Science Daily: Earth & Climate

ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

• Black carbon implicated in global warming
  Increasing the ratio of black carbon to sulfate in the atmosphere increases climate warming, suggests a new study.
  
  
• Chemicals are likely cause of feminization of fish present in two rivers in Alberta, Canada, researchers find
  Chemicals present in two rivers in southern Alberta are likely the cause of the feminization of fish, say researchers.
  
  
• Some trees 'farm' bacteria to help supply nutrients
  Some trees growing in nutrient-poor forest soil may get what they need by cultivating specific root microbes to create compounds they require. These microbes are exceptionally efficient at turning inorganic minerals into nutrients that the trees can use.
  
  
• Best hope for saving Arctic sea ice is cutting soot emissions, say researchers
  Soot from the burning of fossil fuels and solid biofuels contributes far more to global warming than has been thought, according to a new study. But, unlike carbon dioxide, soot lingers only a few weeks in the atmosphere, so cutting emissions could have a significant and rapid impact on the climate. Controlling it may be the only option for saving the Arctic sea ice before it all melts.
  
  
• Polarstern expedition: Autonomous underwater vehicle dives under the Arctic ice
  The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association for the first time sent its Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) on an under-ice mission at about 79° North. The four-metre-long, torpedo shaped underwater vehicle was deployed from the research icebreaker Polarstern under heavy pack ice. The vehicle was subsequently recovered by helicopter.
  
  
• Reforestation Projects Capture More Carbon Than Industrial Plantations, Reveals New Research
  Australian scientists researching environmental restoration projects have found that the reforestation of damaged rainforests is more efficient at capturing carbon than controversial softwood monoculture plantations. The research challenges traditional views on the efficiency of industrial monoculture plantations.
  
  
• New theory of why midcontinent faults produce earthquakes
  A new theory may solve the mystery of why the New Madrid fault, which lies in the middle of the continent and not along a tectonic plate boundary, produces large earthquakes such as the ones that shook the eastern United States in 1811 and 1812.
  
  
• Body of evidence: New fast, reliable method to detect gravesoil
  Finding bodies buried by someone who wanted them to stay undiscovered can be difficult. However a new technique can reliably detect biochemical changes in a decomposing cadaver.
  
  
• Signs of reversal of Arctic cooling: Rapid temperature rise in the coldest region of mainland Europe
  Parts of the Arctic have cooled over the past century, but temperatures have been rising steeply since 1990, according to a summer temperature reconstruction for the past 400 years produced on the base of tree rings from regions beyond the Arctic Circle.
  
  
• Sensing wind speed with kites
  Researchers have developed a way to use a kite itself to measure wind speed. The instrument consists of a 2-meter-long and 1-meter-wide Rokkaku-type kite.
  
  
• Accepted theory explaining frequent eruptions at Italy’s Stromboli volcano questioned
  One volcano that volcanologists believe they understand fairly well is Italy's Stromboli, which has been erupting every five to 20 minutes for thousands of years, spewing fountains of ash and magma several meters into the sky. For several decades, scientists have pretty much used one theory to explain what is causing huge amounts of gas to erupt so frequently: swimming-pool-sized bubbles that travel through a few hundred meters of molten magma before popping at the surface. But they may be wrong, according to new research.
  
  
• More frequent, more intense heat waves in store for New York, climate scientists predict
  Heat waves like those that baked the Northeast in July are likely to be more frequent and more intense in the future, with their effects amplified in densely built urban environments like Manhattan, according to climate scientists.
  
  
• Swimmers at sub-tropical beaches show increased risk of illness, study suggests
  Swimmers at sub-tropical beaches face an increased risk of illness, according to new research. Scientists examined the risk of illness that beachgoers face when exposed to recreational marine water at sub-tropical beaches with no known source of pollution or contamination.
  
  
• NASA simulates space exploration at remote Arctic crater site
  NASA personnel are among a group of international researchers who are in the Canadian Arctic assessing concepts for future planetary exploration as part of the Haughton-Mars Project, or HMP-2010. Scientists are using the arid, rocky environment of the Haughton Crater on Devon Island, Canada to simulate conditions that might be encountered by explorers on other planetary bodies. The latest edition of the HMP-2010 began July 19 and includes three weeks of crew and mission control activities and robotic testing.
  
  
• New tool for improving switchgrass
  Scientists have developed a new tool for deciphering the genetics of a native prairie grass being widely studied for its potential as a biofuel. The genetic map of switchgrass is expected to speed up the search for genes that will make the perennial plant a more viable source of bioenergy.
  
  
• Birth of a hurricane
  Summer storms are a regular feature in the North Atlantic, and while most pose little threat to our shores, a choice few become devastating hurricanes. To decipher which storms could bring danger, and which will not, atmospheric scientists are heading to the tropics to observe these systems as they form and dissipate--or develop into hurricanes.
  
  
• Marine biodiversity strongly linked to ocean temperature
  Scientists have mapped and analyzed global biodiversity patterns for over 11,000 marine species ranging from tiny zooplankton to sharks and whales.
  
  
• A future with or without trees: Greenhouse gas emissions from Brazilian Amazon state
  Researchers have estimated future emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane in the Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso. The estimates were made by combining 105 years of historical data on land-use changes with possible scenarios for future deforestation and land use in the region.
  
  
• Three-year investigation of military munitions sea disposal site in Hawaii completed
  The University of Hawaii at Manoa's School of Ocean Earth Science and Technology completed a three-year long investigation of Sea Disposal Site Hawaii Number 5, a deep-water military munitions disposal site in US coastal waters approximately 5 miles south of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. This complex investigation required the use of high-resolution sidescan sonar and remotely operated underwater vehicles to locate sea disposed munitions in water as deep as 1,500 feet.
  
  
• New light on speciation and biodiversity of marine microorganisms
  The world’s oceans are host to an enormous diversity of drifting, microscopic organisms, known as plankton. How this biodiversity has arisen has puzzled biologists for decades. An international team of researchers has now succeeded in elucidating how new planktonic species are formed, providing an explanation for the large biodiversity seen today.
  
  
• Ancient reptiles 'Make tracks': Discovery of fossilized footprints reveals when reptiles first conquered dry land
  A discovery of fossilized footprints reveals when reptiles first conquered dry land. The 318-million-year-old reptile footprints were found in sea-cliffs on the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada. They show that reptiles were the first vertebrates (animals with a backbone) to conquer dry continental interiors.
  
  
• Scientists test cutting-edge technology for underwater mapping at Tahoe basin
  A borrowed boat, a small mountain lake and the inaugural run of a half-a-million dollar state-of-the-art multi-beam sonar system made history this month with the successful high-definition mapping of the bottom of Fallen Leaf Lake, a tributary lake just upstream from Lake Tahoe.
  
  
• Nanotechnology for water purification
  Researchers in India are investigating the use of several nanotechnology approaches to water purification. Water purification using nanotechnology exploits nanoscopic materials such as carbon nanotubes and alumina fibers for nanofiltration
  
  
• Making eco-friendly diesel fuel from butter
  The search for new raw materials for making biodiesel fuel has led scientists to an unlikely farm product -- butter. In a new study, researchers report that butter could be used as an eco-friendly feedstock, or raw material, for making diesel fuel.
  
  
• Marine phytoplankton declining: Striking global changes at the base of the marine food web linked to rising ocean temperatures
  A new article reveals for the first time that microscopic marine algae known as phytoplankton have been declining globally over the 20th century. Phytoplankton forms the basis of the marine food chain and sustains diverse assemblages of species ranging from tiny zooplankton to large marine mammals, seabirds, and fish.
  
  
• Unexplained pattern of cosmic rays discovered
  Researchers saw an unusual pattern when they looked at a "skymap" of the relative intensity of cosmic rays directed toward the Earth's Southern Hemisphere, with an excess of cosmic rays detected in one part of the sky and a deficit in another. A similar lopsidedness, called "anisotropy," has been seen from the Northern Hemisphere by previous experiments, but its source is still a mystery.
  
  
• Scientists tap into Antarctic octopus venom
  Researchers have collected venom from octopuses in Antarctica for the first time, significantly advancing our understanding of the properties of venom as a potential resource for drug development. They also revealed the existence of four new species of octopus.
  
  
• Researchers' 'Posseidon' adventure could save shipping industry millions
  Researchers could save the world’s shipping industry millions of pounds in repairs to broken down vessels after developing a computerized warning system which keeps the ‘lifeblood’ of a ship flowing. The Posseidon system, a new sensor-based processing unit, can continuously monitor the ship’s lubricated system, allowing crews on board to predict any deterioration or contamination in the oil, anticipate problems, allowing them to take action before damage and failure occurs.
  
  
• Researchers investigate effects of lightning strikes on aircraft
  Scientists in the UK are researching the potential for damage posed by lightning for carbon fibre composites (CFCs), which are increasingly being used in aircraft manufacture, with a view to reducing damage and minimizing repair costs.
  
  
• Most panda habitat is outside nature reserves, according to joint US-China research
  Though much effort and many resources have been expended to protect the endangered giant panda, research by an international team of scientists shows that much suitable panda habitat is outside the nature reserves and areas where the panda is reported to live.
  
  
• Native-like spider silk produced in metabolically engineered bacteria
  Biomolecular engineers have developed technology to artificially create spider dragline silk proteins that can be used to make ultra-strong synthetic fibers and bulletproof vests.
  
  
• Engineered coral pigment helps scientists to observe protein movement
  Scientists have shown that a variant form of a fluorescent protein originally isolated from a reef coral has excellent properties as a marker protein for super-resolution microscopy in live cells.
  
  
• Ötzi’s secrets about to be revealed
  Using the latest technologies, scientists in Europe have reached a new milestone in their study of the iceman known as Ötzi. For the first time since his discovery almost 20 years ago, scientists now have access to the complete genetic profile of this world-famous mummy.
  
  
• Carbon emissions threaten fish populations
  Humanity's rising carbon dioxide emissions could have a significant impact on the world's fish populations, according to groundbreaking new research. Baby fish may become easy meat for predators as the world's oceans become more acidic due to CO2 fallout from human activity, researchers have discovered.
  
  
• Potentially hazardous asteroid might collide with the Earth in 2182
  The potentially hazardous asteroid ‘(101955) 1999 RQ36’ has a one-in-a-thousand chance of impacting the Earth, and more than half of this probability indicates that this could happen in the year 2182, according to a new study. Knowing this fact may help design in advance mechanisms aimed at deviating the asteroid’s path.
  
  
• Shade-coffee farms support native bees that maintain genetic diversity in tropical forests
  Shade-grown coffee farms support native bees that help maintain the health of some of the world's most biodiverse tropical regions, according to a new study.
  
  
• Oceanographic linkages indicate an alternative route for eel larval drift to Europe
  European eel larvae are generally believed to initially follow a westerly drift route into the Gulf Stream, but new research results on bio-physical linkages in the Sargasso Sea point to a shorter route towards Europe.
  
  
• Bird flu: Preening spreads viruses in nature
  Scientists discovered that the preen oil gland secretions, by which all aquatic birds make their feathers waterproof, support a natural mechanism that concentrates AIVs from water onto birds' bodies. Since waterbirds use to spread preen oil over their own (self-preening) or other birds' (allo-preening) plumage, it is easily understandable how these preening activities could facilitate the diffusion of the viruses in nature.
  
  
• Segmentation is the secret behind the extraordinary diversification of animals
  Segmentation, the repetition of identical anatomical units, seems to be the secret behind the diversity and longevity of the largest and most common animal groups on Earth. Researchers have shown that this characteristic was inherited from a common segmented ancestor thought to have lived 600 million years ago and whose presence "changed the face of the world."
  
  
• NASA satellite improves pollution monitoring
  NASA scientists use satellite precipitation data to improve water pollution monitoring models.
  
  
• Indonesia's puzzling Banda arc: New findings explain mystery behind geological development
  The Banda arc -- a gigantic 1,000km long, 180-degree curve in eastern Indonesia -- has puzzled geologists for many years, with much debate and controversy surrounding its complex origin and evolution. A solution to this enigma, resolving many of the previous problems, has finally been found.
  
  
• Keeping trains on track: Early-warning hazard system for the world's railways
  Researchers are collecting high-tech sensing data from satellites, airplanes, magnetic and soil sensors, and unmanned aircraft to devise a solution that will provide a reliable early-warning system for train operators.
  
  
• When flowers turn up the heat
  Could a "hot" flower attract pollinators by serving as a reward in a plant-pollinator mutualism? Many flowering plants produce nectar and pollen as rewards in exchange for pollination services by insects and other animals. Interestingly, however, a few plants have flowers that also produce heat metabolically -- so what is the adaptive function of this flower heating?
  
  
• Shared phosphoproteome links remote plant species
  Researchers have shown that even the most widely-varying species of plants share remarkable similarities in the composition of proteins in them that undergo phosphorylation, a regulatory mechanism involved in various cellular phenomena. A database released by the group, with information on over three thousand phosphorylated proteins and phosphorylation sites in rice, opens new doors in the study and engineering of plants.
  
  
• Alaska's Arctic seas: Court ruling halts offshore lease sale
  Efforts to protect Alaska's Arctic seas and coastlines from oil and gas development won a major victory recently when a federal court put a hold on recent leases that would have opened up the Chukchi Sea to new drilling.
  
  
• Converging weather patterns caused last winter's huge snows in U.S.
  The memory of last winter's blizzards may be fading in this summer's searing heat, but scientists studying them have detected a perfect storm of converging weather patterns that had little relation to climate change. The extraordinarily cold, snowy weather that hit parts of the US East Coast and Europe was the result of a collision of two periodic weather patterns in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, a new study finds.
  
  
• Arctic voyage illuminating ocean optics
  During NASA's ICESCAPE voyage to the Arctic, scientists have been looking at the phytoplankton in the Arctic's Chukchi Sea -- how many, how big and at what depths they are found. But there are other ways of looking at these small life forms.
  
  
• How monarch butterflies fly away home
  Some North American monarchs born in the Midwest and Great Lakes fly directly west over the Appalachians and settle along the eastern seaboard. This finding is the first proof of longitudinal migration and solves the long-standing mystery of why monarchs always show up later on the east coast compared to the interior. The study also suggests conservation efforts must target the Great Lakes region.