Tag Archives: russia

NASA Leads Study of Unprecedented Arctic Ozone Loss

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2011Science1989 montreal protocol, alfred wegener institute for polar and marine research, amount of ozone, Antarctic, antarctic ozone hole, Arctic, arctic ozone loss, arctic polar vortex, arctic stratospheric temperatures, aura and calipso spacecraft, boulder, canada, chemical ozone destruction, chlorine monoxide, denmark, depletion of earth ozone layer, finland, Germany, gloria manney, Japan, jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena, low temperatures, NASA, new mexico institute of mining and technology in socorro, noaa earth system research laboratory, ozone hole, potsdam, russia, spain, stratosphere, stratospheric ozone layer, the netherlands, ultraviolet rays, united states, winter

PASADENA, Calif. – A NASA-led study has documented an unprecedented depletion of Earth’s protective ozone layer above the Arctic last winter and spring caused by an unusually prolonged period of extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere.

The study, published online Sunday, Oct. 2, in the journal Nature, finds the amount of ozone destroyed in the Arctic in 2011 was comparable to that seen in some years in the Antarctic, where an ozone “hole” has formed each spring since the mid-1980s. The stratospheric ozone layer, extending from about 10 to 20 miles (15 to 35 kilometers) above the surface, protects life on Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. (more…)

Pacific Walruses Studied as Sea Ice Melts

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2011Environment, Nature, Sciencearctic basin, bering, chad jay, chukchi seas, continental shelf, native village, northwest of barrow, northwestern alaska coast, pacific walrus, point lay, russia, satellite radio tags to walruses, sea, sea floor, sea ice, usgs, usgs alaska science center, walruses

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — USGS Alaska Science Center researchers, in cooperation with the Native Village of Point Lay, will attempt to attach 35 satellite radio-tags to walruses on the northwestern Alaska coast in August as part of their ongoing study of how the Pacific walrus are responding to reduced sea ice conditions in late summer and fall. (more…)

Newspaper Sites across Europe Demonstrate Growth in the Past Year

By Guest PostAugust 18, 2011Technologyagoda, bild, booking, british daily mail, Comscore, european markets, european web property, Facebook, french newspapers, german newspaper, google sites, hürriyet, internet usage in europe, komsomolskaya pravda, le figaro, le monde, microsoft sites, milliyet, newspaper property in europe, nited kingdom, online, priceline, ria novosti, russia, russian social network, The Guardian, the netherlands, the new york times, tripadvisor sites, turkey, turkish newspapers, unique visitors, vkontakte

*comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for June 2011*

LONDON, UK, 18 August 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of Internet usage in Europe, showing 368.6 million unique visitors went online in June 2011 for an average of 26.1 hours per person. This release highlights Internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated under the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Among the reportable markets, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Turkey continued to show the highest average engagement, with users from these markets spending an average of more than 31 hours online in the past month. (more…)

First Data from Daya Bay: Closing in on a Neutrino Mystery

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2011Scienceantineutrinos, basic physics, berkeley lab, big bang, China, china guangdong nuclear power group, cosmic rays, daya bay reactor neutrino experiment, dubbed θ13, electron, evolution of basic kinds of matter, flavors of neutrinos, hong kong, kam biu luk, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, liquid scintillator, mixing angles, muon, neutrinos, nuclear reactors, photomultiplier tubes, russia, southern china, taiwan, tau neutrinos, the czech republic, theta one three, united states, william edwards

*Berkeley Lab researchers are leaders in an international effort to close in on neutrino mass*

Some of the most intriguing questions in basic physics focus on neutrinos. How much do the different kinds weigh and which is the heaviest? The answers lie in how the three “flavors” of neutrinos – electron, muon, and tau neutrinos – oscillate or mix, changing from one to another as they race virtually without interruption through unbounded reaches of matter and space.

Three mathematical terms known as “mixing angles” described the process, and the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment has just begun taking data to establish the last, least-known mixing angle to unprecedented precision. China and the United States lead the international Daya Bay Collaboration, including participants from Russia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. U.S. participation is led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). (more…)

UF Study Shows Tundra Fires Could Accelerate Climate Warming

By Guest PostJuly 31, 2011Environmentanaktuvuk river fire, arctic carbon cycle, arctic fires, arctic tundra, atmosphere, atmospheric carbon dioxide, canada, carbon, city of miami, ecologist, ecosystem ecology, global climate, global climate warming, greenhouse gases, michelle mack, Nature, north slope of alaska brooks range, organic matter, permafrost, radiocarbon dating, russia, smoke, soil bound carbon, ted schuur, terry chapin, tundra, university of alaska, university of florida, wildfires

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After a 10,000-year absence, wildfires have returned to the Arctic tundra, and a University of Florida study shows that their impact could extend far beyond the areas blackened by flames.

In a study published in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature, UF ecologist Michelle Mack and a team of scientists including fellow UF ecologist Ted Schuur quantified the amount of soil-bound carbon released into the atmosphere in the 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire, which covered more than 400 square miles on the North Slope of Alaska’s Brooks Range. The 2.1 million metric tons of carbon released in the fire — roughly twice the amount of greenhouse gases put out by the city of Miami in a year — is significant enough to suggest that Arctic fires could impact the global climate, said Mack, an associate professor of ecosystem ecology in UF’s department of biology. (more…)

Germany Leads Europe in Online Video Viewing

By Guest PostJune 14, 2011Technologybbc sites, Comscore, comscore video metrix, dailymotion, european countries, Facebook, france, Germany, Google, italy, mike read, online video viewing, prosiebensat1 sites, russia, spain, turkey, uk, YouTube, youtube channel

*Internet Users in Germany, Turkey, Spain and UK Watch Average of At Least 30 Minutes a Day of Online Video*

LONDON, UK, 14 June, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released April 2011 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that Germany leads in online video viewing across several reporting metrics for the European countries currently reported in comScore Video Metrix (France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey and UK).

“Online video is beginning to compete with traditional television viewing for people’s attention, and Internet users in several European countries are leading the way,” said Mike Read, comScore SVP of Europe. “Germany is not only the largest European market for online video viewing but also the most engaged at nearly 20 hours per viewer per month, while several other countries are not far behind.” (more…)

With Global Warming, Arctic Access Will Diminish By Land But Improve By Sea

By Guest PostMay 31, 2011Environmentalaskan coastal town, anticipated temperature, Arctic, arctic transportation networks, baltic sea, bathurst inlet, bering strait, canada, climate change, commercial shipping, diamond road, dutton books, finland, fishing, geography, global shipping, global warming, greenland, history channel, ice road, ice road truckers, Iceland, john a agnew, laurence c smith, Netherlands, nome, north pole route, northern sea route, norway, panama canal, rotterdam, russia, scott stephenson, sea, shipping, stephenson and smith, strait of malacca, suez canal, Sweden, tibbitt contwoyto, tibbitt contwoyto winter road, tourism, type a vessels, united states, yellowknife

Global warming over the next 40 years will cut through Arctic transportation networks like a double-edged sword, limiting access in certain areas and vastly increasing it in others, a new UCLA study predicts.

“As sea ice continues to melt, accessibility by sea will increase, but the viability of an important network of roads that depend on freezing temperatures is threatened by a warming climate,” said Scott Stephenson, a UCLA graduate student in geography and the study’s lead author. (more…)

Why Russians Think Americans Don’t Own Their Homes

By Guest PostMay 22, 2011Culture, Economyamerican housing system, american model, credit card debt, fannie mae, free market economy, home ownership, homeowners, housing the new russia, jane zavisca, metaphor, mortgage, russia, russian government, russians, sociologist, soviet era, soviet era housing, soviet union, university of arizona

*UA sociologist Jane Zavisca says the two countries are polar opposites when it comes to mortgage financing.*

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, one of the structural problems the new government and free-market economy had to deal with was housing. Most Russians lived in government-owned apartments that had been built beginning in the late 1950s. The question then became, who owned all of that Soviet-era housing?

In her new book, “Housing the New Russia,” due to be published by Cornell University Press, Jane Zavisca said the new Russian government dealt with it by announcing that this huge stock of apartments was, as of 1992, privately owned. (more…)