The Arctic, known for its icy landscapes and frozen permafrost, is rapidly transforming due to the intensifying effects of climate change. As temperatures rise, a silent but potent threat emerges: methane emissions. Unlike carbon dioxide, methane is not as widely discussed, yet its impact on global warming is profound. 



A new study published in the journal Nature highlights the growing concern over methane emissions in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-climate-will-permanently-change-by-2050-scientists-warn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arctic</a> and their role in creating a feedback loop that could accelerate climate change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-methane-traps-more-heat">Why methane traps more heat </h2>



Methane isn’t as abundant as carbon dioxide, but it’s far more potent. Over a century, it traps 30 times more heat. 



Xin (Lindsay) Lan, a climate scientist at <a href="https://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CU Boulder</a>’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), sees the urgency.



“Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas that we need to address urgently,” Lan said. “Our study suggests that a significant portion of the recent rise in atmospheric methane originates from natural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-warming-may-fuel-the-spread-of-diseases-by-unleashing-frozen-viruses/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sources</a> driven by climate change. Our emission reduction efforts need to be more aggressive.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-methane-levels-climb-steadily">Arctic methane levels climb steadily</h2>



For years, Lan has tracked methane levels at NOAA’s <a href="https://gml.noaa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Monitoring Laboratory</a> in Boulder. Methane emissions have steadily climbed since 2007. 



Scientists had pointed fingers at fossil fuels, responsible for 30% of emissions. Yet, Lan’s research points elsewhere - to tiny, ancient microbes thriving in new, warmer habitats.



Archaea - microbes that have lived for millennia in wetlands, landfills, and the guts of livestock - produce methane. They may be small, but they’re mighty emitters. Microbial emissions now make up nearly half of all global methane output. Yet, pinpointing specific sources remains tricky.



Lan isn’t just watching long-term trends. Seasonal fluctuations in methane also reveal what’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-meltdown-is-accelerating-global-warming-already-changing-earth-in-unimaginable-ways/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">changing</a> underground.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-permafrost-fuels-methane-emissions">Permafrost fuels methane emissions</h2>



Lan’s team dove into decades of data. Methane’s seasonal amplitude - the swing from highest to lowest levels in a year - is shrinking in northern latitudes. 



Why? Wetlands in the Arctic are expanding. Thawing permafrost is unlocking ancient carbon stores, creating perfect conditions for archaea.



Computer models show the Arctic’s wetlands have grown by 25% in the warmer months, feeding the microbes with more decomposing organic matter. The result: more methane.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-feedback-loop-accelerates">The feedback loop accelerates</h2>



When permafrost melts, more carbon enters the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drastic-warming-will-transform-the-arctic-beyond-recognition/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">atmosphere</a>. As temperatures rise, more permafrost melts. A cycle begins. Lan’s research shows that since 2007, this loop has intensified. What was once a trickle of methane is becoming a flood.



“This study, along with a few previous studies, has provided indirect evidence on potential climate feedback on methane emissions, which would be beyond our ability to control directly,” Lan said.



In previous work, Lan's team analyzed connections between today’s methane surge and dramatic warming events that ended past ice ages.



As Arctic ice sheets melted, vast stores of methane escaped, causing rapid temperature increases. That was thousands of years ago. Now, it’s happening again - but faster.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-underestimated-methane-removal">Underestimated methane removal</h2>



Methane doesn’t linger forever. Hydroxyl (OH) radicals act like atmospheric scrubbers, breaking down methane. Lan’s team discovered that since 1984, these radicals have increased by 10%.



Unfortunately, OH levels are hard to measure - they disappear within seconds - scientists had assumed they remained constant. But Lan’s study suggests that the atmosphere has been removing more methane than previously thought.



“Our result showed that we’ve been underestimating how much methane the atmosphere has been removing, which means that there’s actually more methane being emitted than we previously estimated,” Lan said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-methane-feedback-loop">Arctic methane feedback loop</h2>



If the atmosphere is cleaning itself more efficiently, then methane emissions are higher than we realized. 



That’s a big problem. Emission reduction plans rely on accurate data. If those numbers are off, efforts to control methane may miss the mark.



Lan stresses that understanding methane’s sources is critical. Microbial emissions are surging, but fossil fuels still account for a major chunk of global output. 



And the Arctic’s permafrost holds double the carbon currently in the atmosphere. If warming continues, thawing permafrost could unleash catastrophic carbon releases.



“We need to aggressively cut all greenhouse gas emissions from the sources we can control,” Lan said. “We need to address the feedback loop before reaching that tipping point.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-urgency-amid-uncertainty">Urgency amid uncertainty</h2>



Time is not on our side. Methane’s rise mirrors past warming events, but this time, human activities amplify the effect. 



Lan’s work highlights a critical truth: the Arctic is changing faster than expected, and methane is slipping through the cracks.



Now, the question is - how much longer before the feedback loop spirals beyond control?



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08900-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



-----



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Arctic warming fuels dangerous methane feedback loop

The Arctic, known for its icy landscapes and frozen permafrost, is rapidly transforming due to the intensifying effects of climate change. As temperatures rise, a silent but potent threat emerges: methane emissions. Unlike carbon dioxide, methane is not as widely discussed, yet its impact on global warming is profound. A new study published in the journal Nature highlights the growing concern over methane emissions in the Arctic and their role in creating a feedback loop that could accelerate climate change. Why methane traps more heat Methane isn’t...

The United States is trying to broker an agreement between a host of nations to prohibit unregulated fishing in the international waters of the Arctic Ocean.
Such an agreement would be binding and include more countries than a non-binding agreement that the U.S. entered into with Norway, Denmark, Russia and Canada last year to avoid fishing in the area.
Adm. Robert Papp, the U.S. special representative for the Arctic, said a binding, multinational agreement would prevent fishing in the Arctic high seas before scientists can determine what is sustainable. He said the issue is especially important as Arctic ice melts, making the area more open to potential commercial fishing.
"We don't want people fishing in there until we have the science of what's happening," Papp said. "It's a pre-emptive effort to be able to sustain fisheries into the future."
The U.S. would like to get nations such as China, Korea, Japan and members of the European Union on board with the fishing shutdown, Papp said. He estimated that such an agreement is most likely a couple of years away.
The issue of Arctic Ocean fishing was one of many Arctic issues discussed this week at a diplomatic meeting of the Arctic Council's Senior Arctic Officials in Portland, Maine, that ended Thursday.
Arctic fishing also is on the radar of environmental organizations, such as The Pew Charitable Trusts, which has argued for a binding agreement signed by many nations to shut down fishing. Pew has called the current non-binding agreement "laudable" but also said a broader deal is needed because unregulated fishing could do damage to the Arctic Ocean's ecosystem as waters continue to warm.
The U.S. State Department said last year that the non-binding agreement, signed in Oslo, acknowledged that commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean - an area bigger than Alaska and Texas combined - is unlikely to happen soon. But it also acknowledged that the reduction of Arctic sea ice and the limited scope of scientific knowledge about marine life in the area make it necessary to prevent unregulated fishing.
Signers agreed not to fish in the area until international fishing management measures are in place for the Arctic's high seas. More than 200 species of fish thrive in the Arctic, some of which have commercial value, such as the Arctic cod.
© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about ourPrivacy Policy and Terms of Use.

US wants to form an agremeent to ban Arctic Ocean fishing

The United States is trying to broker an agreement between...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Tropical Storm Aere was drifting in the South China Sea, just south of Hong Kong, as NASA's Terra satellite passed overhead.</div>
As a result of the storm's close proximity to land, the Central Weather Bureau of Hong Kong issued Standby signal #1.

On Oct. 7 at 02:50 UTC (Oct. 6 at 10:50 p.m. EDT) the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Aere off southeast China. Thunderstorms circled the well-defined center of the storm while a large band of thunderstorms feeding into the center stretched to the north and northeast of the center over the coast of China.

At 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT) on Oct. 7, Tropical Storm Aere's maximum sustained winds were near 52 mph (45 knots/83 kph). Aere continues to intensify while over warm sea surface temperatures.

It was about 148 nautical miles southeast of Hong Kong, near 20.8 degrees north latitude and 116.3 degrees east longitude. Aere was moving to the north-northwest at 4.6 mph (4 knots/7.4 kph).

There is currently no big weather system to drive the track of Aere, and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said that a developing sub-tropical ridge (elongated area) of high pressure building over China will push the storm to the west. Current forecast track moves Aere south of Hainan Island, China by Oct. 12.


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<div></div>

Tropical Storm Aere drifting in the South China Sea

Tropical Storm Aere was drifting in the South China Sea,...

As a consequence of a warming Earth, the risk of a megadrought – one that lasts more than 35 years – in the American Southwest likely will rise from a low chance over the past thousand years to a 20 to 50 percent chance in this century. However, by slashing greenhouse gas emissions, these risks are nearly cut in half, according to a Cornell-led study in Science Advances, Oct. 5.

“Megadroughts are rare events, occurring only once or twice each millennium. In <a href="http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/02/megadrought-likely-western-us-end-century">earlier work</a>, we showed that climate change boosts the chances of a megadrought, but in this paper we investigated how cutting fossil fuel emissions reduces this risk,” said lead author <a href="http://www.eas.cornell.edu/people/profile.cfm?netid=tra38_eng">Toby Ault</a>, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric science.

If climate change goes unabated – and causes more than a 2 degree Celsius increase in atmospheric temperature – megadroughts will become very probable, Ault said.

“The increase in risk is not due to any particular change in the dynamic circulation of the atmosphere,” Ault said. “It’s because the projected increase in atmospheric demand for moisture from the land surface will shift the soil moisture balance. If this happens, megadroughts will be far more likely for next millennium.”

Ault explained a natural “tug-of-war” governing the surface moisture balance between the precipitation supply (rain) and evaporation (transpiration). But he cautions that increases in average regional temperatures could be so dramatic – more than 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) – that evaporation wins out. This, in turn, dries out the land surface and makes megadroughts 70 to 99 percent likely.

“We found that megadrought risk depends strongly on temperature, which is somewhat good news,” Ault said. “This means that an aggressive strategy for cutting greenhouse gas emissions could keep regional temperature changes from going beyond about 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).”

This lower average warming figure cuts the megadrought risk almost in half, he said.

These tug-of-war scenarios could very well play out in the American Southwest, according to tree ring and geologic records. During sequences of exceptionally dry years, those rings tend to be relatively narrower than in wet years, he said.

“Tree rings from the American Southwest provides evidence of megadroughts, as there are multiple decades when growth is suppressed by dry conditions,” Ault said, pointing to several megadroughts that occurred in North America between 1300 and 1100 B.C.

“We also know they have occurred in other parts of the world, and they have been linked to the demise of several pre-industrial civilizations,” he said.

The tug-of-war between moisture supply and demand might play out differently in other parts of the world, Ault said.

“Nonetheless, even in the Southwest we found examples of plausible 21st-century climates where precipitation increases, but megadroughts still become more likely,” said Ault, who noted the normally verdant Northeast is in the middle of drought. “This should serve as a cautionary note for areas like the Northeast expecting to see a more-average moisture supply.

“Megadrought risks are still likely to be higher in the future than they were in the past,” he said. “Hence, efficient use of water resources in the drought-stricken American Southwest are likely to help that region thrive during a changing climate.”

On the paper, “<a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/10/e1600873">Relative Impacts of Mitigation, Temperature, and Precipitation on 21st-Century Megadrought Risk in the American Southwest</a>,” Ault is joined by Justin S. Mankin and Benjamin Cook, both of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and Jason E. Smerdon of Columbia University. The National Science Foundation supported this research.

Scientists: Virtual certainty of a megadrought in the American Southwest

As a consequence of a warming Earth, the risk of...

The United Nations' aviation arm overwhelmingly ratified an agreement Thursday to control global warming emissions from international airline flights, the first international climate-change pact to set limits on a single industry.
The agreement, adopted at the International Civil Aviation Organization's assembly meeting in Montreal, sets airlines' carbon emissions in the year 2020 as the upper limit of what carriers are allowed to discharge without penalty. Airlines that exceed that limit in future years, as most are expected to do, will have to offset their emissions growth by buying carbon credits from other industries.
The agreement is "a balanced, pragmatic, and very positive development," said ICAO Director General Liu Fang, adding that it will "serve as an important new tool to complement the emissions reduction progress already being achieved" by airlines through technological innovations, modernized operations and growing use of alternative fuels.
Countries must still act on their own to put the agreement's limits into effect. Environmentalists complained the agreement was weakened by a last minute change that removed language that would have aligned its aims with a landmark climate-change accord reached in Paris last December.
The first phase of the agreement, which is voluntary, covers 2021 to 2027. Participation becomes mandatory from 2028 through 2035. Some countries were still trying to decide whether to participate in the voluntary phase.
The 15-year agreement is expected to reduce carbon that would otherwise be emitted by 2.5 billion tons, according to an Environmental Defense Fund calculation. That's roughly equivalent to taking 35 million cars off the road every year for the life of the agreement, she said.
Among the countries with significant international air traffic that have indicated they will participate in the voluntary phase are the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore. The European Union's aviation conference, which includes 44 nations, has also indicated it intends to participate. However, Russia doesn't currently plan to participate in the voluntary phase, and India expressed reservations with portions of the pact.
The agreement has the backing of the airline industry even though it could cost airlines an estimated $5.3 billion annually in the early years and as much as $23.9 billion a year by 2035. Airlines spent $181 billion on fuel last year.
Airlines that keep their emissions down through more fuel efficient planes and aircraft operations will spend less on carbon credits. But since aviation is growing rapidly, emissions growth is expected to far outstrip increased efficiencies.
The deal applies only to international flights, which account for about 60 percent of aviation. Emissions from domestic airline flights fall under the Paris climate change accord, which goes into effect next month. That accord commits rich and poor countries to take action to curb the rise in global temperatures that is melting glaciers, raising sea levels and shifting rainfall patterns. Governments must present national plans to reduce emissions to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Airlines that fly internationally were left out of the Paris accord because they protested that it would mean dealing with a patchwork of country-by-country regulations.
The last minute change to the aviation emissions agreement stripped out language that would have aligned the agreement with the goal of keeping global warming below a 2 degree rise.
"This deal was the world's first opportunity to test whether the new Paris Agreement would change the way we do business and rally the world toward its new goals. Yet just hours after celebrating the Paris Agreement's early entry into force, countries at ICAO are sending mixed signals about their ambition to reduce emissions by weakening the link between the aviation mechanism and the long term goals set in Paris," said Lou Leonard, vice president of the World Wildlife Fund.
Aviation accounts for less than 2 percent of the world's carbon emissions. That may seem small, but if aviation were a country it would be the world's seventh largest carbon emitter - larger than Canada or South Korea, but not as big as Germany. By the middle of the century, aviation emissions are expected to triple what they were in 2005.
Airlines say they have already made significant changes. U.S. airlines, for example, carried 24 percent more passengers and cargo in 2015 than they did in 2000, while improving their fuel efficiency by 31 percent and emitting 6 percent less CO2, according to Airlines for America, a trade association for major carriers.
---
Follow Joan Lowy at <a href="http://twitter.com/AP-Joan-Lowy.">http://twitter.com/AP-Joan-Lowy.</a> Her work can be found at<a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joan-lowy">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joan-lowy</a>
© 2016 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.

UN reaches agreement to control global warming emissions from airplanes

The United Nations' aviation arm overwhelmingly ratified an agreement Thursday...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Satellite imagery showed Hurricane Matthew's clouds already streaming over Florida on Oct. 6 as it regained Category 4 status.</div>
A visible image showing powerful Hurricane Matthew and Nicole on Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. EDT was captured by NOAA's GOES-East satellite. The image shows large Hurricane Matthew's clouds stretching from eastern Cuba and Hispaniola, over the Bahamas and extending to Florida. Matthew is west of the much smaller Tropical Storm Nicole. The image was created at the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Matthew was located near 25.1 degrees north latitude and 77.8 degrees west longitude. That's about 25 miles (40 km) west-northwest of Nassau, Bahamas and 180 miles (290 km) southeast of West Palm Beach, Florida.

NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the "eye is moving toward the northwest near 14 mph (22 kph) between Andros Island and Nassau in the Bahamas. This general motion is expected to continue today with a turn toward the north-northwest tonight or early Friday. On the forecast track, Matthew should cross the northwestern Bahamas later today and move close to or over the east coast of the Florida peninsula through Friday night.

Reports form an Air Force plane indicate that the maximum sustained winds are near 140 mph (220 kph) with higher gusts. Matthew is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some additional strengthening is possible, and Matthew should remain a Category 4 hurricane while it approaches the Florida coast."

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 160 miles (260 km). The minimum central pressure estimated by an Air Force plane was 940 millibars.

---

For updated forecasts, please visit the NHC website at: <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nhc.noaa.gov</a>.


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<div></div>

Hurricane Matthew regains Category 4 status

Satellite imagery showed Hurricane Matthew's clouds already streaming over Florida...

<div>Researchers at Tel Aviv University have revealed how microalgae produce hydrogen, a clean fuel of the future, and suggest a possible mechanism to jumpstart mass production of this environmentally-friendly energy source. Their results have been published in back-to-back studies in Plant Physiology and Biotechnology for Biofuels.</div>
<div>

The research was led by Dr. Iftach Yacoby, head of TAU's renewable energy laboratory, and Rinat Semyatich, Haviva Eisenberg, Iddo Weiner and Oded Liran, his students at the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security at TAU's Faculty of Life Sciences.

Researchers in the past believed that algae only produce hydrogen in the course of a single microburst at dawn lasting just a few minutes. But Dr. Yacoby and his team used highly sensitive technology to discover that algae produce hydrogen from photosynthesis all day long. Armed with this discovery, the team harnessed genetic engineering to increase algae's production of this clean energy source 400 percent.

Increasing algae's output of hydrogen

Laboratory tests revealed that algae create hydrogen with the assistance of the enzyme hydrogenase, which breaks down when oxygen is present. The researchers discovered effective mechanisms to remove oxygen so hydrogenase can keep producing hydrogen.

"The discovery of the mechanisms makes it clear that algae have a huge underutilized potential for the production of hydrogen fuel," said Dr. Yacoby. "The next question is how to beef up production for industrial purposes -- to get the algae to overproduce the enzyme."

Some 99% of the hydrogen produced in the US comes from natural gas. But the methods used to draw hydrogen from natural gas are toxic -- and wasteful.

Answering the need for clean energy

"I grew up on a farm, dreaming of hydrogen," said Dr. Yacoby. "Since the beginning of time, we have been using agriculture to make our own food. But when it comes to energy, we are still hunter-gatherers. Cultivating energy from agriculture is really the next revolution. There may be other ways to produce hydrogen, but this is the greenest and the only agricultural one.

"The world burns in just one year energy it took the earth over a million years to produce," Dr. Yacoby continued. "We must stop being hunters and gatherers of energy. We must start producing clean energy -- for our children and for our children's children."

Dr. Yacoby is now researching synthetic enzymes capable of increasing hydrogen production from microalgae to industrial levels.
###
Tel Aviv University (TAU) is inherently linked to the cultural, scientific and entrepreneurial mecca it represents. It is one of the world's most dynamic research centers and Israel's most distinguished learning environment. Its unique-in-Israel multidisciplinary environment is highly coveted by young researchers and scholars returning to Israel from post-docs and junior faculty positions in the US.

American Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFTAU) enthusiastically and industriously pursues the advancement of TAU in the US, raising money, awareness and influence through international alliances that are vital to the future of this already impressive institution.

</div>

Algae may soon be a source of clean energy

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have revealed how microalgae produce...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Scientists are increasingly concerned about the impact of climate change on the world's biodiversity and much effort has been placed into forecasting the response of species to these changes over the next century. Research aiming to forecast species' responses often assumes that species are adapted to current climate conditions and will follow their preferred climates during future climate change. However, the distribution of species today may largely be a product of the climate of the deep past, or paleoclimate.</div>
The legacy of paleoclimate on modern biodiversity patterns is the subject of a new study led by Arizona State University's John Rowan and Kaye Reed in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, along with researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University of Michigan, Jason Kamilar and Lydia Beaudrot, respectively. Rowan is a graduate student in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Reed is a Research Associate with the Institute of Human Origins and President's Professor with the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

The researchers statistically analyzed the relative influence of modern, mid-Holocene (~ 6,000 years ago) and Last Glacial Maximum (~ 22,000 years ago) climate on African mammal communities today. Their analysis shows that the structure of mammal communities across Africa today is actually more tightly linked to the climate of the mid-Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum than to modern climate. The mid-Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum are periods of climate extremes during the late Quaternary, with the mid-Holocene being warm and wet and the Last Glacial Maximum being cool and arid. These past climate changes drastically altered the distribution of vegetation in Africa (e.g., savannas, forests) and the mammal species that rely upon them.

[caption id="attachment_88615" align="alignleft" width="150"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-88615" src="http://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cff2.earth-com-temp.comuploads20161005191111media.eurekalert.orgmultimedia_prodpubweb123844_web-8b2c0fb19014fb88088dfb1782883f5ec91710a9-4a315c01567f97cb89662a82884f0a32a28c64bc-150x150.jpg" alt="Temperature, vegetation and human population growth changes over the last 22,000 years. " width="150" height="150" /> Temperature, vegetation and human population growth changes over the last 22,000 years.[/caption]

The study examined how the community structure of three different mammal groups (carnivorans, like lions and hyenas; primates, like gorillas and baboons; ungulates, like wildebeest and zebra) was influenced by modern and past climates. They found that, unlike all other groups, primates have closely followed their preferred climates through time. This is because primates are highly dependent on forests for their survival and have shifted their distributions in response to the changing distribution of forests through wet and dry periods over the last 22,000 years. Carnivoran and ungulate communities, like mammals overall, are more closely linked with past climate.

Their startling finding, that past climates are more important to the structure of mammal communities than modern climate, implies that African mammal species have either failed to move with their preferred environments over the last several thousand years of climate change or that these species are ecologically flexible and can persist in wide range of climatic conditions. If species have failed to move with their preferred environment through time to the present, then there is a significant time lag between climate change and species' response. Even worse, this time lag occurs under natural rates of climate change -- much slower than rates of anthropogenic climate change.

"The three- to four-degree increase from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present occurred over several thousand years," Rowan says, "and was a shift from an 'Ice Age' world to a warmer one. Now, we're looking at up to a four degree shift in less than a century, and one in which we go from a warm world to an even warmer one. The magnitude and rate of climate change we see over the next century may be unprecedented in Earth's history -- species are, in a very real sense, going to have to cope with something they've never experienced before. It's a whole new world."

On the other hand, the second possibility offers a more optimistic point of view. If African mammal species are ecologically flexible and can persist in a wide range of climate conditions, then they may be able to cope with future changes. However, the vastly faster rates of anthropogenic climate change casts doubt on this hopeful view.

"Even if species are flexible enough to have coped with gradual climate changes over the last several thousand years, we still don't know how they will respond to rapid changes. This uncertainty makes devising robust conservation actions one of the most daunting challenges of the twenty-first century," says Rowan.

"The results of this study on past climate influence can be used to compare the effects of other possible drivers of species distributions and community structure, such as human disruptions of the environment," says Reed. "This will enable forecasting in the future that will be able to analyze the effects of multiple causational factors and lead to better conservation plans for mammal species."
###
The Institute of Human Origins (IHO) and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change are units of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. IHO is one of the preeminent research organizations in the world devoted to the science of human origins.

</div>

Forecasting the impact of climate change on the world's biodiversity

Scientists are increasingly concerned about the impact of climate change...

<div>The frequency of common landslides is not likely to increase as a result of more rainstorms brought about by future climate change, new research from <a href="http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cardiff University</a> has shown.</div>
<div>

Experts at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences have shown that while the frequency of rainstorms may increase by up to 10% according to climate change projections, this would produce a long-term increase in shallow landslide frequency of less than 0.5%.

Shallow landslides are the most common type of landslide and are often caused by heavy rainfall. They occur through the collapse of soil, resulting in fast moving debris flows of rock and mud that present a very dangerous hazard to anything in their path.

The new findings, which have been published in the journal Scientific Reports, challenges current theories within the field which suggest that landslide activity could increase proportionally with increased rainfall.

Instead, the research findings show that the triggering of landslides is much more dependent on the build-up of soil - otherwise known as colluvium - on steep hillslopes, as opposed to rainfall from storms.

The research team arrived at their results by performing field investigations in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, specifically looking at how the time taken for soil to accumulate on hillslopes affected the landslide triggering rate. The team then used computer models to calculate how future landslide hazards may develop as a result of climate change.

According to the researchers, shallow landslides occur when soil slowly accumulates on a mountainside over a very long time period, from thousands to tens of thousands of years. During a storm, converging ground water flow and the infiltration of rain into the colluvium causes landslides to be triggered.

It then takes thousands of years for soil to accumulate once again on the mountainside before a landslide can occur again, so an increase in the frequency of storms during this time would have little effect on the frequency of landslides.

Lead author of the study Dr Rob Parker, from Cardiff University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, said: "Our results have shown that lots more storms result in very few extra landslides. Though observations tell us that heavy rainfall triggers landslides, it is the process of soil accumulation that happens in the thousands of years leading up to a landslide that can be really important in determining how often landslides occur.

"Though we still expect shallow landslides to continue to be a major hazard in our future wetter climate, we do not expect the frequency of landslides to increase in proportion to the frequency of extreme precipitation events."

"Landslides pose a major hazard to life and infrastructure, affecting around 12% of the world's population who live in mountain ranges," Dr Parker continued.

"In addition to the direct hazard they pose, landslides are the primary source of sediment in mountain ranges, with significant knock-on effects on river, floodplain and estuarine systems, as well as playing an important role in global biogeochemical cycles.

"The consequences of landslides are therefore wide-reaching, so it's vital that we get a better understanding of how they may evolve under future climate conditions."


</div>

Study: Climate change unlikely to impact landslide frequency

The frequency of common landslides is not likely to increase...

<div>Lake Victoria in East Africa will become a hotspot for hazardous thunderstorms due to climate change. This is shown by an international study led by KU Leuven (University of Leuven, Belgium). The findings were published in Nature Communications.</div>
<div>

Lake Victoria is divided among Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. With a surface close to 70,000 km2, it is the biggest lake in Africa. The lake is also a notoriously dangerous place for the 200,000 people who go fishing there at night. The International Red Cross estimates that between 3,000 and 5,000 fishermen per year lose their lives in violent storms on the lake.

That Lake Victoria can be so stormy at night is related to the circulation in the atmosphere above the enormous water surface, explains climate scientist Wim Thiery, who is affiliated with both KU Leuven and ETH Zürich.

"During the day, a breeze develops that flows from the cool water towards the warm land. At night, we see the opposite: the land breeze flows away from the cooling land towards the warmer lake. As the lake is shaped like a circle, these land breezes from all directions converge above the lake. Add evaporation to this cocktail and you get a lot of storms, rain, wind, and waves."

Thiery was able to provide scientific evidence for this pattern in collaboration with American space agency NASA: "Thanks to new NASA satellite products we were able to map the number of hazardous thunderstorms and their locations in East Africa - every 15 minutes for a period ranging from 2005 to 2013. During the day, most storms rage over the surrounding land, especially the typical afternoon thunderstorms that are caused by local upsurges of warm air. At night, these storms concentrate above Lake Victoria."

To predict the impact of climate change on this process, Thiery also ran climate simulations using an advanced computer model: "If we start from a business-as-usual scenario, whereby the emission of greenhouse gases continues to increase, the extreme amounts of rainfall over Lake Victoria will increase by twice as much as the rainfall over the surrounding land. As a result, the lake will become a hotspot for night-time storms. Superstorms that occur only once every 15 years today will occur almost every year by the end of the century."

The scientists plan to do further research to optimize existing warning systems for local fishermen: "Our results make it possible to better predict extreme storms over the lake and to reduce the vulnerability of the local fishermen. In the meantime, we have already developed a prototype of a new warning system."


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Climate change is intensifying night-time storms over many lakes

Lake Victoria in East Africa will become a hotspot for...

Satellites continue to provide forecasters and scientists valuable data on the development and changes in Hurricane Matthew as it moves through the Bahamas and toward the Florida coast. NASA and NOAA satellites have provided visible, infrared and microwave data that enable forecasters to analyze the storm. The National Hurricane Center noted that Matthew is forecast to be a category 4 hurricane as it approaches the east coast of Florida.
<div>

On Oct. 5 at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 UTC) the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of Hurricane Matthew moving through the Bahamas.

At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland the NASA/NOAA GOES Project combined infrared and visible imagery from NOAA's GOES-East satellite into an animation of Matthew. The animation of imagery from Oct. 4 to Oct. 6 shows Hurricane Matthew making landfall on Oct. 4 in western Haiti and moving through the Bahamas on Oct. 6.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Southeastern Bahamas including The Inaguas, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, and Ragged Island. The warning is in effect for the Central Bahamas, Including Long Island, Exuma, Rum Cay, San Salvador, and Cat Island; the Northwestern Bahamas, including The Abacos, Andros Island, Berry Islands, Bimini, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama Island and New Providence. In Florida and Georgia, Hurricane Warnings are in effect north Of Golden Beach Florida to Altamaha Sound Georgia and Lake Okeechobee.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect from north of Altamaha Sound to South Santee River South Carolina. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Chokoloskee to Golden Beach, Florida; for the Florida Keys from Seven Mile Bridge Eastward and Florida Bay. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from north Of Chokoloskee to Suwannee River.

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At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Matthew was located near 24.6 degrees north latitude and 77.5 degrees west longitude. That's about 30 miles (45 km) south-southwest of Nassau, Bahamas and 215 miles (350 km) southeast of West Palm Beach, Florida.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Matthew is moving toward the northwest near 12 mph (19 kph), and this general motion is expected to continue today, Oct. 6. A turn toward the north-northwest is expected tonight. On the forecast track, the eye of Matthew should pass near Andros Island and New Providence in the northwestern Bahamas during the next few hours, pass near Grand Bahama Island late today, and move very close to the east coast of the Florida peninsula tonight through Friday night, Oct. 7.

NHC said that reports from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that the maximum sustained winds remain near 125 mph (205 kph) with higher gusts. Matthew is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Additional strengthening is expected today, and Matthew is forecast to be a category 4 hurricane as it approaches the east coast of Florida.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles (65 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 160 miles (260 km). Nassau in the Bahamas recently reported sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph) with a wind gust of 61 mph (98 km/h).

The latest minimum central pressure estimated by a reconnaissance aircraft was 940 millibars.

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For updated forecasts, please visit the NHC website at : <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">http://www.nhc.noaa.gov</a>.


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Hurricane Matthew moves through the Bahamas

Satellites continue to provide forecasters and scientists valuable data on...

<div>Satellite imagery shows that Tropical Storm Nicole is less than half the size of powerful Hurricane Matthew. Matthew is moving through the Bahamas, while Nicole, positioned east of Matthew, is holding steady just below hurricane strength as it crawls toward Bermuda.</div>
<div>

On Oct. 5 at 10:35 a.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Nicole in the western Atlantic Ocean. Strong thunderstorms around the storm's center bubbled higher than the surrounding storms.

A visible image showing Matthew and Nicole on Oct. 6 at 7:45 a.m. EDT was captured by NOAA's GOES-East satellite. The image shows large Hurricane Matthew stretching from eastern Cuba and Hispaniola, over the Bahamas and extending to Florida. Matthew is west of the much smaller Tropical Storm Nicole. Nicole was about 400 miles south of Bermuda and although approaching hurricane strength, no eye was yet visible.

<a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NOAA's National Hurricane Center</a> forecaster Cangialosi noted on the Oct. 6 Nicole discussion at 5 a.m. EDT, "The cloud pattern has generally changed little since the previous advisory, and it consists of a central dense overcast feature with some curved bands to the east of the center. Earlier microwave data did show a mid-level eye, but this feature is not apparent in geostationary satellite images."

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Nicole was located near 26.5 degrees north latitude and 64.7 degrees west longitude. That's about 400 miles (645 km) south of Bermuda, and 565 miles (910 km) north of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Nicole was moving toward the northwest near 9 mph (15 kph). A turn toward the north-northwest is expected later today. A slow and meandering motion is forecast tonight and Friday.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 70 mph (110 kph) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast today, with some weakening anticipated by late Friday.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from the center. The estimated minimum central pressure is 995 millibars.

At the same time, Matthew's maximum sustained winds were near 125 mph (205 kph). In Matthew, hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles (65 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 160 miles (260 km), so Matthew is more than twice the size of Nicole and of course much stronger.

Nicole is expected to drift erratically as a trough currently off the coast of New England is expected to move southeastward and erode the ridge. "This pattern change will likely leave Nicole in weak steering currents beginning in about 24 hours (Oct. 7)," Cangialosi said.


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Tropical Storm Nicole seen crawling towards Bermuda

Satellite imagery shows that Tropical Storm Nicole is less than...

The federal government is using a new assessment of mineral resources on 10 million acres in six Western states to decide whether to ban potential mining on the land to protect an imperiled bird.
Scientists completed the 800-page review that looked at areas with high numbers of sage grouse and high-quality habitat for the bird. The review, requested by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, was released Tuesday.
The BLM says the study will help it evaluate the economic and environmental trade-offs of withdrawing the public lands from mining in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming for 20 years.
"The report is critical to give us an idea of what the potential is for development," said BLM spokesman Mark Mackiewicz.
The agency plans to release a draft environmental impact statement in December outlining possible alternatives.
Sage grouse are found in 11 Western states. About 200,000 to 500,000 remain, down from a peak population of about 16 million.
The proposed withdrawal of the lands - subject to an 1872 mining law meant to encourage development of Western land - is part of new U.S. policies announced in late 2015. At the same time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said sage grouse didn't need federal protections under the Endangered Species Act, a decision that will be reviewed in about four years.
Under the 1872 mining law, federal officials don't have the discretion to deny mining claims. Withdrawing the 10 million acres from being subject to that law would allow BLM officials to block mining claims.
The 10 million acres are already under a temporary freeze from new mining claims while the BLM prepares the environmental impact statement. The freeze doesn't affect mining claims already in place.
The U.S. Geological Survey in preparing the report examined the potential mineral development in remaining sage grouse strongholds. The study found that in Wyoming, key sage grouse habitat sits atop bentonite.
The Wyoming Mining Association says bentonite has many uses, including drilling fluids and sealants, and that Wyoming is the nation's leading producer of it and cutting off access would harm the state.
"If that's the trajectory that this goes, we're absolutely going to oppose such a measure," said Travis Deti, the group's acting executive director. "We would certainly hope they would not use this as a tool to place more burdens on the mining industry in our state."
Ranchers and officials in Utah, Idaho and Nevada mounted legal challenges contending that sage grouse-related restrictions imposed on land use last year will impede economic development. Environmental groups have sued contending restrictions don't go far enough.
John Freemuth, a Boise State University professor and public lands expert, said the Geological Survey study could provide the scientific backing for whatever the BLM ultimately decides.
"You've got a trade-off between it being key habitat and it having some valuable resource," he said, "and they're going to have to figure out how to deal with that."
The publicly accessible study put together by more than 60 Geological Survey workers over about a year is expected to be a valuable resource for land managers. It will also be of interest to miners as it identifies potential mineral deposits.
"We've done all the heavy lifting of getting all the relevant data together in one easy-to-access package," said Larry Meinert, head of the USGS Mineral Resources Program. "That's a valuable resource for anybody."
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Feds weigh mineral mining ban to save the endangered sage grouse

The federal government is using a new assessment of mineral...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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



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

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the importance of monitoring the shape of the sea surface, which is constantly changing. These observations have many applications, such as ship routing, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-modem-ocean-is-a-tough-place-for-whales-to-survive/">ocean</a> current forecasting, and debris tracking.



"A project supported by the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities recently investigated a new technique to measure sea surface topography very precisely," reports ESA.



"The technique involves looking at satellite navigation (GNSS) signals that have been reflected off of the sea surface at very low angles. At these so-called grazing angles, waves and surface roughness have very little impact on the reflection process; the sea surface acts as a very smooth mirror."



Estel Cardellach is the principal investigator at the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia, who first submitted the idea for the project.



“In a mirror-like reflection the phase of the signal can be tracked – it is continuous," said Cardellach. "Different surface heights result in different phase measurements. It gives a very precise measurement of the surface altitude at a few centimetres’ precision.”



The researchers developed a GNSS receiver and set up an experiment in the Balaeric Islands to collect signals from the receiver that were reflected off the sea surface. Ultimately, these signals will provide improved measurements of the shape of the sea surface.



Image/ Video Credit: ESA



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

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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