Category Archives: Environment

Potential energy – Study of Maryland Demonstrates Mid-Atlantic Offshore Wind Capacity

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2012Environmentair quality, annual electricity consumption, atlantic, carbon dioxide emission, ceoe, chesapeake bay, current energy, deep water turbine, energy, fossil fuel generation, maryland, mid atlantic region, new technology, offshore wind farms, offshore windmill, power plant, solar power, Technology, university of delaware, willett kempton

Offshore wind farms could generate more than enough energy to meet Maryland’s annual electricity consumption, according to a just-published study by researchers at the University of Delaware. The potential power output is nearly double current energy demands for the state, even when taking into account various limitations on where to place equipment in the Atlantic.

“Installing wind turbines far off the coast of Maryland would help the state generate large quantities of electricity while creating local jobs,” said study co-author Willett Kempton, professor of marine policy in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE). “Producing more electricity this way also displaces fossil fuel generation, thus reducing harmful carbon dioxide emissions and improving air quality.” (more…)

Severe Declines in Everglades Mammals Linked to Pythons

By Guest PostJanuary 31, 2012Environment, Natureafrican python, alex wolf, alligators, america, beni anaconda, boa constrictor, bobcat, burmese python, camp walker, christopher gillette, cottontail rabbits, dan kimball, deschauensee anaconda, ecological impact, ecosystem, everglades, everglades ecosystem, everglades national park, everglades python, fox, geographic pattern, green anaconda, invasive species, john willson, mammal decline, mammals, marcia mcnutt, marsh, michael dorcas, michael rochford, national park, opossums, prey, python, python predation, rabbits, raccoons, robert reed, spread of pythons, therese walters, U.S. Geological Survey, united states

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Precipitous declines in formerly common mammals in Everglades National Park have been linked to the presence of invasive Burmese pythons, according to a study published on Jan. 30, 2012, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study, the first to document the ecological impacts of this invasive species, strongly supports that animal communities in this 1.5-million-acre park have been markedly altered by the introduction of pythons within 11 years of their establishment as an invasive species. Mid-sized mammals are the most dramatically affected. (more…)

New CU-led Study May Answer Long-Standing Questions About Enigmatic Little Ice Age

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2012Environmentalps, Arctic sea ice, baffin island, bette otto bliesner, canadian arctic, China, climate feedback system, climate model, cooling effect, darren larsen, dead plant material, european glacier, feedback, gifford miller, greenland, ice, ice cap, kurt refsnider, langjökull ice cap, little ice age, london, melting icecaps, middle age, Netherlands, north atlantic ocean, norway, ocean, sea, sediment core, simulation, solar radiation, south america, thames river, tropical volcanic eruptions, volcanic aerosols, waterways, yafang zhong

A new University of Colorado Boulder-led study appears to answer contentious questions about the onset and cause of Earth’s Little Ice Age, a period of cooling temperatures that began after the Middle Ages and lasted into the late 19th century.

According to the new study, the Little Ice Age began abruptly between A.D. 1275 and 1300, triggered by repeated, explosive volcanism and sustained by a self- perpetuating sea ice-ocean feedback system in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to CU-Boulder Professor Gifford Miller, who led the study. The primary evidence comes from radiocarbon dates from dead vegetation emerging from rapidly melting icecaps on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, combined with ice and sediment core data from the poles and Iceland and from sea ice climate model simulations, said Miller. (more…)

Scientist: Temperate Freshwater Wetlands Are ‘Forgotten’ Carbon Sinks

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2012Environmentblanca bernal, boreal peatland, buffer zone, canada, carbon dioxide, carbon holding power, carbon measurement, carbon sequestering system, carbon sequestration, carbon sink, carbon storage, cesium 137, climate change, depressional wetland, ecosystem, freshwater wetland, gahanna wetland, global carbon budget, greenhouse gas emission, lake erie, lead, marker, northern ohio, ohio wetland, old woman creek, organic matter, pb 210, plant, productive system, radioactive form, rate, sediment, Siberia, subarctic region, swamp, temperate region, william mitsch

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study comparing the carbon-holding power of freshwater wetlands has produced measurements suggesting that wetlands in temperate regions are more valuable as carbon sinks than current policies imply, according to researchers.

The study compared several wetlands at two Ohio wetland sites: one composed of mostly stagnant water and one characterized by water regularly flowing through it. The study showed that the stagnant wetland had an average carbon storage rate per year that is almost twice as high as the carbon storage rate of the flow-through wetland. (more…)

Sea Change – Penguins Provide Window into Shifting Antarctic Ecosystem

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2012Environmentadelie penguins, Antarctic, chinstraps, climate change, ecosystem, environmental change, environmental dynamics, food web, gentoos, gliders, google earth, indicator species, kim bernard, krill, matthew oliver, nasa satellites, ocean, ocean substructure, ocean temperature, penguin, phytoplankton, predator, rising temperature, Rutgers University, south america, teresa messmore, travis miles, underwater robots, west antarctic peninsula

What’s the best way to study the Antarctic’s ecosystem? Follow the penguins.

Scientists are tracking penguins on land, under the sea, and even from space to unravel the environmental dynamics in the West Antarctic Peninsula as the region experiences climate change.

“We’re not just down there bird watching,” said Matthew Oliver, assistant professor of oceanography in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. “This is a concerted effort to put the whole ecosystem together.” (more…)

Commentary in Nature: Can Economy Bear What Oil Prices Have in Store?

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2012Economy, Environmentfossil fuel, fracking, global economy, oil prices, shale gas, shale gas wells

Stop wrangling over global warming and instead reduce fossil-fuel use for the sake of the global economy.

That’s the message from two scientists, one from the University of Washington and one from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, who say in the current issue of the journal Nature (Jan. 26) that the economic pain of a flattening oil supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels. (more…)

Turtles’ Mating Habits Protect Against Effects of Climate Change

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2012Environment, Natureannette broderick, baby turtle, breeding season, chelonia mydas, climate change, DNA, egg, global temperature, global warming, green turtle, health problem, inbreeding, kimberley stokes, lucy wright, marine turtle, mating habits, north africa, north cyprus society, northern cyprus, ocean, offspring, satellite tracking, temperature, turkey, university of exeter, university of lefke, warmer temperature

The mating habits of marine turtle may help protect them against the effects of climate change, according to new research led by the University.

Published on 25th January 2012 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study shows how mating patterns of a population of endangered green turtles may be helping them deal with the fact that global warming is leading to a disproportionate number of females being born.

The gender of baby turtles is determined by the temperature of the eggs during incubation, with warmer temperatures leading to more females being born. Higher average global temperatures mean that offspring from some populations are predominantly female. This is threatening the future of some populations and there are concerns that inbreeding within groups due to a lack of males will lead to health problems. (more…)

Researchers Find Unprecedented, Man-Made Trends in Oceans Acidity

By Guest PostJanuary 26, 2012Environment21st century, acidity, anthropogenic co2 emission, aragonite, aragonite saturation, axel timmermann, bishop museum, calcification rate, calcium carbonate, caribbean, climate, climate modeler, co2 emission, computer modeling, coral, coral reef, earth system model, ecosystem, fossil fuel, global scale, hawaiian islands, honolulu, jamstec, jhamandas watumull planetarium, last glacial maximum, level of acidity, marine ecosystem, marine organism, mollusk, observation, ocean, ocean acidification, ocean chemist, ocean condition, parts per million, ppm, saturation level, tobias friedrich, western equatorial pacific, yellow tangs

Nearly one-third of CO2 emissions due to human activities enters the world’s oceans. By reacting with seawater, CO2 increases the water’s acidity, which may significantly reduce the calcification rate of such marine organisms as corals and mollusks, resulting in the potential loss of ecosystems. The extent to which human activities have raised the surface level of acidity, however, has been difficult to detect on regional scales because it varies naturally from one season and one year to the next, and between regions, and direct observations go back only 30 years.

By combining computer modeling with observations, an international team of scientists concluded that anthropogenic CO2 emissions, resulting from the influence of human beings, over the last 100 to 200 years have already raised ocean acidity far beyond the range of natural variations. The study is published in the January 22, 2012 online issue of Nature Climate Change. (more…)