http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/geography-blog.html Geography blog from networlddirectory, the place for information. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT en-us http://www.networlddirectory.com/images/blogs/geography-blog.jpg http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/geography-blog.html 105 85 http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/parasites-outweigh-predators.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/parasites-outweigh-predators.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT In a study of parasites living in three estuaries on the Pacific coast of California and Baja California, scientists have determined that biomass of these parasites exceeds that of top predators, in some cases by more than 20 times. Their findings, which could have significant ecological and biomedical implications, appear in this week's issue of the journal Nature........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/outflow-from-worlds-largest-river.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/outflow-from-worlds-largest-river.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT Nutrients from the Amazon River's outflow spread well beyond the continental shelf and drive carbon cycling in the tropical ocean, say researchers who conducted a multi-year study. They will publish their results this week online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/system-to-forecast-flash-floods.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/system-to-forecast-flash-floods.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT People living near vulnerable creeks and rivers along Colorado's Front Range may soon get advance notice of potentially deadly floods, thanks to a new forecasting system being tested this summer by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. Known as the NCAR Front Range Flash Flood Prediction System, it combines detailed atmospheric conditions with information about stream flows to predict floods along specific streams and catchments........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/key-to-saving-the-worlds-lakes.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/key-to-saving-the-worlds-lakes.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT After completing one of the longest running experiments ever done on a lake, scientists from the University of Alberta, University of Minnesota and the Freshwater Institute, contend that nitrogen control, in which the European Union and a number of other jurisdictions around the world are investing millions of dollars, is not effective and in fact, may actually increase the problem of cultural eutrophication........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/saharan-dust-storms-sustain-life-in-atlantic-ocean.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/saharan-dust-storms-sustain-life-in-atlantic-ocean.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT Research at the University of Liverpool has found how Saharan dust storms help sustain life over extensive regions of the North Atlantic Ocean. Working aboard research vessels in the Atlantic, researchers mapped the distribution of nutrients including phosphorous and nitrogen and investigated how organisms such as phytoplankton are sustained in areas with low nutrient levels........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/satellites-measure-crop-water-demand.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/satellites-measure-crop-water-demand.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT Horticultural crops account for almost 50% of crop sales in the United States, and these crops are carefully managed to ensure good quality. But more information is needed about the crops' growth and response to seasonal and climatic changes so that management practices such as irrigation can be precisely scheduled. Existing research can be difficult to generalize because of variations in crops, planting densities, and cultural practices........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/being-environmentally-friendly.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/being-environmentally-friendly.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT Though a number of policymakers have argued that environmental regulations can negatively impact an organization's bottom line, a new study by George Mason University researcher Nicole Darnall shows that companies that develop green production processes can not only offset the costs of regulations, but can also reap further benefits........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/scattered-nature-of-wisconsins-woodlands.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/scattered-nature-of-wisconsins-woodlands.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT If a warmer Wisconsin climate causes some northern tree species to disappear in the future, it's easy to imagine that southern species will just expand their range northward as soon as the conditions suit them. The reality, though, may not be nearly so simple. A model developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison forest ecologists Robert Scheller and David Mladenoff suggests that while certain northern species, such as balsam fir, spruce and jack pine, are likely to decline as the state's climate warms, oaks, hickories and other southern Wisconsin trees will be slow to replace them........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/future-snowmelt-in-west-twice-as-early-as-expected.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/future-snowmelt-in-west-twice-as-early-as-expected.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT As per a new study, global. warming could lead to larger changes in snowmelt in the western United States than was previously thought, possibly increasing wildfire risk and creating new water management challenges for agriculture, ecosystems and urban populations. Researchers, including a Purdue University professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, discovered that a critical surface temperature feedback is twice as strong as what had been projected by earlier studies........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/potential-effects-of-volcanic-eruptions.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/potential-effects-of-volcanic-eruptions.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT For the first time, scientists have taken a detailed look at what lies beneath all of Iceland's volcanoes - and found a world far more complex than they ever imagined. They mapped an elaborate maze of magma chambers - work that could one day help researchers better understand how earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in Iceland and elsewhere in the world........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/air-quality-problem-for-olympics.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/air-quality-problem-for-olympics.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT The outlook for air quality in Beijing during the Olympics is borderline, and there's little that the Chinese government can do to improve it. That's the conclusion drawn by a University of Rhode Island atmospheric chemist who analyzed pollution data collected regularly for the last five years by Chinese scientists........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/wilkins-ice-shelf-hanging-by-its-last-thread.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/wilkins-ice-shelf-hanging-by-its-last-thread.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT The Wilkins Ice Shelf is experiencing further disintegration that is threatening the collapse of the ice bridge connecting the shelf to Charcot Island. Since the connection to the island in the image centre helps to stabilise the ice shelf, it is likely the break-up of the bridge will put the remainder of the ice shelf at risk........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/long-wait-before-next-china-quake.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/long-wait-before-next-china-quake.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT A new analysis of the setting for May's devastating earthquake in China shows that the quake resulted from faults with little seismic activity--and that similar events in that area occur, on average, only once every 2,000 to 10,000 years. However, geologists caution that because earthquakes can sometimes occur in clusters, people should still be wary of another possible large-scale earthquake........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/methane-formation-in-the-oceans.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/methane-formation-in-the-oceans.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT A new pathway for methane formation in the oceans has been discovered, with significant potential for advancing our understanding of greenhouse gas production on Earth, researchers believe. A paper on the findings, reported in the July 2008, issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, reveals that decomposition of a phosphorus-containing compound called methylphosphonate may be responsible for an unexpected supersaturation of methane in the oceans' oxygen-rich surface waters........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/how-intense-will-storms-get.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/how-intense-will-storms-get.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT A new mathematical model indicates that dust devils, water spouts, tornadoes, hurricanes and cyclones are all born of the same mechanism and will intensify as climate change warms the Earth's surface. The new equation, developed by University of Michigan atmospheric and planetary scientist Nilton Renno, could allow researchers to more accurately calculate the maximum expected intensity of a spiraling storm based on the depth of the troposphere and the temperature and humidity of the air in the storm's path. The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/extended-cyclone-relief-efforts-aided-from-space.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/extended-cyclone-relief-efforts-aided-from-space.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT Earth observation satellites have provided vital information to relief workers in Myanmar throughout a especially long crisis response window following the devastating Cyclone Nargis that hit the country on 2 and 3 May 2008. Immediately after the disaster, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) asked the International Charter on 'Space and Major Disasters', referred to as 'the Charter', for support by providing immediate crisis mapping of the affected areas........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/ocean-temperatures-and-sea-level-increases.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/ocean-temperatures-and-sea-level-increases.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT New research suggests that ocean temperature and associated sea level increases between 1961 and 2003 were 50 percent larger than estimated in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. The results are published in the June 19 edition of the journal Nature. An international team of researchers, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory climate scientist Peter Gleckler, compared climate models with improved observations that show sea levels rose by 1.5 millimeters per year in the period from 1961-2003. That equates to an approximately 2½-inch increase in ocean levels in a 42-year span........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/lower-midwest-braces-for-flood-onslaught.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/lower-midwest-braces-for-flood-onslaught.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT Residents of the central and southern Midwest are crossing their fingers, saying their prayers, planning evacuations, and in some cases filling sandbags in preparation for the excessive water ravishing communities in Iowa and Wisconsin. "The flood wave is propagating down the Mississippi River towards St. Louis at about the pace of a brisk walk," said Robert E. Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. "Some areas north of St. Louis in Missouri and southern Iowa are bracing for the second worst flood in their history. This is serious water."....... ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/rapid-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/rapid-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT The rate of climate warming over northern Alaska, Canada, and Russia could more than triple during periods of rapid sea ice loss, as per a new study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The findings raise concerns about the thawing of permafrost, or permanently frozen soil, and the potential consequences for sensitive ecosystems, human infrastructure, and the release of additional greenhouse gases........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/alaska-space-grant-program-launches-b.e.a.r..html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/alaska-space-grant-program-launches-b.e.a.r..html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:36 GMT AlaskaThe Alaska Space Grant Program and the Arctic Amateur Radio Club formed the Balloon Experiment And Research Programor B.E.A.R. for shortin December 2007. The program's aim was to launch a high altitude balloon equipped with two amateur radio signals and more from Poker Flat Research Range in the spring of 2008. On May 10, BEAR participants met to inflate and launch their first balloon. It flew as high as 95,327 feet above Fairbanks in three hours, capturing more than 100 photos and video during its flight........ ]]>