February 9, 2010, 8:14 AM CT

Will earlier springs throw nature out of step?

The recent trend towards earlier UK springs and summers has been accelerating, as per a research studypublished recently (9 February 2010) in the scientific journal Global Change Biology

The collaborative study, involving researchers from 12 UK research institutions, universities and conservation organisations, is the most comprehensive and rigorous evaluation so far of long-term changes in the seasonal timing (phenology) of biological events across marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments in the UK.

Led by Dr Stephen Thackeray and Professor Sarah Wanless of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the research gathers together more than 25,000 long-term phenology trends for 726 species of plants and animals. More than 80% of trends between 1976 and 2005 indicate earlier seasonal events. The study considers a diverse array of organisms including plankton, plants, insects, amphibians, fish, birds and mammals. On average, the seasonal timing of reproduction and population growth has become earlier by more than 11 days over the whole period, but change has accelerated in recent decades.

The research shows that there are large differences between species in the rate at which seasonal events have shifted. Changes have been most rapid for a number of organisms at the bottom of food chains, such as plants and the animals that feed upon them. Predators have shown slower overall changes in the seasonal timing of their life cycle events. However, the seasonal timing of reproduction is often matched to the time of year when food supply increases, so that offspring receive enough food to survive. A key question is whether animals higher up the food chain will react to the faster rates of change in the plants and animals they feed upon, or whether they will fail to do so and become less successful at rearing their offspring......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 8:15 AM CT

Black Carbon a Significant Factor in Melting of Himalayan Glaciers

The fact that glaciers in the Himalayan mountains are thinning is not disputed. However, few scientists have attempted to rigorously examine and quantify the causes. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist Surabi Menon set out to isolate the impacts of the most usually blamed culprit-greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide-from other particles in the air that appears to be causing the melting. Menon and her collaborators observed that airborne black carbon aerosols, or soot, from India is a major contributor to the decline in snow and ice cover on the glaciers.

"Our simulations showed greenhouse gases alone are not nearly enough to be responsible for the snow melt," says Menon, a physicist and staff scientist in Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. "Most of the change in snow and ice cover-about 90 percent-is from aerosols. Black carbon alone contributes at least 30 percent of this sum".

Menon and her collaborators used two sets of aerosol inventories by Indian scientists to run their simulations; their results were published online in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The actual contribution of black carbon, emitted largely as a result of burning fossil fuels and biomass, appears to be even higher than 30 percent because the inventories report less black carbon than what has been measured by observations at several stations in India. (However, these observations are too incomplete to be used in climate models.) "We appears to be underestimating the amount of black carbon by as much as a factor of four," she says......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 2:30 PM CT

In the battle against global warming

Researchers in Texas are reporting that a technique used in the search for new drugs could also be used in the quest to discover new, environmentally friendly materials for fighting global warming. Such materials could be used to capture the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from industrial smokestacks and other fixed sources before it enters the biosphere. The newly released study appears in ACS' bi-monthly journal Energy & Fuels

Michael Drummond and his colleagues Angela Wilson and Tom Cundari note that greener carbon-capture technologies are a crucial component in mitigating climate change. Existing technology is expensive and can generate hazardous waste. They point out that proteins, however, can catalyze reactions with carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, in an environmentally friendly way. That fact got the researchers interested in evaluating the possibility of using proteins in carbon capture technology.

In the study, they used the pharmacophore concept to probe how the 3-dimensional structure of proteins affects their ability to bind and capture carbon dioxide. The German chemist and Nobel Laureate Paul Ehrlich, who originated the concept a century ago, defined a pharmacophore as the molecular framework that carries the key features responsible for a drug's activity. The researchers concluded that the approach could point the way to the development of next-generation carbon capture technologies......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 2:29 PM CT

Toward safer plastics

Researchers have published the first report on a new way of preventing potentially harmful plasticizers the source of long-standing human health concerns from migrating from one of the most widely used groups of plastics. The advance could lead to a new generation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics that are safer than those now used in packaging, medical tubing, toys, and other products, they say. Their study is in ACS' Macromolecules, a bi-weekly journal.

Helmut Reinecke and his colleagues note that manufacturers add large amounts of plasticizers to PVC to make it flexible and durable. Plasticizers may account for more than one-third of the weight of some PVC products. Phthalates are the mainstay plasticizers. Unfortunately, they migrate to the surface of the plastic over time and escape into the environment. As a result, PVC plastics become less flexible and durable. In addition, people who come into contact with the plastics face possible health risks. The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2009 banned use of several phthalate plasticizers for use in manufacture of toys and child care articles.

The researchers describe development of a way to make phthalate permanently bond, or chemically attach to, the internal structure of PVC so that it will not migrate. Laboratory tests showed that the method completely suppressed the migration of plasticizer to the surface of the plastic. "This approach may open new ways to the preparation of flexible PVC with permanent plasticizer effect and zero migration," the article notes......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 7:55 AM CT

Pyrethroid insecticides are winding up in California rivers

Pyrethroids, among the most widely-used home pesticides, are winding up in California rivers at levels toxic to some stream-dwellers, possibly endangering the food supply of fish and other aquatic animals, as per a newly released study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Southern Illinois University (SIU).

Pyrethroid insecticides, usually used in California to kill ants and other insect pests around the home, have been found in street runoff and in the outflow from sewage therapy plants in the Sacramento area. The insecticide ended up in two urban creeks, the San Joaquin River and a 20-mile stretch of the American River, traditionally considered to be one of the cleanest rivers in the region.

Eventhough the pyrethroid levels were low - around 10-20 parts per trillion - they were high enough to kill a test organism similar to a small shrimp that is used to assess water safety.

"These indicator organisms are 'lab rat' species that are very sensitive, but if you find something that is toxic to them, it should be a red flag that there could be potential toxicity to resident organisms in the stream," said study leader Donald P. Weston, UC Berkeley adjunct professor of integrative biology.

Fish would not be affected by such low levels, Weston said, but aquatic larvae that the fish eat, such as the larvae of mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies, could be, and should be studied......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 29, 2010, 8:21 AM CT

Less pollution improves ear infections

A newly released study by scientists at UCLA and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston suggests that improvements in air quality over the past decade have resulted in fewer cases of ear infections in children.

Ear infections are one of the most common illnesses among children, with annual direct and indirect costs of $3 billion to $5 billion in the United States.

"We believe these findings, which demonstrate a direct connection between air quality and ear infections, have both medical and political significance," said co-author of study Dr. Nina Shapiro, director of pediatric otolaryngology at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA and an associate professor of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "The results validate the benefits of the revised Clean Air Act of 1990, which gave the Environmental Protection Agency more authority to implement and enforce regulations reducing air-pollutant emissions. It also shows that the improvements may have direct benefit on health-quality measures".

The research appears in the recent issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the official peer-evaluated publication of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.

The scientists evaluated National Health Interview Survey data for 120,060 children between the years of 1997 and 2006 and measured the number of instances of three disease conditions for each year - frequent ear infections (three or more within a year), respiratory allergy and seizure activity, which is not influenced by air quality but was included as a control condition......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 28, 2010, 8:10 AM CT

Feul from biomass

A collaboration led by scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the JBEI scientists engineered a strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to produce biodiesel fuel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids.

"The fact that our microbes can produce a diesel fuel directly from biomass with no additional chemical modifications is exciting and important," says Jay Keasling, the Chief Executive Officer for JBEI, and a leading scientific authority on synthetic biology. "Given that the costs of recovering biodiesel are nowhere near the costs mandatory to distill ethanol, we believe our results can significantly contribute to the ultimate goal of producing scalable and cost effective advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals".

Keasling led the collaboration, which was was made up of a team from JBEI's Fuels Synthesis Division that included Eric Steen, Yisheng Kang and Gregory Bokinsky, and a team from LS9, a privately-held industrial biotechnology firm based in South San Francisco. The LS9 team was headed by Stephen del Cardayre and included Zhihao Hu, Andreas Schirmer and Amy McClure. The collaboration has published the results of their research in the January 28, 2010 edition of the journal Nature. The paper is titled, "Microbial Production of Fatty Acid-Derived Fuels and Chemicals from Plant Biomass"......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

January 25, 2010, 8:19 AM CT

Congo receives help from space

On 2 January, Mount Nyamulagira in the Democratic Republic of Congo erupted, spewing lava from its southern flank and raising concerns that the 100 000 people in the town of Sake could be under threat.

Fears were also triggered in Goma as rumours circulated that an eruption was imminent at the nearby Nyiragongo volcano, which devastated the city in 2002.

Following the eruption, researchers and local authorities have been using a long series of space images from ESA's Envisat, together with seismic and helicopter data, to monitor the situation and calm fears of the local population.

Dr Nicolas d'Oreye of GORISK, which is in Congo assisting the Goma Volcano Observatory to collect and process satellite observations and field data, said the satellite images are very useful for managing the crisis.

"As well as helping to validate information from different datasets, the satellite images are providing invaluable information about the situation, such as the details about the lava flow and the fact that the Nyiragongo volcano is not showing any signs of abnormal activity.

"This has been of great importance for the local authorities and the Goma Volcano Observatory, who are holding daily crisis meetings, to reassure the local population and humanitarian agencies that Nyiragongo will be unaffected by the eruption of Nyamulagira."........ Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 22, 2010, 8:13 AM CT

Go easy on the environment

When it comes to saving the environment, Generation Y is all for it - as long as it comes with an economic benefit, as per new research by Michigan State University in collaboration with Deloitte LLP.

Based on a scientific survey of 18- to 30-year-olds, scientists from MSU's Eli Broad Graduate School of Management observed that young consumers will not pay a premium price for an automobile simply because it is environmentally friendly. Instead, the determining factor - by far - is fuel efficiency.

The findings are being released this week to coincide with the North American International Auto Show, which ends Sunday in Detroit.

Clay Voorhees, MSU assistant professor of marketing and lead faculty researcher on the project, said the findings indicate an eco-savvy generation that has grown up and is coming to grips with the economic reality of paying bills.

"Generation Y is aging, and the stereotypical assumption that they are a spoiled generation of pierced, tattooed outcasts couldn't be further from the truth," Voorhees said. "They're maturing into a pragmatic generation that wants to do the right thing for the environment but also has real economic concerns".

MSU and Deloitte, a New York-based marketing and accounting firm, teamed to study the attitudes toward the auto industry of Gen Y - at 75 million strong, the largest generation since the baby boomers. MSU also launched an in-depth investigation into Gen Y's view of sustainability as it relates to the industry......... Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

January 22, 2010, 8:06 AM CT

Dams and changing climate

Civil engineers at the University of Washington and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Seattle office have taken a first look at how dams in the Columbia River basin, the nation's largest hydropower system, could be managed for a different climate.

They developed a new technique to determine when to empty reservoirs in the winter for flood control and when to refill them in the spring to provide storage for the coming year. Computer simulations showed that switching to the new management system under a warmer future climate would lessen summer losses in hydropower due to climate change by about a quarter. It would also bolster flows for fish by filling reservoirs more reliably. At the same time the approach reduced the risk of flooding. The findings are reported in the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.

"There are anticipated dramatic changes in the snowpack which ultimately will affect when the water comes into the Columbia's reservoirs," said co-author Alan Hamlet, a UW research assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering who works in the UW's Climate Impacts Group. "We were trying to develop new tools and procedures for changing flood control operating rules in response to these changes in hydrology, and to test how well they work in practice"......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 22, 2010, 8:02 AM CT

Last Decade was Warmest on Record

A new analysis of global surface temperatures by NASA researchers finds the past year was tied for the second warmest since 1880. In the Southern Hemisphere, 2009 was the warmest year on record.

Eventhough 2008 was the coolest year of the decade because of a strong La Nina that cooled the tropical Pacific Ocean, 2009 saw a return to a near-record global temperatures as the La Nina diminished, as per the new analysis by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The past year was a small fraction of a degree cooler than 2005, the warmest on record, putting 2009 in a virtual tie with a cluster of other years --1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2007 -- for the second warmest on record.

"There's always interest in the annual temperature numbers and a given year's ranking, but the ranking often misses the point," said James Hansen, GISS director. "There's substantial year-to-year variability of global temperature caused by the tropical El Nino-La Nina cycle. When we average temperature over five or ten years to minimize that variability, we find global warming is continuing unabated."

January 2000 to December 2009 was the warmest decade on record. Looking back to 1880, when modern scientific instrumentation became available to monitor temperatures precisely, a clear warming trend is present, eventhough there was a leveling off between the 1940s and 1970s......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 18, 2010, 8:14 AM CT

Low concentrations of oxygen and nutrients

The combination of low concentrations of oxygen and nutrients in the lower layers of the beaches of Alaska's Prince William Sound is slowing the aerobic biodegradation of oil remaining from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, as per scientists at Temple University.

Considered one of the worst environmental disasters in history, the Exxon Valdez spilled more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, contaminating some 1,300 miles of shoreline, killing thousands of wildlife and severely impacting Alaska's fishing industry and economy.

In the first five years after the accident, the oil was disappearing at a rate of about 70 percent and calculations showed the oil would be gone within the next few years. However, about seven or eight years ago it was discovered that the oil had in fact slipped to a disappearance rate of around four percent a year and it is estimated that nearly 20,000 gallons of oil remains in the beaches.

The researchers, lead by Michel Boufadel, director of the Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection in Temple's College of Engineering, have been studying the cause of the remaining oil for the past three years.

Their study, "Long-term persistence of oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in two-layer beaches," was posted Jan. 17 in advance of publication on Nature Geoscience's Web-site (http://www.nature.com/ngeo/index.html)......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 15, 2010, 8:05 AM CT

Impact of eucalyptus plantations on the ecology of rivers

A team from the Department of Plant Biology and Ecology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) are focusing their research on the study of the ecology of rivers. The person in charge is Mr Jesús Pozo. For more than twenty years this team has been trying to identify links between the ecology and functioning of rivers and the surrounding terrestrial environment because, when all is said and done, rivers are like the excretory apparatus of the continents, just like the kidney is to the human body. River water often reflect the state of health of the external environment.

Within this line of research, the UPV/EHU team is focusing on studying the possible impact of the afforestation of exotic species on the functioning of rivers, both on the chemistry of the water as well as on the communities of organisms therein. An exotic species is a species introduced outside its normal area of distribution, for example, the eucalyptus - the case in hand.

Rivers of any specific geographical environment have a natural riverside type of vegetation and the community of organisms in the river is accustomed to consuming the dead leaves and foliage that enter the water from this surrounding vegetation. When this natural vegetation (in this case deciduous woods) are substituted by exotic plantations the quality of this plant material changes and the community of river organisms have to deal with the use or otherwise of this non-autochthonous organic material. This use or not by the aquatic organisms of the new material entering the river system can have certain repercussions, both on the organisms themselves and on processes occurring in the river......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 14, 2010, 8:23 AM CT

A modern weapon against global warming

Researchers are reporting that "biochar" a material that the Amazonian Indians used to enhance soil fertility centuries ago has potential in the modern world to help slow global climate change. Mass production of biochar could capture and sock away carbon that otherwise would wind up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Their report appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a bi-weekly journal.

Kelli Roberts and his colleagues note that biochar is charcoal produced by heating wood, grass, cornstalks or other organic matter in the absence of oxygen. The heat drives off gases that can be collected and burned to produce energy. It leaves behind charcoal rich in carbon. Amazonian Indians mixed a combination of charcoal and organic matter into the soil to improve soil fertility, a fact that got the researchers interested in studying biochar's modern potential.

The study involved a "life-cycle analysis" of biochar production, a comprehensive cradle-to-grave look at its potential in fighting global climate change and all the possible consequences of using the material. It concludes that several biochar production systems have the potential for being an economically viable way of sequestering carbon permanently storing it while producing renewable energy and enhancing soil fertility......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 13, 2010, 8:12 AM CT

Subway Commuters May Not Be At Risk

New York subway commuters may worry more about rats and rising fares than dust floating through the system, but for the workers who spend their whole shift below ground, air quality has long been a concern. Results from a new pilot study using miniaturized air samplers to look at steel dust exposure may help them breathe easier.

Steel dust, produced as thousands of train wheels roll through the tunnels each day, is a major source of pollution in one of the world's most extensive commuter rail systems. In the study, published this month in the journal Environmental Research, scientists tracked exposure in 39 subway workers and measured biological responses to three metals found in steel dust: iron, chromium and manganese. The study found no strong or consistent evidence of a biological response that might indicate elevated risk of dust-related disease. It also showed that workers were exposed to levels well below standards set by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).

"The results are good news, even though this was a small pilot study and not a comprehensive evaluation of potential subway-worker health risks from steel dust," said coauthor Steven Chillrud, a geochemist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Chillrud got interested in subway air when he coauthored a 2004 study aimed at understanding how and where teenagers were exposed to a variety of air pollutants. He and colleagues recruited high school students in Harlem to wear air-sampling backpacks to measure personal exposure. At the same time, fixed-site monitors ran inside and outside their homes and school. When the results came in, many students' backpacks showed much higher airborne levels of iron, manganese and chromium than the fixed-site samplers. These students shared one thing in common: they rode the subway......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:31:50 GMT

Diamond Weather Station

So, it"s officially winter and, therefore, as important as ever to keep a close eye on the forecast. Now you can do it with style!

Sparkling away with dozens of Swarovski Crystals-, the Diamond Weather Station from Oregon Scientific adds a bit of glamour to the world of otherwise.... shall we say.... "conservative" electronic weather forecasters. The crystals light up brightly in one of three different patterns / colors - red sun, blue cloud, or green rain - to clue you in to what to expect from the sky in the coming hours.

This beautiful unit Features a remote sensor to transmit outdoor temperature to the display and a digital clock that auto-syncs with the Naval atomic clock for precision time. A quick wave of your hand over the top of the unit switches the display between time, indoor temperature, and outdoor temperature, or you can put it in an automatic mode.

But wait! We"ve saved the best feature for last.... If you utter the enclosed incantation while waving your hand over the unit, you can change the weather to.... well.... okay.... not really on this one. You can still be prepared and be stylish, though. Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

January 11, 2010, 8:19 AM CT

Coral can recover from climate change damage

A study by the University of Exeter provides the first evidence that coral reefs can recover from the devastating effects of climate change. Published Monday 11 January in the journal PLOS One, the research shows for the first time that coral reefs located in marine reserves can recover from the impacts of global warming.

Researchers and environmentalists have warned that coral reefs may not be able to recover from the damage caused by climate change and that these unique environments could soon be lost forever. Now, this research adds weight to the argument that reducing levels of fishing is a viable way of protecting the world's most delicate aquatic ecosystems.

Increases in ocean surface water temperatures subject coral reefs to stresses that lead quickly to mass bleaching. The problem is intensified by ocean acidification, which is also caused by increased CO₂ This decreases the ability of corals to produce calcium carbonate (chalk), which is the material that reefs are made of.

Approximately 2% of the world's coral reefs are located within marine reserves, areas of the sea that are protected against potentially-damaging human activity, like dredging and fishing.

The scientists conducted surveys of ten sites inside and outside marine reserves of the Bahamas over 2.5 years. These reefs have been severely damaged by bleaching and then by hurricane Frances in the summer of 2004. At the beginning of the study, the reefs had an average of 7% coral cover. By the end of the project, coral cover in marine protected areas had increased by an average of 19%, while reefs in non-reserve sites showed no recovery......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 11, 2010, 7:58 AM CT

Bering Strait and ice age climate patterns

In a vivid example of how a small geographic feature can have far-reaching impacts on climate, new research shows that water levels in the Bering Strait helped drive global climate patterns during ice age episodes dating back more than 100,000 years.

The international study, led by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), observed that the repeated opening and closing of the narrow strait due to fluctuating sea levels affected currents that transported heat and salinity in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. As a result, summer temperatures in parts of North America and Greenland oscillated between warmer and colder phases, causing ice sheets to alternate between expansion and retreat and affecting sea levels worldwide.

While the findings do not directly bear on current global warming, they highlight the complexity of Earth's climate system and the fact that seemingly insignificant changes can lead to dramatic tipping points for climate patterns, particularly in and around the Arctic.

"The global climate is sensitive to impacts that may seem minor," says NCAR scientist Aixue Hu, the main author. "Even small processes, if they are in the right location, can amplify changes in climate around the world".

The study is being published this week in Nature Geoscience. Funded by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor, it used the latest generation of supercomputers to study past climate at a level of detail that would have been impossible just a few years ago......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 6, 2010, 8:11 AM CT

Sun glints seen from space

n two new videos from NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, bright flashes of light known as sun glints act as beacons signaling large bodies of water on Earth. These observations give researchers a way to pick out planets beyond our solar system (extrasolar planets) that are likely to have expanses of liquid, and so stand a better chance of having life.

These sun glints are like sunshine glancing off the hood of a car. We can see them reflecting off a smooth surface when we are positioned in just the right way with respect to the sun and the smooth surface. On a planetary scale, only liquids and ice can form a surface smooth enough to produce the effectland masses are too roughand the surface must be very large. To stand out against a background of other radiation from a planet, the reflected light must be very bright. We won't necessarily see glints from every distant planet that has liquids or ice.

"But these sun glints are important because, if we saw an extrasolar planet which had glints that popped up periodically, we would know that we were seeing lakes, oceans or other large bodies of liquid, such as water," says Drake Deming, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Deming is the deputy principal investigator who leads the team that works on the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) part of Deep Impact's extended mission, called EPOXI. "And if we found large bodies of water on a distant planet, we would become much more optimistic about finding life"......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

January 6, 2010, 7:52 AM CT

New solar pond distillation system

Ecosystems of terminus lakes around the world could benefit from a new system being developed at the University of Nevada, Reno to desalinate water using a specialized low-cost solar pond and patented membrane distillation system powered by renewable energy.

"These lakes hundreds worldwide such as the Great Salt Lake, the Salton Sea, the Aral Sea and Walker Lake here in Nevada, see a decline in water levels and an increase in salinity from both human and natural processes," Francisco Suarez, a doctoral student in hydrological sciences at the University, said. "The high levels of salinity are dangerous and unsustainable for aquatic life".

He presented a portion of his solar pond research last week at the annual Fall AGU (American Geophysical Union) Conference in San Francisco that was attended by 16,000 geophysicists from around the world. A paper on his project would be reported in the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer in early 2010.

Suarez is developing an artificial salt-gradient stratification process that traps solar heat at the bottom of the solar pond and uses the collected energy to power the membrane distillation system recently patented by the University. The system is designed to help sustain the ecosystems of these closed-basin regions where there is no outflow for the water and a high evaporation rate, leaving a high concentration of minerals and salts......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

December 30, 2009, 8:12 AM CT

Warmer and Ice-Free Conditions in the Arctic

Researchers documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period (3.3 to 3 million years ago). Typically this period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions.

The U.S. Geological Survey observed that summer sea-surface temperatures in the Arctic were between 10 to 18 degree C (50 to 64 degree F) during the mid-Pliocene, while current temperatures are around or below 0 degree C (32 degree F).

Examining past climate conditions allows for a true understanding of how Earth's climate system really functions. USGS research on the mid-Pliocene is the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period. This will help refine climate models, which currently underestimate the rate of sea ice loss in the Arctic.

Loss of sea ice could have varied and extensive consequences, such as contributions to continued Arctic warming, accelerated coastal erosion due to increased wave activity, impacts to large predators (polar bears and seals) that depend on sea ice cover, intensified mid-latitude storm tracks and increased winter precipitation in western and southern Europe, and less rainfall in the American west......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:38:07 GMT

CO2 Dress Senses Pollution

The LEDs embroidered into the dress actually show the levels of CO2 in the room. The dress monitors CO2 levels and transmits the information to the LEDs which flicker in response to the data. I wonder if the decision to make the dress a charcoal gray a purposeful one made by the collaborators to symbolize our declining air quality. At any rate, this is another example of how technology and fashion can come together to create something that"s beautiful and functional both on and off the catwalk.

Via Fashioning Tech Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

December 23, 2009, 7:55 AM CT

Disproportionate effects of global warming

Global warming, pollution, and the environmental consequences of energy production impose a greater burden on low-income, disadvantaged communities, and strategies to prevent these inequities are urgently needed. A provocative collection of articles on climate justice presents the global implications of climate change and its effects on human health and the environment in a special issue of Environmental Justice, a peer-evaluated journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The entire issue is available online at www.liebertpub.com/env.

This important series of articles emerged from a conference on climate justice held earlier this year in New York City, co-hosted by West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT) and the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change. WE ACT, an active participant in the climate debate and the environmental justice movement, compiled the special issue under the leadership of Guest Editor Peggy Shepard.

The articles explore a range of topics, including "The Environmental Injustice of 'Clean Coal'," by Stephanie Tyree and Maron Greenleaf and "Climate Change, Heat Waves, and Environmental Justice," by Jalonne White-Newsome and his colleagues. The issue offers both a global perspective in "The International Dimension of Climate Justice and the Need for International Adaptation Funding," by J. Timmons Roberts, and a focus on more local concerns, including "Minding the Climate Gap: Environmental Health and Equity Implications of Climate Change Mitigation Policies in California," by Seth Shonkoff and coauthors, and "Best in Show? Climate and Environmental Justice Policy in California," by Julie Sze et al......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

December 21, 2009, 8:08 AM CT

Global temperatures could rise more than expected

The kinds of increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide taking place today could have a significantly larger effect on global temperatures than previously thought, as per a newly released study led by Yale University geologists. Their findings appear December 20 in the advanced online edition of Nature Geoscience.

The team demonstrated that only a relatively small rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) was linked to a period of substantial warming in the mid- and early-Pliocene era, between three to five million years ago, when temperatures were approximately 3 to 4 degrees Celsius warmer than they are today.

Climate sensitivitythe mean global temperature response to a doubling of the concentration of atmospheric CO2is estimated to be 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius, using current models.

"These models take into account only relatively fast feedbacks, such as changes in atmospheric water vapor and the distribution of sea ice, clouds and aerosols," said Mark Pagani, associate professor of geology and geophysics at Yale and main author of the paper. "We wanted to look at Earth-system climate sensitivity, which includes the effects of long-term feedbacks such as change in continental ice-sheets, terrestrial ecosystems and greenhouse gases other than CO2"......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

December 21, 2009, 8:02 AM CT

Into the heart of the climate debate

Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the world's largest scientific society, today published a major analysis of the divisive issues at the heart of the debate over global warming and climate change. The article appears at the conclusion of the much-publicized United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which sought to seal a comprehensive international agreement on dealing with global warming. An embargoed text is available to journalists upon request.

C&EN's 8,900-word cover story notes that global warming believers and skeptics actually agree on a cluster of core points:

● Earth's atmospheric load of carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas has increased since the Industrial Revolution began in the late 1700s.

● Carbon dioxide bloat results largely from burning of coal and other fossil fuels.

● Average global temperatures have risen since 1850, with most of the warming occurring since 1970.

"But here is where the cordial agreements stop," writes Stephen K. Ritter, a senior correspondent for C&EN, a publication of the 154,000-member American Chemical Society. "At the heart of the global warming debate is whether warming is directly the result of increasing anthropogenic CO2 levels, or if it is simply part of Earth's natural climatic variation"......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source