March 8, 2006, 9:58 PM CT

Effect Of Warming On Polar Ice Sheets

In the most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of the massive ice sheets covering both Greenland and Antarctica, NASA scientists confirm climate warming is changing how much water remains locked in Earth's largest storehouse of ice and snow.

Other recent studies have shown increasing losses of ice in parts of these ice sheets. This new survey is the first to inventory the losses of ice and the addition of new snow on both continents in a consistent way throughout an entire decade.

The survey shows that there was a net loss of ice from the combined polar ice sheets between 1992 and 2002 and a corresponding rise in sea level. The survey documents for the first time extensive thinning of the West Antarctic ice shelves and an increase in snowfall in the interior of Greenland, as well as thinning at the edges. All are signs of a warming climate predicted by computer models.

The survey, published in the Journal of Glaciology, combines new satellite mapping of the height of the ice sheets from two European Space Agency satellites. It also used previous NASA airborne mapping of the edges of the Greenland ice sheets to determine how fast the thickness is changing.

In Greenland, the survey saw large ice losses along the southeastern coast and a large increase in ice thickness at higher elevations in the interior due to relatively high rates of snowfall. This study suggests there was a slight gain in the total mass of frozen water in the ice sheet over the decade studied, contrary to previous assessments.........

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March 8, 2006, 9:46 PM CT

Delta, Wetlands And Hurricanes

In a guest editorial reported in the March-recent issue of Ground Water, hydrologists in Louisiana suggest adoption of evolving management plans that recognize engineering, economic and hydrologic realities is key to sustainable development of the Louisiana coastline.

Authors Richard F. Keim and William J. Blanford state that historical hydrological management of the Mississippi River and its delta is partially responsible for the increased vulnerability of coastal infrastructure and culture, and effectiveness of levees can be improved by combining wetland restoration and flood-protection efforts synergistically into a single effort. Hence, construction of a "category 5" levee, which is proposed by some, is not a substitute for wetland protection.

"The health and susceptibility of any levee system will be matched by the health of the natural systems and care and attentiveness to which we pay to both," state Keim and Blanford. "Incorporating natural systems as integral to a functional levee system will allow humans to continue to live in precarious coastal communities."

Keim and Blanford hope that engineering solutions can be found to preserve and enhance natural processes to sustain wetlands, with levees used only to protect concentrated, high-value infrastructure. "To maintain the integrity of those wetlands, with all of their ecological, economic and cultural importance, will require active hydrological management," add Keim and Blanford. "Including ecosystem restoration in flood control planning is necessary."........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

March 7, 2006, 7:50 PM CT

Mt. Shasta

motie posted a photo:

When Mount Shasta begins to show signs of renewed activity, people living in its shadow will want to know whether an eruption might be dangerous and how volcanic activity could affect their family, home, work, and community. Unfortunately, we cannot anticipate or predict the exact sequence or size of events that will take place during the next eruption. But we can forecast the types of future activity most likely to occur from Mount Shasta and determine whether such activity represents a danger to people, nearby communities and businesses, and the public infrastructure. For people living in Mount Shasta City, shown above, and other nearby communities a forecast of the types of activity and where their effects might occur can help them reduce their risks from the next eruption.

Source

March 4, 2006, 10:36 PM CT

Studying The Mexico City Air

A new round of environmental data collection begins today in the Mexico City metropolitan area, the world's second largest megacity, to help understand air quality and climate in urban areas. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory will join scientists from the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in collecting and examining the environmental data.

The effort is part of MILAGRO, the Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations research program, funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy's Office of Science. Jeff Gaffney, environmental scientist at Argonne, is in Mexico City to lead one of the four arms of the overall research project. Data collection will be done throughout the month of March.

Large urban areas are known to be significant sources of aerosols that can affect regional and global climate. For a number of years, air quality has been one of the main environmental issues in urban areas, especially in megacities, defined as areas with more than 10 million residents. Population growth and increasing industrialization have resulted in a higher demand for energy, greater use of fossil fuels and more emission of pollutants into the atmosphere. The main emissions that affect air quality include sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and atmospheric particles, or aerosols, mostly consisting of soot, sulfates, nitrates and organic matter.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink     

March 2, 2006, 8:36 PM CT
atmosphere
a t m o s p h e r e presents a large cloud of information on a wide presentation screen that can be manipulated by three handheld devices mounted on plinths within the gallery space. The visitor takes one of the devices and physically moves it within a designated area, thereby manipulating the information.....

a t m o s p h e r e presents a large cloud of information on a wide presentation screen that can be manipulated by three handheld devices mounted on plinths within the gallery space. The visitor takes one of the devices and physically moves it within a designated area, thereby manipulating the information presented both on the screen and the larger projection.

Source

March 2, 2006, 8:25 PM CT
Alluvial Fan
From the USGS Landsat Project: An alluvial fan of the Taklimakan Desert in XinJiang Province, China. [high-res] via Pruned

From the USGS Landsat Project: An alluvial fan of the Taklimakan Desert in XinJiang Province, China. [high-res]

via Pruned

Source

March 1, 2006, 11:56 PM CT

Better Weather Forecasts

Purdue University researcher and his team have used improved satellite imaging and powerful computer modeling to more accurately forecast the likelihood and intensity of storms and tornados.

The key to the new weather prediction model is its more precise simulation of the amount of moisture surface vegetation is releasing into the upper atmosphere to affect the weather conditions, said Dev Niyogi (pronounced Dave Knee-yoo-gee), an assistant professor of agronomy and earth and atmospheric sciences. Niyogi said that current weather prediction models represent vegetation at a very simplistic level.

"How well we are able to represent one leaf in a weather forecast model can be a key to predicting thunderstorms," he said. "In fact, the amount of moisture plants are emitting during photosynthesis may be considered the local trigger that trips fronts into violent weather".

Niyogi and his team based the research on two days in the 2002 International H20 Project, a large-scale, six-week field experiment that was a consolidated, coordinated effort funded by the National Science Foundation consisting of multiple scientists gathering huge datasets of weather information. Niyogi, who also is the Indiana state climatologist, was a participating researcher in the International H20 Project.........

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March 1, 2006, 11:36 PM CT

First Amazon-Andean crop plant transfer

Mouthwatering Peruvian cuisine like causa (mashed yellow potatoes layered with avocado and seafood) and carapulcra (dried potatoes and pork/chicken in peanut sauce) combine food crops from Amazon basin rainforests and Andean highlands. Smithsonian archaeologists and his colleagues presenting in the prestigious journal, Nature1, uncover the first definitive evidence for this culinary, cultural link: 3600-4000 year-old plant microfossils and starch grains.

Heading to the supermarket to pick up some corn flour, a couple of tomatoes or a can of beans commonly doesn't conjure up the notion of 10,000 years of agricultural development in the Americas--a transition from hunter-gatherer cultures to agricultural cultures actively developing and trading new food crops. But this transition is still inadequately understood. New excavations and a growing collection of plant microfossil remains rapidly adds pieces to this puzzle.

A multidisciplinary team excavated a stone house at Waynuna, north of Arequipa on the western slope of the Andes and analyzed plant remains from three grinding stones.

Arrowroot from the Amazon. Starchy arrowroot (Maranta sp.) tubers don't grow in the Andean highlands. So the presence of tiny Arrowroot starch grains and phytoliths on the grinding stones and in associated sediments means that people were moving tubers from lowland Amazon rainforest sites east of the Andes west to the Waynuna site.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink     

February 27, 2006, 7:52 PM CT

Sequencing The Seas

Researchers have sequenced and compared the genomes of planktonic microbes living throughout the water column in the Pacific Ocean. The pioneering study yielded insight into the specialization of microbial communities at each depth--ranging from 40 to more than 13,000 feet.

"By reading the information stored in the genomes of entire microbial communities, we can begin to measure the pulse of this marine ecosystem," said MIT's Ed DeLong, who led the research team. "These new DNA sequences from microbial communities will help us paint the picture of how that world works and provide important details on the players involved and their biological properties and activities".

DeLong and his colleagues report their findings in the Jan. 27 issue of the journal Science.

The interdisciplinary research team sequenced a total of 64 million base pairs, or subunits, of DNA from microbes and viruses they collected at each depth. In the process, they discovered thousands of new genes from novel and ecologically abundant microbes and found evidence of frequent gene exchange between organisms. The study also revealed variations in genetic composition at different depths--including differences among genes involved with carbon and energy metabolism.

"Eventhough they're small, these tiny microbial species are the engines of the biosphere, and in large part drive the cycles of matter and energy in the sea," said DeLong.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink     

February 26, 2006, 11:49 PM CT

Stopping The Next Earth Quake Disaster

The history of earthquake prediction is long and at most, fruitless. In the 4th Century B.C. Aristotle proposed that earthquakes were caused by winds trapped in subterranean caves and ancient Chinese and Italians studied special clouds which were thought to be indicative of impending quakes. More recently a group of scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles claimed an earthquake approximately 6.5 on the Richter scale will occur in Southern California by September 2004. It didn't happen.

The grim history of earthquake prediction led some seismologists like Robert J. Geller from Tokyo University to claim that it is practically impossible to predict earthquakes and that it seems unwise to invest heavily in monitoring possible precursors of upcoming earthquakes. Despite the long line of failed projects and the harsh criticism sprung each time a new earthquake prediction method was suggested, a small Israeli company named Terramoto has recently proposed a three stage method which its inventor, Meny Nachman, believes will not only help predict earthquakes with very high accuracy but also be able to stop some of them from occurring altogether.

In order to understand Terramoto's idea we first need to go deep underground in order to understand what causes earthquakes in the first place. According to the theory of plate tectonics developed in the 1960's the earth's interior is made up of two layers, the outer lithosphere and the inner asthenosphere. The lithosphere essentially "floats" on the asthenosphere and is broken-up into ten major plates. These plates are in constant motion relative to each other with a typical velocity of a few centimeters per year. Although the velocity in which the entire plate is moving is relatively constant, the velocity in which material is moving along intersections of plates, also known as fault lines, is not constant and is believed to be changing due to irregularities in the material composing these parts of the earth asthenosphere.........

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