University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa geologist Kenneth Rubin is among the first scientists to witness exploding rock and molten lava from a deep sea volcano, seen during a 2009 expedition. He is co-author of a paper reporting that the eruption was near a tear in the Earth’s crust that is mimicking the birth of a subduction zone.
Scientists on the expedition collected boninite, a rare, chemically distinct lava that accompanies the formation of Earth’s subduction zones. (more…)
*Spread highest in urbanized and agricultural habitats*
After its initial appearance in New York in 1999, West Nile virus spread across the United States in just a few years and is now well established throughout North and South America.
Both the mosquitoes that transmit it and the birds that are important hosts for the virus are abundant in areas that have been modified by human activities.
As a result, transmission of West Nile virus is highest in urbanized and agricultural habitats. (more…)
*Three-year series of scientific missions from Arctic to Antarctic produces new views of atmospheric chemistry*
A three-year series of research flights from the Arctic to the Antarctic has successfully produced an unprecedented portrait of greenhouse gases and particles in the atmosphere.
The far-reaching field project, known as HIPPO, ends this week, and has enabled researchers to generate the first detailed mapping of the global distribution of gases and particles that affect Earth’s climate. (more…)
*Northeast China fossil provides new information about earliest ancestors of today’s mammals*
A well-preserved fossil discovered in northeast China provides new information about the earliest ancestors of most of today’s mammal species–the placental mammals. (more…)
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…)
*Growth of cropland, loss of natural habitat to blame*
The continued growth of cropland and loss of natural habitat have increasingly simplified agricultural landscapes in the Midwest.
In a study supported in part by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in Michigan–one of 26 such NSF LTER sites around the world–scientists concluded that this simplification is associated with increased crop pest abundance and insecticide use. (more…)
*Focus on deadly April 27, 2011, outbreak in Alabama and surrounding states*
It was one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.
Now scientists are organizing a research program to better understand the tornadoes that blew through Alabama and other southeastern states on April 27, 2011.
Scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) are analyzing radar data from that day, then merging the information with detailed storm surveys and other data. They hope to learn more about how the storms formed, what made the storms so powerful and what might be done to make tornado warnings more effective. (more…)
