polar regions – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Antarctic and Arctic Insects Use Different Genetic Mechanisms to Cope With Lack of Water

By Guest PostMarch 13, 2013Environment, NatureAntarctic, antarctic midge, antarctic midge larvae, antarctic peninsula, anvers island, arctic circle, arctic insects, arctic springtail, belgica antarctica, coastal margins, collembola, cope, david denlinger, dry conditions, ecological niche, entomology, environmental ice, extreme ecosystems, folsomia candida, genetic mechanisms, genetics, genomic era, genomic revolution, genomic techniques, lack of water, liquid water, megaphorura arctica, national science foundation, nsf, oceans, ohio state university, peninsula region, polar arthropods, polar desert, polar environments, polar regions, risk of dehydration, sterile environments

Genomic techniques facilitate discovery that gene expression causes disparity

Although they live in similarly extreme ecosystems at opposite ends of the world, Antarctic insects appear to employ entirely different methods at the genetic level to cope with extremely dry conditions than their counterparts that live north of the Arctic Circle, according to National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded researchers.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers concluded, “Polar arthropods have developed distinct… mechanisms to cope with similar desiccating conditions.” (more…)

Environmental Issues: How True the Climate Changes Affecting Biodiversity

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2012Environmentalgae, annual migratory cycle, biodiversity, biological behavior, biosphere, brianne, caribbean species, changes in climate, changing climate, changing temperatures, climate changes, colonization, corals, current scenario, eccentric rainfall, ecology, ecosystem, elkhorn, environmental conditions, erratic courses, evolution, fishes, fossilized remains, global warming, great barrier reef, mammals, melting, melting of permafrost, migration of animals, migratory birds, oceans, offsprings, penguins, permafrost, phytoplankton, polar bears, polar regions, pollen distribution, regal cigs, satellite pictures, species, staghorn corals, temperature, underwater life, warm air currents, zooplanktons

A changing climate has implications on biodiversity without any doubt. Species in the past have been sensitive to changes in the climate; that has been proved time and again by the fossilized remains and pollen distribution studies. It has been seen or can be concluded safely that climate changes have led to extinction of species in one area and colonization in another.

It is improbable that all species can or will be able to adapt to changing conditions specially the sudden changes. This leads to impact in ecosystem dynamics and also on community composition. (more…)

In Blown-Down Forests, a Story of Survival

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2012Environment, Naturebiodiversity, black bears, black birch, broken trees, damaged trees, david foster, dead wood, deserts, device, ecological processes, ecosystem, environmental decision, financial, fires, floods, forest, forests blown, grasslands, harvard forest, harvard university, Health, hurricanes, ice storm, intense wind, logging, lter, massachusetts, matt kane, national, native plant, natural events, polar regions, recovery, red maple, salamanders, science foundation, snapped limbs, southbridge, tornadoes, uprooted trunks, wildlife, woodland, woodland landscape

To preserve forest health, the best management decision may be to do nothing

In newscasts after intense wind and ice storms, damaged trees stand out: snapped limbs, uprooted trunks, entire forests blown nearly flat.

In a storm’s wake, landowners, municipalities and state agencies are faced with important financial and environmental decisions.

A study by Harvard University researchers, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and published in the journal Ecology, yields a surprising result: when it comes to the health of forests, native plants and wildlife, the best management decision may be to do nothing. (more…)

Extreme Space Weather at Mercury Blasts the Planet’s Poles

By Guest PostOctober 4, 2011Scienceatmosphere, aurora borealis, charged particles, earth, exosphere, fast imaging plasma spectrometer, fips, fundamental science about the sun, jim raines, magnetosphere, mercury, messenger spacecraft, NASA, oxygen particles, polar regions, sodium, solar system, solar wind sandblasts, space environment, squall of hot plasma, surface of planet mercury, thomas zurbuchen, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The solar wind sandblasts the surface of planet Mercury at its poles, according to new data from a University of Michigan instrument on board NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft.

The sodium and oxygen particles the blistering solar wind kicks up are the primary components of Mercury’s wispy atmosphere, or “exosphere,” the new findings assert. Through interacting with the solar wind, they become charged in a mechanism that’s similar to the one that generates the Aurora Borealis on Earth. (more…)

Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling

By Guest PostMay 28, 2011Environmentacc, american midwest, antarctic circumpolar current, antarctic intermediate water, benjamin cramer, benthic foraminifera, bridget wade, candace major, chengjie liu, deep sea drilling project, early cenozoic, environmental conditions, fossil skeletons, glaciations, global climate, global cooling pattern, global ocean circulation, global temperatures, greenhouse climate, icehouse, integrated ocean drilling program, isotopes, late eocene, marsupials, miriam katz, mixmaster of the ocean, ocean drilling program, ocean sediments, oceans, planktonic organisms, polar regions, sea floor, tropical jungles

*Evidence that early Antarctic Circumpolar Current development affected global climate*

Thirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic.

The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were half what they are today. (more…)

NASA Mission Will Observe Earth’s Salty Seas

By Guest PostMay 18, 2011Scienceaquarius, aquarius sac d observatory, Argentina, atmosphere, california, climate, comision nacional de actividades espaciales, conae, conveyor belt, deep ocean, delta ii rocket, earth climate, gary lagerloef, melting of sea ice, NASA, ocean circulation, ocean surface salinity, polar regions, radiometer, river runoff, salinity, salinity variations, seattle, space agency, vandenberg air force base, water cycle

PASADENA, Calif. – Final preparations are under way for the June 9 launch of the international Aquarius/SAC-D observatory. The mission’s primary instrument, Aquarius, will study interactions between ocean circulation, the water cycle and climate by measuring ocean surface salinity.

Engineers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California are performing final tests before mating Aquarius/SAC-D to its Delta II rocket. The mission is a collaboration between NASA and Argentina’s space agency, Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), with participation from Brazil, Canada, France and Italy. SAC stands for Satelite de Applicaciones Cientificas. Aquarius was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. (more…)

Greenland’s Glaciers Double in Speed

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2011Environmentairborne radar systems, antarctic ice sheet, Arctic, basins and mountains, Cambridge University, glacier, glaciologist, global climate system, global ocean, global sea level change, greenland, greenland ice sheet, humankind, icebergs, icy world, julian dowdeswell, polar regions, radar systems, sea level, seas, sub glacial mountains, temperatures

The contribution of Greenland to global sea level change and the mapping of previously unknown basins and mountains beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet are highlighted in a new film released by Cambridge University this morning.

The work of glaciologist Professor Julian Dowdeswell, Director of Cambridge University’s Scott Polar Research Institute, is the focus of This Icy World, the latest film in the University’s Cambridge Ideas series. (more…)

Air Above Dead Sea Contains Very High Levels of Oxidized Mercury

By Guest PostNovember 30, 2010Environmentatmosphere, bromine, chlorine, daniel obrist, dead sea, fluorine, global ecosystems, halogens, hebrew, iodine, mercury, non-metal elements, oxidized mercury, polar regions, potent neurotoxin, sea of salt, yam ha-melah

*First such levels measured outside polar regions*

In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is called Yam ha-Melah, the “sea of salt.” Now measurements show that the sea’s salt has profound effects on the chemistry of the air above its surface.

The atmosphere over the Dead Sea, researchers have found, is laden with oxidized mercury. Some of the highest levels of oxidized mercury ever observed outside the polar regions exist there. (more…)

Tag Archives: polar regions