Farming in ways that support nature can pay off - not just for the environment, but for crops too. That’s the takeaway from a new study that tested how different methods of agroecological farming perform on real working farms in England. 



The study showed that adding simple nature-friendly features like wildflower margins and organic matter improved biodiversity and led to stronger crop performance.



But there’s a catch: to make these methods financially viable on a large scale, many farmers may need more government support.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-real-farms-real-results">Real farms, real results</h2>



The research team, based at the <a href="https://www.ceh.ac.uk/">UK Centre for Ecology &amp; Hydrology</a> and Rothamsted Research, ran a four-year study across 17 commercial farms in southern England. This was the first time anyone tested both the ecological and financial impacts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sustainable-farming-is-good-for-farmers-well-being/">agroecological</a> practices at this scale in the UK.



The researchers didn’t just run lab trials. The researchers partnered directly with farmers to design and carry out real-world experiments, testing three types of farming systems side by side.



The first was a business-as-usual approach, using standard intensive methods without any nature-friendly additions. 



The second, called the enhanced ecological system, introduced wildflower field margins to support pollinators and other beneficial insects, along with overwinter cover crops to protect and enrich the soil. 



The third was the maximized ecological system, which built on the enhanced version by adding wildflower strips within the fields - essentially creating insect “runways” - and using farmyard <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/beer-byproducts-and-manure-used-to-increase-crop-yields/">manure</a> to improve soil health.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-bugs-better-soil-higher-yields">More bugs, better soil, higher yields</h2>



The results were clear. The farms that adopted enhanced or maximized ecological methods saw an increase in beneficial species. 



Earthworms, bees, hoverflies, ladybirds, spiders, and lacewings were all more abundant. These helped reduce crop pests like aphids and snails.



That’s not all. The flowering crops - like oilseed rape - produced more seeds thanks to better pollination. The soils held more carbon. And overall, the yields went up.



Even with a little land taken out of production to make room for habitats, the gains in crop health and pollination made a difference. The enhanced ecological system was just as profitable as conventional farming - but only because of current government subsidies.



The maximized system delivered even stronger environmental and yield benefits. But it was more expensive to implement. 



Without more support, most farms would not find it financially competitive. Some farms, especially mixed ones that already have manure on hand, might fare better. But others would struggle without extra help.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-profit-meets-sustainability">Profit meets sustainability</h2>



Dr. Ben Woodcock, one of the study’s lead scientists from the UK Centre for Ecology &amp; Hydrology, elaborated on the research.



“Without the introduction of new financial incentives, many farmers will be deterred from adopting agroecological farming practices and systems. This could leave them locked into high input, intensive farming systems and more exposed to the impacts of pesticide resistance, declining soil health and climate change."



According to Dr. Woodcock, while farmers run businesses that need to be profitable, there is an increasing awareness that more sustainable systems can help "future-proof" their farms in terms of soil health, less reliance on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pesticides-attack-bees-in-multiple-ways-throughout-the-body/">pesticides</a> and climate change.



“Agroecological methods are good for biodiversity, food security, and, in the long-term, provide more secure farm incomes but habitats can take several years to establish, so agri-environment subsidies are essential to helping farmers transition to these more sustainable systems.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-support-for-greener-farming">Support for greener farming</h2>



The researchers believe that showcasing these successful results could help convince more farmers to make the switch. It’s about breaking the cycle of intensive practices that keep farms dependent on chemical inputs and vulnerable to environmental changes.



Professor Jonathan Storkey, an ecologist at Rothamsted Research, said the study confirmed that managing land on farms for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farming-for-wildlife-how-traditional-practices-can-protect-nature/">wildlife</a> is not in direct conflict with food security but can support sustainable production by increasing yields and reducing pest pressure. 



"These ‘ecosystem services’ could potentially substitute for chemical fertilizers and pesticides which negatively impact the environment," said Professor Storkey. 



“However, our analysis has shown that realizing these benefits will require additional support for farm businesses that currently operate on very narrow profit margins. As input costs increase, however, these agroecological approaches may become more attractive.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-training-makes-a-difference">Training makes a difference</h2>



The quality of nature-friendly measures also depends on how well they’re implemented, and training helps.



Earlier research from the UK Centre for Ecology &amp; Hydrology showed that when farmers receive proper guidance on creating and managing wildlife habitats, those habitats do a much better job of supporting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-pollinators-boost-the-nutritional-value-of-crops/">pollinators</a> and pest-controlling insects.



Field margins and wildflower strips may seem like simple changes, but getting them right requires different thinking than managing crops. The better these habitats are planned and maintained, the more they deliver.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-growing-green-nationwide">Growing green, nationwide</h2>



Nature-friendly farming isn’t just about doing good for the environment - it can also help farms thrive. But making the switch isn’t free, and for many farmers, the numbers have to work. 



That’s where targeted subsidies and support come in. The research shows what’s possible. Now, the question is how to make it doable for more farms across the country.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.70079">Journal of Applied Ecology</a>.



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Eco-friendly farms can succeed - but they need support

Farming in ways that support nature can pay off - not just for the environment, but for crops too. That’s the takeaway from a new study that tested how different methods of agroecological farming perform on real working farms in England. The study showed that adding simple nature-friendly features like wildflower margins and organic matter improved biodiversity and led to stronger crop performance. But there’s a catch: to make these methods financially viable on a large scale, many farmers may need more government support. Real farms, real...

2015 Lake Erie Algae Bloom Was Largest Ever Recorded. The Lake Erie algae bloom this summer was the largest on record and left behind a thick, paint-like scum that covered an area roughly the size of <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/earth-from-space-new-york-city/">New York City,</a> government scientists said Tuesday.
The bloom fueled by heavy summer rains surpassed the record-setting algae outbreak in 2011 that stretched from Toledo to Cleveland, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Scum from the bloom covered about 300 square miles in early and mid-August, the agency said.
But the actual bloom was much larger. Just how big is still being determined, though it was clearly bigger than anything measured so far, said Richard Stumpf, a NOAA researcher.2015 Lake Erie Algae Bloom Was Largest Ever Recorded
The massive algae colony this year stayed toward the center of the lake between Canada and Ohio and away from the shoreline, which lessened the impact on boaters and drinking water plants, he said.
Toxins from a much smaller bloom in August 2014 contaminated the tap water for 400,000 people in the Toledo area and a sliver of southeastern Michigan.
Heavy rains across northern Ohio in June and July washed huge amounts of algae-feeding phosphorus into the lake.
Algae blooms - linked to phosphorus from farm fertilizers, livestock manure and sewage treatment plants - have taken hold in the western third of the lake over the last decade and colored some of its waters a shade of green that looks like pea soup.
The blooms, which typically peak from the middle of August through the end of September, also have been blamed for contributing to oxygen-deprived dead zones where fish can't survive.
Ohio, along with Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario, agreed in June to sharply reduce the amount of phosphorus flowing into western Lake Erie within the next 10 years.
Some changes limiting when farmers can spread fertilizer and manure on fields already have been made, but it will take at least a few years to see improvements.
"It would be hard to find much evidence of progress based on what we saw this year," said Jeff Reutter, former director of the Ohio Sea Grant Program, which studies water quality issues.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

2015 Lake Erie Algae Bloom Was Largest Ever Recorded

2015 Lake Erie Algae Bloom Was Largest Ever Recorded. The...

China's Polluted Air Has Improved This Year. Lawyer Wu Congsi has asthma and keeps air purifiers whirring away in his office, home and car to counter Beijing's hazardous smog. He prefers to stay inside unless the sky is blue. But this year, he's been able to regularly walk the 15 minutes or so to work.
That's because of some good news that so far has gone little noticed outside of <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/historic-flooding-has-killed-hundreds-across-china/">China</a>: The air in Beijing - and across the rest of the country - has improved so far this year.
"I just feel generally better in terms of the air quality," said Wu, 26. "At least so far, this summer and this fall, it's actually better than last year - just more clear days than previously. I might go out hiking or maybe just stroll around the parks." China's Polluted Air Has Improved This Year
---
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of an occasional series focusing on the science, the costs and the challenges of climate change around the world ahead of a critical summit in Paris. China's Polluted Air Has Improved.
---
Chinese official sources have cited the improvement, and U.S. Embassy readings have corroborated the findings.
China's polluted air is still largely hazardous to health - killing 1.4 million people a year, according to one recent study - and officials won't even guess when air will finally reach levels that could be considered healthy. But some experts, officials and observers see the improvement as the start of a long-term upward trend in air quality resulting from central and local government measures to lower pollution.
"It's not just Beijing or one region," said Lauri Myllyvirta, who campaigns on air pollution for Greenpeace. "It's really widespread reductions in (levels of particulate matter and pollutants) across all of eastern and central China."
Myllyvirta said data on average levels of aerosols, or tiny particles, for the past 15 years from NASA satellites backed up the improvement in official readings.
"The fall from 2014 to 2015 was the biggest in that entire time series - and by a pretty wide margin at that," he said. "So it's definitely been a very exceptional year for air quality."
The early success gives China a credibility boost ahead of a climate change conference beginning late this month in Paris, where countries are to hash out a <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=global&amp;cvid=b0ac06f57d7548a5b23bca3d94f1a5ed&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">global</a> agreement intended to slow down global warming. Many are hoping that China, the world's top emitter of carbon emissions, plays a leading role in the negotiations, particularly as an example to other developing nations.
Yi Bo, an engineer at Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau's air management office, said the capital had seen a drop in all major pollutants in the first three quarters of this year. That includes a 40 percent decrease in sulfur dioxide and a 19 percent decrease in PM2.5 - small inhalable particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and are considered to be a good gauge of air quality.
"People make an effort and the heavens help," Yi said, evoking a Chinese idiom to describe what he said were the two reasons for the improvement: government efforts to reduce emissions and more favorable weather conditions compared with last year, including more winds from the north.
China's pollution problems are notorious after three decades of breakneck growth in which there was little official concern about the environmental impact. The air gets especially bad in the winter when the burning of coal increases and weather patterns add to the smog.
A study led by atmospheric chemist Jos Lelieveld of Germany's Max Planck Institute and published this year in Nature magazine estimated that 1.4 million people are prematurely dying because of pollution in China each year.
Growing public anger over air pollution has pushed the government to make combating it a priority.
In 2013, months after a particularly bad winter that spurred many Chinese and expatriates to leave Beijing because of health concerns, the central government banned new coal-fired power plants in key industrial regions around Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, ordered cities to drop their pollutant levels by 2017 and looked to increase non-fossil fuel energy such as wind and solar power. Last year, it changed its environment law to allow unlimited fines against persistent polluters and public oversight of companies' emissions.
Beijing sits in one of the most heavily polluted regions. Its main sources of pollution are vehicles, coal-burning, industry and dust from construction sites. The city government has been replacing coal-fired boilers with natural gas-powered facilities, raising exhaust emission standards and forcing older, more polluting vehicles off the road. It plans on closing or moving 300 polluting factories this year.
Yi said coal-fired power plants will disappear next year from the capital as its switch to gas power generation is completed, which should both reduce pollution and lessen the city's greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
There is a long way to go. Beijing officials say the average PM2.5 figure for the first 10 months of the year was 70 micrograms per cubic meter - down 20 percent from the same period last year. But that's still double China's own standard of 35 and seven times higher than an annual mean of 10 that the World Health Organization gives as its guideline.
Daunting challenges also remain elsewhere in China. This week, the northern city of Shenyang had levels of PM2.5 particles that were more than 40 times the safety level set by WHO.
Yi said he expects Beijing to meet the central government-imposed goal of a 25 percent drop in the 2012 level of PM2.5 by 2017. Asked when city residents can expect to breathe clean air, Yi said: "I can only say that the air we breathe will be better and better."
Tonny Xie, director of the secretariat of the Clean Air Alliance of China, which works with provinces and cities to promote clean air schemes and whose members include Chinese universities, said the air quality's overall trend should keep improving.
That may not mean every year will see improvement, because meteorological conditions also have an effect, Xie said. He also cautioned that if China's planned economic transformation from heavy industries to a more service-oriented economy does not go as planned, the air quality might "go worse again."
---
AP news assistant Dong Tongjian contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of an occasional series focusing on the science, the costs and the challenges of climate change around the world ahead of a critical summit in Paris.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

China's Polluted Air Has Improved

China's Polluted Air Has Improved This Year. Lawyer Wu Congsi...

Declining Snowpacks May Cause Water Shortages. Gradual melting of winter snow helps feed water to farms, cities and ecosystems across much of the world, but this resource may soon be critically imperiled. In a new study, scientists have identified snow-dependent drainage basins across the northern hemisphere currently serving 2 billion people that run the risk of declining supplies in the coming century. The basins take in large parts of the American West, southern Europe, the Mideast and central Asia. They range from productive U.S. farm land to war-torn regions already in the grip of long-term water shortages.

Snow is an important seasonal water source mainly around large mountain chains. From higher elevations, snowmelt runs gradually into the lowlands during spring and summer growing seasons, when human demand peaks. But global warming is upsetting this convenient balance. Studies show that in many areas, more winter precipitation is falling as rain, not snow, and washing away directly; the snow that does fall is settling at progressively higher elevations, and melting earlier. The new study estimates snow's potential to supply present human needs in both current and projected climates, taking both weather trends and population into account.

"Snow is important because it forms its own reservoir. But the consequences of reduced snowpack are not the same for all places--it is also a function of where and when people demand water," said lead author Justin Mankin, a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University's Earth Institute based jointly at the institute's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and its affiliated NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. "Water managers in a lot of places may need to prepare for a world where the snow reservoir no longer exists." The study appears this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

As the world warms, scientists have been observing declining snow accumulations in many regions, a trend that is expected to continue. Once-permanent snowfields are disappearing in the Rocky Mountains from Colorado to northern Montana, as well as in the Himalayas and other areas. A recent study showed that this year the snowpack in California, which is suffering an ongoing drought as well as long-term warming, reached its lowest point in 500 years.

Mankin and his coauthors calculated the possible future effects, based on how many people consume water from snowmelt. They looked at 421 drainage basins spanning the northern hemisphere, combining multiple climate models with present water-use patterns and demographics. From these data, they identified 97 basins currently serving some 2 billion people that depend on snowmelt, and run at least a two-thirds chance of declines, given present water demands.

The researchers further zeroed in on 32 of those basins, with the largest populations--collectively nearly 1.45 billion people--where present snowmelt meets a substantial proportion of human demand. These are the most sensitive to any changes, and have the most at stake. Among them are the basins of northern and central California, where much of U.S. produce is grown; the basins of the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers, which serve much of the American West and northern Mexico; the Atlas basin of Morocco; the Ebro-Duero basin, which feeds water to Portugal and much of Spain and southern France; and a series of basins covering eastern Italy, the southern Balkans, several Caucasus nations, and northern Turkey.

Also on the list is the volatile Shatt al Arab basin, which channels meltwater from the Zagros Mountains to Iraq, Syria, eastern Turkey, northern Saudi Arabia and eastern Iran. Studies suggest that warming climate has already decreased rainfall and increased evaporation across much of the eastern Mediterranean and Mideast, and a study earlier this year suggested that the spreading civil war now engulfing the region was sparked in part by a record 2006-2010 drought.

The study concentrates only on human water supplies, but lack of snowpack may have wider ecological consequences. In the American West, land managers fear that forest fires undamped by snow might start earlier in the year, and food sources for nesting birds might start running out in late summer. Native trout depend on a steady flow of cold water during summer, so some species could face extinction.

The news is not uniformly bad. Across most of North America, northern Europe, Russia, China and southeast Asia, rainfall alone is projected to keep meeting human demand. Many changeable factors can affect water supply and demand, so the projections contain large uncertainties; in large regions, the models show that changing climate is about as likely to increase water supply as to decrease it, in the form of greater seasonal rains. All things considered, supplies could stay about the same in India's Indus and Ganges basins, home to about 1 billion people. This is true also of the Huai, a sub-basin of China's Yellow River, with a current population of more than 130 million. And at least temporarily, accelerated melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and outlying ranges may actually increase water supplies to wide areas, including central <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-could-help-asian-carp-invade-lake-michigan/">Asian</a> countries like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

"Managers need to be prepared for the possibility of multi-decadal decreases in snow water supply," said Mankin. "But at the same time, they could have large multi-decadal increases. Both of those outcomes are entirely consistent with a world with global warming."

Yoshihide Wada, a researcher at the Netherlands' Utrecht University who studies global water resources, said the study makes a "convincing argument" that "climate change will add another stressor over many regions" where water scarcity is already an issue. He said this would be especially so in semi-arid areas where irrigation is supplemented by shrinking supplies of groundwater. If anything, the study could underestimate some risks, he suggests, because it does not account for projected increases in population.

What Mankin calls the "irreducible near-term uncertainties" in many projections will leave water managers faced with whether to make big infrastructure investments or not. Some areas may be able to compensate for shrinking snowmelt by expanding storage reservoirs or pumping more groundwater. But Wada says reservoirs are so expensive, many areas may not be able to afford them. And groundwater has limits; in parts of California, farmers are pumping up so much water, the land surface is visibly sinking--a trend that probably cannot be maintained for more than a few decades. Wada says more efficient irrigation methods, water recycling and switches to less water-intensive crops may be more realistic solutions.

---

<a href="http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/">The Earth Institute at Columbia University</a>

Photo Credit: Dario Martin-Benito

Declining Snowpacks May Cause Water Shortages

Declining Snowpacks May Cause Water Shortages. Gradual melting of winter...

Scientists: Slow Climate Change Theory Is Flawed. Climate change is progressing rapidly. It is not the first time in our planet’s history that temperatures have been rising, but it is happening much faster now than it ever has before. Or is it? Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have shown in the latest edition of the journal <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mental-health-benefits-of-nature-cannot-be-prescribed/">Nature</a> Communications* that the temperature changes millions of years ago probably happened no more slowly than they are happening today, debunking the slow climate change theory.

In order to predict how today’s ecosystems will react to increasing temperatures over the course of global warming, palaeobiologists study how climate change happened in the earth’s history and what the consequences were. In order to compare the events of the past with current changes researchers need data on the scope of the changes. What was the speed with which temperatures increased or decreased? What was the magnitude of the change in temperatures? Until now, the general consensus has been that current climate change is happening more quickly than any previous temperature fluctuations.Scientists: Slow Climate Change Theory Is Flawed
<h3>Climate change in the earth’s past faster than previously thought</h3>
Together with a British colleagues, palaeobiologist Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kießling and geosciences student Kilian Eichenseer, both from FAU, have published a pioneering study in Nature Communications explaining that the idea that environmental changes in the earth’s past happened slowly in comparison to current, rapid climate change is wrong. The reason for this incorrect assumption is the different time periods that are examined in climate research. ‘Today we can measure the smallest fluctuations in climate whenever they occur,’ Kilian Eichenseer explains. ‘Yet when we look at geological history we’re lucky if we can determine a change in climate over a period of ten thousand years.’

Therefore, if we compare global warming over recent decades with the increase in temperature that happened 250 million years ago over the Permian-Triassic boundary, current climate change seems incredibly fast. Between 1960 and 2010, the temperature of the oceans rose at a rate of 0.007 degrees per year. ‘That doesn’t seem like much,’ Prof. Kießling says, ‘but it’s 42 times faster than the temperature increase that we are able to measure over the Permian-Triassic boundary. Back then the temperature of the oceans rose by 10 degrees, but as we are only able to limit the period to 60,000 years, this equates to a seemingly low rate of 0.00017 degrees per year.’
<h3>Rapid changes are invisible, not absent</h3>
In their study the researchers looked at around two hundred analyses of changes in climate from various periods in geological history. It became clear that the apparent speed of climate change appears slower the longer the time periods over which increases or decreases in temperature are observed. The reason for this is that over long periods rapid changes in climate do not happen constantly in one direction. There are always phases during which the temperatures remain constant or even sink – a phenomenon that has also been observed in the current period of global warming. ‘However, we are unable to prove such fast fluctuations during past periods of climate change with the available methods of analysis. As a consequence, the data leads us to believe that climate change was always much slower in geological history than it is today, even when the greatest catastrophes occurred. However, that is not the case,’ Prof. Kießling says. If we consider these scaling effects, the temperate increase over the Permian-Triassic boundary was no different to current climate change in terms of speed. The increase in temperature during this event is associated with a mass extinction event during which 90 percent of marine animals died out.

*Kemp, D. B., K. Eichenseer, and W. Kiessling. 2015. Maximum rates of climate change are systematically underestimated in the geological record. Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9890

---

<a href="http://www.fau.eu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.fau.eu</a>

Scientists: Slow Climate Change Theory Is Flawed

Scientists: Slow Climate Change Theory Is Flawed. Climate change is...

Carbon Accumulation by US Forests to Slow Over Next 25 Years. Currently, the carbon sequestered in U.S. forests partially offsets the nation's carbon emissions and reduces the overall costs of achieving emission targets to address climate change - but that could change over the next 25 years.

The accumulation of carbon stored in U.S. forests may slow in the future, primarily due to land use change and forest aging - with the rate widely varying among regions - according to findings by U.S. Forest Service scientists published today in the journal Scientific Reports.

Future declines in forest carbon sequestration could influence emission reduction targets in other sectors of the economy and impact the costs of achieving policy goals. The study also found that policies that encourage retaining or expanding forest land could enhance carbon sequestration levels in U.S. forests over the next 25 years.

Using detailed forest inventory data, Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists David Wear and John Coulston estimated the amount of atmospheric carbon U.S. forests currently sequester. "We found that after accounting for 44 teragrams of land use transfer carbon, sequestration by U.S. forests offset 173 teragrams or 173 million metric tons of the carbon emissions that result from U.S. transportation and energy sources," said Wear, project leader of the SRS Center for Integrated Forest Science.

The scientists used five different scenarios to project carbon accumulation over the next 25 years, and found that under all of the scenarios the ability of U.S. forests to sequester carbon -- act as a carbon sink -- will decline overall, with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mangrove-forests-face-a-triple-threat-to-their-survival/">forests</a> in some regions faring better than others.

"Our projections show only a gradual decline in forest carbon sequestration in the East, but a rapid decline to zero by 2037 in the Rocky Mountain region, where forests could become a carbon emission source due to disturbances such as fire and insect epidemics," said Coulston, SRS Forest Inventory and Analysis supervisory research forester. "We found that carbon sequestration in the Pacific Coast region will fluctuate from current levels but then stabilize as forests harvested in previous decades regrow."

The researchers found that land use change strongly influences the amount of forest carbon stored. One of the scenarios they ran simulated the effects of policies that would encourage the retention or expansion of forest land as a way to enhance carbon sequestration. They found that afforesting or restoring 19.1 million acres over the next 25 years, a plausible goal in light of historical conservation efforts such as the USDA Conservation Reserve Program, could yield significant gains in carbon sequestration over that period.

"Policymakers interested in reducing net carbon emissions in the U.S. need information about future sequestration rates, the variables influencing those rates, and policy options that might enhance sequestration rates," said Wear. "The projection scenarios we developed for this study were designed to provide insights into these questions at a scale useful to policymakers."

---

<a href="http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/index.php">USDA Forest Service</a>

Carbon Accumulation by US Forests to Slow Over Next 25 Years

Carbon Accumulation by US Forests to Slow Over Next 25...

Colorado Disputes Key Findings Of EPA Gold Mine Spill Report. Colorado officials say they didn't endorse an Environmental Protection Agency cleanup operation that caused a massive gold mine spill of toxic wastewater from an inactive mine, disputing a key claim by federal agencies that state experts signed off on the plan.
State officials neither approved nor disapproved of the operation, according to a Sept. 2 letter to the EPA from Mike King, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. The Associated Press obtained the letter through an open records request.
King's letter is a blow to the EPA's contention that outside technical experts supported its plan to push a drainage pipe through debris covering the entrance to the Gold King Mine in southwestern<a href="http://www.earth.com/image/cameron-peak-fire-is-now-the-largest-in-colorados-recorded-history/"> Colorado</a> on Aug. 5. The debris gave way, unleashing a torrent of 3 million gallons of wastewater laden with heavy metals from inside the mine.
The letter also raises questions about an investigation of the spill by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which claimed two mining experts from the state approved of the project. Some members of Congress have questioned whether the bureau's investigation was sufficiently independent. The bureau is part of the Interior Department and is separate from the EPA.
The Bureau of Reclamation had no immediate comment on King's letter. Spokesman Peter Soeth said Thursday the employee who wrote the report was out of the office and could not be reached.
The EPA said it was reviewing King's letter. In a written statement, the agency said only its inspector general received the letter, and other officials didn't see it until Tuesday.
The spill polluted rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, including on the Southern Ute Reservation and Navajo Nation. The EPA came under intense criticism from Congress and from state and local officials for causing the blowout and for the way it responded.
Both the EPA and the Bureau of Reclamation concluded the cleanup crew underestimated the depth and pressure of the water, which gushed out of the mine when the debris was breached.
An EPA internal review made public Aug. 26 said the two mining experts from the state Department of Natural Resources and EPA officials believed the water inside the mine was under little or no pressure. The EPA said the state experts were at the Gold King Mine on the day of the spill in a supporting role for the cleanup operation.
But King's letter said the state experts didn't make any determination of how high the water pressure was inside the mine. He said they were not involved in the Gold King operation and had gone to the mine only because an EPA official at the scene wanted to talk to them about future work there, not the work going on that day.
The Bureau of Reclamation report, released seven weeks after King's letter, described the two state experts as being even more deeply involved than the EPA report did.
The state experts discussed the EPA plan for the Gold King Mine with the chief EPA official on scene "and were in agreement to proceed," the Bureau of Reclamation report said.
In an email to the AP, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Todd Hartman said that was incorrect. He did not elaborate.
Hartman said a Bureau of Reclamation official spoke with both the state mining experts before the report was issued.
He said the department would not make the two experts available for an interview. They were identified as Bruce Stover, director of the Inactive Mine Reclamation Program, and Allen Sorenson, project manager and geological engineer for the same program.
King's letter raised nine specific objections to the report by the EPA and to a memo from an EPA contractor. Hartman said the EPA didn't respond to the letter.
The EPA's inspector general is also investigating the spill. The agency announced last week the inquiry would be expanded to include, among other things, whether the Bureau of Reclamation's investigation was independent.
---
Follow Dan Elliott at <a href="http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP.</a> His work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-elliott." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-elliott.</a>
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Colorado Disputes Key Findings Of EPA Gold Mine Spill Report

Colorado Disputes Key Findings Of EPA Gold Mine Spill Report....

Deforestation Diminishes Amazon Basin Rainfall. Continued deforestation of the Amazon rainforest could diminish the amount of rain that falls in the Amazon River basin, finds a new study. These declines in rainfall could potentially alter the region's climate, disrupting rainforest ecosystems and impacting local economies, according to the study's authors.

Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon started on a large scale in the 1970s and peaked in 2004 before government restrictions curbed land clearing practices there. But <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/affordable-healthcare-can-help-slow-deforestation/">deforestation</a> has increased in other Amazonian countries in recent years, and Brazil is now facing pressure to convert more forest to pasture and crop land, according to the study's authors. Deforestation Diminishes Amazon Basin Rainfall

New research predicts that by the middle of the century annual rainfall in the Amazon could be less than the yearly amount of rain the region receives during drought years if deforestation rates revert back to pre-2004 levels.

Essentially, drought years could become the norm for the Amazon by 2050 if deforestation rates rebound, said Dominick Spracklen, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Leeds School of Earth and Environment, United Kingdom, and lead author of the new study published today in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

This significant drop in rainfall could affect ecosystems and wildlife throughout the entire Amazon basin, which covers roughly 40 percent of South America, Spracklen said. The Amazon rainforest plays an important role in the global carbon cycle, so changes to Amazonian climate could affect global climate and weather, according to the study's authors.

Recent droughts in the Amazon in 2005 and 2010 showed that sustained reductions in rainfall could have massive consequences for Brazil's economy, according to Spracklen. Less rain could affect agriculture, which currently generates $15 billion a year for Brazil's economy, and hydropower, which generates 65 percent of Brazil's electricity, he said.

"Maintaining low deforestation rates in the Amazon is essential to ensure survival of the Amazon forest," Spracklen said.

The tipping point

The opening of the Trans-Amazonian Highway in 1972 made the interior of the Amazon accessible for the first time, sparking a blast of forest clearing to create space for cattle ranching and agriculture. Deforestation rates in Brazil, home to two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest, accelerated throughout the following decades until reaching a peak in 2004. That year, Brazil cleared 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres) of forest - the equivalent of 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) a day, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). At that rate, researchers estimated nearly half of the original forest cover would be gone by 2050.

After hearing these predictions, Brazil enacted laws to preserve the country's remaining rainforest. Deforestation began to decline in 2005, and by 2010, forest clearing rates had dropped to about 25 percent of 2004 levels, according to INPE.

During the same time period, however, deforestation in other Amazonian countries increased, according to Spracklen. With a high global demand for increased beef and soy production, it's likely these countries will continue clearing forest and possible Brazil will relax its forest protection laws to meet those demands, Spracklen said.

"I think one of the big environmental success stories of the past decade has been the reduction in deforestation in the Amazon, within Brazil," Spracklen said. "But I think at the moment we're at a kind of cusp, where there's continued pressure within Brazil to relax some of the forest laws."

Modeling deforestation

Forests mediate the exchange of water, energy and gases between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere. As a result, clearing forests can affect local temperature, humidity and rainfall, but these effects can be difficult to quantify, said Luis Garcia-Carreras, a research fellow at the University of Leeds Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science and a co-author of the new study.

Researchers use atmospheric models to simulate this process in the Amazon. Many of these simulations show an association between forest cover and rainfall, but every model is different and makes different assumptions. In the new study, researchers analyzed the results of 96 existing climate models to see if there was any consensus among them.

"We wanted to make a comprehensive assessment using all of the information that was available until now to give us the best estimate of what the impact of deforestation would be on rainfall," Garcia-Carreras said.

Performing a meta-analysis of the 96 models, the study found that if deforestation rates return to pre-2004 levels, annual rainfall in the Amazon will decrease 8 percent by 2050 - a larger decline than would be seen with natural variability alone.

"We found a very consistent picture that deforestation is going to drive a reduction in rainfall, and that was consistent virtually across all models and all studies that we analyzed," Garcia-Carreras said. "And we found a picture that increasing deforestation drove larger reductions in rainfall."

Existing models suggest the current extent of deforestation should reduce rainfall, but researchers have not yet observed the decline, according to the study's authors. Spracklen and Garcia-Carreras show through their analysis that deforestation has reduced rainfall, but the reduction is currently smaller than the natural variability in the system.

"It can't be detected at present day because the signal, the decrease in rainfall, is small compared to the interannual variability in rainfall," said Gordon Bonan, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, who was not connected to the study. "But by 2050, the signal becomes larger and larger, and is detectable.

"Through their analysis, [the authors] showed that the decrease in rainfall is actually very robust across all models," Bonan continued. "I think it is very significant for our understanding of effects of deforestation on the climate of Amazonia."

Deforestation Diminishes Amazon Basin Rainfall

Deforestation Diminishes Amazon Basin Rainfall. Continued deforestation of the Amazon...

Ice Sculpture Festivals Are Being Cancelled Due To Warm Weather. Ice sculptures really aren't cut out for this kind of balmy November weather.
Just a few weeks ahead of global climate change talks in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/inconsistent-paris-agreement-pledges/">Paris</a>, ice sculpture festivals in Western Europe are feeling the impact of an unusually warm November.
In Bruges, at the Ice Sculpture Festival, it means soaring energy bills to keep temperatures at minus 16 degrees Celsius (3 Fahrenheit), while outside, people are soaking up the sun at 16 C (61 Fahrenheit) instead of previous monthly averages of 10 degrees less. For the artists, the temperature shocks have meant sniffles and colds.Ice Sculpture Festivals Are Being Cancelled Due To Warm Weather
"The winter is coming later and later," said Ice Magic's managing director Francis Vandendorpe, who has been organizing the festival since 1999.
Scientists say the global average temperature has risen by about 0.8 degrees Celsius since the industrial revolution and new weather records in most European countries - precipitation or temperatures, by month or years - keep being set. The issue will be discussed at a major U.N. climate conference in Paris that opens Nov. 30.
In Belgium, tourists are still enjoying warm sunshine on the restaurant terraces of Bruges deep in November. One famed brewer has had to postpone beer production because of the balmy weather, and a chocolate maker was hampered in his attempt to break the world record for the biggest chocolate coin because the paste won't harden fast enough.
"People are expecting winter, but they don't get winter," said Vandendorpe. His 12 cool compressors in his special thermo-isolated hall are working overtime as sculptors from several nations chip, chisel and saw away ahead of the Nov. 20 opening. "Now we can't give them a break because the outside temperature is too high."
Vandendorpe said his energy bill is expected to be close to 40,000 euros (US$ 43,000) for the six-week festival, almost 10,000 euros more than he anticipated. He said a similar festival in Metz, France faced the same problem.
Inside the hall, artist Kim Arents was working on huge slabs of ice to turn them into something recognizable for a festival that will feature anything from Vikings to bumble bees and even an ice-cold super-king-size bed that will be available for 500 euros a night. Like many others, the frequent hot-cold-hot trips inside and out have affected him.
"You get sick from it. People are getting runny noses and it's pretty hard going. Outside it is too warm, working inside it's too cold," he said.
---
Video journalist Mark Carlson contributed to this report.
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Ice Sculpture Festivals Are Being Cancelled Due To Warm Weather

Ice Sculpture Festivals Are Being Cancelled Due To Warm Weather....

Tension Builds Before Paris Climate Talks. It's the elephant in the negotiating room that few officials want to acknowledge: Whatever international deal comes out of Paris climate talks, it likely won't be a treaty that needs ratification by a reluctant Republican U.S. Congress.
That's not the only complication in Paris. China, the U.S. and India don't want the international community dictating their carbon dioxide emissions, but they do want to do something about ever escalating greenhouse gas levels and the rising temperatures they cause. So they have to come up with an agreement that doesn't dictate binding, internationally set targets or require<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/releasing-a-virus-is-not-the-solution-to-australias-invasive-carp-problem/"> U.S. Senate</a> approval - and yet gets the job done. At least partly.Tension Builds Before Paris Climate Talks
To do so, they must reach a pact that has as many twists and turns as a pretzel.
"It's a reality that the world is coming to grips with," former Vice President Al Gore said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday. "The design of the Paris negotiation is really driven in large part by the desire to get an agreement that does not have to go through the treaty ratification process. It's all perfectly legal."
Earlier this month at a press briefing a few blocks from the White House, U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres was asked about Republican opposition to possible Paris climate agreements. Her response was a shrug and a dismissive, "Yeah, fine."
But on Thursday, the carefully crafted dance to avoid the Senate exploded into a bit of international confusion.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told The Financial Times that the agreement was "definitely not going to be a treaty" and there was "not going to be legally binding reduction targets." That prompted French president Francois Hollande to object and say "if the deal is not legally binding, there is no accord."
And here's the twist: Both Kerry and Hollande can be right, said Nigel Purvis, an international lawyer who was a top environmental diplomat and international negotiator for Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. It's an issue of definitions and the way an agreement is framed, said Purvis, who is president of the non-governmental organization Climate Advisers.
The U.S. Constitution and the rest of the world have different definitions of the word "treaty," Purvis said. Elsewhere, a treaty is a binding agreement. But in the U.S., there are several types of international agreements and only 6 percent of them end up being formal treaties that require Senate approval, he said. The last international, Senate-approved treaty was in 2010.
The climate treaty, Purvis said, is likely to end up as an "executive agreement" like the 1945 Yalta Accord at the end of World War II. This requires only presidential approval.
"If you can end World War II, I think you can do a climate agreement where the only obligation is to inform the international community what you are doing and demonstrate to them that you are doing it," Purvis said.
Experts expect different layers of agreements. The key is that more than 100 nations have already made pledges of what they would do, including the U.S. promise to cut emissions by about 28 percent. In addition, there will likely be an agreement that nations will do what they promise, meet again to ratchet up their emission cuts and set up a monitoring and verification system for those pledges.
Purvis said it probably will hinge on a 1992 international treaty, signed by President George H.W. Bush and approved by the Senate, that promised to do something about climate change; a decades-old U.S. air pollution law; a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said the air pollution law applies to carbon dioxide; and presidential executive action.
And it involves diplomacy that explains how non-binding international agreements can still be binding domestically, because the president is enforcing the Clean Air Act, Purvis said.
"Getting an international binding agreement is in the cards; what is then binding inside that agreement is what's up for debate," said Jennifer Morgan, global director of climate program for World Resources Institute.
Confused?
"The beauty of diplomacy is that you could interpret things in different ways," said John Reilly, co-director of MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
---
Matthew Lee and Donna Cassata in Washington, Angela Charlton in Paris and Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.
---
Online:
The Paris climate summit: <a href="http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en</a>
---
Follow Seth Borenstein at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a> and his work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-borenstein" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-borenstein</a>
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of an occasional series focusing on the science, the costs and the challenges of climate change around the world ahead of a critical summit in Paris.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Tension Builds Before Paris Climate Talks

Tension Builds Before Paris Climate Talks. It's the elephant in...

Zachariae Isstrom: Another Major Glacier In Greenland Comes Undone. It's big. It's cold. And it's melting into the world's ocean.

It's Zachariae Isstrom, the latest in a string of Greenland glaciers to undergo rapid change in our warming world. A new <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/nasa-helps-assess-impacts-of-extreme-weather/">NASA</a>-funded study published today in the journal Science finds that Zachariae Isstrom broke loose from a glaciologically stable position in 2012 and entered a phase of accelerated retreat. The consequences will be felt for decades to come.

The reason? Zachariae Isstrom is big. It drains ice from an area of 35,440 square miles (91,780 square kilometers). That's about 5 percent of the Greenland Ice Sheet. All by itself, it holds enough water to raise global sea level by more than 18 inches (46 centimeters) if it were to melt completely. And now it's on a crash diet, losing 5 billion tons of mass every year. All that ice is crumbling into the North Atlantic Ocean.

"North Greenland glaciers are changing rapidly," said lead author Jeremie Mouginot, an assistant researcher in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. "The shape and dynamics of Zachariae Isstrom have changed dramatically over the last few years. The glacier is now breaking up and calving high volumes of icebergs into the ocean, which will result in rising sea levels for decades to come."

Mouginot and his colleagues from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California; and the University of Kansas, Lawrence, set out to study the changes taking place at Zachariae Isstrom.

[caption id="attachment_2386484" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/13113028/glacier-iceland-Zachariae-Isstrom_2big_nasa.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2386484" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/13113028/glacier-iceland-Zachariae-Isstrom_2big_nasa-150x150.jpg" alt="Aerial photo of all of lower Zachariae Isstrom glacier taken from aboard a NASA Falcon jet on Sept. 30, 2015. " width="150" height="150" /></a> Aerial photo of all of lower Zachariae Isstrom glacier taken from aboard a NASA Falcon jet on Sept. 30, 2015.[/caption]

The team used data from aerial surveys conducted by NASA's Operation IceBridge and satellite-based observations acquired by multiple international space agencies (NASA, ESA, CSA, DLR,JAXA and ASI) coordinated by the Polar Space Task Group. The NASA satellite data used are from the joint NASA/USGS Landsat program. The various tools used -- including a highly sensitive radar sounder, gravimeter and laser profiling systems, coupled with radar and optical images from space -- monitor and record changes in the shape, size and position of glacial ice over long time periods, providing precise data on the state of Earth's polar regions.

The scientists determined the bottom of Zachariae Isstrom is being rapidly eroded by warmer ocean water mixed with growing amounts of meltwater from the ice sheet surface. "Ocean warming has likely played a major role in triggering [the glacier's] retreat," Mouginot said, "but we need more oceanographic observations in this critical sector of Greenland to determine its future."

"Zachariae Isstrom is being hit from above and below," said the study's senior author Eric Rignot, Chancellor's Professor of Earth system science at UCI, and Joint Faculty Appointee at JPL. "The top of the glacier is melting away as a result of decades of steadily increasing air temperatures, while its underside is compromised by currents carrying warmer ocean water, and the glacier is now breaking away into bits and pieces and retreating into deeper ground."

Adjacent to Zachariae Isstrom is another large glacier, Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, which is also melting rapidly but is receding at a slower rate because it's protected by an inland hill. The two glaciers make up 12 percent of the Greenland ice sheet and would boost global sea levels by more than 39 inches (99 centimeters) if they fully collapsed.

The sector where these two glaciers reside is one of three major marine-based basins in Greenland, along with Jakobshavn Isbrae in central west Greenland and the Petermann-Humboldt sector in central north Greenland. The latter two sectors hold enough water to raise global sea level by 2 feet (0.6 meters) each, and both are also undergoing significant changes at present. The authors conclude it is likely that Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden and Petermann-Humboldt glaciers will lose their ice shelves in coming years, further increasing Greenland's future contributions to global sea level rise.

"Not long ago, we wondered about the effect on sea levels if Earth's major glaciers in the polar regions were to start retreating," Rignot noted. "We no longer need to wonder; for a couple of decades now, we've been able to directly observe the results of climate warming on polar glaciers. The changes are staggering and are now affecting the four corners of Greenland."

In 2015, NASA kicked off a new six-year field campaign, Oceans Melting Greenland, which will examine ocean conditions around Greenland affecting the Ice Sheet. For more information on OMG, visit:
<a href="https://omg.jpl.nasa.gov/portal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://omg.jpl.nasa.gov/portal/</a>
Ongoing research into the health of ice sheets and glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica is supported by funding from <a href="http://ice.nasa.gov/NASAsRole/?CFID=11351208&amp;CFTOKEN=77969915" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NASA's Cryospheric Sciences Program</a>.

For more information on the study, visit:

<a href="http://news.uci.edu/research/massive-northeast-greenland-glacier-is-rapidly-melting-uci-led-team-finds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://news.uci.edu/research/massive-northeast-greenland-glacier-is-rapidly-melting-uci-led-team-finds/</a>

Zachariae Isstrom: Another Major Glacier In Greenland Comes Undone

Zachariae Isstrom: Another Major Glacier In Greenland Comes Undone. It's...

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Algae Threatens To Cancel Dungeness Crab Season. San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf typically bustles this time of year as workers prepare to haul millions of pounds of Dungeness crab that are a tradition at Thanksgiving and other holiday meals.
But crab pots are sitting empty on docks, boats are idled and fishermen are anxiously waiting for California authorities to open the lucrative Dungeness crab season.
California has delayed the Nov. 15 start of its commercial crab season after finding dangerous levels of a toxin in crabs. Officials in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/unequal-treatment-protestors/">Oregon</a> and Washington are testing crab samples and will decide soon whether to open its coastal season by Dec. 1 as planned.Algae Threatens To Cancel Dungeness Crab Season
A massive bloom of microscopic algae - which produced a natural toxin called domoic acid that is harmful to wildlife and fish - in the Pacific Ocean is threatening the crab industry during a time when many fishing outfits make their most money. It's also roiling coastal tourism and marine ecosystems.
A closure along the entire West Coast would be a blow to the industry, which harvested nearly $170 million worth of Dungeness crab in 2014.
"Everybody is counting on crab to make it, so this is pretty disappointing," said Larry Collins, president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association. "Whenever they test clean, we'll go get them. I'm very hopeful that it's sooner than later."
Experts say the warm conditions that set up the toxic algae bloom - while not attributed to climate change - does offer a picture of what's to come as ocean temperatures are projected to warm. Already, warmer ocean temperatures off New England have shaken up fisheries there, contributing to the collapse of the region's cod fishery and the shift northward in the lobster population, studies have found.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but I think we're being given a warning here," said Vera Trainer, who manages the marine biotoxin program at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. "We're being shown what the future is going to look like. This is more of what we can expect."
Razor clams, for now, have been taken off menus in Oregon and Washington. Shellfish managers have closed recreational digs after finding dangerous levels of domoic acid in the bivalves. Those closures have cost an estimated $22 million in tourism-related spending, said Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Crabbing was also closed along parts of the Washington coast over the summer, though crabbing continued in the Puget Sound.
Matt Hunter, shellfish project leader with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said crabbing is huge fishery in the state and any closure will have "trickle-down effect on the economy, not only on the coastal communities."
Crab can still be found in many restaurants and stores, including San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, and health officials say crabs sold in stores are safe to eat. Some crab on the market now may have been harvested months ago and frozen for later; commercial crab fishing is currently open in some parts of Alaska, Oregon and Puget Sound.
In California, crab fisherman are bracing for a tough season.
"Needless to say, this is devastating," said Steve Fitz, who owns Mr. Morgan Fisheries in Half Moon Bay. Crab represents the bulk of annual income for many in the fishing community, he said. Still, he's optimistic that toxin levels will go down and the season will open soon.
Restaurants and customers say they'll adjust their habits.
"It's a disappointment because we really look forward to it every November," said Matt Watson, manager of Woodhouse Fish Co. in San Francisco, which will do its best to get whole crab at a reasonable price from other states.
Kris Ducker, who grew up in California, looks forward to her family's holiday tradition: eating crab served ice cold, cracked, with a side of sourdough bread. Even though she now lives in Texas, she still tries to find fresh Dungeness crab.
"We're looking forward to having Dungeness crab for Christmas Eve. We could move on to something else. It wouldn't kill us, but we would be sad," she said.
Scientists say the warm waters that fostered the massive toxic algae bloom off the West Coast this year is more likely a short-term climate event than one attributed to climate change.
"Whether this warming itself is a direct function of climate change or not, we can't say," said Mark Wells, an oceanography professor in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine. However, the climate change models project warming along the coastlines over the next several decades, so "this type of event probably is going to become much more frequent in the future."
On the Northeast coast, scientists have documented shifts in species as the result of warmer waters and that's meant some changes in what is caught and where.
"We see lots of shifting going on," said Richard Merrick, NOAA Fisheries chief science adviser. Significant fish stocks have been shifting northward and deeper into cooler waters along the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, he noted. The New England cod fishery collapsed but haddock fishing has gone up as fishermen switched, he said.
Another study found that warming seas will likely send West Coast fish species northward by about 20 miles a decade, and some species probably will disappear from southern ranges off California and Oregon.
---
Associated Press photojournalist Eric Risberg contributed to this report from San Francisco.
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Algae Threatens To Cancel Dungeness Crab Season

Algae Threatens To Cancel Dungeness Crab Season. San Francisco's Fisherman's...

In the Arctic Methane Cycle, Sea Ice Plays a Pivotal Role. The ice-covered Arctic Ocean is a more important factor concerning the concentration of the greenhouse gas methane in the atmosphere than previously assumed. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) report on the newly discovered interactions between the atmosphere, sea ice and the ocean in a recent online study in the journal Nature's Scientific Reports.

Sea ice forms a natural barrier on the Central <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/sea-ice-escapes-the-arctic-ocean/">Arctic Ocean</a>, limiting gas exchange between water and atmosphere. Over the past several years, the summer sea ice cover in the Arctic has rapidly decreased. "We're investigating how the changed conditions are affecting the geochemical interaction between the ocean, ice and atmosphere," explains Dr Ellen Damm, the first author of the study and a biogeochemist at the Alfred Wegener Institute. "We were able to confirm that the surface water in the central Arctic contains higher methane concentrations than the atmosphere, which means the Arctic Ocean is a potential source of atmospheric methane. That makes it fundamentally different from oceans in lower latitudes, which - except for a few sporadic sources - are considered methane sinks."

For the study, Damm and her colleagues from the AWI, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the University of Bremen analysed geochemical and oceanographic data gathered during a 2011 expedition to the Arctic with the research icebreaker Polarstern. They measured methane levels in both the sea ice and in the water directly below it, and in deeper seawater entirely unaffected by the ice. "Our study shows that there are previously overlooked feedbacks between ice melting and formation, the atmosphere, and the seawater influenced by ice," says Damm. Among other factors, they analysed the salt solution, i.e. the brine, which is constitutes concentrated seawater resulting during the formation of sea ice. They found that the brine had a thousand times higher concentration of methane than the atmosphere - proof that sea ice can be a source of methane.

As a result of the melting and freezing processes, methane in the brine channels can be released into the seawater. Further, the water remains in stable layers, due to the different densities of freshwater and saltwater. As such, the methane from the brine channels remains in the uppermost water layer throughout the summer. When autumn storms set in and it gets colder, different water layers become mixed (convection), which can release the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. At that time of year the sea ice cover is fragmented and the "lid" on the ocean has almost disappeared, conditions that are conducive to the release of methane into the atmosphere. The convection-based mixing continues in the winter, and methane continues to escape through the leads between ice floes.

The stable water layers prevent the methane from mixing to greater depths of the Arctic Ocean; the significantly lower methane concentrations (compared to the atmosphere) in the lower layer unaffected by the ice, verify this process. This has two effects: firstly, the newly discovered and as such not previously accounted for near-surface feedback mechanism can lead to the direct release of methane from the sea ice and ocean into the atmosphere. Secondly, the exchange between atmosphere and the deeper Arctic Ocean is reduced, which also limits the Arctic Ocean's capacity to act as a methane sink. Co-author and AWI oceanographer Prof Ursula Schauer summarises the study's importance as follows: "The role of sea ice in gas exchange and gas flux is much more complex than previously assumed, and the processes at work in the Northern Ocean differ greatly from those in lower latitudes. These aspects have to be kept in mind in future climate models." Further, she points out, the study raises the question on where the methane originates. Conceivably, methane could be produced in sea ice as it drifts through the Arctic, or methane trapped in sea ice could be transported from other regions.

---

<a href="http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/">Alfred Wegener Institute</a>

In the Arctic Methane Cycle, Sea Ice Plays a Pivotal Role

In the Arctic Methane Cycle, Sea Ice Plays a Pivotal...

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



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



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



---



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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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 



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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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



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Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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Ocean heat influences regional climate

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes 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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