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Carnegie Airborne Observatory: Mapping Video

By Guest PostJanuary 14, 2011Environmentairborne methods, canopy, carbon, deforestation, degradation, forests, global ecology, global project, greg asner, land use practices, map, monitoring carbon storage and emissions, redd, reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, tropical forests, united nations, vegetation, vital resources

Some 55% of tropical forests are negatively affected by land use practices and deforestation worldwide. But the ability to penetrate the canopy to see what’s going on has been lacking until now.

Global Ecology’s Greg Asner’s group has developed new airborne methods to peer through the canopy to measure and map, in beautiful 3-D, the underlying vegetation, degradation and deforestation, and the amount of carbon stored and emitted in these forests. (more…)

‘Undersea Methane Could be Contributor to Increased Ocean Acidity’

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2010Environmentacidity, algae, bacteria, bottom of the ocean, carbon dioxide, chris osburn, CO2, cold seeps, degradation, dissolved organic carbon, doc, fluids, marine science, methane, methane-derived doc, microbial processing, ocean, ocean acidification, oceanic microorganisms, pacific ocean, phytoplankton, seawater, sediments, undersea, undersea ecosystems

A North Carolina State University researcher is part of a team which has found that methane from “cold seeps” – undersea areas where fluids bubble up through sediments at the bottom of the ocean – could be contributing to the oceans’ increasing acidity and stressing already delicate undersea ecosystems.

Oceanic microorganisms and bacteria survive by consuming dissolved organic carbon, or DOC. A byproduct of this consumption is CO2 – carbon dioxide – which, in large enough concentrations, makes seawater more acidic. (more…)

Study Shows Deepwater Oil Plume in Gulf Degraded by Microbes

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2010Environmentberkeley lab, biodegradation, bp, carbon, deep-sea psychrophilic, deepwater horizon drilling, degradation, gamma-proteobacteria, gulf of mexico, hoi-ying Holman, hydrocarbon-degrading enzymes, microbial ecologist, oil dispersant corexit 9500, oil plume, oxygen depletion, petroleum, petroleum-degrading microbes, terry hazen

In the aftermath of the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, a dispersed oil plume was formed at a depth between 3,600 and 4,000 feet and extending some 10 miles out from the wellhead. An intensive study by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that microbial activity, spearheaded by a new and unclassified species, degrades oil much faster than anticipated. This degradation appears to take place without a significant level of oxygen depletion.

(more…)

Tag Archives: degradation

Carnegie Airborne Observatory: Mapping Video

‘Undersea Methane Could be Contributor to Increased Ocean Acidity’

Study Shows Deepwater Oil Plume in Gulf Degraded by Microbes