, and we thought it came out of the deep ocean,” said Alan Mix, a co-author of the study. “But it has not been clear how the carbon actually got out of the ocean to cause the CO2 rise.”

Starting in Antarctica, according to the researchers, there is a circulation pattern that allows carbon to sink miles below the surface and as the flow of the currents travel to Alaska, slowly rise as the water returns to the Antarctic. 

It’s a process that typically takes nearly a thousand years. 

However, the researchers found that during colder periods the circulation flow slowed and as things warmed up, the flow sped up increasing the release of carbon from the deep Pacific. 

“It happened roughly in two steps during the last deglaciation - an initial phase from 18,000 to 15,000 years ago, when CO2 rose by about 50 parts per million, and a second pulse later added another 30 parts per million,” said Jianghui Du, the study’s lead author. 

The researchers came to this conclusion by analyzing sediment cores and the neodymium isotopes contained within the sediment samples.

Higher isotope counts correlated with a slower moving flow and lower ratios of isotopes corresponded with faster flows and warmer periods.

“This finding that the deep circulation sped up is the smoking gun in this mystery story about how CO2 got out to the deep sea,” said Mix. “We now know how it happened, and the deep Pacific is the culprit - a partner in crime with Antarctica.” 

What’s concerning about the findings is that it shows that carbon stores in the ocean are easily released during warmer periods, something that is painfully evident around the globe as greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels increase. 

Unless more is done to drastically cut emissions, the goals put in place by the Paris Accord may be impossible to achieve because mass carbon emissions from the ocean would take up most of the world’s carbon budget. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Increase in carbon emissions linked to Pacific ocean flows

At the end of the last ice age, a period...

A new study led by the <a href="http://www.stockholmresilience.org/">Stockholm Resilience Centre</a> at Stockholm University has revealed that there is a link between environmental degradation, illegal fishing, and tax havens, which are countries that have near-zero taxation rates.


A massive amount of foreign capital was found to be transferred through tax havens that was associated with the production of soy and beef in the Brazilian Amazon - two sectors that are major contributors to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-fashion-rayon/">deforestation</a>.

“Our analysis shows that a total of USD 26.9 billion of foreign capital was transferred to key companies in these sectors between October 2000 and August 2011. Of this investigated capital, about USD 18.4 billion was transferred from tax haven jurisdictions,” wrote the study authors.

The largest amount of foreign money was transferred through the Cayman Islands, a well-known tax haven that provides tax minimization, legal efficiency, and secrecy to investors.

The researchers also found that 70 percent of all known fishing vessels involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing were registered in tax havens, particularly in Belize and Panama.

These flags of convenience allow companies to operate fishing vessels with dual identity, one of which is used for legal and the other for illegal fishing activities.

“The global nature of fisheries value chains, complex ownership structures and limited governance capacities of many coastal nations, make the sector susceptible to the use of tax havens,” said study co-author Henrik Österblom.


The study, which also involved experts from the <a href="http://www.gedb.se/">Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere</a> (GEDB) and the <a href="https://www.kva.se/en/">Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences</a>, is the first published research to expose that tax havens are linked to economic activities that can have serious environmental impacts.

“Our analysis shows that the use of tax havens is not only a socio-political and economic challenge, but also an environmental one,” said study lead author of Victor Galaz. 

“While the use of tax haven jurisdictions is not illegal in itself, financial secrecy hampers the ability to analyse how financial flows affect economic activities on the ground, and their environmental impacts.”


The researchers concluded that the loss of revenue caused by tax havens should be considered as subsidies that promote activities with detrimental environmental consequences. According to the experts, international organizations such as UN Environment should evaluate the environmental costs of these subsidies.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Tax havens linked to environmental degradation, study shows

A new study led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre at...

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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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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