Tag Archives: boulder

Cutting Specific Atmospheric Pollutants Would Slow Sea Level Rise

By Guest PostApril 25, 2013Environmentaixue hu, amsterdam, anjuli bamzai, atmospheric pollutants, black carbon, boulder, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide emissions, claudia tebaldi, climate central, climate change, computer model, effect, geochemistry, greenhouse gases, heat trapping pollutants, hydrofluorocarbons, important factor, melting ice, methane, miami, mumbai, NASA, national science foundation, ncar, new york, noaa, rising oceans, san diego, scientist, sea-level rise, sio, soot in exhaust, this century, tokyo, tropospheric ozone, us epa, veerabhadran ramanathan, yangyang x

Decreasing emissions of black carbon, methane and other pollutants makes a difference

With coastal areas bracing for rising sea levels, new research indicates that cutting emissions of certain pollutants can greatly slow sea level rise this century.

Scientists found that reductions in four pollutants that cycle comparatively quickly through the atmosphere could temporarily forestall the rate of sea level rise by roughly 25 to 50 percent.

The researchers focused on emissions of four heat-trapping pollutants: methane, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon. (more…)

CU study provides new evidence ancient asteroid caused global firestorm on Earth

By Guest PostApril 2, 2013Scienceboulder, charcoal, chicxulub crater, cretaceous paleogene, dinosaur days, douglas robertson, earth, earth atmosphere, geological evidence, global firestorm, infrared heat pulse, k pg boundary, manhattan sized asteroid, mass extinctions, Mexico, milwaukee public museum, peter sheehan, radiation, region, sedimentation rates, university of colorado, william lewis, wisconsin, yucatan peninsula

A new look at conditions after a Manhattan-sized asteroid slammed into a region of Mexico in the dinosaur days indicates the event could have triggered a global firestorm that would have burned every twig, bush and tree on Earth and led to the extinction of 80 percent of all Earth’s species, says a new University of Colorado Boulder study.

Led by Douglas Robertson of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, the team used models that show the collision would have vaporized huge amounts of rock that were then blown high above Earth’s atmosphere. The re-entering ejected material would have heated the upper atmosphere enough to glow red for several hours at roughly 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit — about the temperature of an oven broiler element — killing every living thing not sheltered underground or underwater. (more…)

‘Sideline quasars’ helped to stifle early galaxy formation, says CU study

By Guest PostMarch 31, 2013Scienceastronomers, big bang, black holes, boulder, brightest quasars, caltech astronomer, cos, cosmic web, dark ages, david syphers, early universe, Epoch, fossil record, galaxy formation, gaseous material, gases in universe, generations of stars, helium atoms, helium gas, helium reionization era, Hubble Space Telescope, intergalactic global warming, intergalactic medium, ionizing radiation, lighthouse, maarten schmidt, michael shull, neutral helium gas, planetary sciences, plasma, quasar, quasi stellar, radio source, sideline quasars, stars or galaxies, swiss cheese, ultraviolet spectrograph, universe, university of colorado

University of Colorado Boulder astronomers targeting one of the brightest quasars glowing in the universe some 11 billion years ago say “sideline quasars” likely teamed up with it to heat abundant helium gas billions of years ago, preventing small galaxy formation.

CU-Boulder Professor Michael Shull and Research Associate David Syphers used the Hubble Space Telescope to look at the quasar — the brilliant core of an active galaxy that acted as a “lighthouse” for the observations — to better understand the conditions of the early universe. The scientists studied gaseous material between the telescope and the quasar with a $70 million ultraviolet spectrograph on Hubble designed by a team from CU-Boulder’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy. (more…)

Southwest Regional Warming Likely Cause of Pinyon Pine Cone Decline, Says CU Study

By Guest PostFebruary 18, 2013Environmentbird, black bears, black chinned hummingbirds, boulder, climate change, climate warming trend, cone initiation, creeping climate change, crossbill, dramatic warming, drought, ecologists, ecosphere study, ecosystems, environmental stimulus, fire, forcella, frank forcella, germination, growing season, impact, increases in temperatures, insects, jeffry mitton, lower elevations, mammal species, masting events, miranda redmond, negative effect, new mexico, northern arizona, northwestern oklahoma, nut carrying cones, nutcrackers, pinyon pine, pinyon pine reproduction, pinyon pine seedlings, pollination, precipitation, season, southwest, temperature, university, university of colorado, us tree, woodland ecosystems

Creeping climate change in the Southwest appears to be having a negative effect on pinyon pine reproduction, a finding with implications for wildlife species sharing the same woodland ecosystems, says a University of Colorado Boulder-led study.

The new study showed that pinyon pine seed cone production declined by an average of about 40 percent at nine study sites in New Mexico and northwestern Oklahoma over the past four decades, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Miranda Redmond, who led the study. The biggest declines in pinyon pine seed cone reproduction were at the higher elevation research sites experiencing more dramatic warming relative to lower elevations, said Redmond of CU’s ecology and evolutionary biology department. (more…)

Biodiversity Protects Against Disease, Scientists Find

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2013Natureamphibian eating birds, amphibian infections, amphibian species, aquatic parasite cycle, biodiversity, biodiversity matters, bird species, boulder, california tiger salamander, community of frogs, complex ecosystems, dan preston, decrease in disease, deformed frogs, disease transmission, doug levey, egrets, factor, grasslands, herons, humans, humans and wildlife, hypothesis, infection with ribeiroia, jason hoverman, katie richgels, large scale ecosystems, life cycle, lyme disease, malformations, national science foundation, northern leopard frog, organisms, parasite transmission, parasitic infections, pathogen, pieter johnson, pond, pond community, protects against disease, purdue university, replicate, reservoir hosts, ribeiroia ondatrae, salamanders, toads, university of colorado, west nile virus

Discovery resulted from study of amphibians in ponds

The richer the assortment of amphibian species in a pond, the more protection that community of frogs, toads and salamanders has against a parasitic infection that can cause severe deformities, including the growth of extra legs.

The findings, published in a paper in this week’s issue of the journal Nature, support the idea that greater biodiversity in large-scale ecosystems, such as forests or grasslands, may also provide greater protection against diseases, including those that affect humans.

A larger number of mammal species in an area may curb cases of Lyme disease, while a larger number of bird species may slow the spread of West Nile virus. (more…)

Analysis of Greenland Ice Cores Adds to Historical Record and May Provide Glimpse into Climate’s Future

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2013Environmentalpine research, Antarctica, Arctic, arctic sciences section, atmosphere, belgium, boulder, canada, change, China, climate, climate conditions, denmark, dorthe dahl-jensen, earth climate, eemian interglacial, eemian like, eemian period, france, future, future climate, Germany, global temperatures rise, greenland ice cores, greenland ice sheet, historical record, ice ages, ice sheet, Iceland, Japan, jim white, last interglacial period, national science foundation, neem, northern greenland, northern hemisphere, paleo climate models, sea-level rise, south korea, subsurface ice layers, Sweden, switzerland, the netherlands, united kingdom, united states, university of colorado, university of copenhagen, west antarctic

The International North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project results indicate that melting of Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea level rise than melting of the Greeland ice sheet some 100,000 years ago

A new study that provides surprising details on changes in Earth’s climate from more than 100,000 years ago indicates that the last interglacial–the period between “ice ages”–was warmer than previously thought and may be a good analog for future climate, as greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere and global temperatures rise.

The research findings also indicate that melting of the massive West Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea-level rise at that time than melting of the Greenland ice sheet. (more…)

Degraded Military Lands To Get Ecological Boost From CU-led Effort

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2012Environmentamerican west, arid ecosystem, arid land, atmospheric dust, bacteria, biocrusts, biological soil crust, boulder, central america, China, colorado, cyanobacteria, degraded, desert environment, dugway proving ground, erosion, extreme environment, ferran garcia pichel, fort bliss, fungi, general george patton, hawaii, inoculation, jayne belnap, lichens, metropolitan area, michael duniway, microbial communities, military activity, military exercises, military installation, military vehicles, modeling, mojave desert, mosses, new mexico, nichole barger, northwest utah, pollutant, polyacrylamide, probability, restore, sasha reed, soil erosion, soil fertility, soil surface, South Africa, south america, survival, texas, university, water retention, word war

Some arid lands in the American West degraded by military exercises that date back to General George Patton’s Word War II maneuvers in the Mojave Desert should get a boost from an innovative research project led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

Headed up by CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Nichole Barger, the research team is focused on developing methods to restore biological soil crusts — microbial communities primarily concentrated on soil surfaces critical to decreasing erosion and increasing water retention and soil fertility. Such biological soil crusts, known as “biocrusts,” can cover up to 70 percent of the ground in some arid ecosystems and are dominated by cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses, fungi and bacteria, she said. (more…)

Racial ‘Hierarchy of Bias’ Drives Decision to Shoot Armed, Unarmed Suspects, CU-Boulder Study Finds

By Guest PostOctober 25, 2012Politicsafrican american, asians, behavior, bernadette park, bias, black men, blacks, boulder, cell phone, charles judd, Chicago, colorado, cultural stereotype, dangerous, ethnic environment, ethnic group, florida, hierarchy, hispanics, joshua correll, jurisdiction, multi, new mexico, police officer, positive bias, russell sage foundation, san diego, shoot, state university, students, suspects, university, Washington, whites, young

Police officers and students exhibit an apparent “hierarchy of bias” in making a split-second decision whether to shoot suspects who appear to be wielding a gun or, alternatively, a benign object like a cell phone, research conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder and San Diego State University has found.

Both the police and student subjects were most likely to shoot at blacks, then Hispanics, then whites and finally, in a case of what might be called a positive bias, Asians, researchers found. (more…)