Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features a false-color photo of the Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico, where another wildfire erupted on May 13, 2022. The photo shows the area burned by the Black fire, which has now reached more than 130,000 acres.&nbsp;



The fire is now the second largest wildfire burning in the state. More than 600 firefighters are working the blaze, which was eight percent contained at the time this photograph was captured on May 21, 2022.



According to NASA, the state of New Mexico has seen more than half a million acres burned this year in early season wildfires, and forecasters predict that conditions could worsen through the end of May.



"The Black fire began burning in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area in the Black Range, about 30 miles northwest of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. On May 16, the fire blew up, tripling in size from 18,000 acres to more than 56,000 acres. A blow-up is a sudden increase in fire intensity or rate of spread. The blow-up of the Black fire on May 16 produced a small pyrocumulonimbus cloud as the fire ran east and crossed the Continental Divide," reports NASA.



The Black fire is just one of several large fires burning in New Mexico. The Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire, which has been burning for six weeks, recently became the largest wildfire in New Mexico history after burning more than 310,000 acres.&nbsp;



The southwestern United States is in the midst of a 22-year megadrought. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, at least 85 percent of New Mexico was experiencing extreme to exceptional drought as of May 19, 2022.



The image was captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8.



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



---



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

The Black fire has exploded in New Mexico

Today's Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features...

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features a phytoplankton bloom off the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States in May 2022



"Phytoplankton are to the ocean what grasses and ground cover are to land: primary producers, a basic food source for other life, and the main carbon recycler for the marine environment. Diatoms, coccolithophores, algae, and other forms of phytoplankton are floating, plant-like organisms that soak up sunshine, sponge up nutrients, and create their own food (energy)," reports NASA.



The image was captured on May 17, 2022 by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 satellite. The bloom was located off the coast of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.&nbsp;



"The 2022 bloom may have been provoked by coastal upwelling, a process by which persistent winds blow surface waters away from the coast, causing cooler, nutrient-rich waters to flow up from the depths," explains NASA. "Persistent westerly or southwesterly breezes can lead to upwelling along the Mid-Atlantic coast."



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



---



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

Springtime phytoplankton bloom in the Atlantic Ocean

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features a remarkable dust storm over the Arabian Sea. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/atmospheric-river-carries-african-dust-to-western-europe/">dust</a> was streaming from Oman, Pakistan, and Iran, and merged into one large plume over the water. 



According to NASA, plumes of desert dust affected populated areas around the basin, as winds carried the particles over Karachi, Mumbai, and numerous other cities and degraded air quality. In Karachi, Pakistan, visibility fell to about 1,600 feet.



Hiren Jethva, a Morgan State University scientist based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said that both the size of the plume and its unusual were “quite remarkable.”



Jethva explained that winter winds usually blow out from India toward the Arabian Sea, carrying various aerosols from local pollution and biomass burning. “However, the reversal of wind direction has likely occurred, bringing dust from the ocean to the Indian subcontinent."



On January 21, high winds kicked up dust and carried it toward the southeast. On January 22, the dust took a turn toward the east, eventually settling over western India, including the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.



The dust lingered in the air for days. By January 24, the air quality index in Mumbai was “severe,” the highest category in the country’s index.&nbsp;



The Arabian Sea is also known as the Sea of Oman, and was historically known as the Persian Sea, the Erythraean Sea, the Indian Sea, Sindh Sea, and the Akhzar Sea.



The image was on January 22, 2022 by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite.



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



---



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

Massive dust storm over the Arabian Sea

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park in the southeastern corner of Spain.



"The park’s semi-arid climate and volcanic features contribute to the peculiar landscape along more than 60 kilometers of the Mediterranean coastline," reports NASA.



The Tabernas Desert, which is considered mainland Europe’s only desert, lies 30 kilometers to the north of Cabo de Gata-Níjar Park.



"Both the desert and the park are part of Spain’s Almería Province, the driest area of Europe. The region receives just 20 centimeters (8 inches) of rain per year, though the coastal areas are somewhat more humid," explains NASA. "There is enough moisture to support nearly 1,000 species of plants, such as the European fan palm and a thorny shrub known as jujube."



"When viewed from orbit, the park’s most obvious features are volcanic - that is, the 5 percent of the volcanic complex that rises above the water. The remaining 95 percent is hidden from view below the sea’s surface."



According to NASA, volcanic activity began here about 16 million years ago and ended about 8 million years ago.&nbsp;



"Wind and seawater have eroded some of the lava flows into smooth, strange shapes. Other structures just offshore have partially crumbled away. For instance, the tall, jagged rocks jutting from the water at Arrecife de la Sierena are thought to be remains of an old volcanic structure."



The image was captured on May 17, 2022 by the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9.



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



---



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

Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park in Spain

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features Capitol Reef National Park, located in south-central Utah in the heart of red rock country.



"It was named instead for two geologic features: the prominent white domes of Navajo Sandstone, which reminded early settlers of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.; and a formidable ridge of rocky cliffs that presented a barrier to travel," explains NASA.



"The settlers (some likely traveling in prairie schooners) likened it to the maritime navigational hazard of an ocean reef."



The ridge, which is known as Waterpocket Fold, runs north to south for 90 miles. Waterpocket Fold is a monocline, a a step-like fold in rock layers that have been folded up or down on one side.&nbsp;



"Between 75 million and 35 million years ago, the tectonic forces that uplifted the Rocky Mountains also buckled older rocks below Capitol Reef," reports NASA. "The rock layers above did not break, but bent, like a tablecloth draped over a table edge. The bend in this drape forms the Waterpocket Fold. More recently, rains, flash floods, and freeze-thaw cycles have eroded and sculpted the cliffs, canyons, bridges, and domes into what we see today."



"Capitol Reef tells a geologic story of hundreds of millions of years of deposition, uplift, and erosion - punctuated by episodes of volcanism and glaciation. The park boasts a nearly complete series of rock layers spanning from the late Permian Period (about 290 million years ago) to the end of the Mesozoic Era (66 million years ago). Deposited along and in a shallow sea and ancient delta, these rocks hold a nearly continuous record of life and environments here from before the rise of the dinosaurs through their demise."



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



---



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

Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah

A new paper published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)00601-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982222006017%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">Current Biology</a> details an astounding behavior seen in jackdaws, a small crow species. Researchers in the United Kingdom found that these crows make a Democratic decision about when to take <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-tiny-bat-has-set-a-surprising-new-flight-record/">flight</a> after a night of rest.



Consensus decision-making among non-human animals is not a new concept. However, this is the first study to show that a sizable non-family group performs this behavior.&nbsp;



The decision of when to move is an important one. Taking off in large groups helps the birds avoid predation and maybe learn about where the best food is.&nbsp;



Still, not everyone wants the same thing simultaneously. So, the jackdaws begin making calls to signal they are ready to take flight. Birds from different family groups or flocks of various ages and sexes all come together, and once enough birds decide it’s time to get moving, off they go.&nbsp;



“Through their calls, jackdaws appear to effectively signal their willingness to leave, providing large groups with a means of achieving consensus to perform cohesive, collective departures from the roost,” explained the researchers.



To explore how the birds decide when to take flight, the researchers took audio and video recordings of roosts that varied in size from 160 to 1,500&nbsp; individual birds. They quantified the intensity of the calls right before and right after the birds began to fly.



Most of the time, hundreds of birds would take off within four seconds of one another, and the bird calls intensified about one hour before the largest group took flight.



To test cause and effect, the researchers played audio of other jackdaws and found that the birds would take flight an average of 6.5 minutes earlier when the audio was present. They believe this occurred because the roost thought more birds came to a consensus that they were ready to leave, so they took off.&nbsp;



“Through their calls, jackdaws appear to effectively signal their willingness to leave, providing large groups with a means of achieving consensus to perform cohesive, collective departures from the roost,” said the researchers.



Study co-author Alex Thornton hopes this discovery allows us to understand and help jackdaws now and in the future. “As human impacts on wildlife grow, we are very interested in understanding whether and how human disturbance - for instance, from light and noise pollution - may affect animal groups’ abilities to communicate and reach consensus decisions.”&nbsp;



---



By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Jackdaws reach a consensus before taking flight

A new paper published in Current Biology details an astounding...

According to a new report released by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.interacademies.org/">InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)</a>, climate change is threatening the health of billions of people worldwide through a range of both direct and indirect pathways, including heat-related mortality and morbidity, extreme weather events such as droughts or floods, decreases in crop yields, changes in the distribution of vector-borne diseases, and wildfires causing widespread exposure to air pollution. These factors lead to a wide range of health hazards, such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, water- and food-borne disease, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seafood-trade-takes-fish-away-from-malnourished-populations/">malnutrition</a>, and mental disorders.



“Billions of people are at risk, therefore we call for action against climate change to benefit health and also advance health equity,” said report co-author Robin Fears, the Biosciences Program Director at IAP. Since fossil-fuel and biomass-related emissions account for a substantial proportion of the total health burden caused by pollution, Dr. Fears and his colleagues – including over 80 scientists from all regions of the world – argue that strategies to cut emissions can lead to major health benefits, while also curbing climate change.



Moreover, since global warming is already reducing food and nutrition security, promoting dietary changes - such as increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and reduction in meat intake - can also have major health and environmental benefits. In addition, urgent climate action could also avert significant increases in the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, which are currently amplified by environmental disruptions that facilitate spillovers from animals to humans of a wide range of dangerous pathogens.&nbsp;



The IAP report highlights the fact that, although climate change affects the health of all people, the burden is far from being distributed evenly or fairly. “Instead, it falls most heavily on those in low socio-economic conditions and marginalized people, and is influenced by intersecting factors such as health status, social, economic, and environmental conditions, and governance structures,” explained report co-author Sherilee Harper, an expert in the relation between climate and health at the <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/index.html">University of Alberta</a> in Canada.&nbsp;



“Climate change impacts exacerbate inequities and injustices already experienced by vulnerable populations, many of which are founded in colonialism, racism, discrimination, oppression, and development challenges. We emphasize that health-related adaptation efforts must prioritize Indigenous Peoples, aging populations, children, women and girls, those living in challenging socioeconomic settings, and geographically vulnerable populations.”



Investing in climate-resilient infrastructure, healthcare systems, and mitigation policies can support adaptation and decrease future health risks associated with climate change, while equity at the local, regional, and international scale in both research and policy responses is absolutely necessary to protect all the vulnerable populations.



The full report can be found <a href="https://www.interacademies.org/publication/health-climate-emergency-global-perspective">here</a>.&nbsp;



----



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Climate change threatens the health of billions of people

According to a new report released by the&nbsp;InterAcademy Partnership (IAP),...

Plants respond very strongly to touch and other external stimuli, and researchers at <a href="https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/">Lund University</a> have now discovered new details about the genetic basis for such stress responses. This breakthrough could ultimately lead to higher yields and improved stress resistance in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wild-grass-could-protect-crops-against-deadly-pathogens/">crops</a>, noted the experts.&nbsp;



"Through millions of years of evolution, plants have gained a sophisticated molecular machinery to sense and respond to a plethora of environmental stimuli. So far, plant responses to biotic and abiotic factors have been extensively studied and characterized at the molecular level. Nonetheless, insights on how plants respond to mechanical cues, like rain, wind, touch, and bending, are just beginning to unfold," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



Mechanical stimuli instantly activate a plant's molecular defense system, and this powerful response can contribute to plants becoming more resistant later. While scientists have been aware of this innate response since the days of Darwin, many questions still remain today. In the new study, the experts looked at complex networks which support the strengthening of plant defenses through external influences.



“We exposed the plant thale cress to soft brushing, after which thousands of genes were activated and stress hormones were released. We then used genetic screening to find the genes that were responsible for this process," explained study co-author Olivier Van Aken.



Ultimately, the researchers identified three new proteins that play a key role in the plant response to touch.



“Our results solve a scientific mystery that has eluded the world's molecular biologists for 30 years. We have identified a completely new signaling pathway that controls a plant's response to physical contact and touch. Now the search for more paths continues," said study co-author Essam Darwish.



“Given the extreme weather conditions and pathogen infections that climate change leads to, it is of utmost importance to find new ecologically responsible ways to improve crop productivity and resistance," concluded Van Aken.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.



---



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

Study reveals new clues about how plants respond to touch

Plants respond very strongly to touch and other external stimuli,...

<div id="58e3ebce955a315103d39bd1" class="vdb_player vdb_58e3ebce955a315103d39bd158d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49" data-placeholder="//img.vidible.tv/prod/2020-10/15/5f87d64e9960312b487f0f0e/5f87d678dc656d00015ceee5_1920x1080_FES_v1.jpg?w=1600&amp;h=900&amp;q=60">
<script src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" type="text/javascript"></script></div>
 
High intensity exercise can help you live longer Today&#8217;s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> describes how high intensity exercise improves the health and lifespan of older adults. 
A team of researchers at NTNU conducted a five-year study that was focused on more than 1,500 volunteers between the ages of 70 and 79. 
The participants were divided into three groups who engaged in two weekly sessions of either: high intensity interval training (HIIT), moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), or following the Norwegian guidelines for physical activity. Therefore High intensity exercise can help you live longer. High intensity exercise can help you live longer as shown above.
&#8220;All cause mortality did not differ between the combined high and moderate intensity exercise group and the group following recommended physical activity guidelines,&#8221; wrote the study authors. They did find, however, that high intensity exercise led to the greatest overall health benefits. The times vary, based on a participant&#8217;s current fitness level. Furthermore, traditional HIIT was designed to be no longer than 20 seconds on with no more than 10 seconds off. This would bring in the anaerobic energy system. The intensity of HIIT also depends on the duration of the session.
&#8220;The findings suggest that future guidelines for physical activity, at least for older adults, should be more specific in requiring that at least part of the physical activity should be performed at high intensity.&#8221;
Video Credit: Norwegian University of Science and Technology Cardiac Exercise Research Group 
&#8211;&#8212;
By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer