Monsoons across the planet are known for their seasonal timing, delivering vital rainfall in some months and waning in others. Yet the exact reasons behind their shifts from dry to wet conditions have often puzzled researchers.



In a new study, scientists revealed that the atmosphere can hold moisture for longer than previously suspected, adding a twist to traditional thinking about these large-scale <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-land-conditions-affect-the-asian-monsoon-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">weather</a> systems.



This phenomenon was identified by Anja Katzenberger, a climatologist at the <a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research</a>, who investigated the ways water vapor shapes the timing of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-rainfall-increases-as-a-direct-result-of-global-warming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rainfall</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seasonal-rains-support-billions">Seasonal rains support billions</h2>



Monsoon rains emerge each year in regions such as South Asia, West Africa, parts of the Americas, and East Asia. More than <a href="https://community.wmo.int/en/news/wgtmra-new-international-monsoons-project-office-launched-support-global-monsoon-research-activities" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">two billion people</a> rely on these rains to to irrigate crops and replenish rivers.



Scientists have long connected monsoon onset with the warming of land masses under stronger sunlight in spring. Yet findings suggest there may be more to this process than just solar energy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-role-of-moisture-memory">The role of moisture memory</h2>



Research indicates a property known as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/mathematics/bistability" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bistability</a>, where the atmosphere settles in either a rainy or a dry configuration for a given level of solar heating. This stable arrangement persists until a certain threshold of moisture tips the system into a new state.



“The atmosphere can ‘remember’ its previous state by storing physical information in the form of water vapor,” said Katzenberger. This storage creates conditions where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rain-and-snow-are-difficult-to-forecast-at-near-freezing-temperatures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rainfall</a> can switch on rapidly after enough moisture builds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-rainfall-without-oceans">Testing rainfall without oceans</h2>



To isolate the atmosphere’s behavior, the researchers used a specialized climate model called a <a href="https://www.ipcc-data.org/guidelines/pages/gcm_guide.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">general circulation model</a>. They removed slower Earth systems like oceans to test how the air alone responds to changing conditions.



The results showed that even without ocean heat, the atmosphere could switch states once moisture passed a certain level. This finding confirms that memory-like behavior exists within the air itself - contradicting long-held assumptions in <a href="https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/earth-system-model/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate science</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-moisture-for-monsoon-timing">Moisture for monsoon timing</h2>



We usually think of water vapor escaping or condensing in short time frames. But researchers found evidence that it can accumulate over weeks to sustain wet <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-summer-rainfall-events-have-increased-in-the-u-s/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">conditions</a> when the rains begin.



“We’ve long known that systems like the ocean or ice sheets have some sort of memory,” said Anders Levermann, who leads the Complexity Science department at the institute.



Those discoveries hinted that slower climate processes could store energy, yet the idea of the air having a similar capacity seemed far-fetched until now.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-delayed-rain-risks-crops">Delayed rain risks crops</h2>



The timing of monsoon onset isn’t just a scientific curiosity - it’s directly tied to crop planting, water storage, and disaster readiness. A shift of just a few weeks can mean the difference between a successful harvest and a failed one.



Regions that rely heavily on seasonal rains, like parts of India and Southeast Asia, have already seen increased variability. These new findings raise concerns about how climate change might amplify delays or intensify rainfall beyond manageable levels.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-billions-depend-on-monsoons">Billions depend on monsoons</h2>



When the atmosphere transitions to its rainy phase, it can hold on to that state even after sunlight starts to dip. If conditions shift due to additional pollution or higher temperatures, the threshold for flipping back might change.



These sudden swings matter. A <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">delayed monsoon</a> could leave regions parched while an extended wet spell may bring floods that damage crops and disrupt local economies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-improving-monsoon-predictions">Improving monsoon predictions</h2>



Future research may refine early warning systems for abrupt weather changes. Pinpointing the moisture level that triggers a switch could help local planners manage water resources more effectively.



Climate scientists worldwide are watching these findings closely. Some hope to extend the concept of atmospheric memory to other weather patterns, adding a fresh perspective to long-term climate modeling.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-questions-about-monsoon-timing">Questions about monsoon timing</h2>



While the study explains how monsoon shifts occur, it doesn’t yet explain how different regions might respond as the climate warms unevenly. More research is needed to determine if the threshold changes across continents or ecosystems.



It’s also unclear how human activities - such as deforestation, aerosol emissions, or irrigation - might alter the atmosphere’s ability to store moisture. These variables could push some monsoon systems closer to instability without clear warning signs.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2418093122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



-----



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The atmosphere has a 'memory' that affects the timing of monsoons

Monsoons across the planet are known for their seasonal timing, delivering vital rainfall in some months and waning in others. Yet the exact reasons behind their shifts from dry to wet conditions have often puzzled researchers. In a new study, scientists revealed that the atmosphere can hold moisture for longer than previously suspected, adding a twist to traditional thinking about these large-scale weather systems. This phenomenon was identified by Anja Katzenberger, a climatologist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who investigated the ways water vapor...

Carbon Dioxide

Study: Government Entities Less Likely To Meet <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=environmental&amp;cvid=26864790418e42fb9a192cb870710ddb&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Environmental</a> Regulations. Government entities are less likely to comply with certain federal environmental regulations than are similar entities owned by private companies, according to a new study co-authored by an Indiana University researcher.

And regulatory <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/human-transmission-confirmed-in-deadly-outbreak-of-chapare-virus/">authorities</a> are less vigorous in enforcing the rules when they are regulating other governments, the study finds. Publicly owned facilities are less likely to face fines or other sanctions for violations than are those owned and run by private firms.

“We find pretty good evidence for power plants, hospitals and water utilities that government-owned facilities are more likely to violate standards than are their private-sector counterparts,” said David Konisky of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington, a co-author of the study. “And when they do violate, the government is less likely to come down hard on them.”Study: Government Entities Less Likely To Meet Environmental Regulations

The study, "When Governments Regulate Governments," was published by the American Journal of Political Science and is available online. Konisky is an associate professor at SPEA. His co-author is Manny Teodoro, associate professor of political science at Texas A&amp;M University.

Konisky cautioned against leaping to simplistic conclusions from the study. While some observers may suggest the findings present an argument for privatizing regulated services, he said, privatization can lead to other issues, such as a loss of accountability and over-spending for infrastructure.

Privatization “could be a solution, but it has to be put in context,” he said. “Importantly, it’s not the only solution.” Other approaches could include providing stronger incentives and assistance to help public agencies comply with regulations.

For the study, Konisky and Teodoro examined records from 2000 to 2011 for power plants and hospitals regulated under the Clean Air Act and from 2010 to 2013 for water utilities regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The study included over 3,000 power plants, over 1,000 hospitals and over 4,200 water utilities -- some privately owned and others owned by public agencies.

-- For power plants and hospitals, public facilities were on average 9 percent more likely to be out of compliance with Clean Air Act regulations and 20 percent more likely to have committed high-priority violations.
-- For water utilities, public facilities had on average 14 percent more Safe Drinking Water Act health violations and were 29 percent more likely to commit monitoring violations.
-- Public power plants and hospitals that violated the Clean Air Act were 1 percent less likely than private-sector violators to receive a punitive sanction and 20 percent less likely to be fined.
-- Public water utilities that violated Safe Drinking Water Act standards were 3 percent less likely than investor-owned utilities to receive formal enforcement actions.

Konisky said the findings are significant but not surprising. Government entities have higher costs of complying with regulations because they often must go through political processes to raise the money needed to improve their facilities. And they may face pushback from customers or taxpayers who object to higher rates and have the political power to block them.

Public entities also face lower costs for violating the regulations, the authors argue. There is evidence from other studies that they are able to delay or avoid paying fines when penalties are assessed. And officials with regulatory agencies may be sympathetic to violations by public entities, because they understand the difficulty of securing resources in the public sector.

Konisky said future research on the topic could include interviews with representatives of the regulatory and regulated communities as well as studies focusing on other environmental programs, such as the length of time required to clean up public and private sites under the federal Superfund law.

“We also hope the idea of government regulating government will spark interest for research in other domains,” he said. “We’re investigating the environmental dimensions of the issue, but if other scholars want to pick up these ideas and investigate them in other spaces, that would be great.”

---

<a href="http://www.indiana.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Indiana University</a>

Study: Government Entities Less Likely To Meet Environmental Regulations

Study: Government Entities Less Likely To Meet Environmental Regulations. Government...

Toyota To Eliminate New Gasoline Cars By 2050. Toyota, under ambitious environmental targets, is aiming to sell hardly any regular gasoline vehicles by 2050, only hybrids and fuel cells, to radically reduce emissions.
The automaker promised to involve governments, affiliated companies and other "stakeholders" in its push to reduce average emissions from Toyota cars by 90 percent by about 2050, compared with 2010 levels.Toyota To Eliminate New Gasoline Cars By 2050
Electric cars weren't part of their vision, outlined by top Toyota Motor Corp. officials at a Tokyo museum on Wednesday, striking a contrast with rivals such as <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/first-electric-office/">Nissan</a> Motor Co., which has banked on that zero-emissions <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=technology&amp;cvid=8bb5071a9d5d41cbbfdbff9a688c5f3d&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">technology</a>.
Toyota's commitments come at a time when the auto industry has been shaken by a scandal at Germany's Volkswagen AG, in which it admitted it cheated on diesel emissions tests covering millions of cars.
Toyota projected its annual sales of fuel cell vehicles will reach more than 30,000 by about 2020, which is 10 times its projected figure for 2017.
Fuel cells run on hydrogen and are zero-emissions. Toyota's Mirai fuel cell went on sale late last year. Toyota has received 1,500 orders for the Mirai in Japan, and it just went on sale in the U.S. and Europe.
Annual sales of hybrid vehicles will reach 1.5 million and by 2020 Toyota would have sold 15 million hybrids, nearly twice what it has sold so far around the world, it said.
Hybrids switch back and forth between a gasoline engine and an electric motor to deliver an efficient ride.
The Toyota Prius, which went on sale in 1997, is the top-selling hybrid, with about 4 million sold globally so far. Toyota is promising to develop a hybrid version in every category, including usually gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles, as well as luxury models.
"You may think 35 years is a long time," Senior Managing Officer Kiyotaka Ise told reporters. "But for an automaker to envision all combustion engines as gone is pretty extraordinary."
Ise acknowledged some gasoline engine cars would remain in less developed markets, but only in small numbers.
He and other Toyota officials insisted on the inevitability of their overall vision, stressing that the problems of global warming and environmental destruction made a move toward a hydrogen-based society a necessity.
Experts agree more has to be done to curtail global warming and pollution, and nations are increasingly tightening emissions standards.
But they are divided on whether all gasoline engines will disappear, or they'll stay on, thanks to greener internal combustion engines, as well as the arrival of clean diesel technology.
Tatsuo Yoshida, senior analyst at Barclays Securities Japan in Tokyo, said Toyota's goals weren't far-fetched.
"The internal combustion engine is developing and metamorphosing into hybrids," he said. "Toyota has been working on this technology for a long time. When officials speak out like this, it means they are 120 percent confident this is their scenario."
As part of its environmental vision, Toyota also promised to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from production lines during manufacturing in 2030 to about a third of 2001 levels.
Toyota said it will develop manufacturing technology that uses hydrogen, and will use wind power at its Tahara plant, both by 2020. It also promised to beef up various recycling measures, including developing ways to build vehicles from recycled ones.
When asked why Toyota remained so cautious on electric vehicles, they said they take too long to recharge, despite battery innovations that have made them smaller, restricting them for short-range travel in cities.
Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, known as the "father of the Prius," said the company was taking the environment seriously because it has always tried to contribute to a better society.
"We have the same principles since our founding," he said, showing on stage a photo of Sakichi Toyoda, the Toyota founder's father, who invented a textile loom in 1891. "That is Toyota's DNA."
---
Follow Yuri Kageyama: <a href="http://twitter.com/yurikageyama">http://twitter.com/yurikageyama</a>
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Toyota To Eliminate New Gasoline Cars By 2050

Toyota To Eliminate New Gasoline Cars By 2050. Toyota, under...

Scientists: Spring To Begin Three Weeks Earlier In US. Rising global temperatures due to climate change will bring spring to the United States about three weeks earlier than usual in the decades to come, scientists said Wednesday.
While those who are weary of winter may welcome such <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=news&amp;cvid=1f2e690a4d264a128945381c7f4ec9ba&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">news,</a> scientists say the shift will also have long-reaching impacts on the growing season of plants and the animals that depend upon them.

"Our projections show that winter will be shorter -- which sounds great for those of us in Wisconsin," said Andrew Allstadt of the University of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/irrigated-farms-cooling-temperatures/">Wisconsin</a>, Madison, a co-author of the study in the October 14 edition of the journal Environmental Research Letters.

"But long distance migratory birds, for example, time their migration based on day length in their winter range. They may arrive in their breeding ground to find that the plant resources that they require are already gone."

The research predicts the dates of leaf and flower emergence based on day length, and suggests spring will arrive a median of three weeks earlier over the next century.

The swiftest changes could be seen in plants in the Pacific Northwest and western US mountainous regions.

Smaller shifts should be seen in the south where spring already arrives early.

Researchers also predicted that there will be fewer so-called false springs, when an unexpected freeze occurs after spring plant growth has begun, over most of the US except for one area of the western Great Plains which is projected to see an increase.

"This is important as false springs can damage plant production cycles in natural and agricultural systems" said Allstadt.Rising global temperatures due to climate change will bring spring to the United States about three weeks earlier than usual in the decades to come

"In some cases, an entire crop can be lost."
The study pointed out that the onset of spring plant growth has already shifted earlier over the past several decades, due to higher global temperatures.
The research team plans to expand its study to include all kinds of extreme weather, including droughts and heat waves, and how they affect bird populations in wildlife refuges.

---

Credit: AFP

Scientists: Spring To Begin Three Weeks Earlier In US

Scientists: Spring To Begin Three Weeks Earlier In US. Rising...

Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna. Hawaii fishermen are once again being allowed to catch a bigeye tuna species in the fleet's most productive fishing grounds west of the islands, sparking criticism that they are adding to overfishing.
The National Marine Fisheries Service closed the fishery in early August because Hawaii-based longline fishermen hit an annual bigeye tuna catch limit of about 3,500 metric tons set by international regulators.
But the agency on Friday created a rule allowing the fishermen to report up to 1,000 metric tons of bigeye as being caught by the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a U.S. territory. The change allows Hawaii fisherman to catch more bigeye tuna than the maximum set by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
The commission, which is an international body that regulates fishing by the U.S., Japan, China and other nations fishing the area, doesn't set limits on the catch of territories.
The two-month closure of fishing grounds affected 145 active vessels in the Hawaii longline fleet, said the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which develops management plans for U.S. fisheries in Hawaii and other Pacific islands.
"Arbitrary quotas not linked to conservation objectives kept our boats tied at the docks," Kitty Simonds, the council's executive director, said in a statement. "The struggling vessels and small businesses they support accumulated millions of dollars in debt each month, causing untold anxiety for our local fishing community and consumers."
Environmentalists have sued the fisheries service to stop the attribution of bigeye catch to U.S. territories, arguing it undermines international agreements aimed at eliminating the overfishing of bigeye. The case is pending in federal court in Honolulu.
David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice which is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, called the agency's latest decision "shortsighted." He said all developed fisheries - like Hawaii's longline fishery - need to reduce their catch to make sure bigeye is available for future generations.
"What the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=fisheries&amp;cvid=0d4783d10d9a4a7a9c5ac504267b19aa&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">fisheries</a> service has been doing in response to industry pressure is absolutely the wrong thing for consumers who want to have sustainable food, and food to put on the table for their children and their children's children," Henkin said. "And really ultimately it's not the right thing to do for longliners themselves if they want to continue that tradition in their families."Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna
Mike Tosatto, Pacific Islands regional administrator for the fisheries service, said the reopening will have a negligible impact on the status of bigeye stock. He said the fisheries service reassesses the catch attribution plan each year to make sure it addresses overfishing.
"The fisheries service obviously takes addressing overfishing seriously," Tosatto said.
Bigeye stocks in the area are down to about 20 percent of their unfished levels, according to data from the Western and Central <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/wave-clouds-over-the-pacific-ocean/">Pacific</a> Fisheries Commission.
Scientists advising the commission have warned about bigeye overfishing every year since the international body was established in 2005.
Bigeye is one of two types of tuna known as ahi. The other is yellowfin.
The longline fleet supplies a large portion of the ahi consumed in Hawaii, where bigeye is often eaten raw as sashimi and as poke, which is a dish featuring cubed tuna seasoned with soy sauce and other condiments. Bigeye is also frequently cut into steaks and grilled.
Fish landed by the Hawaii fleet is worth about $100 million a year, ranking Honolulu among the nation's top 10 ports in landed value, according to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.
© 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.

Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna

Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna. Hawaii fishermen...

Volkswagen Emission Testing

2016 Volkswagens Also Have Emissions Cheating SoftwareVolkswagen has disclosed to U.S. regulators that there is additional suspect emissions cheating software in its 2016 diesel models that would potentially help their exhaust systems run cleaner during government tests.
Volkswagen confirmed to The Associated Press that the "auxiliary emissions control device" at issue operates differently from the "defeat" device software included in the company's 2009 to 2015 models disclosed last month. That disclosure triggered the worldwide cheating scandal engulfing the world's largest automaker.
The newly revealed software makes a pollution control catalyst heat up faster, improving performance of the device that separates smog-causing nitrogen oxide into harmless nitrogen and oxygen gases.
VW spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said the new issue with the 2016 diesel models, known as an auxiliary emissions control device, was first revealed last week to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California regulators.
"This has the function of a warmup strategy which is subject to approval by the agencies," Ginivan said. "The agencies are currently evaluating this and Volkswagen is submitting additional information."
Automakers routinely place auxiliary emissions control devices on cars, though they are required by law to disclose them as part of the process to receive clean emissions certifications required to sell cars in the country.
AP first reported Oct. 7 that the EPA and California Air Resources Board are investigating "the nature and purpose" of additional software on the new VW models.2016 Volkswagens Also Have Emissions Cheating Software
Regulators have not yet determined whether the code is a defeat device installed specifically to cheat on emissions tests, said Janet McCabe, acting assistant EPA administrator for air quality.
"We have a long list of questions for VW about this," she said Tuesday at a dedication ceremony for a new heavy-duty truck testing lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "We're getting some answers from them, but we do not have all the answers yet."
McCabe wouldn't say if VW's failure to disclose the software in its 2016 application for emissions certification was illegal. "I don't want to speak to any potential subjects of an enforcement activity," she said.
The delay is bad news for Volkswagen dealers, who had been anticipating delivery of the new models to replace older inventory which they can no longer offer to customers. Thousands of 2016 Beetles, Golfs and Jettas will remain quarantined in U.S. ports until a fix can be developed, approved and carried out. Diesel versions of the Passat sedan manufactured at the company's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are also on hold.
Volkswagen already faced an ongoing criminal investigation and billions in fines for violating the Clean Air Act for its earlier emissions cheat, as well as a raft of state investigations and class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of customers.
If it is determined the new issue is a second defeat device, that would call into question recent assertions by top VW executives that responsibility for the cheating scheme lay with a handful of rogue software developers who wrote the original code installed with the company's diesel engines starting with the 2009 model year.
The separate device included in the redesigned 2016 cars would appear to suggest a multi-year effort by the company to influence U.S. emissions tests that continued even after regulators began pressing the company last year about irregularities with the emissions produced by the older cars.
A congressional staffer briefed on the issue last week told AP that VW probably didn't need the additional software to meet government emissions standards, but that the device appears intended to ensure the 2016 cars would pass by wider margins. The staffer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the ongoing investigation.
The company's most senior U.S.-based executive announced in congressional testimony last week that the German automaker had withdrawn applications seeking certification of its 2016 diesels because of on-board software that hadn't been disclosed to regulators.
However, the statement by Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn left unclear whether the issue with the 2016 models was the same as that in the earlier models, or whether it potentially constituted a new violation.
VW is now working with regulators to continue the certification process needed to sell the 2016 diesel cars.
---
Matthew Daly contributed from Washington. Krisher reported from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
---
Follow Biesecker at <a href="http://twitter.com/mbieseck" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://Twitter.com/mbieseck</a> and Krisher at <a href="http://twitter.com/tkrisher" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://Twitter.com/tkrisher</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

2016 Volkswagens Also Have Emissions Cheating Software

2016 Volkswagens Also Have Emissions Cheating SoftwareVolkswagen has disclosed to...

Scientists Identify Climate Tipping Points. An international team of scientists have identified potential climate tipping points where abrupt regional climate shifts could occur due to global warming.

In the new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/united-states-global-waste/">United States</a> of America (PNAS), the scientists analysed the climate model simulations on which the recent 5th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports are based.

They found evidence of 41 cases of regional abrupt changes in the ocean, sea ice, snow cover, permafrost and terrestrial biosphere. Many of these events occur for global warming levels of less than two degrees, a threshold sometimes presented as a safe limit. However, although most models predict one or more abrupt regional shifts, any specific occurrence typically appears in only a few models.

"This illustrates the high uncertainty in predicting tipping points," says lead author Professor Sybren Drijfhout from Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton. "More precisely, our results show that the different state-of-the-art models agree that abrupt changes are likely, but that predicting when and where they will occur remains very difficult. Also, our results show that no safe limit exists and that many abrupt shifts already occur for global warming levels much lower than two degrees," he adds.

Examples of detected climate tipping include abrupt shifts in sea ice and ocean circulation patterns, as well as abrupt shifts in vegetation and marine productivity. Sea ice abrupt changes were particularly common in the climate simulations. However, various models also predict abrupt changes in Earth system elements such as the Amazon forest, tundra permafrost and snow on the Tibetan plateau.

"Interestingly, abrupt events could come out as a cascade of different phenomena," adds Victor Brovkin, a co-author from Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M). "For example, a collapse of permafrost in Arctic is followed by a rapid increase in forest area there. This kind of domino effect should have implications not only for natural systems, but also for society."

"The majority of the detected abrupt shifts are distant from the major population centres of the planet, but their occurrence could have implications over large distances." says Martin Claussen, director of the MPI-M and one of the co-authors. "Our work is only a starting point. Now we need to look deeper into mechanisms of tipping points and design an approach to diagnose them during the next round of climate model simulations for IPCC."

---

<a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Southampton</a>

Scientists Identify Climate Tipping Points

Scientists Identify Climate Tipping Points. An international team of scientists...

Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna. Hawaii fishermen are once again being allowed to catch a bigeye tuna species in the fleet's most productive fishing grounds west of the islands, sparking criticism that they are adding to overfishing.
The National Marine Fisheries Service closed the fishery in early August because Hawaii-based longline fishermen hit an annual bigeye tuna catch limit of about 3,500 metric tons set by international regulators.
But the agency on Friday created a rule allowing the fishermen to report up to 1,000 metric tons of bigeye as being caught by the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a U.S. territory. The change allows Hawaii fisherman to catch more bigeye tuna than the maximum set by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
The commission, which is an international body that regulates fishing by the U.S., Japan, China and other nations fishing the area, doesn't set limits on the catch of territories.
The two-month closure of fishing grounds affected 145 active vessels in the Hawaii longline fleet, said the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which develops management plans for U.S. fisheries in Hawaii and other Pacific islands.
"Arbitrary quotas not linked to conservation objectives kept our boats tied at the docks," Kitty Simonds, the council's executive director, said in a statement. "The struggling vessels and small businesses they support accumulated millions of dollars in debt each month, causing untold anxiety for our local fishing community and consumers."
Environmentalists have sued the fisheries service to stop the attribution of bigeye catch to U.S. territories, arguing it undermines international agreements aimed at eliminating the overfishing of bigeye. The case is pending in federal court in Honolulu.
David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice which is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, called the agency's latest decision "shortsighted." He said all developed fisheries - like Hawaii's longline fishery - need to reduce their catch to make sure bigeye is available for future generations.
"What the fisheries service has been doing in response to industry pressure is absolutely the wrong thing for consumers who want to have sustainable food, and food to put on the table for their children and their children's children," Henkin said. "And really ultimately it's not the right thing to do for longliners themselves if they want to continue that tradition in their families."
Mike Tosatto, Pacific Islands regional administrator for the fisheries service, said the reopening will have a negligible impact on the status of bigeye stock. He said the fisheries service reassesses the catch attribution plan each year to make sure it addresses overfishing.
"The fisheries service obviously takes addressing overfishing seriously," Tosatto said.
Bigeye stocks in the area are down to about 20 percent of their unfished levels, according to data from the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
Scientists advising the commission have warned about bigeye overfishing every year since the international body was established in 2005. Hawaii Fishermen Allowed To Resume Catching Bigeye Tuna
Bigeye is one of two types of tuna known as ahi. The other is yellowfin.
The longline fleet supplies a large portion of the ahi consumed in Hawaii, where bigeye is often eaten raw as sashimi and as poke, which is a dish featuring cubed tuna seasoned with soy sauce and other condiments. Bigeye is also frequently cut into steaks and grilled.
<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fish-fossils-provide-new-insight-into-the-origins-of-teeth/">Fish</a> landed by the Hawaii fleet is worth about $100 million a year, ranking <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=honolulu&amp;cvid=8c4ece5516ae44d6ad15fdf299653cd2&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Honolulu</a> among the nation's top 10 ports in landed value, according to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.
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Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants. President Barack Obama is ordering new steps to reduce refrigerants that contribute to climate change as he works to secure a global climate treaty.
The Obama administration is proposing to extend rules targeting emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals to refrigerants called hydrofluorocarbons. Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants
The White House said Thursday the rules will be finalized next year.President Barack Obama is ordering new steps to reduce refrigerants that contribute to climate change as he works to secure a global climate treaty.
The Environmental Protection Agency also plans to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/marine-life-in-the-deep-sea-will-soon-experience-drastic-changes/">prohibit</a> more uses of hydrofluorocarbons under new deadlines coming in 2016. The Obama administration is pushing to phase out the potent heat-trapping gases <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=global+warming&amp;cvid=f896b37189304554b21fb9efa9610e99&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">globally</a>.
The White House is also announcing nearly $15 million in grants for communities hit hard by the Obama-backed shift away from coal. Almost all of the funds are for programs in Kentucky. Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Obama hopes to build momentum on climate change before international talks conclude in December.
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Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants

Obama Expands Efforts To Reduce Refrigerants. President Barack Obama is...

Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate. 3 percent of the protected forest lost during 2000-2012

Protected and intact forests have been lost at a rapid rate during the first 12 years of this century. According to researchers at Aalto University, Finland, 3% of the protected forest, 2.5% of the intact forest, and 1.5% of the protected intact forest in the world were lost during 2000 - 2012. These rates of forest loss are high compared to the total global forest loss of 5% for the same time period.

In Australia and Oceania, as well as North America, the loss in protected forests exceeded 5%. Worryingly, in parts of Africa, Central Asia, and Europe, the relative forest loss was higher inside protected areas than outside. However, in several countries of South America and Southeast Asia, protection was found to substantially prevent forest loss. Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate

On a global scale, agricultural land expansion is one of the most important processes causing forest loss.

According to the analysis, high rates of protected forest loss were also associated with high proportions of agricultural land. At the same time, the losses in protected and intact forests were associated with a high gross domestic product, challenging partly the previous findings.

- Forests maintain ecological diversity, regulate climate, store carbon, protect soil and water and provide resources and livelihoods for the world's population. It is alarming that official protection in many places does not actually protect the forests, says Timo Räsänen, Postdoc fellow at Aalto University.

- However, there are also positive signs, especially in the tropics. For example, the rate of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon has finally declined in recent years, continues Matias Heino, researcher at Aalto University.

The analysis was conducted, using recently published global remote sensing based forest cover change data, together with global spatial datasets on protected areas and intact forest landscape. Global forest loss in protected areas and in intact forest landscapes have not been previously assessed with detailed and uniform datasets that allow consistent forest extent comparisons over space and time.

---

<a href="http://www.aalto.fi/en/">AALTO University</a>

Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate

Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate. 3 percent...

3 percent of the protected forest lost during 2000-2012

Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate. Protected and intact forests have been lost at a rapid rate during the first 12 years of this century. According to researchers at Aalto University, Finland, 3% of the protected forest, 2.5% of the intact forest, and 1.5% of the protected intact forest in the world were lost during 2000 - 2012. These rates of forest loss are high compared to the total global forest loss of 5% for the same time period.

In Australia and Oceania, as well as North America, the loss in protected forests exceeded 5%. Worryingly, in parts of Africa, Central Asia, and <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=europe&amp;cvid=c17959415bcc4d298ba78182276f7045&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Europe</a>, the relative forest loss was higher inside protected areas than outside. However, in several countries of South America and Southeast <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fossils-reveal-that-monkeys-were-in-asia-6-4-million-years-ago/">Asia,</a> protection was found to substantially prevent forest loss.

On a global scale, agricultural land expansion is one of the most important processes causing forest loss.

According to the analysis, high rates of protected forest loss were also associated with high proportions of agricultural land. At the same time, the losses in protected and intact forests were associated with a high gross domestic product, challenging partly the previous findings.Protected Forests Being Lost At An Alarming Rate

- Forests maintain ecological diversity, regulate climate, store carbon, protect soil and water and provide resources and livelihoods for the world's population. It is alarming that official protection in many places does not actually protect the forests, says Timo Räsänen, Postdoc fellow at Aalto University.

- However, there are also positive signs, especially in the tropics. For example, the rate of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon has finally declined in recent years, continues Matias Heino, researcher at Aalto University.

The analysis was conducted, using recently published global remote sensing based forest cover change data, together with global spatial datasets on protected areas and intact forest landscape. Global forest loss in protected areas and in intact forest landscapes have not been previously assessed with detailed and uniform datasets that allow consistent forest extent comparisons over space and time.

---

<a href="http://www.aalto.fi/en/">AALTO University</a>

3 percent of the protected forest lost during 2000-2012 Protected...

An international team of scientists have identified potential climate tipping points where abrupt regional climate shifts could occur due to global warming.. An international team of scientists have identified potential climate tipping points where abrupt regional climate shifts could occur due to global warming.

In the new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), the scientists analysed the climate model simulations on which the recent 5th Intergovernmental Panel on <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=climate+change&amp;cvid=2c806419f248480abd97bdeedbff525c&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Climate Change</a> (IPCC) reports are based.

They found evidence of 41 cases of regional abrupt changes in the ocean, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/phytoplankton-remain-surprisingly-active-underneath-arctic-sea-ice/">sea ice,</a> snow cover, permafrost and terrestrial biosphere. Many of these events occur for global warming levels of less than two degrees, a threshold sometimes presented as a safe limit. However, although most models predict one or more abrupt regional shifts, any specific occurrence typically appears in only a few models.

"This illustrates the high uncertainty in predicting tipping points," says lead author Professor Sybren Drijfhout from Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton. "More precisely, our results show that the different state-of-the-art models agree that abrupt changes are likely, but that predicting when and where they will occur remains very difficult. Also, our results show that no safe limit exists and that many abrupt shifts already occur for global warming levels much lower than two degrees," he adds.

Examples of detected climate tipping include abrupt shifts in sea ice and ocean circulation patterns, as well as abrupt shifts in vegetation and marine productivity. Sea ice abrupt changes were particularly common in the climate simulations. However, various models also predict abrupt changes in Earth system elements such as the Amazon forest, tundra permafrost and snow on the Tibetan plateau.

"Interestingly, abrupt events could come out as a cascade of different phenomena," adds Victor Brovkin, a co-author from Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M). "For example, a collapse of permafrost in Arctic is followed by a rapid increase in forest area there. This kind of domino effect should have implications not only for natural systems, but also for society."

"The majority of the detected abrupt shifts are distant from the major population centres of the planet, but their occurrence could have implications over large distances." says Martin Claussen, director of the MPI-M and one of the co-authors. "Our work is only a starting point. Now we need to look deeper into mechanisms of tipping points and design an approach to diagnose them during the next round of climate model simulations for IPCC."

---

<a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Southampton</a>

An international team of scientists have identified potential climate tipping...

NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US Thanks To El Nino. El Nino this winter will leave a big wet but not necessarily snowy footprint on much of the United States, including parched California, forecasters said Thursday.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration issued its winter forecast and "the driver of this winter's outlook is El Nino," said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
El Nino changes weather worldwide, mostly affecting the <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/severe-fire-threat-continues-in-the-western-united-states/">United States</a> in winter. The weather pattern happens every few years when the Pacific Ocean warms up around the equator. This year's is one of the strongest El Ninos on record.
NOAA expects a cooler and wetter winter for the South. For California, more precipitation than usual is expected during the critical time that its reservoirs usually fill, but there's no guarantee. Only northern tier states, the Ohio Valley states and Alaska should be dry.
While California's drought is likely to lessen in January, even the wettest winter on record - 33 years ago - didn't have enough rain to wash out the current four-year drought, said NOAA hydrologist Alan Haynes of the California Nevada River Forecast Center.
Forecasters see a milder, warmer winter north of the Mason-Dixon line and for all of California and Nevada. Texas and the Deep South are forecast to be cold.
Overall, the nation should have 2 percent fewer days when people have to fire up their furnaces, said Halpert. He said the Northeast, where it was chilly and snowy last year, should see 6 percent fewer heating days.
Because of El Nino, NOAA is more confident than usual that its forecast is on target - 70 percent for a wet South, Halpert said.
The federal winter forecast doesn't address snow, just wet or dry and warm or cold. Even though it's likely to be both cooler and wetter in the South, it is usually so warm there that it needs a blast of Arctic air for snowstorms and that's not looking likely, Halpert said. And while the north is likely to be warmer, past El Ninos have had some big snowstorms.
Historically, because there's more storminess during El Ninos, there's been a slight but not great increase in snowfall in the Northeast during El Ninos, said NOAA El Nino expert Michelle L'Heureux. But that could be skewed by a few big years in the past like the winter of 2009-10, she said. The <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=great+lakes&amp;cvid=8c0807d43de1481182893e0fb0cb37c6&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Great Lakes</a> area tends to get less snow during El Ninos, she said.
Private forecast firm Weather Bell Analytics predicts a swath from New Mexico across to the Carolinas and up the coast to Connecticut will get 50 percent more snow than usual.
AccuWeather, another private firm, sees severe thunderstorms in Florida, but forecasts less lake-effect snow around the Great Lakes, occasional mild days for the Midwest and says it will be "not as brutal" for the Northeast.
--- Online:
NOAA's seasonal forecast: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/1PvqmnZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://1.usa.gov/1PvqmnZ</a>
---
Seth Borenstein can be followed at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a>
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NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US

NOAA: Looking Like A Very Wet Winter In The US...

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



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



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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from 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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" 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> 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;



---



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" 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> 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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" 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.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

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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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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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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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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today’s Video of the Day from 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

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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

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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"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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