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Smithsonian Researchers Report that Regional Sea Temperature Rise and Coral Bleaching Event Has Reached Western Caribbean

By Guest PostOctober 15, 20101 commentEnvironmentanomalous sea temperature rise, anoxic conditions, arcadio castillo, bocas del toro research station, caribbean coast, coral bleaching, coral polyps, costa rica, dissolved oxygen, héctor m guzmán, hotosynthetic algae, isla colon, kuna-yala to bocas del toro, nancy knowlton, noaa, panama, sea surface temperatures, turbid waters, warm pocket, western caribbean, zoxanthellae

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Bocas del Toro Research Station and Galeta Point Marine Laboratory are reporting an anomalous sea temperature rise and a major coral bleaching event in the western Caribbean. Although the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, issued an advisory in July announcing above-average sea surface temperatures in the wider Caribbean region, there had been no clear indication of increased sea temperatures in Panama and the western Caribbean until late August-early September. (more…)

Cloud-Based Computing System Helps Scientists Study the Breathing of the Biosphere

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2010Environment, Technologybiosphere breathing, breathing dataset, evapotranspiration data, microsoft research, sensor arrays

Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, work with Microsoft Research to analyze vast amounts of data without supercomputers

BERKELEY, Calif. — Studying the environment would be simple if it weren’t for one thing: Even an isolated ecosystem is unbelievably complicated. Factors to study include water systems, plant life cycles, carbon dioxide fluctuations, resource use by humans, and far more — and each can be studied at the scale of a plant or of the planet, and measured in an instant or over decades. (more…)

Listen Up: Ocean Acidification Poses Little Threat to Whales’ Hearing

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2010Environmentabsorption, acidic, animals, atmospheric carbon dioxide, boric acid, CO2, decibel, hearing, ilya udovydchenkov, ivan lima, mathematical models, noise levels, ocean, ocean acidification, scott doney, seawater, sound propagation, sound waves, tim duda, whales, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

Contrary to some previous, highly publicized, reports, ocean acidification is not likely to worsen the hearing of whales and other animals, according to a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist who studies sound propagation in the ocean. (more…)

Population Change: Another Influence on Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 12, 2010Environmentclimate change, population aging, population change, population dynamics

Changes in population, including aging and urbanization, could affect global carbon dioxide emissions

Changes in the human population, including aging and urbanization, could significantly affect global emissions of carbon dioxide over the next 40 years, according to research results published this week. (more…)

Unraveling Complexity of Haiti Quake Reveals Hidden Faults and Future Hazards

By Guest PostOctober 11, 20101 commentEnvironmentgeologic field data, haiti quake, hidden faults, surface deformation, tectonic settings

The January 2010 M7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti’s economy and caused over 200,000 casualties also resulted in significant uplift of the ground surface along Haiti’s coastline, and involved slip on multiple faults, according to a study published online in Nature Geoscience. (more…)

U of T Researchers Explore Charcoal’s Potential to Reverse Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2010Environmentbiochar, biochar bioenergy, carbon-negative biofuel, charcoal, pyrolysis, reverse climate change, wood smoulders, wood waste

It’s black, it’s gritty, it’s essential for barbecues—and it just might save the world from global warming.

Biochar, a kind of charcoal that is rich in carbon, traps CO2 from the atmosphere and can store it in soils for hundreds to thousands of years, says Professor Nathan Basiliko, a soil scientist at U of T Mississauga’s Department of Geography. Now, Basiliko and colleagues in the Faculty of Forestry are poised to demonstrate that wood waste from Ontario’s forest industry could be used to produce energy and biochar, making the wood a truly carbon-negative biofuel. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Awarded $12.5 Million to Lead a U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2010EnvironmentBeijing, cerc, China, clean energy research center, climate master, david sandalow, energy efficiency, global carbon pollution, hu jintao, mark levine, Obama, Technology, urbanization, US

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been chosen to lead a consortium for a U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center on Building Energy Efficiency. The Center will develop technologies for low-energy residential and commercial buildings, as well as work on commercialization of those technologies and research how human behavior affects building energy use. (more…)

Too Much of a Good Thing: Human Activities Overload Ecosystems with Nitrogen

By Guest PostOctober 7, 2010Environmentindustrial activities, nitrogen, nitrogen fixation, nitrogen release, overloading ecosystem, pre biotic times

Resulting ecological damage is serious, but could be reduced by wider use of more sustainable, time-honored practices

Humans are overloading ecosystems with nitrogen through the burning of fossil fuels and an increase in nitrogen-producing industrial and agricultural activities, according to a new study. While nitrogen is an element that is essential to life, it is an environmental scourge at high levels. (more…)

Category Archives: Environment