Arctic,Region,And,Greenland,Viewed,From,A,Satellite.,Physical,Map

Ecological warning lights have flashed across the Arctic for decades. New research on climate warming reveals that some of the most extreme shifts are happening in Siberia, Canada’s Northwest Territories, and Alaska.



The study, published in&nbsp;Geophysical Research Letters, offers a detailed look at how Arctic and boreal ecosystems are experiencing rapid and alarming transformations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-warming-hotspots">Arctic warming 'hotspots'</h2>



The research team - comprising scientists from Woodwell Climate Research Center, the <a href="https://www.uio.no/english/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Oslo</a>, the <a href="https://www.umt.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Montana</a>, Esri, and the <a href="https://www.udl.cat/ca/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Lleida</a> - analyzed over 30 years of geospatial data.



The experts assessed temperature, moisture, and vegetation changes to pinpoint regions facing severe climate stress.



“Climate warming has put a great deal of stress on ecosystems in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rock-weathering-drives-further-warming-in-the-arctic/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">high latitudes</a>, but the stress looks very different from place to place and we wanted to quantify those differences,” said Dr. Jennifer Watts, Arctic program director at <a href="https://www.woodwellclimate.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Woodwell Climate</a> and lead author of the study.



Using spatial statistics, the team detected regions of intense change, known as “hotspots.” These areas have experienced substantial shifts in recent decades, with permafrost being a common denominator.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-permafrost-levels-indicate-vulnerability">Permafrost levels indicate vulnerability</h2>



Permafrost, ground that remains frozen year-round, is crucial for stabilizing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-melting-arctic-sea-ice-could-disrupt-earths-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arctic</a> ecosystems. However, in the last few decades, these frozen landscapes have seen rapid warming and drying. The study found that all 20 of the most vulnerable regions contained permafrost.



“The Arctic and boreal regions are made up of diverse ecosystems, and this study reveals some of the complex ways they are responding to climate warming,” said Dr. Sue Natali, who leads the Permafrost Pathways project at Woodwell Climate.



“However, permafrost was a common denominator - the most climate-stressed regions all contained permafrost, which is vulnerable to thaw as temperatures rise. That’s a really concerning signal.”



The study revealed stark contrasts in climate impacts across different regions. While parts of Siberia and the Canadian Northwest Territories experienced drying, areas like Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta saw rising surface water and flooding. 



These changes are likely linked to thawing permafrost, which can destabilize ecosystems and release stored carbon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-importance-of-localized-data">Importance of localized data</h2>



Rather than relying on broad regional averages, the research team emphasized the need for localized data to guide climate adaptation strategies.



“This study is exactly why we have developed these kinds of spatial statistic tools in our technology," said Dr. Dawn Wright, chief scientist at <a href="https://www.esri.com/en-us/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Esri</a>.



"We are so proud to be working closely with Woodwell Climate on identifying and publishing these kinds of vulnerability hotspots that require effective and immediate climate adaptation action and long-term policy. This is essentially what we mean by the ‘Science of Where.’”



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/arctic-hotspots_ecosystem-stress_map_credit-Christina-Shintani_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/arctic-hotspots_ecosystem-stress_map_credit-Christina-Shintani_1s.webp" alt="Map of areas that experienced ecosystem climate stress in the Arctic-boreal region between 1997-2020 as detected by multiple variables including satellite data and long-term temperature records. Credit: Christina Shintani/Woodwell" class="wp-image-1957096"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Map of areas that experienced ecosystem climate stress in the Arctic-boreal region between 1997-2020 as detected by multiple variables including satellite data and long-term temperature records. Credit: Christina Shintani/Woodwell</figcaption></figure>



Using detailed mapping, the researchers hope to provide land managers with more precise information, much like Covid-19 tracking data, which varies across communities. 



By focusing on localized climate patterns, decision-makers can implement targeted adaptation and conservation strategies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-saving-the-arctic-from-rapid-warming">Saving the Arctic from rapid warming</h2>



One of the most alarming findings of the study was the significant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-ocean-warming-four-times-faster-than-global-average/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warming</a> across the Siberian boreal forest region. 



These forests, which have historically absorbed and stored carbon dioxide, are now under severe climate stress. This increases the risk of wildfires and carbon release, compounding global climate challenges.



“These forested regions, which have been helping take up and store carbon dioxide, are now showing major climate stresses and increasing risk of fire,” said Dr. Watts.



“We need to work as a global community to protect these important and vulnerable boreal ecosystems, while also reining in fossil fuel emissions.”



This research highlights an urgent need for action. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-sea-ice-is-headed-toward-a-historic-low/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arctic</a> ecosystems are rapidly transforming, and their stability is crucial for the planet’s climate balance. 



Monitoring these changes with precision will help shape effective policies and conservation efforts. However, without global cooperation and immediate action, these warning lights may soon signal irreversible damage.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-if-we-do-nothing">What happens if we do nothing?</h2>



If Arctic warming continues unchecked, the consequences will be severe. Melting permafrost will release massive amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, accelerating global warming. 



Rising temperatures will cause more wildfires, destroying boreal forests and releasing stored carbon. Flooding and coastal erosion will threaten <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/record-ocean-warming-in-2024-is-a-warning-for-our-planet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arctic</a> communities, forcing people to relocate. 



Beyond the physical changes, Arctic warming has serious implications for wildlife and indigenous communities. 



Iconic animals like polar bears, seals, and walruses rely on ice for hunting, breeding, and protection. As their habitats shrink, these species struggle to survive, leading to declining populations and even extinction in some cases. 



Indigenous peoples who have lived in harmony with the Arctic environment for generations face challenges as their traditional ways of life are disrupted.



Scientists warn that ignoring these changes could push the planet past a tipping point, making climate recovery nearly impossible.



Doing nothing is not an option.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GL108081" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.



-----



Like what you read?<a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/"> Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;



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



-----

New Arctic warming map shows alarming changes in climate 'hotspots'

Ecological warning lights have flashed across the Arctic for decades. New research on climate warming reveals that some of the most extreme shifts are happening in Siberia, Canada’s Northwest Territories, and Alaska. The study, published in&nbsp;Geophysical Research Letters, offers a detailed look at how Arctic and boreal ecosystems are experiencing rapid and alarming transformations. Arctic warming 'hotspots' The research team - comprising scientists from Woodwell Climate Research Center, the University of Oslo, the University of Montana, Esri, and the University of Lleida - analyzed over 30 years...

Michigan And Enbridge Energy Reach Deal Over 2010 Oil Spill. A company responsible for one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history will restore or create 300 acres of wetlands as part of a sweeping agreement to improve the Kalamazoo River watershed in southwestern Michigan, state officials said.
A settlement between the state and Enbridge Energy filed in Calhoun County court Tuesday, nearly five years after a broken pipeline released more than 800,000 gallons of oil, requires the company to continue to monitor the impacts of the spill on the environment. The company also agreed to spend $75 million, much of it on various projects, including a dam removal and improved access to boating and fishing on the river. Some have been finished.
Those projects include 300 acres of wetlands valued at $30 million. Wetlands are considered to be crucial in a watershed, serving as nature's filter in absorbing and releasing water and providing habitat to fish and wildlife.
"That's huge," said Nicole Zacharda, an enforcement specialist at the Department of Environmental Quality. "They have to be within the Kalamazoo River watershed so that we keep the benefits in the same area where the injuries occurred."
The improvements are on top of Enbridge's costs directly related to the spill, which have been pegged at more than $1 billion. A pipeline ruptured in July 2010, spoiling approximately 40 miles of the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek. The line runs through Michigan and carries oil between Ontario, Canada, and Griffith, Indiana.
"Everyone has this image of a river coated with oil. We've come a long way," said Mark DuCharme of DEQ's remediation division as he guided reporters on the river last week.
Indeed, there was no sign of oil on the surface during the two-hour paddle. Feisty smallmouth bass broke the surface. A blue heron glided shore to shore under the sun, and turtles warmed themselves on fallen trees.
"You're not seeing it, but we do know there's oil left in the system," DuCharme said. "It's left in the banks at some spots. It's left in the bottom of the river. But it's a little bit of oil. It truly is residual. ... You're not going to see a lot of heavy equipment out here anymore."Michigan And Enbridge Energy Reach Deal Over 2010 Oil Spill
He stopped his kayak at a wetland and shoved his paddle into the ground. A narrow sheen hit the surface, indicating a pocket of oil. DuCharme said there are no plans to excavate the site because digging up the wetland would do more harm than good. There are other similar examples in the watershed.
"That's what we're talking about when we're talking about residual oil," he said.
The agreement requires Enbridge to file monthly progress reports on cleanup and monitoring activities. It also is paying $12 million to reimburse the state for legal costs and the expense of overseeing cleanup and restoration.
"We realize some groups will jump on this settlement and say it looks small - like more money means more justice," DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel said. "This settlement is huge, because while a few million more to the state's General Fund wouldn't do a thing to help improve the river, this settlement specifically focuses (on) creating a healthier, more accessible waterway."
---
Follow Ed White at <a href="http://twitter.com/edwhiteap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://twitter.com/edwhiteap</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Michigan And Enbridge Energy Reach Deal Over 2010 Oil Spill

Michigan And Enbridge Energy Reach Deal Over 2010 Oil Spill....

Pope Francis: God Will Judge Those Who Don't Care For Earth. Pope Francis warned the rich and powerful on Tuesday that God will judge them on whether they fed the poor and cared for the Earth, his latest exhortation on the environment ahead of his eagerly-awaited encyclical on climate change and its effects on the world's most vulnerable. Pope Francis: God Will Judge Those Who Don't Care For Earth
Francis delivered the warning during a Mass for the Vatican's Caritas Internationalis charity.
In his homily, Francis said the planet has enough food to feed the world but "it seems that there is a lack of willingness to share it with everyone."
"We must do what we can so that everyone has something to eat. But we must also remind the powerful of the<a href="http://www.earth.com/video/the-largest-collection-of-earth-scientists-on-the-planet/"> Earth</a> that God will call them to judgment one day," he said. "And there it will be revealed if they really tried to provide for him in every person, and if they did what they could to preserve the environment so that it could produce this food."
No papal document in recent times has produced as much anticipation or anxiety as Francis' encyclical, which is expected next month. Environmentalists are thrilled that Francis is lending his moral authority to provide an ethical foundation for action to stem climate change. Conservatives, including many Christians, have criticized Francis for wading into the politically charged climate debate.
On Tuesday, one of Francis' key advisers, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, said he was stunned by the complaints he had heard during a trip to the United States over a papal document that hasn't even been published yet. He accused those fueling it of an ideology "that is very strongly linked to a vision of capitalism that doesn't want to renounce damaging the environment for the sake of profits."
Francis has said global warming is "mostly" man-made and that humanity has a moral duty to stop it.
---
Follow Nicole Winfield at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/nwinfield" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.twitter.com/nwinfield</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Pope Francis: God Will Judge Those Who Don't Care For Earth

Pope Francis: God Will Judge Those Who Don't Care For...

House Votes To Block EPA Clean Water Act Rules. House Republicans on Tuesday voted to block government rules that would clarify which streams, tributaries and wetlands should be protected from pollution and development under the Clean Water Act.
The rules proposed last year by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have fueled political anger in the country's heartland, becoming a top issue of concern for many farmers and landowners who say there are already too many government regulations affecting their businesses. House Votes To Block EPA Clean Water Act Rules
The House bill, approved 261-155, would force the EPA to withdraw the rules and further consult with state and local officials before rewriting it. The White House has threatened to veto the legislation.
The EPA says its water rules simply clarify - and don't expand - what smaller bodies of water are regulated under the Clean Water Act. Administrator Gina McCarthy says one out of three Americans gets their drinking water from sources that aren't clearly protected, and the rules would make sure those waters aren't polluted.
Republican Rep. Bill Shuster, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he believes the proposed EPA and Army Corps rules are "purposely vague" and that they would expand the government's authority over these small bodies of water, despite what the agency says.
"Not all waters need to be subject to federal jurisdiction," Shuster said
EPA officials have acknowledged they may not have written the proposal clearly enough, and said final rules expected in the coming months will better define which waters would fall under the law.
"I want to tell you up front that I wish we had done a better job of rolling out our clean water rule," McCarthy told the National Farmers Union in March.
The agency says the rules are necessary to make clear which waters are regulated under the Clean Water Act in the wake of decades-long uncertainty and two U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the issue. The 2001 and 2006 decisions limited regulators' reach but left unclear the scope of authority over some small waterways, like those that flow intermittently.
Democrats said blocking the rules could mean even more uncertainty for landowners who don't know if waters on their land are regulated. They said the GOP bill is premature because the EPA and Army Corps have not yet released the revised, final version of the rules.
"We're being asked to vote on killing something that nobody has read," said Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon.
Across the Capitol, several senators introduced a bill last month that would lay out what bodies of water should be covered under the rules and force the EPA to rewrite them by the end of next year. Sponsors included Democrats who have heard from their constituents on the proposal and said it is aggravating longstanding trust issues between rural areas and the federal government.
"It's the perfect example of the disconnect between Washington and rural areas," said Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly of the rules. Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who also backs the Senate bill, says the water rule is the number one issue she hears about from farmers.
Broadly, the EPA's proposed rules would assert federal regulatory authority over streams, tributaries, wetlands and other flowing waters that significantly affect other protected waters downstream. That means landowners would have to obtain permits for practices or development that may pollute or destroy the waters.
"We're making a targeted effort to protect the waters that matter most," McCarthy told the National Farmers Union audience.
Farm groups are particularly concerned over what they say is an overly broad definition of tributary and whether common farm ditches would be regulated. EPA says it would only regulate farm ditches that are constructed through wetlands or streams and flow year-round.
The EPA has been working to clear up misconceptions, putting to rest rumors that puddles in your back yard would be regulated, for example. Farming practices that are currently exempted from the Clean Water Act - plowing, seeding and minor drainage, among other things - will continue to be exempted.
Many landowners aren't swayed.
Missouri rancher David Luker says he's already spent thousands of dollars trying to comply with the Clean Water Act because several shallow streams run through his farm. "It seems like you can't do anything anymore without some agency being in control or having oversight over what you are doing," Luker says.
---
Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/mcjalonick" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://twitter.com/mcjalonick</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

House Votes To Block EPA Clean Water Act Rules

House Votes To Block EPA Clean Water Act Rules. House...

Microbes Serve As Markers For Environmental Contamination. ENIGMA study shows natural bacterial communities as effective geochemical biosensors

First there were canaries in coal mines, now there are microbes at nuclear waste sites, oil spills and other environmental contamination. A multi-institutional team of more than 30 scientists has found that statistical analysis of DNA from natural microbial communities can be used to accurately identify environmental contaminants and serve as quantitative geochemical biosensors. This study was sponsored by ENIGMA, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science "Scientific Focus Area Program" based at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

"Changes induced in the natural microbial community structure by contaminants lasts long after the contaminants themselves have become undetectable," says Terry Hazen, an internationally recognized authority on microbial ecology who led the research. "This means the DNA of these microbial communities can be used as a forensic tool for measuring anthropogenic effects on the environment."

Hazen, who holds joint appointments with DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is the corresponding author of a paper detailing the results of this ENIGMA study in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The paper is titled "Natural Bacterial Communities Serve as Quantitative Geochemical Biosensors." For a complete list of authors go here.

For this study, the ENIGMA collaborators identified the most independent and interesting groundwater well clusters from 25 years of monitoring data collected at the Bear Creek watershed in Oak Ridge. This watershed was a crucial site for the early development of nuclear weapons under the Manhattan Project and harbors spectacular geochemical gradients. The collaborators then collected a large number of microbial DNA samples from the identified wells in combination with 28 other physical/chemical characteristics.

"The wells we sampled typically contain a high number of particulates in the groundwater, thus causing the filters we collected DNA on to clog easily," says Andrea Rocha, a post-doctoral associate in Hazen's research group, who spent three months collecting samples from the watershed. "We had to change our filters each time they clogged until we obtained our required four liters of groundwater. Sometimes this meant changing filters five to six times for one well."

Analysis of the DNA data from the collected groundwater samples was carried out via a technique called "supervised machine-learning," which the ENIGMA team applied to high-throughput DNA sequencing data.

"Because microbial communities continuously sense and respond to their environments, they form a ubiquitous environmental surveillance network that can be inexpensively digitized through DNA sequencing," Hazen says. "Our idea was to determine whether and how information encoded in bacterial communities might be tapped to quantitatively characterize the environment."

While previous research demonstrated that specific proteins or whole bacterial cells could be used as biosensors to translate environmental signals into machine-readable data, the focus of the ENIGMA study was on the integration of information gathered from native bacterial communities containing billions of cells and encompassing thousands of taxonomic groups.

With just the sequencing data from the 16S rRNA gene alone, the ENIGMA team was able to quantitatively produce "a rich catalogue of 26 geochemical features" from 93 groundwater wells with highly differing geochemistry characteristics. These features were then used to predict contamination. The accuracy for predicting uranium contamination of the groundwater was about 88-percent, and the accuracy for predicting nitrate contamination was about 73-percent.

"Our work shows that knowing what bacteria are present allows us to infer something about the current or past chemistry of a site," says Eric Alm, an MIT microbiologist and one of the principal investigators on this project. "The next big challenge will be to understand why different bacteria are associated with different environmental conditions."

As human populations continue to grow and the industrialization of developing nations continues to expand, the impact of human activity on the environment is only going to intensify. Measuring the causes and consequences of these impacts is a challenge that science must meet. The ENIGMA project demonstrates one path towards meeting this objective.

"It takes an integrated team to tackle a large problem like this," says Paul Adams, the SFA Laboratory Research Manager for ENIGMA. "The work with these natural microbial communities highlights what can be achieved through interdisciplinary research that harnesses ENIGMA's scientific expertise in field sampling, high throughput sequencing, and computational analysis."

---

<a href="http://www.lbl.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a>

Microbes Serve As Markers For Environmental Contamination

Microbes Serve As Markers For Environmental Contamination. ENIGMA study shows...

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response

Deep-water drilling is set to resume near the site of the catastrophic BP oil spill blowout that killed 11 workers and caused the nation's largest offshore oil spill five years ago off the coast of Louisiana.
A Louisiana-based oil company, LLOG Exploration Offshore LLC, plans to drill into the Macondo reservoir, according to federal records reviewed by The Associated Press.
Harper's Magazine first reported the drilling plans late Tuesday.
LLOG's permit to drill a new well near BP's site was approved April 13 by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, an agency overseeing offshore oil and gas drilling operations. The company's exploration plan was approved last October following an environmental review by a sister agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
The company, a privately owned firm based in Covington, Louisiana, will be looking to extract oil and gas deep under the Gulf of Mexico's seafloor, an undertaking that proved catastrophic for BP.
"Our commitment is to not allow such an event to occur again," said Rick Fowler, the vice president for deep-water projects at LLOG. "LLOG staff keeps the memory of what happened ... fresh in our minds throughout our operations, both planning and execution."
On April 20, 2010, a drilling rig owned by Transocean Ltd. and hired by BP to drill into the Macondo field experienced a series of problems that led to a massive blowout. Investigators later faulted BP and its contractors for fatal missteps.
The drilling rig, in waters about 45 miles off the Louisiana coast, was engulfed in flames. Eleven workers were killed, 17 were seriously injured and more than 100 had to be evacuated.
BP, its contractors and federal regulators struggled to contain the blowout and kill the out-of-control well over the course of the next 87 days. In all, the federal government calculated that about 172 million gallons spilled into the Gulf. BP put the number much lower, closer to 100 million gallons.
Richard Charter, a senior fellow with the Ocean Foundation and a longtime industry watchdog, said it would be cause for concern if a small company resumed drilling in the reservoir, which is located in a geographical area of the Gulf known as the Mississippi Canyon. The area, rich in oil and gas, is divided up into blocks used for drilling. BP's Macondo well was located in Mississippi Canyon Block 252.
Charter said drilling into that reservoir has proved very dangerous and highly technical, and raises questions about whether a company like LLOG has the financial means to respond to a blowout similar to BP's.
"BP had deep pockets," he said. "You don't want someone not particularly qualified and not fully amortized to be tangling with this particular dragon." He added: "When a company can't pay when something goes wrong, generally it's the public that pays."
Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane University Energy Institute in New Orleans, dismissed those concerns. He called LLOG "an extremely well-financed and well-organized" company. He said it had an excellent reputation and was known for its veteran staff. Deep-water Drilling Set To Resume Near Site Of BP <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fruit-eating-mammals-fertilize-the-soil-in-tropical-forests/">Oil</a> Spill
"If I were to pick anyone to go into that field after so many problems, I would pick LLOG," Smith said. "They have demonstrated their ability to drill in the area."
Since 2010, LLOG has drilled eight wells in the Mississippi Canyon area in "analogous reservoirs at similar depths and pressures," Fowler, the LLOG vice president, said. The company has drilled more than 50 wells in the Gulf since 2002, he said.
He said the company has studied the investigations into the Macondo disaster and "ensured the lessons from those reports are accounted for in our design and well procedures."
In 2014, regulators approved splitting up Mississippi Canyon Block 252. BP still owns 270 acres of the block around its disastrous Macondo well and the area where the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon and other heavy equipment lie on the seafloor. LLOG owns the block's other 5,490 acres.
BP spokesman Brett Clanton said the area owned by BP is an "exclusion zone" where oil and gas operations are off-limits both "out of respect for the victims" and to allow BP "to perform any response activities related to the accident."
John Filostrat, a spokesman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said LLOG would be the first company to attempt to tap the oil and gas reserves that BP had been seeking. He said regulators did extensive reviews of the company's drilling plans.
The exploration plan calls for drilling into Block 252 from an adjacent block by June, federal records show. The drilling will be done by the Sevan Louisiana, a semisubmersible drilling rig owned by Sevan Drilling ASA, an international drilling company based in Oslo, Norway.
LLOG's drilling plans estimate that an uncontrolled blowout from its well could cause 20,500 barrels of oil to be released each day for a total of 109 days, or the time it would take to drill a secondary well to cut off the flow.
In the event of a blowout, the company's plans call for the use of blowout preventers, containment systems and drilling a relief well to contain a spill - measures that BP relied on to tame its well.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Deep-water Drilling Set To Resume Near Site Of BP Oil Spill

Deep-water drilling is set to resume near the site of...

Fracking Harms Air Quality And Human Health. Study: Fracking Harms Air Quality And Human Health. People living or working near active natural gas wells may be exposed to certain pollutants at higher levels than the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for lifetime exposure, according to scientists from <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=oregon+state&amp;cvid=33a6fe4dc66d470a89328b0c426517f1&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Oregon State</a> University and the University of Cincinnati.

The researchers found that fracking - a technique for releasing natural gas from below-ground rock formations - emits pollutants known as PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), including some that are linked with increased risk of cancer and respiratory ailments.

"Air pollution from fracking operations may pose an under-recognized health hazard to people living near them," said the study's coauthor Kim Anderson, an environmental chemist with OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences. Study: Fracking Harms Air Quality And Human Health

The study, which appears in the journal Environmental Science &amp; Technology's online edition, is part of a larger project co-led by the University of Cincinnati's Erin Haynes, OSU's Anderson, her graduate student Blair Paulik and Laurel Kincl, director of OSU's Environmental Health Science Center.

[caption id="attachment_1334347" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2012/11/Pennsylvania-Has-Become-Home-Of-Experimental-Fracking.png"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1334347" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2012/11/Pennsylvania-Has-Become-Home-Of-Experimental-Fracking-150x150.png" alt="Credit: NSF" width="150" height="150" /></a> Credit: NSF[/caption]

Anderson and her colleagues collected air samples from sites near active natural gas wells in Carroll County, <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=ohio&amp;cvid=d6052caeb30141beb41677c9b154d725&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Ohio</a>, over a three-week period last February. Carroll County sits on top of the Utica formation, a deep oil- and gas-rich reef of subterranean shale. The rural county is a hotspot of natural gas prospecting, with more than one active well site per square mile.

The study got its start when a group of citizens approached Haynes, who is a public health expert, wanting to know more about health risks from natural gas extraction.

Haynes got in touch with Anderson and Kincl, and together they designed the study to include citizen participation. They placed air samplers on the properties of 23 volunteers living or working at sites ranging from right next to a gas well to a little more than three miles away.

The samplers are aluminum T-shaped boxes containing specially treated polyethylene ribbons that absorb contaminants in a similar manner to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/animals-have-a-biological-switch-that-prepares-them-for-seasonal-changes/">biological</a> cells. Volunteers were trained in proper handling of samplers and documenting of data.

After the study period, the volunteers packaged the samplers in airtight bags, labeled them and mailed them back to Anderson's lab at OSU.

The samplers picked up high levels of PAHs across the study area. Levels were highest closest to the wells and decreased by about 30 percent with distance.

Even the lowest levels - detected on sites more than a mile away from a well - were higher than previous researchers had found in downtown <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/chicago-named-wild-onion/">Chicago</a> and near a Belgian oil refinery. They were about 10 times higher than in a rural Michigan area with no natural gas wells.

By looking at the ratios of individual PAHs detected by the samplers, Anderson and her team were able to discern whether they came directly from the earth - a "petrogenic" source - or from "pyrogenic" sources like the burning of fossil fuels. The proportion of petrogenic PAHs in the mix was highest nearer the wells and decreased with distance.

The team also accounted for the influences of wood smoke and vehicle exhaust, common sources of airborne pyrogenic PAHs. Wood smoke was consistent across the sampling area, supporting the conclusion that the gas wells were contributing to the higher PAH levels.

The researchers then used a standard calculation to determine the additional cancer risk posed by airborne contaminants over a range of scenarios. For the worst-case scenario (exposure 24 hours a day over 25 years), they found that a person anywhere in the study area would be exposed at a risk level exceeding the threshold of what the EPA deems acceptable.

The highest-risk areas were those nearest the wells, Anderson said. Areas more than a mile away posed about 30 percent less risk.

Anderson cautioned that these numbers are worst-case estimates and can't predict the risk to any particular individual. "Actual risk would depend heavily on exposure time, exposure frequency and proximity to a natural gas well," she said.

"We made these calculations to put our findings in context with other, similar risk assessments and to compare the levels we found with the EPA's acceptable risk level."

The study has other caveats, Anderson said, the main one being the small number of non-random samples used. In addition, findings aren't necessarily applicable to other gas-producing areas, because PAH emissions are influenced by extraction techniques and by underlying geology.

---

<a href="http://www.orst.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oregon State University</a>

Fracking Harms Air Quality And Human Health

Fracking Harms Air Quality And Human Health. Study: Fracking Harms...

168500629

Study: Fracking Harms Air Quality And Human Health. People living or working near active natural gas wells may be exposed to certain pollutants at higher levels than the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for lifetime exposure, according to scientists from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/unequal-treatment-protestors/">Oregon</a> State University and the University of Cincinnati.

The researchers found that fracking - a technique for releasing natural gas from below-ground rock formations - emits pollutants known as PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), including some that are linked with increased risk of cancer and respiratory ailments.

"Air pollution from fracking operations may pose an under-recognized health hazard to people living near them," said the study's coauthor Kim Anderson, an environmental chemist with OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences.

The study, which appears in the journal Environmental Science &amp; Technology's online edition, is part of a larger project co-led by the University of Cincinnati's Erin Haynes, OSU's Anderson, her graduate student Blair Paulik and Laurel Kincl, director of OSU's Environmental Health Science Center.

[caption id="attachment_1334347" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2012/11/Pennsylvania-Has-Become-Home-Of-Experimental-Fracking.png"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1334347" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2012/11/Pennsylvania-Has-Become-Home-Of-Experimental-Fracking-150x150.png" alt="Credit: NSF" width="150" height="150" /></a> Credit: NSF[/caption]

Anderson and her colleagues collected air samples from sites near active natural gas wells in Carroll County, Ohio, over a three-week period last February. Carroll County sits on top of the Utica formation, a deep oil- and gas-rich reef of subterranean shale. The rural county is a hotspot of natural gas prospecting, with more than one active well site per square mile.

The study got its start when a group of citizens approached Haynes, who is a public health expert, wanting to know more about health risks from natural gas extraction.

Haynes got in touch with Anderson and Kincl, and together they designed the study to include citizen participation. They placed air samplers on the properties of 23 volunteers living or working at sites ranging from right next to a gas well to a little more than three miles away.

The samplers are aluminum T-shaped boxes containing specially treated polyethylene ribbons that absorb contaminants in a similar manner to biological cells. Volunteers were trained in proper handling of samplers and documenting of data.

After the study period, the volunteers packaged the samplers in airtight bags, labeled them and mailed them back to Anderson's lab at OSU.

The samplers picked up high levels of PAHs across the study area. Levels were highest closest to the wells and decreased by about 30 percent with distance.

Even the lowest levels - detected on sites more than a mile away from a well - were higher than previous researchers had found in downtown Chicago and near a Belgian oil refinery. They were about 10 times higher than in a rural Michigan area with no natural gas wells.

By looking at the ratios of individual PAHs detected by the samplers, Anderson and her team were able to discern whether they came directly from the earth - a "petrogenic" source - or from "pyrogenic" sources like the burning of fossil fuels. The proportion of petrogenic PAHs in the mix was highest nearer the wells and decreased with distance.

The team also accounted for the influences of wood smoke and vehicle exhaust, common sources of airborne pyrogenic PAHs. Wood smoke was consistent across the sampling area, supporting the conclusion that the gas wells were contributing to the higher PAH levels.

The researchers then used a standard calculation to determine the additional cancer risk posed by airborne contaminants over a range of scenarios. For the worst-case scenario (exposure 24 hours a day over 25 years), they found that a person anywhere in the study area would be exposed at a risk level exceeding the threshold of what the EPA deems acceptable.

The highest-risk areas were those nearest the wells, Anderson said. Areas more than a mile away posed about 30 percent less risk.

Anderson cautioned that these numbers are worst-case estimates and can't predict the risk to any particular individual. "Actual risk would depend heavily on exposure time, exposure frequency and proximity to a natural gas well," she said.

"We made these calculations to put our findings in context with other, similar risk assessments and to compare the levels we found with the EPA's acceptable risk level."

The study has other caveats, Anderson said, the main one being the small number of non-random samples used. In addition, findings aren't necessarily applicable to other gas-producing areas, because PAH emissions are influenced by extraction techniques and by underlying geology.

---

<a href="http://www.orst.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oregon State University</a>

Study: Fracking Harms Air Quality And Human Health

Study: Fracking Harms Air Quality And Human Health. People living...

Climate Change Helped Reduce Ozone Levels. Houston findings should hold for coastal regions around the world

Researchers at the University of Houston have determined that climate change - in the form of a stronger sea breeze, the result of warmer soil temperatures - contributed to the drop in ozone levels.

Robert Talbot, professor of atmospheric chemistry, said that also should be true for coastal regions globally.

The researchers describe their findings in a paper published this week in the journalAtmosphere. In addition to Talbot, they include first author Lei Liu, a doctoral student, and post-doctoral fellow Xin Lan.

The study relied upon ground-level ozone data collected over the past 23 years by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The meteorological data was collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Climate Change Helped Reduce Ozone Levels

The researchers said they did not set out to find a connection between climate change and lower ozone levels - the number of days in which ozone levels exceeded federal standards varied from year to year but overall, dropped dramatically between 1990 and 2013. For example, in Aldine, one of four sites studied, the number of days during which ozone levels exceeded federal standards over an eight-hour period dropped to an average of 11 days per year during 2001-2013, down from 35 days per year during 1990-2000.

Talbot said the steep decline made him suspect something was happening beyond a city-led effort to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, one of the components of ozone.

Liu said they first ruled out other meteorological factors, including temperature, humidity and solar radiation. After they discovered the lower ozone readings coincided with days the southerly flow was strongest, they realized that climate change - in the form of warmer soil temperatures - had increased the southerly flow, she said.

"The frequency of southerly (air) flow has increased by a factor of ~2.5 over the period 1990-2013, likely suppressing O3 (ozone) photochemistry and leading to a 'cleaner' Houston environment," they wrote. "The sea breeze was enhanced greatly from 1990 to 2013 due to increasing land surface temperatures, increased pressure gradients, and slightly stronger on-shore winds. These patterns driven by climate change produce a strengthening of the sea breeze, which should be a general result at locations worldwide."

Industrial plants and vehicle exhaust mix with heat and sunlight to produce ground-level ozone, which can worsen asthma and other conditions. The city's rapid population growth - more people means more cars - and the refineries and petrochemical plants along the Houston Ship Channel are key factors in Houston's ground-level ozone.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1997 classified Houston as a "severe" nonattainment area due to ozone levels measured over an eight-hour period. By 2008, the city was classified as a "moderate" nonattainment area.

For the study, researchers focused on data from four locations: Galveston, Clinton Drive near the Houston Ship Channel, Aldine and a site in Northwest Harris County. They also used data on background ozone levels collected from the roof of Moody Tower, a high-rise residence hall on the UH campus.

Background ozone levels have remained constant over the past seven years, they report, dropping just one part per billion. The average background level over that period was 30 parts per billion.

But the number of days in which ground-level ozone exceeded federal standards in one-hour and eight-hour measures dropped sharply at all four sites between 1990 and 2013. (Data for the Galveston site is available only back to 1997.)

In contrast, "the length of time per year Houston is under the influence of southerly flow has more than doubled from 1990 to 2013," the researchers wrote. " ... We propose that the increased flow of 'cleaner' air is diluting the dirty Houston air, lowering the mixing ratios of NOX, O3 and precursor hydrocarbons. It also would advect the polluted air away from Houston," leading to lower potential to produce ozone.

They compared land and sea temperatures over the 23-year period to determine how temperature differences impact southerly flow. Land temperatures increase faster than water temperatures on a daily time scale, Liu said. As the heated air over land rises, cooler air from the sea rushes in, dispersing both ozone and the chemical elements that contribute to ozone.

"We weren't looking at it from a climate change perspective at first," Talbot said. "Then once we saw it was the sea breeze, we knew it had to be climate."

---

<a href="http://www.uh.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Houston</a>

Climate Change Helped Reduce Ozone Levels

Climate Change Helped Reduce Ozone Levels. Houston findings should hold...

Columbians Have Mixed Emotions Over Anti-Coca Herbicide Ban. Manuel de Jesus Sanchez holds up a green poncho to protect his skin from the midday sun. The farmer says he was working in a rice paddy four years ago when a crop duster buzzed by, dumping large quantities of what everyone here refers to as "the poison."
From that moment Sanchez was exposed to the glyphosate-based herbicide used by Colombia to wipe out cocaine-producing crops, he says his skin broke out in a yellow rash. Now white blotches have spread across his body and his eyesight is dimming.
"I never went to a doctor because I know he'll prescribe creams and pills that I can't afford," said Sanchez. Unable to till his farm, he now squeaks by selling candy along the dirt streets where a handful of families live in wood and zinc-roofed shacks.
Tales of harmful health effects, everything from skin problems to miscarriages, abound in this hamlet on the edge of the remote Paramillo national park in northern Colombia. Tracing the health problems to glyphosate is impossible - too many years have passed with possible exposure to other pesticides, and most of the town's residents, many of them coca growers, are either too poor or afraid to travel the three hours by boat and car to the nearest hospital and prosecutor's office to investigate the causes.


[caption id="attachment_2381644" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/coca-leaves_spray_2big_ap.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2381644" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/coca-leaves_spray_2big_ap-150x150.jpg" alt="A plane sprays coca fields in San Miguel, Colombia. " width="150" height="150" /></a> A plane sprays coca fields in San Miguel, Colombia.[/caption]
President Juan Manuel Santos last week decided to halt anti-coca herbicide fumigation in the wake of a report by a research arm of the World Health Organization classifying glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. The move is lending strength to injury claims by dozens of farmers here who consider themselves victims of the U.S.-led drug war in South America. But it's also raising concerns that cocaine production in Colombia could come roaring back after a bloody, decades-old war against the nation's cartels.
St. Louis-based Monsanto, which discovered glyphosate, told The Associated Press that it no longer supplies the Colombian government with weed killer. It and other manufacturers have strongly rejected WHO's March assessment, citing a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that glyphosate-based products are safe. They accuse critics of cherry-picking data and pushing an agenda.
In October 2013, in response to an Associated Press article on glyphosate use in farming in Argentina, Monsanto described the herbicide as "even less toxic than the repellent you put on your children's skin." It said the chemical had been misused in Argentina.
Colombia is the only country that destroys coca crops by air and the practice has long provoked hostility from political and environmental groups. Many observers see its suspension as Santos' political gift to rebels he has been trying for two years to lure into signing a peace deal. The insurgents depend on the narcotics trade for much of their funding and liken the spraying, which is carried out by U.S. contractors, to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
U.S. officials deny any harm has been caused by the spraying and say there is more danger to people's health and the environment from the chemicals used to manufacture cocaine in clandestine labs. If glyphosate is so unsafe, then why is nobody considering a ban on its widespread use in agriculture, they argue.
"This is an argument among the deaf," said Myles Frechette, a U.S. ambassador to Colombia in the 1990s. "Those who argue it does damage will not be convinced by science."
On Thursday, Colombia's National Narcotics Council, which sets drug policy, is expected to approve Santos' call to phase out glyphosate by October in favor of slower-going manual eradication by army units in areas frequently dominated by rebels.
Residents of Crucito consider it a bittersweet victory. They are afraid of the arrival of combat troops and say they don't have any means of sustenance besides the roughly $1,000 they receive from drug traffickers for each kilogram of coca paste.
Currently the most visible presence of the state in the town, besides the twice-a-year fumigation campaigns, is an army checkpoint that restricts the flow of gasoline, food and other supplies to guerrillas and drug <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/scientists-use-decoys-to-track-sea-turtle-egg-traffickers/">traffickers</a> lurking in the jungle-covered mountains beyond.
"Our problems aren't resolved by ending fumigation," said Andres Herron, a community leader. "The government needs to give us an alternative to traditional crops that allows us to live. Growing yucca, plantains and yams doesn't even leave enough money to put food on the table."
Santos' opponents warn that Colombia could soon be swimming in coca, though just as many observers argue that the spraying of 4 million acres since the 1990s has done little to reduce cultivation of the leaf.
The latest survey by the U.S., released this month, shows that areas under coca cultivation in Colombia shot up 39 percent last year to 112,000 hectares (about 276,000 acres). The White House's drug czar attributed the boom in part to an increase in off-limits areas like Paramillo, one of the country's 59 national parks and conservation areas where spraying is banned.
But supporters of Santos' move say the health threat is too high a price for Colombians to pay to keep cocaine off the streets of the U.S. and Europe.
Research published last year by Daniel Mejia, an expert adviser to Santos on drug policy, found higher rates of skin problems and miscarriages in districts targeted by herbicides. It was based on a study of medical records from 2003 to 2007.
Omar Miranda, who in the absence of a doctor is the only resident in Crucito trained in first aid, said he counted 20 miscarriages last year in a town of roughly 75 families. He said there has also been an increase in birth defects.
Although Miranda has no evidence to back up his observation or eliminate other possible causes, it's not hard to find examples of illness. Columbians Have Mixed Emotions Over Anti-Coca Herbicide Ban
Five-year-old Joani Londono was born with a club foot and a missing leg. Her mother, Adevis Diaz, attributes the malformations to having eaten vegetables from her garden just after a fumigation plane flew by.
"A few days later my water broke and my baby was born at six months," Diaz said, watching over her four children as they play on their home's dirt floor. "If we continue in this land our lives will be at risk."
---
Jacobo Garcia on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/jacobogg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/jacobogg</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Columbians Have Mixed Emotions Over Anti-Coca Herbicide Ban

Columbians Have Mixed Emotions Over Anti-Coca Herbicide Ban. Manuel de...

The Final Days Of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf. A new NASA study finds the last remaining section of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf, which partially collapsed in 2002, is quickly weakening and is likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, found the remnant of the Larsen B Ice Shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly fragmented and developing large cracks. Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

"These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating," Khazendar said. "Although it's fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it's bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone."

[caption id="attachment_2381676" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/Larsen-B-Ice-Shelf_satellite_1big_nasa.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2381676" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/Larsen-B-Ice-Shelf_satellite_1big_nasa-150x150.jpg" alt="Disintegration of the Larsen B ice shelf. Credit: NASA" width="150" height="150" /></a> Disintegration of the Larsen B ice shelf. Credit: NASA[/caption]

Ice shelves are the gatekeepers for glaciers flowing from Antarctica toward the ocean. Without them, glacial ice enters the ocean faster and accelerates the pace of global sea level rise. This study, the first to look comprehensively at the health of the Larsen B remnant and the glaciers that flow into it, has been published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Khazendar's team used data on ice surface elevations and bedrock depths from instrumented aircraft participating in NASA's Operation IceBridge, a multiyear airborne survey campaign that provides unprecedented documentation annually of Antarctica's glaciers, ice shelves and ice sheets. Data on flow speeds came from spaceborne synthetic aperture radars operating since 1997.

Khazendar noted his estimate of the remnant's remaining life span was based on the likely scenario that a huge, widening rift that has formed near the ice shelf's grounding line will eventually crack all the way across. The free-floating remnant will shatter into hundreds of icebergs that will drift away, and the glaciers will rev up for their unhindered move to the sea.

Located on the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen B remnant is about 625 square miles (1,600 square kilometers) in area and about 1,640 feet (500 meters) thick at its thickest point. Its three major tributary glaciers are fed by their own tributaries farther inland.

"What is really surprising about Larsen B is how quickly the changes are taking place," Khazendar said. "Change has been relentless."

The remnant's main tributary glaciers are named Leppard, Flask and Starbuck -- the latter two after characters in the novel Moby Dick. The glaciers' thicknesses and flow speeds changed only slightly in the first couple of years following the 2002 collapse, leading researchers to assume they remained stable. The new study revealed, however, that Leppard and Flask glaciers have thinned by 65-72 feet (20-22 meters) and accelerated considerably in the intervening years. The fastest-moving part of Flask Glacier had accelerated 36 percent by 2012 to a flow speed of 2,300 feet (700 meters) a year -- comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 75 mph.

Flask's acceleration, while the remnant has been weakening, may be just a preview of what will happen when the remnant breaks up completely. After the 2002 Larsen B collapse, the glaciers behind the collapsed part of the shelf accelerated as much as eightfold -- comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 440 mph.

The third and smallest glacier, Starbuck, has changed little. Starbuck's channel is narrow compared with those of the other glaciers, and the small glacier is strongly anchored to the bedrock, which, according to authors of the study, explains its comparative stability.

"This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming climate," said JPL glaciologist Eric Rignot, a coauthor of the paper.

The research team included scientists from JPL; the University of California, Irvine; and the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway. The paper is online at:

<a href="http://go.nasa.gov/1bbpfsC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://go.nasa.gov/1bbpfsC</a>

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA's Earth science activities, visit:

<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nasa.gov/earth</a>

The Final Days Of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf

The Final Days Of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf. A...

Hazardous-Waste Incinerator In Ohio. A hazardous-waste incinerator in Ohio released dangerous toxins into the air over the past four years, exposing those nearby to chemicals that can cause cancer, miscarriages and early death, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The federal agency released a 20-page report and found that the Heritage Thermal Services Incinerator in East Liverpool in Columbiana County emitted gases that contained high levels of toxic chemicals 195 times from November 2010 to December 2014. The facility is on the Ohio River near the Pennsylvania and West Virginia borders.
The EPA said the toxins might have included dioxin, which can cause reproductive problems, skin disease and changes in hormone levels; cadmium, which can cause kidney disease and fetal malformations; chromium, which can cause cancer; and other toxic air pollutants that can cause neurological, respiratory and developmental problems.
The emissions occurred through both mechanical failures and operator errors, the report said.
"The question now, I think, that should be put to the agencies responsible for this facility is, `What are you going to do about it?' and `Why haven't you shut it down?'" said Alonzo Spencer, an East Liverpool resident and the president of Save Our County, an activist group that has lobbied to revoke the incinerator's operating permit.
"I think we deserve answers," he said.
Heritage could face fines or penalties for the violations. Company officials told The Columbus Dispatch they want to discuss the findings with the EPA but wouldn't say whether they agreed with the allegations.
Stewart Fletcher, Heritage vice president and general manager, said Thursday the incinerator continues to operate and the company has scheduled a June meeting with the EPA.
According to the company's website, Heritage can process up to 60,000 tons of hazardous waste each year and has about 180 employees. It drew international attention in the 1990s when residents and activists protested against its construction.
An EPA spokesman said the agency could not comment on a pending enforcement case.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Hazardous-Waste Incinerator In Ohio

Hazardous-Waste Incinerator In Ohio. A hazardous-waste incinerator in Ohio released...

US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles. Beset by power plant closures, growing regulatory scrutiny and proposed changes in how they pay royalties, coal mines are facing a new obstacle - a review of how coal extracted and burned will impact the air and global warming.
Under a series of rulings by U.S. judges in Denver over the last year, federal agencies that approve mining projects have been told to take into account coal's indirect environmental impact along with traditional concerns about mine dust and equipment emissions.
The immediate effects of the rulings appear limited to a single mine in northwestern Colorado that could lose its permit if a new environmental review isn't completed within four months. But industry representatives fear the rulings, if allowed to stand, could set an example for other judges to follow and eventually threaten the mines that make up the backbone of an industry already facing uncertainty.
Two of the rulings involving Colorado mines, from U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson, say greenhouse gas emissions need to be considered in environmental reviews. A similar case threatens to block production at another mine, in the coal-rich Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming. Another federal judge also recently ruled that a mine on the Navajo Nation must consider the effects of burning coal before expanding.
The agency at issue in the two most recent cases, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, is part of the Interior Department and regulates the environmental effects of mining across the country. Office spokesman Chris Holmes said the agency is still reviewing the rulings and hasn't decided what do to next. But fighting them would put the Obama administration in an awkward position because of its efforts to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas.
The cases focused on coal from federal leases, which account for about 40 percent of U.S. production, but could open the door to similar legal challenges across the industry.
In his most recent decision, issued May 8, Jackson said the surface mining office must redo an environmental review for a coal mining project that's been underway for nearly a decade in northwestern Colorado or he would yank the mine's permit. The Colowyo Mine says losing the permit would lead to job losses for some of its 220 miners.
Colowyo is one of two mines that provide most coal for Colorado's Craig Station power plant, which generates about 8 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, according to federal emissions data.
Jackson, an Obama appointee, said if the government "can predict how much coal will be produced, it can likewise attempt to predict the environmental effects of its combustion."
Coal industry representatives said mines already face delays in permitting and adding more review would make matters worse. Colorado Mining Association President Stuart Sanderson said calculating a mine's contribution to global warming is meaningless because it's dwarfed by unregulated emissions in the developing world.
"It's pushing the envelope of regulation that is not in the nation's interests," Sanderson said of the rulings.
But legal experts say the rulings reflect an emerging trend of linking fossil fuel extraction to climate change.
"The agencies could continue to act just as they have been, but the cost of what they're doing will be more public and clear," said Justin Pidot, an assistant professor at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law.
While he doesn't think the Colowyo mine will be forced to close, Mark Squillace, director of the University of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=colorado&amp;cvid=b9d5958107674495959982113eb91af4&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Colorado's</a> Natural Resources Law Center, said the more thorough reviews could lead the government to deny coal mining meant for export.US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles
"I think the government is going to have to give serious thought to whether they're going to allow that to go forward," he said.
Environmentalists say the rulings will help open up what they view as an industry-tilted process so the public can decide if burning coal is worth the cost.
"I think the more we learn and the more honest accounting we get from the federal government, the more we will decide we don't like it," said Jeremy Nichols of WildEarth Guardians, which sued to stop the mining in northwestern Colorado and also was part of lawsuits to block mine expansions in Somerset, Colorado, and Decker, <a href="http://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/montana-valley-and-foothill-grasslands/">Montana</a>. US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles
In the Somerset case, Jackson stopped the expansion of Arch Coal, Inc.'s West Elk mine last year partly because the Bureau of Land Management considered but rejected calculating the impact of future greenhouse emissions.
In April, another Denver federal judge, John Kane, ruled that the surface mining office must consider the effects of burning coal at a northwestern New Mexico power plant before allowing an expansion of the Navajo Nation's Navajo Mine. Environmentalists there were mostly concerned with mercury pollution impacting fish in the San Juan River.
The Navajo Nation company that owns the mine has appealed Kane's ruling. The government did not appeal the West Elk ruling.
In the Montana case, WildEarth Guardians and the Northern Plains Resource Council sued to block the mining of more than 117 million tons of coal, which would extend the life of Cloud Peak Energy's 280-worker Spring Creek mine by 13 years.
The environmental groups have asked U.S. District Judge Susan Watters to halt mining until its environmental impacts are more thoroughly vetted.
Cloud Peak and Montana Attorney General Tim Fox have entered the case on the side of the Interior Department, which wants it dismissed. In a notice to Watters' court filed Wednesday, attorneys for Wildearth Guardians were quick to point out their victory in Colorado in support of their arguments against Spring Creek.
----
Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles

US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles. Beset by power plant...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



---



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="fxH3eJHEkQ-2010196-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="Ccjk8KEMzv-2550719-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="6SdlLLbt0t-1988946-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="gRpsplpwpe-2251464-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



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

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

[sendtonews key="gRpsplpwpe-2251464-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="eAVLRk51oJ-1826888-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

[sendtonews key="eAVLRk51oJ-1826888-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="sFFhiK9OOn-1720418-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



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

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

[sendtonews key="sFFhiK9OOn-1720418-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="yPSXGZek1I-2312529-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

[sendtonews key="yPSXGZek1I-2312529-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="EPdZexVR30-1731237-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

[sendtonews key="EPdZexVR30-1731237-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="uwirCufwYv-2012371-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Ocean heat influences regional climate

[sendtonews key="uwirCufwYv-2012371-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JrMLDXHmjl-1911953-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="JrMLDXHmjl-1911953-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="u0TYxxqfF7-2186404-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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



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



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



---



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

Monitoring deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

[sendtonews key="u0TYxxqfF7-2186404-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA’s...