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A Roly-Poly Pika Gathers Much Moss

By Guest PostDecember 26, 2013Environment, Natureasia, caecal, cascade range, columbia river gorge, denise dearing, douglas fir, earth, eastern europe, energy, forest, great basin, high elevation habitat, high quality protein, jo varner, journal of mammalogy, lagomorpha, low elevation pikas, moss, mountain ranges, nevada, North America, ochotona princeps, oregon, oregon zoo, pellets, rabbit relative, recycling factory, roly poly pika, university of utah, volcanoe, warming climate

High-Fiber Salad Bar May Help Lagomorphs Survive Climate Change

In some mountain ranges, Earth’s warming climate is driving rabbit relatives known as pikas to higher elevations or wiping them out. But University of Utah biologists discovered that roly-poly pikas living in rockslides near sea level in Oregon can survive hot weather by eating more moss than any other mammal.

“Our work shows pikas can eat unusual foods like moss to persist in strange environments,” says biology professor Denise Dearing, senior author of the new study, published online on Dec. 18, 2013 in the February 2014 issue of Journal of Mammalogy. “It suggests that they may be more resistant to climate change than we thought.” (more…)

Scientists want a detailed picture of Mount St. Helens’ plumbing

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2013Environmentactive volcano, advance warning systems, cascade range, columbia river, detailed picture, earth, earth scientists, electromagnetic field, fluctuation, kenneth creager, magnetic signals, mount adams, mount rainier, mount st helens, oregon state university, plumbing, seismic monitoring, small earthquakes, southwestern washington, structures beneath surface, university of washington, volcanic magma, volcanic monitoring, volcanoe

Earth scientists are laying plans for a two-year study covering a broad area of southwestern Washington to develop a better understanding of how Mount St. Helens gets its supply of volcanic magma.

“The main goal is to understand the plumbing system of the mountain,” said Kenneth Creager, a University of Washington professor of Earth and space sciences who is leading the study. (more…)

Volcanic Aerosols, not Pollutants, Tamped down Recent Earth Warming, Says CU Study

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2013Environmentasia, atmosphere, boulder, brian toon, change, chemical reactions, China, climate, climate change trends, climate variability, coal burning activities, coal burning pollution, community climate model, cooling the planet, david hoffman, earth, emissions, global volcanic eruptions, greenhouse effect, India, industrial sulfur dioxide, jean paul vernier, jeffrey thayer, noaa, reflect, role of volcanoes, ryan neely, Space, stratospheric aerosol layer, sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid, sunlight, susan solomon, university of colorado, version 3, volcanoe, waccm, warming on earth, water particles

A team led by the University of Colorado Boulder looking for clues about why Earth did not warm as much as scientists expected between 2000 and 2010 now thinks the culprits are hiding in plain sight — dozens of volcanoes spewing sulfur dioxide.

The study results essentially exonerate Asia, including India and China, two countries that are estimated to have increased their industrial sulfur dioxide emissions by about 60 percent from 2000 to 2010 through coal burning, said lead study author Ryan Neely, who led the research as part of his CU-Boulder doctoral thesis. Small amounts of sulfur dioxide emissions from Earth’s surface eventually rise 12 to 20 miles into the stratospheric aerosol layer of the atmosphere, where chemical reactions create sulfuric acid and water particles that reflect sunlight back to space, cooling the planet. (more…)

Tag Archives: volcanoe

A Roly-Poly Pika Gathers Much Moss

Scientists want a detailed picture of Mount St. Helens’ plumbing

Volcanic Aerosols, not Pollutants, Tamped down Recent Earth Warming, Says CU Study