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Irene Highlights Critical Roles of Government, Public

By Guest PostAugust 30, 2011Environment, Politicsdealing with disaster, east coast, federal emergency management agency, fema, floods in tennessee and south carolina, hurricane, hurricane katrina, louisiana, michigan state university, natural disasters, political scientist, san francisco earthquake of 1989, saundra schneider, tropical storm, tropical storm irene

EAST LANSING, Mich. — As Tropical Storm Irene shows, dealing with natural disasters is a two-way street: Both the government and the public play a critical role in curtailing the effects, according to a Michigan State University political scientist.

In her new book “Dealing with Disaster,” Saundra Schneider contends it’s not the size of the disaster or the amount of money spent on relief that determine success or failure of an emergency response. Instead, it’s the “inevitable gap” between government procedures and the collective behavior of victims. (more…)

NASA Satellite Shows a Mean Irene’s Fury

By Guest PostAugust 29, 2011Environmentatmospheric temperature, heavy rain, hurricane irene, tropical storm

After pounding North Carolina and Virginia on Aug. 27, Hurricane Irene made a second landfall near Little Egg Inlet, N.J., early Sunday morning, Aug. 28, still as a category one hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kilometers per hour). It then weakened slightly before making a third landfall over Coney Island, N.Y. as a 65-mph (100-kilometer-per-hour) tropical storm. Irene’s heavy rains, winds and storm surge are causing widespread problems throughout the U.S. mid-Atlantic and Northeast. (more…)

Thawing Permafrost Could Release Vast Amounts of Carbon and Accelerate Climate Change by the end of this Century

By Guest PostAugust 27, 2011Environmentalternative energies and atomic energy commission, amount of soil carbon, atmosphere, berkeley lab, boreal and arctic land ecosystems, canada, carbon, carbon dioxide, charles koven, climate changes, combine, computer modeling, energy, European Union, france, frozen soils, global warming, high latitude permafrost, intergovernmental panel on climate change, land surface ecosystem model, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, methane emissions, orchidee, organic matter, plant growth, project, rate of soil carbon decomposition, simulation, supercomputing facility, temperature, united kingdom

*New computer modeling study, led by a Berkeley Lab scientist, could help revise understanding of permafrost’s role in global warming*

Billions of tons of carbon trapped in high-latitude permafrost may be released into the atmosphere by the end of this century as the Earth’s climate changes, further accelerating global warming, a new computer modeling study indicates.

The study also found that soil in high-latitude regions could shift from being a sink to a source of carbon dioxide by the end of the 21^st century as the soil warms in response to climate change. (more…)

USGS Releases New Assessment of Gas Resources in the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin

By Guest PostAugust 24, 2011Economy, Environmentappalachian basin, geologic information, kentucky, lake erie, marcellus shale, maryland, middle devonian marcellus shale, natural gas, natural gas liquids, new york, ohio, ohio geological survey, oil and gas, onshore and offshore areas, Pennsylvania, pennsylvania geological survey, tennessee, united states, usgs, virginia, west virginia, west virginia geological and economic survey

The Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids according to a new assessment by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS).

These gas estimates are significantly more than the last USGS assessment of the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin in 2002, which estimated a mean of about 2 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCF) and 0.01 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. (more…)

Newly Discovered Icelandic Current Could Change North Atlantic Climate Picture

By Guest PostAugust 22, 2011Environmentamoc, atlantic meridional overturning circulation, climate specialists, current, daniel j torres, denmark overflow, denmark strait overflow water, dsow, earth climate, east greenland current, equator, eric itsweire, future climate change, great ocean conveyor belt, greenland, greenland scotland ridge, Iceland, kjetil våge, michael a spall, national science foundation, nij, north icelandic jet, nsf, numerical model, ocean circulation system, ocean response to climate change, physical oceanographers, plumes, r v knorr, relationship between ocean circulation and climate, rise in global temperatures, robert s pickart, svein østerhus, warming related phenomena, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

An international team of researchers, including physical oceanographers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has confirmed the presence of a deep-reaching ocean circulation system off Iceland that could significantly influence the ocean’s response to climate change in previously unforeseen ways.

The current, called the North Icelandic Jet (NIJ), contributes to a key component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), also known as the “great ocean conveyor belt,” which is critically important for regulating Earth’s climate. As part of the planet’s reciprocal relationship between ocean circulation and climate, this conveyor belt transports warm surface water to high latitudes where the water warms the air, then cools, sinks, and returns towards the equator as a deep flow. (more…)

University of Missouri Completes First Drought Simulator

By Guest PostAugust 21, 2011Environment, Scienceactual drought conditions, and soil types, bob sharp, bradford research and extension center, cafnr, college of agriculture, commercial crops, crop species, delta research center, drought simulators, droughts, east of columbia, effects of water deficiency on crops, effects on agriculture, famine, farmers, felix fritschi, food and natural resources, food costs, genetics, plant breeding, plant insect and plant disease interaction, plant responses to drought, plant root biology, portageville, real world, real world application of scientific research, soil biology, soil physics, university of missouri, variety of environments, water quality

*Drought simulator will enable in-depth testing under real-world conditions*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Historically, droughts have had devastating effects on agriculture, causing famine and increasing consumer food costs. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) have completed two drought simulators designed to test the effects of water deficiency on crops. The simulators are located at the University of Missouri’s Bradford Research and Extension Center east of Columbia.

The simulators, part of a $1.5 million Missouri Life Sciences Research Board grant, are essentially mobile greenhouses measuring 50 feet by 100 feet. To simulate drought, researchers move the greenhouses over plants when it is raining and move them away from plants when it is sunny. A test plot of the same plants will be kept next to the simulator to provide a comparison. The drought simulators will increase the real-world application of scientific research, as they allow researchers to more closely mimic actual drought conditions. (more…)

Pacific Walruses Studied as Sea Ice Melts

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2011Environment, Nature, Sciencearctic basin, bering, chad jay, chukchi seas, continental shelf, native village, northwest of barrow, northwestern alaska coast, pacific walrus, point lay, russia, satellite radio tags to walruses, sea, sea floor, sea ice, usgs, usgs alaska science center, walruses

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — USGS Alaska Science Center researchers, in cooperation with the Native Village of Point Lay, will attempt to attach 35 satellite radio-tags to walruses on the northwestern Alaska coast in August as part of their ongoing study of how the Pacific walrus are responding to reduced sea ice conditions in late summer and fall. (more…)

Ethane Levels Yield Information About Changes in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Guest PostAugust 14, 2011Environmentenergy use, ethane emissions, fossil fuel emissions, greenhouse gas, methane emission

Research at Greenland and Antarctic shows decline in methane and ethane levels

Recent data from NSF-funded research in both Greenland and Antarctica demonstrate that fossil-fuel related emissions of both methane and ethane, two of the most abundant hydrocarbons in the atmosphere, declined at the end of the twentieth century, according to a paper published Thursday in the journal Nature. (more…)

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