Tag Archives: earth

Study Finds Severe Climate Jeopardizing Amazon Forest

By Guest PostJanuary 20, 2013Environment, Natureamazon basin, Amazon rainforest, amazonia, amazonian droughts, amazonian trees, atmospheric condition, california, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate phenomenon, cloud, decaying wood, degradation, double whammy, drought, earth, ecosystem, effect, forest, forest canopy, forest recovery, global data, katrina, large scale, megadrought, NASA, quikscat spacecraft, radar data, rainfall measuring mission, rainforest, rainforest ecosystem, rita, sassan saatchi, satellite, satellite microwave, scatterometer radar, sea surface temperature, seawinds scatterometer, size of california, southern, steady decline, tropical, tropical atlantic, united kingdom, university of oxford, vegetation, water availability, western amazonia, wildfire, yadvinder malhi

PASADENA, Calif. – An area of the Amazon rainforest twice the size of California continues to suffer from the effects of a megadrought that began in 2005, finds a new NASA-led study. These results, together with observed recurrences of droughts every few years and associated damage to the forests in southern and western Amazonia in the past decade, suggest these rainforests may be showing the first signs of potential large-scale degradation due to climate change.

An international research team led by Sassan Saatchi of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., analyzed more than a decade of satellite microwave radar data collected between 2000 and 2009 over Amazonia. The observations included measurements of rainfall from NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and measurements of the moisture content and structure of the forest canopy (top layer) from the Seawinds scatterometer on NASA’s QuikScat spacecraft. (more…)

New Path to More Efficient Organic Solar Cells Uncovered at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2013Environmentacceptor, advanced light source, affordable, als, als beamlines, amount, berkeley lab, brian collins, christopher mcneill, convert, crystallinity, donor, earth, efficient, electricity, eliot gann, energy use, exciton journey, fossil fuels, fullerene solar film, harald ade, john tumbleston, land mass, nanometers, north Carolina, organic cell, photovoltaic cells, photovoltaic devices, physicist, polymer, r soxs, research, resonant soft, silicon based, size matters, solar cell, solar energy, solvent diiodooctane, state university, stxm, sunlight, ultraviolet light beams, volume, x ray, x ray scattering, zhe li

Why are efficient and affordable solar cells so highly coveted? Volume. The amount of solar energy lighting up Earth’s land mass every year is nearly 3,000 times the total amount of annual human energy use. But to compete with energy from fossil fuels, photovoltaic devices must convert sunlight to electricity with a certain measure of efficiency. For polymer-based organic photovoltaic cells, which are far less expensive to manufacture than silicon-based solar cells, scientists have long believed that the key to high efficiencies rests in the purity of the polymer/organic cell’s two domains – acceptor and donor. Now, however, an alternate and possibly easier route forward has been shown.

Working at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS), a premier source of X-ray and ultraviolet light beams for research, an international team of scientists found that for highly efficient polymer/organic photovoltaic cells, size matters. (more…)

Magma in Earth’s Mantle Forms Deeper Than Once Thought

By Guest PostJanuary 10, 2013Environmentananya mallik, anthony withers, brown university, carbon dioxide, carbonated rock, convection, crust, deeper magma, density, earth, earthquake, express lane, geologist, greg hirth, high pressure, jennifer wade, kyusei tsuno, magma, mantle, marc hirschmann, national science foundation, non carbonated rock, ocean floor, peridotite, rajdeep dasgupta, rice university, rock, seafloor, seismic wave, silicate rich mantle, temperature, university of minnesota, volcanic eruption, within the earth

Study simulating pressures in mantle beneath the ocean floor shows that rocks can melt at depths up to 250 kilometers

Magma forms far deeper than geologists previously thought, according to new research results.

A team led by geologist Rajdeep Dasgupta of Rice University put very small samples of peridotite, rock derived from Earth’s mantle, under high pressures in a laboratory.

The scientists found that the rock can and does liquify, at least in small amounts, at pressures equivalent to those found as deep as 250 kilometers down in the mantle beneath the ocean floor. (more…)

Piranha Kin Wielded Dental Weaponry Even T. Rex Would Have Admired

By Guest PostDecember 27, 2012Nature, Scienceamazon river, american alligator, american university, ancient relative, anecdotes, armored fish, barracuda, bite, bite force, black piranha, blacktip shark, bull shark, c caracharias, c leucas, c limbatus, cairo, carcharodon megalodon, carnivorous fishes, customized force gage, dunkleosteus terrelli, earth, egypt, extinct mega predators, extinct piranhas, fossilized jaw, george washington university, guillermo orti, hammerhead shark, history, hyperbole, jaw forces, jaw muscles, jorge porto, justin grubich, largest piranha, mega bites, megapiranha paranensis, piranha infested waters, piranha like ability, piranhas, prehistoric, s mokarran, serrasalmus rhombeus, skeleton, soft tissue, stephanie crofts, steve huskey, t rex, teeth, tendons, tyrannosaurus rex, university of washington, western kentucky university, whale eating sharks, white sharks

Taking into consideration its size, an ancient relative of piranhas weighing about 20 pounds delivered a bite with a force more fierce than prehistoric whale-eating sharks, the four-ton ocean-dwelling Dunkleosteus terrelli and – even – Tyrannosaurus rex.

Besides the force of the bite, Megapiranha paranensis appears to have had teeth capable of shearing through soft tissue the way today’s piranhas do, while also being able to pierce thick shells and crack armoring and bones, according to Stephanie Crofts, a University of Washington doctoral student in biology. (more…)

Study Shows Rapid Warming on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

By Guest PostDecember 25, 2012Environmentandrew monaghan, Antarctic, Antarctica, below sea level, byrd station, climate change, contribution, data, david bromwich, discovery, earth, greenland, ice sheet, ice shelf, ice shelves, julien nicolas, larsen b, meteorological observation, ocean, ohio state university, polar night, sea-level rise, solar panels, southern hemisphere, surface melting, temperature, wais, wais glaciers, warming, west antarctic

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In a discovery that raises further concerns about the future contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, a new study finds that the western part of the ice sheet is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought.

The temperature record from Byrd Station, a scientific outpost in the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), demonstrates a marked increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius) in average annual temperature since 1958—that is, three times faster than the average temperature rise around the globe. (more…)

Plumes across the Pacific Deliver Thousands of Microbial Species to West Coast

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Environmentaerobiology, aerosol, air pollution, aircraft, asia, atmospheric particle, bacterial, balloons, biomass, cascade mountains, central oregon, dale griffin, daniel jaffe, david j smith, dilution, DNA, dust, dust plume, earth, ecosystem, fungal, global wind circulation, harmless, hilkka timonen, kevin perry, michael roberts, michele birmele, microorganism, molecular method, mount bachelor, NASA, North America, old classification, pacific ocean, peter ward, plume event, pollutant, traditional paradigm, trans pacific trip, troposphere, university of utah, university of washington, west coast

A surprising number of microorganisms – more than 100 times more kinds than reported just four months ago – are leaping the biggest gap on the planet. Hitching rides in the upper troposphere, they’re making their way from Asia across the Pacific Ocean and landing in North America.

For the first time researchers have been able to gather enough biomass in the form of DNA to apply molecular methods to samples from two large dust plumes originating in Asia in the spring of 2011. The scientists detected more than 2,100 unique species compared to only 18 found in the very same plumes using traditional methods of culturing, results they published in July. (more…)

From Cassini for the Holidays: A Splendor Seldom Seen

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Sciencecarolyn porco, cassini spacecraft, dark side, earth, european space agency, high solar phase, in saturns shadow, jpl, NASA, orbit, planet saturn, rings, saturn, sun

PASADENA, Calif — Just in time for the holidays, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn for more than eight years now, has delivered another glorious, backlit view of the planet Saturn and its rings.

On Oct. 17, 2012, during its 174th orbit around the gas giant, Cassini was deliberately positioned within Saturn’s shadow, a perfect location from which to look in the direction of the sun and take a backlit view of the rings and the dark side of the planet. Looking back towards the sun is a geometry referred to by planetary scientists as “high solar phase;” near the center of your target’s shadow is the highest phase possible. This is a very scientifically advantageous and coveted viewing position, as it can reveal details about both the rings and atmosphere that cannot be seen in lower solar phase. (more…)

Cassini Spots Mini Nile River on Saturn Moon

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2012Sciencebedrock, caspian sea, cassini huygens mission, cassini mission, earth, equatorial regions, ethane, evaporation, extraterrestrial likeness, faulting, faults, fractures, headwaters, hydrocarbons, hydrologic cycle, infrared mapping spectrometer, jani radebaugh, jet propulsion laboratory, kraken mare, liquid hydrocarbons, mediterranean sea, methane, moon, NASA, nile river, north polar region, ontario lacus, plate tectonics, rainfall, river system, river valley, saturn, sea, southern hemisphere, spot, stable liquid, steve wall, titan, titan sea, water

PASADENA, Calif. – Scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission have spotted what appears to be a miniature, extraterrestrial likeness of Earth’s Nile River: a river valley on Saturn’s moon Titan that stretches more than 200 miles (400 kilometers) from its “headwaters” to a large sea. It is the first time images have revealed a river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth.

Scientists deduce that the river, which is in Titan’s north polar region, is filled with liquid hydrocarbons because it appears dark along its entire length in the high-resolution radar image, indicating a smooth surface. (more…)