Micro- and nanoscale plastic particles can greatly increase how much toxic chemicals enter plants and human cells, according to two studies led by Rutgers University. The findings deepen concerns about plastic pollution.&nbsp;



The researchers discovered that these minute plastic particles, in combination with environmental pollutants, can intensify the uptake of poisons, heightening food safety risks.



One study, published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452074825000011?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NanoImpact</a>, showed that lettuce plants exposed to both nanoparticles of plastic and common pollutants - such as arsenic - absorbed significantly more toxins than when exposed to the pollutants alone.&nbsp;



A second study published in the journal <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8929/4/1/4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microplastics</a> demonstrated a comparable effect in human intestinal tissue, signaling that these tiny plastics may be promoting more efficient transfer of both contaminants and plastics into our bodies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heightened-levels-of-plastics-and-toxins">Heightened levels of plastics and toxins</h2>



Together, these studies point to a potentially harmful cycle. As plastic degrades into micro- and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-could-help-remove-nanoplastics-from-the-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nanoplastics</a>, it pollutes soil and water, enabling plants to absorb more dangerous substances.&nbsp;



Humans, consuming these plants, may then absorb heightened levels of toxins and plastic particles, posing elevated health risks.



Philip Demokritou is the director of the Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Center at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute at <a href="https://www.rutgers.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rutgers University</a> and senior author on both papers.&nbsp;



“We’ve already put about 7 billion metric tons of plastics into the environment that keep breaking apart,” said Demokritou. "They pollute everything around us - the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-escalated-toxin-uptake-in-human-cells">Escalated toxin uptake in human cells</h2>



Using a simulated digestive system and lab-grown models of the human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-migrate-from-the-gut-to-other-organs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">small intestine</a>, the Rutgers researchers documented that nano-scale plastic particles increased the amount of arsenic absorbed by nearly sixfold compared to arsenic exposure alone.&nbsp;



The same phenomenon was observed with the commonly used pesticide boscalid.



Even more concerning, in the presence of these chemicals, the cells also took in considerably more plastic. Plastic particle uptake roughly doubled when toxins were present.



“We know nanoscale materials can bypass biological barriers,” said Demokritou. “The smaller the particles, the more they can bypass biological barriers in our bodies that protect us.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastics-and-toxin-absorption-in-lettuce">Plastics and toxin absorption in lettuce</h2>



In a separate study on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/space-lettuce-nasas-plans-to-grow-nutritious-plants-on-mars/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lettuce</a>, scientists exposed the plants to two sizes of polystyrene plastic particles - 20 nanometers and 1,000 nanometers - along with arsenic and boscalid.&nbsp;



The researchers found that the smaller particles exerted the greatest influence, increasing arsenic levels in edible plant tissue nearly threefold compared to arsenic exposure alone.



These effects remained evident in both hydroponic systems and soil-based experiments. Using high-resolution imaging, the researchers verified that smaller plastic particles can travel from roots into the above-ground tissues of the plant, allowing them to accumulate in areas people typically eat.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastics-keep-breaking-down">Plastics keep breaking down</h2>



Micro- and nanoplastic pollution arises mainly from the progressive degradation of larger plastic debris. According to Demokritou, stopping new plastic production won’t erase what is already out in the environment.



“Even if we stop today producing plastics or using plastics, we have plenty of plastic waste unfortunately out there,” Demokritou said.



Because these smaller particles seem to raise absorption levels of both toxins and plastics, food contamination from plastic pollution could persist indefinitely, with potential impacts on overall public health.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-directions-and-possible-solutions">Future directions and possible solutions</h2>



The team’s findings come from a broader <a href="https://www.usda.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDA</a>-funded project focused on ensuring food safety amid micro- and nanoplastic pollution. 



The researchers argue for heightened efforts to minimize further plastic waste while also searching for long-term resolutions.



“We need to stick with the ‘three-R’ waste hierarchy - reduce the use of plastics, reuse, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-recycling-day-creating-a-healthier-planet-for-all/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recycle</a>,” Demokritou said. “For areas where you cannot apply these three Rs, like in agriculture where so much plastic is used for weed control and other things, use biodegradable plastics.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-substitutes-for-conventional-plastic">Substitutes for conventional plastic</h2>



To address pollution, the scientists are developing new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biodegradable-plastic-materials-do-not-biodegrade-in-the-ocean/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biodegradable materials</a> as substitutes for conventional plastics. They are also refining techniques to detect and measure plastic contamination in food and water.&nbsp;



Still, Demokritou stressed that fully mitigating plastic pollution will require grappling with social, economic, and technological obstacles.



“It’s not that technically we cannot address some of these issues. But it will definitely be a challenge to retain all the benefits from this very useful material while reducing the harms that it does. There are social and economic obstacles related to plastic production and use to overcome,” Demokritou concluded.



-----



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Plastics supercharge toxin absorption in plants and humans

Micro- and nanoscale plastic particles can greatly increase how much toxic chemicals enter plants and human cells, according to two studies led by Rutgers University. The findings deepen concerns about plastic pollution.&nbsp; The researchers discovered that these minute plastic particles, in combination with environmental pollutants, can intensify the uptake of poisons, heightening food safety risks. One study, published in the journal NanoImpact, showed that lettuce plants exposed to both nanoparticles of plastic and common pollutants - such as arsenic - absorbed significantly more toxins than when exposed...

<div>IMERG measures deadly rainfall from Hurricane Earl. Hurricane Earl began as a tropical wave that was tracked by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) from the African coast to the <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/hispaniola-caribbean-sea/">Caribbean Sea</a>. The tropical wave drenched the Dominican Republic, where it was blamed for the deaths of six people. Southwest of Jamaica on Aug. 2, 2016, the tropical wave developed a closed circulation, and Earl was upgraded to a tropical storm.</div>
<div>

On Aug. 3, Earl became a hurricane when it was located about 150 miles east of Belize. On Aug. 4 Earl made landfall just southwest of Belize City, Belize, at about 2 a.m. EDT (6 a.m. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">UTC</a>). At landfall Earl had winds of about 81 mph (70 knots). Earl weakened to tropical depression intensity over the Yucatan but regained tropical storm wind speeds of about 58 mph (50 knots) when it emerged over the Bay of Campeche. On Aug. 6, Earl hit Mexico again just south of Veracruz. Earl was then disrupted by Mexico's rough terrain and dissipated. IMERG measures deadly rainfall from Hurricane Earl

Data from NASA's Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) were used to estimate the amount of rain that fell from Aug. 2 through Aug. 8. GPM is the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, a joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

[ooyala code="9saDU4NTE6Pe_bdC7ojXBHClMMB_24oq" player_id="ce75157bc770441eaf5e849ae4d1d21f" auto="true" width="896" height="504"]

The analysis, created at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, showed rainfall over the period from when Earl became a tropical storm until Earl's remnants interacted with an area of disturbed weather along the Pacific coast. Some areas in extreme southern Mexico received up to 43.3 inches (1,100 mm) of rain.

The IMERG analysis showed the extreme amount of rain that was dropped by Earl over Belize, Guatemala, eastern Mexico and Mexico's Pacific coast.

According to the official Twitter account of Luis Puente, Mexico's national civil protection coordinator, at least 40 people were reported killed by landslides in the Mexican states of Puebla and Veracruz.

The remnants of Earl interacted with an area of disturbed weather along the Pacific coast of Mexico and aided in the formation of a tropical depression that became Tropical Storm Javier on Aug. 7.


</div>
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IMERG measures deadly rainfall from Hurricane Earl

IMERG measures deadly rainfall from Hurricane Earl. Hurricane Earl began...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Several large fires burning on Portugal's Madeira Island. There are several large fires burning on Portugal's Madeira Island and mainland and <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/nasa-telescope-will-capture-millions-of-galaxies/">NASA</a>-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured an image of the smoke generated from them.</div>
This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument that flies aboard <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/nasa-telescope-will-capture-millions-of-galaxies/">NASA</a>-NOAA's Suomi<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=npp+satellite&amp;cvid=7a37c42cc11745439a56752c517b7fc4&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> NPP satellite</a>. VIIRS imagery identified smoke on Aug. 9 at 8:55 a.m. EDT (12:55 UTC). Actively burning areas are outlined in red.

Madeira is an archipelago of four islands located off the northwest coast of Africa. They are an autonomous region of Portugal.The archipelago includes the islands of <a title="Madeira Island" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira_Island">Madeira</a>, <a title="Porto Santo Island" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto_Santo_Island">Porto Santo</a>, and the <a title="Desertas Islands" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertas_Islands">Desertas</a>, administered together with the separate archipelago of the <a title="Savage Islands" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Islands">Savage Islands</a>. The region has political and administrative autonomy through the Administrative Political Statute of the Autonomous Region of Madeira provided for in the Portuguese Constitution. The autonomous region is an integral part of the European Union as an outermost region. Madeira generally has a very mild and moderated subtropical climate with <a title="Mediterranean climate" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate">mediterranean</a> summer droughts and winter rain. There are many <a title="Microclimate" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microclimate">microclimates</a> courtesy of the elevation changes. Madeira was claimed by Portuguese sailors in the service of Prince <a class="mw-redirect" title="Henry the Navigator" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Navigator">Henry the Navigator</a> in 1419 and settled after 1420. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the <a title="Age of Discovery" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Discovery">Age of Discovery</a>.

The National Civil Protection (NPS) service reports a major forest fire in Portugal's Madeira Islands. The fire has triggered evacuations of over 400 people. NPS reported that other wildfires have also been burning in the mainland.

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Several large fires burning on Portugal's Madeira Island

Several large fires burning on Portugal's Madeira Island. There are...

<div>QB50 mission will study the thermosphere. A flotilla of 50 small satellites - known as cubesats and weighing an average of two kilos each - will be launched from the International Space Station in the European-led as QB50 mission to explore the little-understood region above Earth known as the thermosphere.</div>
<div>

The QB50 cubesats have been built by 48 universities and research institutes from 28 nations, including Canada, China, France, Italy, Korea, UK, USA and Australia (<a href="https://qb50.eu/index.php/community" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">see the full list here</a>). It is led by Belgium's Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, and includes three Australian satellites, two of them built at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

They will focus on the lower thermosphere, between 200 and 380 km above Earth, a region vital for communications, weather formation and helps shield Earth from cosmic rays and solar radiation.

"This region is poorly understood and hard to measure," said Andrew Dempster, Director of Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at UNSW. "And yet, it's the interface between our planet and space. It's where much of the ultraviolet and X-ray radiation from the Sun collides with the Earth, and generates auroras and potential hazards that can affect power grids and communications."

The Australian trio are ACSER's UNSW-Ec0, which will study the atomic composition of the thermosphere; INSPIRE-2, a joint project between the University of Sydney, UNSW and the Australian National University which will measure the electron temperature and density of plasma in the region; and SUSat, a joint project between by the University of Adelaide and the University of <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/murray-river-south-australia/">South Australia.</a>

All three satellites, along with 37 other QB50 cubesats, will be launched to the International Space Station in December by an Orbital ATK Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia, inside a Cygnus cargo freighter. The cubesats will be deployed from the ISS between a month or so after arrival, and drift down from the ISS's orbit of 380 km toward the target region. QB50 mission will study the thermosphere

"This is the most extensive exploration of the lower thermosphere ever, collecting measurements in the kind of detail never before tried," said Elias Aboutanios, project leader of UNSW-Ec0 and a senior lecturer at UNSW. "The satellites will operate for 3-9 months - and may last up to a year - orbiting this little-studied region of space, before their orbits decay and they re-enter the atmosphere and burn up."

Each cubesat also carries other instruments with its own engineering and scientific goals. UNSW-Ec0, for example, has three other experiments: a robust computer chip designed to avoid crashing in the harsh radiation of space, as some satellites and space probes are forced to do when hit by cosmic rays; a space-borne GPS to allow satellites to cluster together in swarms; and test a super-reliable computer microkernel in the harsh radiation of space.

In addition, UNSW-Ec0's chassis is made entirely from 3D-printed thermoplastic, itself an experiment to test the reliability of using 3D-printing to manufacture satellites, making them cheaper.


</div>

QB50 mission will study the thermosphere

QB50 mission will study the thermosphere. A flotilla of 50...

<div>Warmer water and ocean acidification harm important plankton Ocean acidification, rising temperatures, eutrophication and loss of oxygen: Life in the oceans has to cope with a variety of factors. How will plants and animals react when global climate change alters their environment? Laboratory and field experiments, observations at naturally extreme habitats and modelling approaches help researchers to evaluate the reactions of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ecosystems-moving-north/">ecosystem</a> ocean. Warmer water and ocean acidification harm important plankton</div>
<div>

Scientists of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">GEOMAR</a> Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel used so-called "indoor mesocosms" to mimic the future ocean in their laboratories: They transferred the natural plankton community from the Kiel Fjord into twelve 1400-liter tanks and brought them to two different temperatures and two different carbon dioxide concentrations. After a month, they examined the number and body size of various developmental stages of copepods as well as their content of fatty acids, which is crucial for the organisms' nutritional value. The up to one millimetre long crustaceans form about eighty per cent of the zooplankton and are an important food for fish and their larvae. The journal PLOS ONE published the results of the study, which was conducted as part of the German research network BIOACID (Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification).

"Several experiments have demonstrated that the effects of various environmental factors on marine organisms either add up or attenuate each other. Because the body functions of organisms are altered differently by the combination of factors, it is very difficult to estimate the ultimate outcome", explains Dr. Jessica Garzke, marine biologist at GEOMAR and first-author of the publication. "For the copepods, we have shown that the negative impact of rising water temperatures is more significant than of ocean acidification. Ocean acidification can mitigate some reactions - for example, because the additional carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the seawater supports the growth of phytoplankton as food for the copepods. But in the end, these benefits are not strong enough to achieve a positive effect."

The Kiel study is the first one to give insight into the effects of ocean acidification and rising temperatures on the composition of fatty acids in a natural community of copepods. "According to our observations, the fatty acid composition is affected negatively. This means that the food quality to higher levels of the food web decreases", Garzke emphasizes. "Food webs, which are influenced by the food quality - not by the sheer mass of supplies - would be deteriorated."

Dr. Garzke and her team assume that their results can be transferred to other coastal regions similar to the Kiel Fjord. "Because the carbon dioxide levels fluctuate greatly due to the flow conditions in the fjord, organisms may be adapted to elevated levels and suffer less than their counterparts in other waters", the biologist supposes. "But we have to consider that more environmental factors will come into play in the future. We need more experiments to investigate these scenarios for ecologically important species."


</div>

Warmer water and ocean acidification harm important plankton

Warmer water and ocean acidification harm important plankton Ocean acidification,...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Study: Oil and gas drilling directly contributes to ozone problems. The first peer-reviewed study to directly quantify how emissions from oil and gas activities influence summertime ozone pollution in the Colorado Front Range confirms that chemical vapors from oil and gas activities are a significant contributor to the region's chronic ozone problem.</div>
Summertime ozone pollution levels in the northern Front Range periodically spike above 70 parts per billion (ppb), which is considered unhealthy--on average, 17 ppb of that ozone is produced locally. The new research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, shows that oil and gas emissions contribute an average of 3 ppb of the locally produced ozone daily, and potentially more than that on high-ozone days.

"By combining nearly 50,000, high-precision measurements of VOCs in Colorado's Front Range with an equally detailed model, we've been able to parse out the role of oil and gas," said Erin McDuffie, the study's lead author and a scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=colorado&amp;cvid=7c6977da8fe8418b9398428a2d5aa988&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Colorado</a> Boulder, working in the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory. "We expect this technique to help us better understand what factors are contributing to air quality challenges elsewhere in the West."

Ozone pollution--which can harm people's lungs and damage crops--is produced when sunlight sparks reactions between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). In cities like Denver, NOx comes primarily from vehicle tailpipes. VOCs can come from both natural sources like trees and anthropogenic ones, like oil and gas activities. Study: Oil and gas drilling directly contributes to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ozone-layer-collapse-caused-a-mass-extinction-event/">ozone</a> problems

Colorado's northern Front Range was an interesting location for this study for a number of reasons, the researchers said. First, it contains the major city of Denver as well as active oil and gas regions to the northeast. "This area is unique, with high concentrations of both nitrogen oxides from urban areas and VOCs from oil and gas. That allows us to look at how oil and gas emissions are influencing ozone production," said McDuffie.

[caption id="attachment_2408554" align="alignleft" width="150"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2408554" src="http://cff1.greenatom.earth/uploads/2016/08/08121206/cff1.greenatom.earthuploads20160808121205media.eurekalert.orgmultimedia_prodpubweb121469_web-a4755b95af1f96f03689e17aaaeb1d6fd718d0c9-c78a0f1fe448dff45cdcbdf09001b3f29fa0daf3-150x150.jpg" alt="Boulder Atmospheric Observatory" width="150" height="150" /> Boulder Atmospheric Observatory[/caption]

Second, the region already has a high natural background of ozone--and that means there's less room between the background levels and the Environmental Protection Agency standard. The researchers determined that on an average summer day, about 58 ppb of ozone present in air above the surface is from regional background sources or residual ozone produced locally during previous days. Mixing of this ozone to the surface during the day leaves very little room for local production before hitting health-based ozone standards.

Third, compared to other parts of the country, the plains of Colorado's Front Range have low levels of VOCs from natural sources during daytime hours when ozone forms--making the region potentially more sensitive to any oil and gas VOC emissions entering the air.

The northern Front Range has seen a big boom in oil and gas activity in recent years: The number of active wells in central Colorado's Wattenberg gas field nearly doubled to over 27,000 between 2008 and 2015, according to state data. Colorado's Air Pollution Control Division experts use a model to identify the sources of ozone formation at various monitoring locations on various days. Considering all sources of emissions, they find that in the Northern Front Range area, the oil and gas sector can be a significant source of VOCs for ozone pollution formation, depending on meteorology and transport.

Colorado has been out of compliance with federal ozone standard since 2007. Last year, the EPA tightened the standard from 75 ppb to 70 ppb.

This study used measurements of ozone and its precursors--NOx and VOCs--made during field campaigns in the summers of 2012 and 2014 at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory (BAO), a tall tower built specifically for atmospheric research, owned and operated by NOAA. To precisely quantify the contributions of oil and gas air to local ozone production , McDuffie used a custom model that included more than 15,000 chemical reactions.

She and her colleagues found that the VOCs from oil and gas contribute an average of 17 percent to local, chemically produced ozone during the summer. "Seventeen percent is small but potentially still significant," said Steven Brown, co-author and scientist at the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory. "

He and his colleagues said they'd like to explore how oil and gas emissions may affect the number of days that ozone is above the standard; this study could not quantify that. And they'd also like to see followup work at a series of coordinated ground sites--for example, between Denver and Fort Collins to the north--to capture what's going on in different places across the region. And the team would like to use this new technique in other places in the U.S West, to analyze the various sources that contribute to ozone pollution there.
###
Authors of "Influence of Oil and Gas Emissions on Summertime Ozone in the Colorado Northern Front Range" in the Journal of Geophysical Research Letters - Atmospheres are Erin E. McDuffie, Peter M. Edwards, Jessica B. Gilman, Brian M. Lerner, William P. Dubé, Michael Trainer, Daniel E. Wolfe, Wayne M. Angevine, Joost deGouw, Eric J. Williams, Alex G. Tevlin, Jennifer G. Murphy, Emily V. Fischer, Stuart McKeen, Thomas B. Ryerson, Jeff Peischl, John S. Holloway, Kenneth Aikin, Andrew O. Langford, Christoph J. Senff, Raul J. Alvarez II, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Kathy O. Lantz, and Steven S. Brown

</div>

Study: Oil and gas drilling directly contributes to ozone problems

Study: Oil and gas drilling directly contributes to ozone problems....

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Strategies for managing climate change refugia. Results of a new study led by Toni Lyn Morelli, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">USGS</a>) and the Northeast Climate Science Center based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, offer a framework for conserving areas she and co-authors dub "climate change refugia," that is, areas naturally buffered from climate change that protect natural and cultural resources.</div>
The study, by a group of resource managers and scientists, sets out for the first time specific steps to help researchers and managers identify and manage these more resilient, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-truffle-industry/">climate</a>-stable havens for plants, animals and fish. Details appear in the current issue of the journal PLOS ONE.

Morelli says, "These are places that will be protected from climate change, at least relative to the land around them. Management actions can then reduce other stressors, like disturbance or invasive species, so these areas can act as short-term sanctuaries for species of conservation concern and other important natural and cultural resources." Strategies for managing climate change refugia

She adds, "Natural resource managers are trying to help species adapt to climate change, looking for places where they can make a difference within the constraints of funding and staff time. They can't act on everything, everywhere, so our idea was to highlight areas that are more resistant to climate change that could help populations remain in place despite warming and changing precipitation."

The authors distinguish climate change refugia from smaller, more transient micro-environmental "refuges" that offer plants and animals protection from exposure and disturbance. By contrast, the refugia concept is an old one with roots in paleontology, used to describe areas where plants and animals were isolated and saved from glacial destruction during past ice ages, Morelli points out.

The authors offer specific steps and opportunities for managing refugia. For example, protecting climate change refugia for wolverines may seem daunting as individuals can range over hundreds of kilometers. However, these predators might benefit from protecting snow refugia because the minimum snowpack they need for den sites can potentially be managed.

Another example they cite is freshwater refugia for cold-water-dependent species such as salmon. Cold groundwater that flows into streams and rivers via deep aquifers buffered from regional air temperatures can support cold, sustained streamflows in regions where water temperatures might become too warm or stream flows too low otherwise. They note that "such large, cold, connected river networks are recognized as regional strongholds for imperiled fish populations facing increasing pressures from climate warming and other stressors."

In addition to discussing historical and contemporary refugia and how they fit into planning, the researchers present seven detailed steps for managing refugia, with challenges and opportunities accompanying each. They note that "species already limited to extreme environments, such as alpine species restricted to mountain summits, might not be candidates for management with refugia," but others such as wolverines might benefit from climate change refugia because they require "minimum levels of snowpack for den sites that could potentially be managed."

Morelli and colleagues point out that unlike historical climate fluctuations, current global greenhouse gas levels are likely to exceed any seen in the past, so climate change refugia identified today will probably not offer long-term solutions for stressed species. But when coupled with management strategies they could serve as reservoirs of genetic material, for example.

"There is a great need for such a strategy, even based only on changes in climate that have already occurred. Over 80 percent of U.S. national parks are already at the extreme warm end of their historical temperature distributions, indicating that ongoing and future changes in the same direction will transcend temperatures that they experienced over the last century," they add.

"Ultimately, a mix of strategies, including distributing management actions across areas with a range of climate vulnerabilities, might be the most effective path," Morelli and colleagues write.
###
This work was supported by the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative and the U.S. Department of Interior's Northeast Climate Science Center, managed by the USGS and hosted at UMass Amherst. It is one of eight that provides scientific information to help natural resource managers respond effectively to climate change.

View more details in the journal PLOS ONE: <a href="http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159909" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159909</a>

</div>

Strategies for managing climate change refugia

Strategies for managing climate change refugia. Results of a new...

<div>Chemosynthesis occurs at cold seeps on the Arctic Ocean floor. Cold seeps are places where hydrocarbons, mostly methane, emanate from the sea floor. Unlike the hydrothermal vents, the fluids and bubbles are no hotter than the surrounding seawater, thus the name.</div>
<div>

But like the hydrothermal vents, cold seeps can support high densities of specialized life forms through a process called chemosynthesis.

These seeps can dramatically influence many aspects of the overall seabed community, even in the frigid and dark Arctic <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ocean-tides-earthquakes/">Ocean</a>, new study featured in Marine Ecology Progress Series shows.

"For the first time, we have documented that methane seepage clearly influences faunal communities on the bottom of the ocean in high Arctic areas around Svalbard Archipelago." says CAGE PhD candidate Emmelie Åström who is the lead author of the study. Also Chemosynthesis occurs at cold seeps on the Arctic Ocean floor causing a cool effect. Therefore the sea bed has been observed and looked over for many years showing a really cool life.

Plenty but not diverse

Many cold seeps have recently been discovered and mapped on the Arctic shelf of Western Svalbard and Barents Sea. These are connected to melting of methane hydrate, an ice-like substance that forms, and is stable, under the sea floor in cold temperatures and under high pressure.

The study found that methane seeps have a strong localized influence on the abundance and diversity of benthic organisms. The total <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">biomass</a> at seepage sites was significantly higher around the cold seeps compared to non-seepage sites nearby.

"However even though there was a lot of life around those seeps, most of it was comprised of a few species that are highly tolerant of the difficult, methane-rich environments, or even more specially adapted to thrive on methane as an energy source. This led to a substantially lower diversity of species at the cold seeps", says Åström

Chemosynthesis - a successful life strategy

Åström and colleagues discovered dense fields of chemosymbiotic worms, so-called Siboglinids, around the cold seeps. These are cousins to the dramatic and huge hydrothermal vent worms.

The siboglinids are dependent on microbes for their nutrition. This successful symbiosis relies on the microbes to convert the methane to organic material that provides energy for the worms.

"Our study shows that the effect of these Arctic methane seeps on life at the sea bottom can be strong but is highly localized, reflecting strong gradients associated to the focused methane emission. This means that the environment changes quickly. The organisms living here have to be flexible and tolerate large changes." Emmelie Åström points out.

Cold seeps can be difficult to spot in contrast to dramatic black smokers of hydrothermal vents. But the observations of specialized - life forms surrounding them may give scientists an indication on location and the amount of methane release.

"This study gives us key observations in a high Arctic location that is likely to be affected by warming ocean temperatures. This in turn may lead to increased methane release from gas hydrates under the sea floor. How biological communities react and consume this methane is extremely important to understand." Åström states.


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Chemosynthesis occurs at cold seeps on the Arctic Ocean floor

Chemosynthesis occurs at cold seeps on the Arctic Ocean floor....

<div>Shoreline hardening is a threat to ecosystems. Shoreline hardening, defined as the installation of structures to prevent erosion or provide flood protection, is a common practice worldwide. Over 22,000 kilometers of shoreline have been hardened in the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/united-states-global-waste/">United States</a> alone, and many major coastal cities, such as Hong Kong and Sydney, have 50% or more of their shorelines protected by artificial structures. With growing urban populations and rising seas, these trends are expected to continue. However, despite a growing chorus of conservation practitioners advocating for more nature-based approaches to coastal protection, the science on shoreline hardening's effects has failed to keep pace. Shoreline hardening is a threat to ecosystems</div>
<div>

To address this shortcoming, a team of marine ecologists led by Rachel K. Gittman of Northeastern University conducted a meta-analysis of 54 existing studies on shoreline hardening. The results, described in the journal <a href="http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/lookup/doi/10.1093/biosci/biw091" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BioScience</a>, highlight stark ecological effects of shoreline hardening and of seawalls in particular. "Biodiversity was 23% lower along shorelines with seawalls when compared with that of natural shorelines," observed the authors. Moreover, Gittman and her colleagues noted that overall organism abundance was 45% lower in seawalled areas.

The authors describe the possible mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, including the loss of shoreline habitat: "Because they are typically placed in the high intertidal zone, installation of a seawall and to a lesser extent, a riprap revetment, can sever the connection between upland and intertidal habitat, reflect wave energy and alter sediment transport, and potentially increase the depth of the intertidal and nearshore subtidal zones."

Despite this, one potentially encouraging finding was that biological diversity and the abundance of organisms were not demonstrably altered by other forms of shoreline hardening, such as riprap and breakwaters. The authors report that "some shore-protection structures may serve as surrogate habitats for native epibiota where natural hard substrates, such as oyster reefs and mussel beds, have been lost to overharvest, erosion, and poor water quality." However, Gittman and her colleagues caution that such structures may enable invasive species or have other unintended consequences: "In general, additional studies examining the ecological effects of riprap revetments and breakwaters are needed to inform future decisions on the consequences of selecting these types of structures."
###
BioScience, published monthly by Oxford Journals, is the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">AIBS)</a>. BioScience is a forum for integrating the life sciences that publishes commentary and peer-reviewed articles. The journal has been published since 1964. AIBS is a meta-level organization for professional scientific societies and organizations that are involved with biology. It represents nearly 160 member societies and organizations. Follow BioScience on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/BioScienceAIBS" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@BioScienceAIBS</a>.

Oxford Journals is a division of Oxford University Press. Oxford Journals publishes well over 300 academic and research journals covering a broad range of subject areas, two-thirds of which are published in collaboration with learned societies and other international organizations. The division been publishing journals for more than a century, and as part of the world's oldest and largest university press, has more than 500 years of publishing expertise behind it. Follow Oxford Journals on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/OxfordJournals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@OxfordJournals</a>.

</div>
<div>

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Shoreline hardening is a threat to ecosystems

Shoreline hardening is a threat to ecosystems. Shoreline hardening, defined...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">NASA's RapidScat instrument provided measurements of sustained wind speeds as Tropical Storm Conson continued tracking north through the northwestern Pacific Ocean. <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/nasa-app-makes-it-easy-to-measure-trees/">NASA</a> measures winds of Tropical Storm Conson.</div>
When RapidScat passed over Conson on Aug. 10, it was near peak intensity. RapidScat measured maximum sustained winds around the center of circulation as fast as 49 mph (22 meters per second/79 kph) on Aug. 10. The RapidScat instrument that flies aboard the International Space Station measures <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">Earth's</a> ocean surface wind speed and direction over open waters.

RapidScat is an important tool for meteorologists, because it shows forecasters the location of the strongest winds in different quadrants of an area of low pressure or tropical cyclone as they are not always equally distributed. In addition, surface wind speed is always lower than speeds at higher altitude.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Aug. 11 Tropical Storm Conson's maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph (35 knots/62 kph). Conson was centered near 21.9 degrees north latitude and 154.4 degrees east longitude, about 140 nautical miles south of Minami Tori Shima. Also NASA measures winds of Tropical Storm Conson. Also the wind speeds and storm measurements of this powerful storm has shown a lot of damage. the max speeds have hit making this one of the cities largest most powerful storm.

Conson is moving to the north-northeast at 17 mph (15 knots/27.7 kph) and is expected to turn to the north-northwest. Conson does not threaten any land masses. Although the storm measured to be one of the most powerful ones, it still captured the speeds of wind and rainfall.


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NASA measures winds of Tropical Storm Conson

NASA's RapidScat instrument provided measurements of sustained wind speeds as...

High avocado prices are fueling deforestation in Mexico. Americans' love for avocados and rising avocado prices for the highly exportable fruit are fueling the deforestation of central Mexico's pine forests as farmers rapidly expand their orchards to feed demand.

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/healthier-food-pairings/">Avocado</a> trees flourish at about the same altitude and climate as the pine and fir forests in the mountains of Michoacan, the state that produces most of Mexico's avocados. That has led farmers to wage a cat-and-mouse campaign to avoid authorities, thinning out the forests, planting young avocado trees under the forest canopy, and then gradually cutting back the forest as the trees grow to give them more sunlight.

"Even where they aren't visibly cutting down forest, there are avocados growing underneath (the pine boughs), and sooner or later they'll cut down the pines completely," said Mario Tapia Vargas, a researcher at Mexico's National Institute for Forestry, Farming and Fisheries Research.

Given that Michoacan's forests contain much of the wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly, the deforestation is more than just an academic issue. Authorities have already detected small avocado plots in the monarchs' reserve where farmers have cut down pine forest.

Worse, Tapia Vargas said, a mature avocado orchard uses almost twice as much water as fairly dense forest, meaning less water reaches Michoacan's legendary crystalline mountain streams on which the forests and animals depend.

Greenpeace Mexico says people are likely to suffer, too.

"Beyond the displacement of forests and the effects on water retention, the high use of agricultural chemicals and the large volumes of wood needed to pack and ship avocados are other factors that could have negative effects on the area's environment and the well-being of its inhabitants," Greenpeace said in a statement.

The two-lane rural roads that cut through the mountains are choked with lines of heavy trucks carrying avocados out and pickers in to the orchards.

But it is hard to argue farmers out of the economic logic of growing avocados.

"Avocado farming is very attractive, because of the prices being the way they are," Tapia Vargas said.

Avocado prices jumped from around 86 cents apiece in January to around $1.10 in July, partly because of weak seasonal supply from Mexico. And the peso lost 16 percent of its value against the dollar over the past year, making exports cheaper for the U.S. customers. Mexican farmers can make much higher profits growing avocados than from most other crops.

It is the enormous U.S. appetite for avocados that has driven the expansion. Between 2001 and 2010, avocado production in Michoacan tripled, but exports rose 10 times, according to a report published in 2012 by Tapia Vargas' institute.

And if Super Bowl guacamole has had this effect, just wait for skyrocketing demand from China, where imports of Mexican avocados have been growing by about 200 percent annually.

"You can imagine what it will take (to supply) the Chinese market," Michoacan Gov. Silvano Aureoles told local media in July.

The Tapia Vargas report suggested the expansion caused loss of forest land of about 1,700 acres (690 hectares) a year from 2000 through 2010.

Ignacio Vidales, another government researcher who specializes in avocados, said he believes the deforestation rate has slowed, in part because authorities are taking it more seriously.

"We think that it (deforestation) is less, because there is more enforcement now than in previous years," said Vidales.

Authorities have begun to fight back.

On July 31, federal police in Morelia, the Michoacan state capital, detained 13 people and seized two avocado plants and two vehicles that were being used to turn a recently deforested plot into an orchard.

Police said 260 pine trees and 87 firs had been cut down on a 12-acre (4.7-hectare) plot to make room for 1,320 avocado saplings. While the trees take seven years to reach maturity, if each bore 100 avocados a year - a fairly low yield - those farmers could make as much as $500,000 annually from the plot, a fortune for area farmers.

"More than anything else, it is economic pressure," Vidales said. "They have seen that planting avocados is more profitable than planting corn, or other crops, or even the forest."

© 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.

High avocado prices are fueling deforestation in Mexico

High avocado prices are fueling deforestation in Mexico. Americans' love...

<div>New extraction technique makes shale oil cheaper. Also Researchers at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">MIPT</a>) have developed mathematical models and software that will enable Russian shale oil producers to reduce development costs. Part of the software has been registered with the patent authorities and has a program registration certificate issued by the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent)</div>
<div>

Multiple hydraulic fracturing (aka hydrofracking) is a standard shale oil <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plant-sugars-rival-petroleum/">extraction</a> technique. It involves the high-pressure injection of fluid into a horizontal borehole. The fluid used is typically water with sand or other specially designed additives (called proppants). The rock formation is first fractured by water, allowing oil to flow freely into the borehole. When the pressure is released, the fractures are held open by the proppant (e.g. sand). This speeds up oil extraction and increases production output. However, this technique relies on preliminary calculations; if these are ignored, enormous financial losses could follow.

In multiple hydrofracking, the precise manner in which fractures are formed (their shape, aperture, and geometry) is determined based on very complex calculations that predict how rock will respond to stress. These predictions belong, scientifically speaking, to the domain of material failure theory. As of now, rock mechanics offers no unified theory to describe the process of material failure. For this reason, predicting the behavior of hydraulically fractured rock is a challenging task. Failing to correctly predict crack propagation and rock failure can, nevertheless, lead to well flooding or disturbance of the gas layer. In both cases, development costs will far exceed the revenue. To simulate the behavior of fractured rock and thus eliminate potential risks, computer modelling is normally used.New extraction technique makes shale oil cheaper

The restrictions imposed on Russian oil-related services by the EU and the US in 2014, along with the main Western sanctions package, included the prohibition of the export of specialized software to Russia. At that point, there were no alternatives to this software available on the Russian market. In view of this, several major international credit rating agencies--among them FitchRatings--prophesied that any shale oil projects in Russia would become unprofitable, which in turn would damage the oil industry as a whole.

Not only did a team of MIPT's researchers succeed in designing the necessary software--their unique software package is unlike those offered by Western competitors. Focusing on industrial applications, MIPT cooperated with the Gazpromneft Scientific and Technical Centre, a Gazpromneft subsidiary.

Ivan Zavialov and Natalia Zavialova, researchers at the Section (Department) of Applied Mechanics of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology talked about the benefits of the software: 'Based on mathematical calculations, our software suite tells you how fractures will affect each other and what their propagation trajectories will be. It predicts new physical properties acquired by the fractured rock formation. In hydrofracking, it is necessary to make sure that the formation of a new fracture does not cause compression of a previously formed fracture. This maximizes oil recovery.'

Using the data obtained with the help of MIPT's simulator, oil-company engineers can model multiple hydraulic fracturing solutions for any oilfield. This technology will ensure maximum profitability of the Russian businesses that work with unconventional oil (classified as 'hard-to-recover' in Russia), while minimizing the associated environmental risks. Perhaps it could even make Russia a leading producer of shale oil.


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New extraction technique makes shale oil cheaper

New extraction technique makes shale oil cheaper. Also Researchers at...

Geoffrey Hargreaves

Ancient ice cores reveal clues about Earth's past climate. Inside a huge walk-in freezer in suburban Denver, a college student in a thick parka shoots a jolt of electricity through a yard-long column of ancient ice extracted from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica">Antarctica.</a>
Just outside the freezer, in a much warmer room, a computer wired to the ice registers a sudden spike in a jagged red line crawling across the screen.
"Hey, we got a volcano," says T.J. Fudge, a University of Washington researcher. The electric current has detected a thin layer of volcanic residue in the ice, deposited by an eruption about 8,000 years ago.
This is the National Ice Core Laboratory in Lakewood, where ice pulled from the depths of Antarctica and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/winter-rain-greenland-ice-loss/">Greenland</a> is sliced up, photographed and tested. Most of it is shipped to other labs, where researchers do more experiments looking for clues about Earth's past and future.
Smooth and milky white, the 4- to 5-inch-diameter pieces - called ice cores - provide scientists with a wealth of historical information, from air temperature to greenhouse gases to evidence of cosmic events. The record reaches as far back as 800,000 years.
The ice is the remnant of centuries of snowfall, compressed by the weight of successive years of accumulation.
"You can drill into it, and it's much like looking at tree rings," Fudge said. "It's just year after year after year of climate information that's preserved out in the ice sheet."
Specialized drilling rigs pull the cores from as deep as 9,800 feet below the surface of the ice sheets. Crews then tuck them into protective tubes, pack them in chilled containers and ship them to the U.S. Refrigerated trucks haul them to Colorado lab, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
In a bustling, white-walled workroom in the Lakewood freezer - kept at about minus 11 Fahrenheit - workers push the cores through a series of saws on metal frame benches, divvying up the ice according to a prearranged pattern for different experiments.
Part of every ice core is archived in another, larger room at about minus 33 degrees, so future researchers can verify old results or try new tests. The archive contains nearly 56,000 feet of ice.
Scientists tease data from the ice in various ways. Differences in the weight of molecules in the frozen water hold clues about the air temperature at the time the snow fell.
Air trapped in bubbles can be analyzed to measure how much carbon dioxide and other gases were in the atmosphere when the ice formed.
A solar flare or other cosmic events can leave distinctive radioactive atoms on the snow. Dust blown in from distant continents offers clues about atmospheric circulation.
"The ice sheets are in direct contact with the atmosphere," said Mark Twickler, the lab's science director. "Everything that's in the atmosphere we capture as time goes by, and it gets buried in snow."
The depth of the core and evidence of volcanoes help determine how old the ice is.
Scientists already know when major eruptions occurred, so a layer of volcanic residue indicates the year the adjacent ice formed. That becomes a reference point for annual layers above and below.
The record is remarkably precise, even reflecting seasonal changes, scientists say.
"It's as if we're standing on the ice sheet writing down the temperature for the last 800,000 years," said Bruce Vaughn, a University of Colorado-Boulder lab manager who works with the ice. "It's that good."
Without a record of its depth and age, the ice has little research value, said Geoffrey Hargreaves, curator of the Lakewood lab.
"An ice core without any depth references - I shouldn't say this - it's good for margaritas," he said, poker-faced.
No, Hargreaves said, scientists don't actually do that.
"There's drill fluids in these things that you really don't want to drink," he said.
Some experiments are done only on ice from the core's interior, away from the fluids.
Ice cores have led scientists to significant conclusions about climate, including that CO2 levels in the atmosphere today are higher than at any other time recorded in the ice.
"The only reason we can make that statement is because we have the ice core air archived," said Murat Aydin, a researcher at the University of California-Irvine. Ancient ice cores reveal clues about Earth's past climate
Ice cores also help refine computer models used to make climate predictions.
"If we run them backwards with the parameters that we measure in the ice core and we get it right, that gives us a lot more confidence in the climate models going forward," Vaughn said.
As technology improves, researchers find new ways to analyze the ice. A technique called continuous flow analysis lets them slowly melt a one-yard stick of ice and analyze it drop-by-drop, instead of cutting it into small pieces, melting them one-by-one and averaging the results. The new technique gives scientists up to 2,400 measurements per yard instead of 20, Vaughn said.
"There'll be science for dozens of years with researchers who are maybe only now getting their degrees or learning about this," Vaughn said. "It's exciting. How could you not be excited about it?"
---
Follow Dan Elliott at <a href="http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP.">http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP.</a> His work can be found at<a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-elliott.">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-elliott.</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.

Ancient ice cores reveal clues about Earth's past climate

Ancient ice cores reveal clues about Earth's past climate. Inside...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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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...

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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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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

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

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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;



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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 deforestation in the Amazon through sounds

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