The simple act of water freezing holds more complexity than initially meets the eye. While we often take the formation of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/control-ice-formation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ice</a> for granted, there are surprising aspects to this transformation, from supercooled states to the captivating phenomenon of dendritic crystal growth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-supercooled-water-and-ice-nucleation">Supercooled water and ice nucleation</h2>



Water has the expected behavior of freezing at its standard freezing point of 32°F/0°C. However, under specific conditions, you can cool pure water below this temperature and it will remain in a liquid state. We term this unstable condition "supercooled" water.



For water to transition from a supercooled liquid to <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/ice-earths-atmosphere/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ice</a>, a process called nucleation must occur. Nucleation is essentially the formation of a tiny ice crystal that serves as a "seed" around which other water molecules can align and freeze, resulting in the familiar solid state of ice. Even the smallest disturbance, such as a speck of dust or a vibration, can provide the impetus for nucleation to begin, leading to rapid freezing.



While the overall concept of supercooling and nucleation is understood, scientists still grapple with the exact processes that trigger nucleation events at a molecular level. Understanding these intricacies promises to offer better control over ice formation and its prevention when necessary.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-accidental-discovery-of-ice-formation">Accidental discovery of ice formation</h2>



The phenomenon of supercooled water, where it remains liquid even below its usual freezing point, has long fascinated scientists. It recently gained renewed public attention thanks to the curiosity of an individual named All George. 



His quest to create crystal-clear ice cubes led to an accidental rediscovery of dendritic crystal growth – a stunning process where ice forms in intricate, branching patterns. First observed centuries ago, this process continues to captivate researchers today.



The diverse ways in which water freezes still hold an element of surprise for scientists. Understanding the conditions and intricate patterns of ice formation offers valuable insights into the fundamental forces of physics and chemistry.



Ice research has deep relevance for various scientific fields. In meteorology, it aids in the prediction of weather patterns. In cell biology, it plays a crucial role in techniques like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biobanking-historic-initiative-aims-to-genetically-rescue-endangered-species/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cryopreservation</a>. 



<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0JFSVUv19E-3606556-12187" type="single"]</div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dendritic-growth-in-ice-formation">Dendritic growth in ice formation</h2>



When supercooled water contains even the slightest impurities, it can undergo a fascinating transformation as it begins to freeze. These impurities serve as nucleation points where ice crystals can start to form. 



As the freezing process initiates, it gives rise to delicate, branching structures called dendrites. These dendritic crystals are highly intricate and grow in fractal-like patterns that can extend in many directions, mimicking the shape of tree branches.



This dendritic growth is responsible for the cloudy or spiky appearance often observed in ice cubes. In pure water, freezing would typically result in a clear ice block because there are fewer sites for ice crystals to nucleate and grow in an unrestricted fashion. 



However, the presence of impurities disrupts this process, leading to the formation of multiple nucleation points. As a result, the crystals grow in numerous directions, colliding and intertwining with each other, which scatters light in various directions, thereby giving the ice its cloudy or textured appearance. 



This visual phenomenon not only highlights the intricate beauty of natural processes but also illustrates how minute changes in environmental conditions can drastically alter the physical structure of water as it freezes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenge-of-clear-ice">Challenge of clear ice</h2>



Creating pristine, clear ice cubes presents a significant challenge due to the natural occurrence of dendritic growth during the freezing process. Typically, when water freezes, it contains various impurities that act as nucleation points where ice crystals begin to form. 



As the water solidifies from all sides simultaneously, these dendritic ice crystals develop, spreading in complex, branch-like patterns. This scattered growth leads to the formation of cloudy and uneven ice, rather than the clear, smooth cubes desired for aesthetic presentations.



To achieve the crystal-clear ice often used in high-end restaurants, bars, and luxury events, specialized techniques must be employed that carefully control both the presence of impurities and the direction in which the ice freezes.



To remove impurities, the water used for these clear ice cubes often undergoes a process of filtration or distillation. This step is crucial because it eliminates the minerals and particulates that serve as nucleation points for dendritic growth. With fewer impurities, the water is less prone to forming the cloudy structures associated with regular ice.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-directional-freezing">Directional freezing</h2>



In addition to purifying the water, controlling the freezing direction plays a pivotal role in achieving clarity. By using a method called directional freezing, the water is frozen slowly from one direction, typically from the top down. 



This controlled approach allows air and remaining impurities to be pushed downwards and out of the ice, rather than being trapped within, forming the unwanted cloudy appearance. The technique mimics the natural formation of lake ice, which is typically clear due to the slow freezing process under insulated conditions.



These specialized methods, while more time-consuming and requiring more precise equipment than typical ice-making, result in stunningly clear ice cubes that not only enhance the aesthetic appeal of drinks but also melt more slowly due to their density, providing a functional benefit in cocktail presentation and enjoyment.



George's accidental discovery highlights the fact that even commonplace phenomena can harbor hidden depths. The study of ice continues to provide valuable insights into physics, chemistry, and the natural world. 



As we better understand the complexities of ice formation, we expand our knowledge with applications in a wide array of fields.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society



-----



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-----

Unexpected beauty revealed in ice formation

The simple act of water freezing holds more complexity than initially meets the eye. While we often take the formation of ice for granted, there are surprising aspects to this transformation, from supercooled states to the captivating phenomenon of dendritic crystal growth. Supercooled water and ice nucleation Water has the expected behavior of freezing at its standard freezing point of 32°F/0°C. However, under specific conditions, you can cool pure water below this temperature and it will remain in a liquid state. We term this unstable condition "supercooled"...

Coal pollution and global warming in Linfen China

China And France Agree That Automatic Cuts Are Needed In Climate Change Pact. The Chinese and French presidents announced Monday they have agreed that a global climate change pact should require countries to increase their emissions cuts every five years, in an important signal four weeks before world leaders meet in <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=paris&amp;cvid=464c68c510b249b28e0e06a836c356e5&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Paris</a>.
France is proposing the automatic updating of countries' emissions targets in a climate deal to be thrashed out at a U.N. conference beginning at the end of November. The support of China, the world's biggest emitter of climate-warming <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/refrigerants-are-powerful-heat-trapping-greenhouse-gases/">greenhouse</a> gases, is significant.
"What we have just established here in this declaration is a likelihood that the Paris conference will succeed," Francois Hollande said at a joint news conference with Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's legislature. China And France Agree That Automatic Cuts Are Needed In Climate Change Pact
"That doesn't mean that the Paris conference is definitely going to be a success, but the conditions for success have been laid down in Beijing today," Hollande said.
In the joint declaration, the two presidents also declared their intention to release their own national strategies to develop low-carbon economies by 2050 as soon as possible within the next five years.
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace called the statement "an incremental step forward" and said work still needs to be done to raise ambition before and during the Paris conference.
"After waving goodbye to President Hollande tomorrow, Chinese leaders need to think hard about what more to bring to the table when they see him again in Paris at the end of this month," Greenpeace China climate policy adviser Li Shuo said in a statement.
China has promised it will try to cap its rising emissions before 2030 as part of its national pledge ahead of the Paris conference. It has also seen a decline in coal consumption and has become a leader in renewable energy.
Hollande said Xi confirmed that he would attend the opening of the climate conference, which runs from Nov. 30 through Dec. 11.
---
Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
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China And France Agree That Automatic Cuts Are Needed

China And France Agree That Automatic Cuts Are Needed In...

US Youths Are Suing The Government Over Climate Change. They can't vote yet, but dozens of young people want a say in the planet's future, so minors nationwide have been suing states and the federal government in recent years to push action on climate change.
They say their generation will bear the brunt of global warming and that government at every level has an obligation to protect natural resources, including the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/tropical-birds-handle-heat-stress-much-better-than-expected/">atmosphere</a>, as a "public trust" for future generations.
The Oregon-based nonprofit Our Children's Trust has been leading efforts to file lawsuits or administrative petitions in every state and against the federal government. Some of the youth-led cases have been dismissed, while others are pending in states including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Oregon.US Youths Are Suing The Government Over Climate Change
"None of them have gotten to the finish line," said Michael Gerrard, a professor and director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. "It's an uphill climb. The <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=us&amp;cvid=54f9d77507f247e797626af67d6aeedb&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">U.S.</a> courts have so far not wanted to set climate policy."
Other experts say it's unclear how a state can combat a global problem.
In Seattle, eight activists between ages 10 and 15 petitioned Washington state last year to adopt stricter science-based regulations to protect them against climate change. The case has been moving through a state court, and oral arguments are scheduled Tuesday.
"We're the ones who have to live with it if the oceans are acidic and the planet is 5 degrees warmer," said Gabriel Mendell, 13, an eighth-grader and plaintiff in the case. "The snowpack is melting. Ocean is acidifying. The Earth is warming. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong, and we need to fix it."
Mendell and other youths represented by the Western Environmental Law Center argue that Washington state has failed to reduce carbon emissions based on the best available science. They say the government has violated its duties under the state constitution and the legal principle called the public trust doctrine, which requires the government to protect shared resources.
The state said in court documents that the Washington Department of Ecology department was working on adopting a rule to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
"Climate change is the most important environmental problem," said Stu Clark, Washington's air quality program manager. "We need to do whatever we can. We are doing what we can with what we have."
Nationwide, the cases need to pass certain legal hurdles, such as establishing that the public trust doctrine applies to the Earth's atmosphere or that the children have standing to sue. The cases have cleared some hurdles but not all, said Gerrard, the professor.
"I don't think this litigation is going to be successful because climate change is a global problem, and it's not clear what a state could do," added Richard Stewart, a law professor at New York University. "A state could do certain things, but it can only make an infinitesimal contribution" to a global problem.
In Oregon, two Eugene teens are appealing after a state judge rejected their petition in May. The judge ruled that Oregon's public trust doctrine does not apply to the atmosphere, water, beaches and shorelines.
In August, 21 youths across the country sued the federal government, alleging that approval of fossil fuel development has violated the fundamental right of citizens to be free from government actions that harm life, liberty and property.
The EPA did not comment on specifics of the lawsuit but said in a statement that President Barack Obama and the agency have been taking action to "give our kids and grandkids the cleaner, safer future they deserve."
Aji Piper, 15, a Seattle high school sophomore, is a plaintiff in that case and the one in Washington state.
"The government isn't doing the best to assure that we have the best quality of life," he said. "It holds more urgency for us. Our future is at hand."
The Washington case has gone the farthest because a judge in King County Superior Court will be hearing arguments on the petition's merits, rather than on a procedural or jurisdictional issue, said Julia Olson, executive director for Our Children's Trust.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

US Youths Are Suing The Government Over Climate Change

US Youths Are Suing The Government Over Climate Change. They...

US Youths Are Suing The Government Over Climate Change. They can't vote yet, but dozens of young people want a say in the planet's future, so minors nationwide have been suing states and the federal government in recent years to push action on climate change.
They say their generation will bear the brunt of global warming and that government at every level has an obligation to protect natural resources, including the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/atmospheric-rivers-help-create-massive-holes-in-sea-ice/">atmosphere</a>, as a "public trust" for future generations.US Youths Are Suing The Government Over Climate Change
The Oregon-based nonprofit Our Children's Trust has been leading efforts to file lawsuits or administrative petitions in every state and against the federal government. Some of the youth-led cases have been dismissed, while others are pending in states including Massachusetts, <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=pennsylvania&amp;cvid=aa7f133fb8cf48a49b13f834a4bfa913&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Pennsylvania</a>, North Carolina and Oregon.
"None of them have gotten to the finish line," said Michael Gerrard, a professor and director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. "It's an uphill climb. The U.S. courts have so far not wanted to set climate policy."
Other experts say it's unclear how a state can combat a global problem.
In Seattle, eight activists between ages 10 and 15 petitioned Washington state last year to adopt stricter science-based regulations to protect them against climate change. The case has been moving through a state court, and oral arguments are scheduled Tuesday.
"We're the ones who have to live with it if the oceans are acidic and the planet is 5 degrees warmer," said Gabriel Mendell, 13, an eighth-grader and plaintiff in the case. "The snowpack is melting. Ocean is acidifying. The Earth is warming. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong, and we need to fix it."
Mendell and other youths represented by the Western Environmental Law Center argue that Washington state has failed to reduce carbon emissions based on the best available science. They say the government has violated its duties under the state constitution and the legal principle called the public trust doctrine, which requires the government to protect shared resources.
The state said in court documents that the Washington Department of Ecology department was working on adopting a rule to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
"Climate change is the most important environmental problem," said Stu Clark, Washington's air quality program manager. "We need to do whatever we can. We are doing what we can with what we have."
Nationwide, the cases need to pass certain legal hurdles, such as establishing that the public trust doctrine applies to the Earth's atmosphere or that the children have standing to sue. The cases have cleared some hurdles but not all, said Gerrard, the professor.
"I don't think this litigation is going to be successful because climate change is a global problem, and it's not clear what a state could do," added Richard Stewart, a law professor at New York University. "A state could do certain things, but it can only make an infinitesimal contribution" to a global problem.
In Oregon, two Eugene teens are appealing after a state judge rejected their petition in May. The judge ruled that Oregon's public trust doctrine does not apply to the atmosphere, water, beaches and shorelines.
In August, 21 youths across the country sued the federal government, alleging that approval of fossil fuel development has violated the fundamental right of citizens to be free from government actions that harm life, liberty and property.
The EPA did not comment on specifics of the lawsuit but said in a statement that President Barack Obama and the agency have been taking action to "give our kids and grandkids the cleaner, safer future they deserve."
Aji Piper, 15, a Seattle high school sophomore, is a plaintiff in that case and the one in Washington state.
"The government isn't doing the best to assure that we have the best quality of life," he said. "It holds more urgency for us. Our future is at hand."
The Washington case has gone the farthest because a judge in King County Superior Court will be hearing arguments on the petition's merits, rather than on a procedural or jurisdictional issue, said Julia Olson, executive director for Our Children's Trust.
© 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.

Scientists: Sweden Will Lose Over Two Months Of Snow Season. Snowy white winters are likely to become a thing of the past for most Swedes.
The national weather service on Monday released a new analysis of how climate change will affect the Nordic country - and it's bad news for skiing enthusiasts.  Scientists: Sweden Will Lose Over Two Months Of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/destructive-algae-in-the-arabian-sea-linked-to-climate-change/">Snow</a> Season
It said the length of the snow season is expected to shrink by 40-80 days by the end of the century, depending on what action governments take to fight <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=climate+change&amp;FORM=HDRSC1">global warming</a>.
That means the southern third of the country, where most of the population lives, would get very few, if any, days with snow cover.Sweden is part of the geographical area of <a title="Fennoscandia" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennoscandia">Fennoscandia</a>. The <a class="mw-redirect" title="Swedish climate" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_climate">climate</a> is in general mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence.
The weather service projected Sweden's average temperature will rise by 2-6 degrees C (4-11 degrees F).
Governments will meet in Paris later this year to discuss a new pact to slow climate change.
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Scientists: Sweden Will Lose Over Two Months Of Snow Season

Scientists: Sweden Will Lose Over Two Months Of Snow Season....

Volkswagen Emission Testing

EPA: Volkswagen Cheated On Emissions Tests More Than Once. Volkswagen cheated a second time on emissions tests, programming about 10,000 cars with larger diesel engines to emit fewer pollutants during testing than in real-world driving, according to the U.S. government.
The German automaker installed software designed to defeat the tests on VW, Porsche and Audi vehicles with six-cylinder diesel engines, the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/environmental-era-of-pandemics/">Environmental</a> Protection Agency and<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=california&amp;cvid=4245521b64ab4a338d5fa16ba5dcd58d&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> California</a> Air Resources Board said Monday. While on the road the cars emit up to nine times more nitrogen oxide pollution than allowed by EPA standards, the agency said. EPA: Volkswagen Cheated On Emissions Tests More Than Once
The latest charges follow VW's admission in September that it rigged emissions tests for four-cylinder diesel engines on 11 million cars worldwide, including almost 500,000 in the U.S. The so-called defeat device in the six-cylinder engines was discovered by EPA and CARB with tests put in place in late September.
In a notice of violation sent to VW, EPA officials said the automaker "knew or should have known" that by employing the software, the cars were not in compliance with Clean Air Act emission standards.
In a statement, Volkswagen said "no software was installed in the 3-Liter V6 diesel motors to change the emissions values in any impermissible way." It pledged to "fully cooperate with the EPA to clarify this situation."
VW officials have claimed only a small number of software developers in Germany were responsible for the computer code that enabled the cars to trick U.S. government emissions tests. On Monday, analysts said the latest charges call those claims into question.
"Volkswagen would do well to immediately and completely disclose all people and products involved in this deception, no matter how far-reaching," said Karl Brauer, a senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book, a widely used car valuation and research service.
Monday's announcement makes the notion that only a limited number of people were involved in the deception appear "even more outrageous," Brauer said.
Members of Congress reacted sharply. The House Energy and Commerce Committee said an investigation of VW will continue.
"The latest revelations raise the question, where does VW's road of deceit end?" said a joint statement by full committee chairman Fred Upton of Michigan and senior Democrat Frank Pallone of New Jersey, along with oversight and investigations subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania and senior Democrat Dianna DeGette of Colorado.
"It's time for Volkswagen to fully come clean," the statement said.
The new charges also suggest even more financial pain for VW. The company faces fines of up to $37,500 per vehicle, which means up to $375 million could be added to penalties already projected in the billions of dollars. The company has set aside about 6.7 billion euros ($7.38 billion) to pay for recalling and fixing the affected cars. VW officials have also hinted at possible compensation to owners.
The EPA said Monday that the software on the six-cylinder diesels has a timer that turns on pollution controls when testing begins, including fuel injection timing and pressure, and changes the exhaust gas recirculation rate. All cause the cars to emit less nitrogen oxide pollution by operating at high exhaust temperatures, the agency said in the notice. One second after the first phase of the test ends, the cars return to normal operation.
The violations cover models including the 2014 Touareg, 2015 Porsche Cayenne and the 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8 and Q5. As with the smaller engines, the EPA says the cars are safe to drive.
With the scandal spreading to include some of the best-sellers from Audi, VW's most profitable brand, as well as Porsche, VW could face greater pressure on sales.
Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst for Autotrader, said the latest revelations were particularly bad for Audi, "which has been on a roll in terms of sales, reputation and image of late," but "now is being drawn deeper into the quagmire."
Previously, only the low-volume A3 Audi model was under scrutiny.
U.S. Audi sales rose 16 percent in September, while Porsche sales gained 23 percent. By contrast, Volkswagen brand sales ended the month flat after news of the emission-rigging broke in mid-month.
About 25 percent of VW brand sales have diesel engines, so the scandal almost certainly will cut into the brand's October sales. Dealers have few new diesels to sell because VW has quarantined the four-cylinder 2016 models at ports until their emissions status is resolved.
All major automakers report October sales Tuesday.
EPA officials said they tested VW and other vehicles for the presence of cheating software, and VW is the only one found with a violation. Officials wouldn't say which other vehicles they tested.
The agency has the authority to order recalls of the VW vehicles, but has yet to do so. VW has said it is working on a fix for the four-cylinder models, which the EPA says can pollute up to 40 times more than emissions limits.
"We need to be sure that the fixes are appropriate and acceptable," EPA Administrator Janet McCabe said.
Last month, the EPA said it was investigating different software on 2016 VW models that have yet to be certified by the EPA to go on sale in the U.S. But officials on Monday wouldn't comment about that investigation, saying that testing is still under way.
----
Krisher reported from Detroit. Auto Writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed from Detroit.
© 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.

EPA: Volkswagen Cheated On Emissions Tests

EPA: Volkswagen Cheated On Emissions Tests More Than Once. Volkswagen...

Scientists: Sweden Will Lose Over Two Months Of Snow Season. Snowy white winters are likely to become a thing of the past for most Swedes.
The national weather service on Monday released a new analysis of how climate change will affect the Nordic country - and it's bad news for skiing enthusiasts.
It said the length of the snow season is expected to shrink by 40-80 days by the end of the century, depending on what action governments take to fight <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=Climate+Change+Will+Be+Detrimental+To+World+Food+Supply&amp;FORM=HDRSC1">global warming</a>.
That means the southern third of the country, where most of the population lives, would get very few, if any, days with snow cover. Scientists: Sweden Will Lose Over Two Months Of Snow Season
The weather service projected <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/the-snowy-landscape-of-kiruna-sweden/">Sweden's</a> average temperature will rise by 2-6 degrees C (4-11 degrees F).
Governments will meet in Paris later this year to discuss a new pact to slow climate change. Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution, the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.
© 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.

Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage. University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Aron Stubbins joined a team of researchers to determine how hydrothermal vents influence ocean carbon storage. The results of their study were recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Hydrothermal vents are hotspots of activity on the otherwise dark, cold ocean floor. Since their discovery, scientists have been intrigued by these deep ocean ecosystems, studying their potential role in the evolution of life and their influence upon today's <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/arctic-rivers-heat-up-the-ocean-and-shrink-sea-ice/">ocean</a>. Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage

Stubbins and his colleagues were most interested in the way the vents' extremely high temperatures and pressure affect dissolved organic carbon. Oceanic dissolved organic carbon is a massive carbon store that helps regulate the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere--and the global climate.

Originally, the researchers thought the vents might be a source of the dissolved organic carbon. Their research showed just the opposite.

Lead scientist Jeffrey Hawkes, currently a postdoctoral fellow at Uppsala University in Sweden, directed an experiment in which the researchers heated water in a laboratory to 380 degrees Celsius (716 degrees Fahrenheit) in a scientific pressure cooker to mimic the effect of ocean water passing through hydrothermal vents.

The results revealed that dissolved organic carbon is efficiently removed from ocean water when heated. The organic molecules are broken down and the carbon converted to carbon dioxide.

The entire ocean volume circulates through hydrothermal vents about every 40 million years. This is a very long time, much longer than the timeframes over which current climate change is occurring, Stubbins explained. It is also much longer than the average lifetime of dissolved organic molecules in the ocean, which generally circulate for thousands of years, not millions.

"However, there may be extreme survivor molecules that persist and store carbon in the oceans for millions of years," Stubbins said. "Eventually, even these hardiest of survivor molecules will meet a fiery end as they circulate through vent systems."

---

<a href="http://www.uga.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Georgia</a>

Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage

Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage. University of Georgia Skidaway...

Arctic Ocean Will Soon Have 60 More Days Of Open Water. By the 2050s, parts of the Arctic Ocean once covered by sea ice much of the year will see at least 60 days a year of open water, according to a new modeling study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.

"We hear all the time about how sea ice extent in the Arctic is going down," says Katy Barnhart, who led the study while at CU-Boulder's Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). "That's an important measurement if you are trying to understand broad impacts of climate change in the Arctic, but it doesn't tell us about how the changes in the sea ice in the Arctic are going to affect specific places."

So Barnhart and her colleagues, including CIRES Fellow Jennifer Kay and INSTAAR Fellow Irina Overeem, set out to investigate the very local impacts of open water expansion patterns in the Arctic. Their work is published today in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The researchers used climate simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research-based Community Earth System Model to see how the number of open water, or sea-ice-free, days change from 1850 to 2100 in our planet's northernmost ocean. They also wanted to understand when open water conditions in specific locations would be completely different from preindustrial conditions.

Because most economic activity in the Arctic is along the coastline, the team focused on four coastal locations that demonstrated the range of sea ice change: Drew Point, along Alaska's North Slope; the Laptev Sea, along Siberia's northern coast; Perry Channel in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (part of the Northwest Passage route); and Arctic Ocean regions east of Svalbard, Norway.

For example, at Drew Point, open water is already shifting from preindustrial conditions. Once present about 50 days a year on average (~1900-2000), open water is now present about 100 days a year. By the 2070s, the modeling study concludes, there could be close to 200 days a year with no sea ice at Drew Point, which is likely to worsen coastal erosion.

"We wanted to highlight places that had interesting or different stories with respect to the patterns of Arctic Ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice motion--things like coastal erosion or connections to potential sea routes," said Barnhart, now a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "Since we don't expect the impacts of Arctic sea ice loss to be exactly the same in Alaska as in Greenland, we looked at open water days to provide a more nuanced picture of sea ice change at specific locations."

For the study, Barnhart, Kay and their colleagues relied on climate projections from 1850 to 2100 and analyzed multiple runs or "realizations" from a single climate model.

According to their analysis, the entire Arctic coastline and most of the Arctic Ocean will experience an additional 60 days of open water each year by the 2050s, and many sites will have more than 100 additional days.

"The Arctic is warming and the sea ice is melting, with impacts on Arctic people and ecosystems," Kay said. "By the end of this century, assuming a scenario of continued business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions, the Arctic will be in a new regime with respect to open water, fully outside the realm of what we've seen in the past."

---

<a href="http://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Colorado Boulder</a>

Arctic Ocean Will Soon Have 60 More Days Of Open Water

Arctic Ocean Will Soon Have 60 More Days Of Open...

Hydrothermal Vents Influence Ocean Carbon Storage. University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Aron Stubbins joined a team of researchers to determine how hydrothermal vents influence ocean carbon storage. The results of their study were recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Hydrothermal vents are hotspots of activity on the otherwise dark, cold ocean floor. Since their discovery, scientists have been intrigued by these deep ocean ecosystems, studying their potential role in the evolution of life and their influence upon today's ocean.

Stubbins and his colleagues were most interested in the way the vents' extremely high temperatures and pressure affect dissolved organic carbon. Oceanic dissolved organic carbon is a massive carbon store that helps regulate the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere--and the global climate.

Originally, the researchers thought the vents might be a source of the dissolved organic carbon. Their research showed just the opposite.

Lead scientist Jeffrey Hawkes, currently a postdoctoral fellow at Uppsala University in Sweden, directed an experiment in which the researchers heated water in a laboratory to 380 degrees Celsius (716 degrees Fahrenheit) in a scientific pressure cooker to mimic the effect of ocean water passing through hydrothermal vents.

The results revealed that dissolved organic carbon is efficiently removed from ocean water when heated. The organic molecules are broken down and the carbon converted to carbon dioxide.

The entire ocean volume circulates through hydrothermal vents about every 40 million years. This is a very long time, much longer than the timeframes over which current climate change is occurring, Stubbins explained. It is also much longer than the average lifetime of dissolved organic molecules in the ocean, which generally circulate for thousands of years, not millions.

"However, there may be extreme survivor molecules that persist and store carbon in the oceans for millions of years," Stubbins said. "Eventually, even these hardiest of survivor molecules will meet a fiery end as they circulate through vent systems."

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<a href="http://www.uga.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Georgia</a>

Arctic Ocean Will Soon Have 60 More Days Of Open Water. By the 2050s, parts of the Arctic Ocean once covered by sea ice much of the year will see at least 60 days a year of open water, according to a new modeling study led by researchers at the University of <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/cameron-peak-fire-is-now-the-largest-in-colorados-recorded-history/">Colorado</a> Boulder.

"We hear all the time about how sea ice extent in the Arctic is going down," says Katy Barnhart, who led the study while at CU-Boulder's Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). "That's an important measurement if you are trying to understand broad impacts of climate change in the Arctic, but it doesn't tell us about how the changes in the sea ice in the Arctic are going to affect specific places."

So Barnhart and her colleagues, including CIRES Fellow Jennifer Kay and INSTAAR Fellow Irina Overeem, set out to investigate the very local impacts of open water expansion patterns in the Arctic. Their work is published today in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The researchers used climate simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research-based Community Earth System Model to see how the number of open water, or sea-ice-free, days change from 1850 to 2100 in our planet's northernmost ocean. They also wanted to understand when open water conditions in specific locations would be completely different from preindustrial conditions.

Because most economic activity in the Arctic is along the coastline, the team focused on four coastal locations that demonstrated the range of sea ice change: Drew Point, along Alaska's North Slope; the Laptev Sea, along Siberia's northern coast; Perry Channel in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (part of the Northwest Passage route); and Arctic Ocean regions east of Svalbard, Norway.

For example, at Drew Point, open water is already shifting from preindustrial conditions. Once present about 50 days a year on average (~1900-2000), open water is now present about 100 days a year. By the 2070s, the modeling study concludes, there could be close to 200 days a year with no sea ice at Drew Point, which is likely to worsen coastal erosion.

"We wanted to highlight places that had interesting or different stories with respect to the patterns of Arctic Ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice motion--things like coastal erosion or connections to potential sea routes," said Barnhart, now a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "Since we don't expect the impacts of Arctic sea ice loss to be exactly the same in Alaska as in Greenland, we looked at open water days to provide a more nuanced picture of sea ice change at specific locations."

For the study, Barnhart, Kay and their colleagues relied on climate projections from 1850 to 2100 and analyzed multiple runs or "realizations" from a single climate model.

According to their analysis, the entire Arctic coastline and most of the Arctic Ocean will experience an additional 60 days of open water each year by the 2050s, and many sites will have more than 100 additional days.

"The Arctic is warming and the sea ice is melting, with impacts on Arctic people and ecosystems," Kay said. "By the end of this century, assuming a scenario of continued business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions, the Arctic will be in a new regime with respect to open water, fully outside the realm of what we've seen in the past."

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<a href="http://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Colorado Boulder</a>

UN: Climate Change Will Be Detrimental To World Food Supply. A U.N. expert is warning that more extreme weather, higher temperatures, floods, droughts and rising sea levels linked to climate change are threatening people's access to food over the long term.
Hilal Elver, the U.N. special rapporteur on "the right to food," predicts the negative impact from climate change on <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=agriculture&amp;cvid=c2b579318479424a909bdf2bbf7c903e&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">agriculture</a> and world food supply could subject another 600 million people to malnutrition by 2080.
In a statement on Tuesday before a U.N. climate conference in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/inconsistent-paris-agreement-pledges/">Paris</a> starting Nov. 30, she recommended a shift from large-scale, industrial agriculture to "agro-ecology" that supports the local food movement, small-scale farmers and the environment. UN: Climate Change Will Be Detrimental To World Food Supply. Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution, the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.
Most climate scientists say the climate is changing largely because of the buildup of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Some public officials and a few climate scientists disagree.
© 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.

UN: Climate Change Will Be Detrimental To World

UN: Climate Change Will Be Detrimental To World Food Supply....

New Strategy For Restoring Coastal Wetlands. When restoring coastal wetlands, common practice calls for leaving space between new plants to prevent overcrowding and reduce competition for nutrients and sunlight.

That's likely all wrong.

A new study, conducted to restore degraded salt marshes in Florida and the Netherlands, has found that clumping newly planted marsh grasses next to each other, with little or no space in between, can spur positive interactions between the plants.

In some test plots, plant density and vegetative cover increased by as much as 300 percent by season's end.

"This is a really small design change that can yield greatly improved results, without adding to restoration costs or time," said Brian Silliman, a marine ecologist at Duke University. "It's essentially free success--higher yields at no added expense."

Silliman and his colleagues published the results in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Basic ecological principles

[caption id="attachment_2385983" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/03091133/great-meadows-marsh_1big_NSF.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2385983" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/03091133/great-meadows-marsh_1big_NSF-150x150.jpg" alt="Great Meadows Marsh, its grasses blowing in the wind, stretches along the Connecticut coast." width="150" height="150" /></a> Great Meadows Marsh, its grasses blowing in the wind, stretches along the Connecticut coast.[/caption]

"Understanding basic ecological principles has very practical impacts," said Mike Sieracki, program director in the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research. "In this case, simple changes in marsh restoration practices improve success."

The finding, which is applicable to a wide array of coastal restoration efforts worldwide, upends a 40-year-old theory borrowed from forestry: New plants, called "out-plants" by restoration ecologists, need to be spaced well apart from each other to reduce competition and generate the highest growth rates.

"In a low-stress field or forest that makes sense," Silliman said. "But in the tough, volatile environment of redeveloping coastal wetlands, it's a different story."

A plant that is spaced too far from other plants and species in a restored wetland will experience not only fewer negative interactions but also fewer positive ones, which often outweigh the negatives.

Left to fend on their own, small out-plants will have more trouble resisting erosion, overcoming low oxygen levels in soil, surviving infestations and withstanding overgrazing by marsh herbivores.

In a marsh, get closer to neighbors

"The bottom-line message is: A coastal wetland plant that is close to its neighbors will grow better than a plant that isn't," Silliman said. "The findings clearly demonstrate that planting closely does not spur negative competition. It allows positive interactions to flourish, so plants can work together to survive."

Convincing others to adopt this new approach may prove a challenge.

[caption id="attachment_2385984" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/03091136/marsh-maine_1big_NSF.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2385984" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/11/03091136/marsh-maine_1big_NSF-150x150.jpg" alt="In autumn, marsh grasses begin to die back in areas such as this Maine coastal wetland." width="150" height="150" /></a> In autumn, marsh grasses begin to die back in areas such as this Maine coastal wetland.[/caption]

A survey conducted by Silliman and his team as part of the new study found that 95 percent of restoration organizations in the United States still adhere to the old forestry-based practice of dispersed planting. The practice remains common in other countries, as well.

"In China, where coastal marshes have experienced massive die-offs from drought and overgrazing, people have tried unsuccessfully to restore them using the old paradigm that spaces out plants," said Qiang He, also of Duke University and a co-author of the paper. "It's possible that changing planting designs could greatly improve success of salt marsh restoration there, as clumping could protect plants from salt stress and overgrazing."

Silliman added, "In the very near future, conservation will entail immense restoration projects on the scale of whole ecosystems, islands or cities. We won't just be restoring them; we'll be augmenting existing ecosystems and creating new ones to provide the services we need.

"Increasing our yields and decreasing our costs to achieve these goals must be a high scientific priority. This study takes a big step in the right direction by showing how harnessing positive interactions can increase restoration success."

Funding for the study also came from the Netherlands Royal Society of Arts and Sciences and the Edward Stolarz Foundation.

Other co-authors of the paper are Elizabeth Schrack, Rebecca Cope and Amanda Santoni of Duke; T. van der Helde of Ramhoud University at Nijmegen and the University of Groningen; Johan van de Koppel of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and the University of Groningen; and Ralph and Mike Jacobi of the Tampa Bay, Florida, Boy Scout Troop 138, which planted and helped monitor experimental salt marsh test plots in the study.

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<a href="http://www.nsf.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Science Foundation</a>

New Strategy For Restoring Coastal Wetlands

New Strategy For Restoring Coastal Wetlands. When restoring coastal wetlands,...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image 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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Kainji Lake, a reservoir on the Niger River.



In 1968, Kainji Lake was created by the construction of the Kainji Dam. The Niger River, the third longest in Africa, enters the lake in the north.&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rivers-in-the-american-west-are-a-lifesaving-resource-for-birds/">ESA</a>, the creation of the lake submerged Foge Island and the town of Bussa and permanently flooded other riverine settlements, leaving around 50,000 people displaced.&nbsp;



Large parts of Foge Island are temporarily exposed during low water tides, and the land is often used by migrating fishermen. Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in Niger State of Central Nigeria. 



Wild mammals occur at relatively low densities due to illegal hunting. Lake Kainji has suffered a dramatic decline as a fishery due to the high numbers of artisanal and subsistence fisherfolk using the lake. It has been suggested that a period of closure, together with controlled fishing rights may help improve fish stocks.



Kainji Lake National Park is the oldest of its kind in Nigeria. The park contains three distinct areas: a part of the Kainji Lake, the Borgu Game Reserve to the west of the lake, and the Zugurma Game Reserve to the southeast. The park is home to around 65 mammal species, 350 bird species, and 30 species of reptiles and amphibians. 



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes why experts are studying zebrafish to gain a better understanding of how the immune system responds to injury. Zebrafish have the ability to repair and regenerate organs.



“Organ regeneration offers an exciting opportunity for studying the immune system and to inquire why some species can regenerate organs like the heart or missing limbs while others like humans cannot,” explained Dr. Tatjana Piotrowski.



Zebrafish sensory organ hair cells are an ideal system to investigate the pathways and cell types involved in regeneration since they are easily destroyed with antibiotics and begin regenerating within five hours. This enabled the researchers to identify the exact timing and genetic programs for each anti-inflammatory macrophage activation state.&nbsp;



“Our hypothesis is that human macrophages do not receive the proper chemical activation 'cocktail' to instruct pro-regenerative processes,” said Dr. Nicolas Denans. “Identifying the molecular recipe of macrophage activation in zebrafish may one day enable us to design regenerative immunotherapies in humans.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The new evidence is a valuable resource for comparative studies on the genetic programs involved in macrophage-mediated repair and regeneration. In other words, different types of injuries may induce different kinds of inflammatory responses. We want to decipher whether this 'language' is universal or if there are a variety of dialects."



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

[sendtonews key="0dEcERCq61-2283382-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Stowers...

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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