High in Alaska’s Brooks Range, streams that once ran so clear you could drink from them are now the color of rusty tea. The water looks hazy, smells metallic, and can stain rocks orange for miles.&nbsp;



Fish are struggling, insect life is smothered, and the change has arrived with startling speed. Scientists say the culprit isn’t industry. It’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thawing-permafrost-could-tip-earths-climate-balance/">thawing permafrost</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-frozen-ground-wakes-up">When frozen ground wakes up</h2>



For millennia, Arctic permafrost - permanently frozen soil - locked minerals in place. As the region warms, that icy seal is failing. Water and oxygen seep into freshly thawed ground and set off a chain reaction in sulfide-rich rocks (pyrite is a prime example).&nbsp;



The chemistry is textbook: sulfides oxidize, sulfuric acid forms, and the acid leaches metals like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/iron-was-lifes-first-essential-metal-and-shaped-early-evolution/">iron</a>, aluminum, and cadmium from surrounding rock. Those metals then flush into rivers and streams.



“This is what acid mine drainage looks like,” said Tim Lyons, a biogeochemist at the University of California, Riverside. “But here, there’s no mine. The permafrost is thawing and changing the chemistry of the landscape.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-astounding-changes-in-water-chemistry">Astounding changes in water chemistry</h2>



A new study zeroes in on the Salmon River, a key waterway in the Brooks Range, documenting just how far the contamination has progressed.&nbsp;



But the authors stress the pattern isn’t isolated. Similar transformations are underway across dozens of Arctic watersheds that share the same mix of geology and thaw.



“I have worked and traveled in the Brooks Range since 1976, and the recent changes in landforms and water chemistry are truly astounding,” said David Cooper, a <a href="https://www.colostate.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Colorado State University</a> research scientist and co-author of the study.



The alarm first sounded in 2019. Ecologist Paddy Sullivan of the <a href="https://www.alaska.edu/alaska/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Alaska</a> was flying into the backcountry to study northward-shifting forests when his bush pilot mentioned the Salmon hadn’t cleared after snowmelt - it looked, he said, “like sewage.”&nbsp;



Sullivan’s field observations led to a collaboration with Lyons, <a href="https://www.alaskapacific.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alaska Pacific University</a>’s Roman Dial, and others to trace the cause and measure the ecological fallout.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-toxic-metals-in-alaska-s-rivers">Toxic metals in Alaska's rivers</h2>



The team’s analysis confirmed a geochemical cascade. Permafrost thaw exposes sulfide-bearing rocks, oxidation generates acidity, and the resulting acid mobilizes a suite of metals.&nbsp;



In small doses many metals are harmless or even essential. But at higher concentrations they become toxic to aquatic life - and the Salmon River’s waters now exceed the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a> thresholds for several metals detrimental to fish and invertebrates.



Iron is the most visible signal. As iron oxidizes, it forms fine, orange precipitates that cloud the water and coat the streambed. That haze blocks sunlight that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antarctic-algae-that-once-cooled-earth-are-now-disappearing/">algae</a> and aquatic plants need, and the sludge blankets the gravel and cobbles where insect larvae live and fish spawn. 



Cadmium is more insidious: it can accumulate in fish organs, potentially affecting predators from Dolly Varden <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trout-living-in-polluted-rivers-evolved-to-tolerate-high-metal-levels-in-the-waters/">trout</a> and grayling to birds and bears.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ripple-effects-in-the-food-chain">Ripple effects in the food chain</h2>



For now, the researchers say metal levels in edible fish tissue are not considered hazardous to humans. But indirect risks loom large.&nbsp;



Chum salmon - central to the diets and culture of many Indigenous communities - lay their eggs in clean, oxygenated gravel. When those spaces fill with fine sediment and metal precipitates, the oxygen drops and eggs can suffocate. 



Changes in insect communities ripple up the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/oceans-twilight-zone-stabilizes-the-marine-food-chain/">food chain</a>, weakening the foundation that supports juvenile fish and the species that eat them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-irreversible-shift-in-alaska-s-rivers">Irreversible shift in Alaska's rivers</h2>



Unlike mine sites - where engineers can install liners, drains, or neutralizing systems - these rivers wind through remote, roadless country, and the sources of contamination are everywhere thaw has reached the right rock. There is no single pipe to plug, no settling pond to build.



“Wherever you have the right kind of rock and thawing permafrost, this process can start,” Lyons said. And once it does, it tends to keep going. The only true “off switch” would be for the permafrost to refreeze - an unlikely prospect in a warming climate.



“There’s no fixing this once it starts,” Lyons said. “It’s another irreversible shift driven by a warming planet.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fingerprints-of-global-warming">Fingerprints of global warming</h2>



The experts hope their findings will help communities, land managers, and fisheries prepare - by expanding water quality monitoring, identifying vulnerable spawning grounds, planning alternative harvests if runs falter, and adapting management practices as conditions change.



The broader message is sobering. The Brooks Range is about as far from cities and smokestacks as you can get. Yet its rivers are wearing the unmistakable fingerprints of global warming.



“There are few places left on Earth as untouched as these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alaskas-rivers-are-rusting-and-the-changes-are-visible-from-space/">rivers</a>,” Lyons said. “But even here, far from cities and highways, the fingerprint of global warming is unmistakable. No place is spared.”



Rivers once known for their wild clarity are telling a new story - one where ancient ice, long trusted to keep the land’s chemistry in check, is finally letting go.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2425644122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



Image Credit: Taylor Rhoades



-----



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Alaska's rivers are turning orange, and the changes are irreversible

High in Alaska’s Brooks Range, streams that once ran so clear you could drink from them are now the color of rusty tea. The water looks hazy, smells metallic, and can stain rocks orange for miles.&nbsp; Fish are struggling, insect life is smothered, and the change has arrived with startling speed. Scientists say the culprit isn’t industry. It’s thawing permafrost. When frozen ground wakes up For millennia, Arctic permafrost - permanently frozen soil - locked minerals in place. As the region warms, that icy seal is failing....

Despite global efforts to increase the area of the ocean that is protected, only four percent of it lies within marine protected areas (MPAs), according to a University of British Columbia study.

UBC Institute for Ocean and Fisheries researchers found that major swaths of the ocean must still be protected to reach even the most basic global targets.

In 2010, representatives from nearly 200 countries met in Nagoya, Japan, and adopted the United Nations' Aichi Targets, in a bid to stem the rapid loss of biodiversity. The countries committed to protecting at least 10 per cent of the ocean by 2020.

"The targets call for much more than just 10 per cent protection," said lead author Lisa Boonzaier. "They require that protected areas be effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected, all of which will help to ensure that MPAs contribute to more than percentage targets and meet the goal of conserving biodiversity."

Boonzaier believes that not only do countries need to create more MPAs, they need to improve the protection they afford biodiversity by making a greater percentage of them no-take and enforcing them as such.

"No-take" marine protected areas are zones where it is prohibited to extract any resources, including living resources, such as fish, crustaceans, and seaweed, and non-living resources, such as oil and gas. Only 16 per cent of the area that is protected or 0.5 per cent of the global ocean--is designated as "no take."

However, the past decade has seen improvement. In 2006, only an estimated 0.65 per cent of the ocean was protected.

"Given the creation of very large marine protected areas in recent years, notably though the Global Ocean Legacy Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, there is a chance that the Aichi Targets can be reached, which would be a major achievement," said co-author Daniel Pauly, a professor at the Institute for Ocean and Fisheries.

---

<a href="http://www.ubc.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of British Columbia</a>

Study: Only 4 Percent Of The Ocean Is Protected

Despite global efforts to increase the area of the ocean...

Climate Change Will Bring More Harmful Algal Blooms. Marine scientists attending an international workshop warned that the future may bring more harmful algal blooms (HABs) that threaten wildlife and the economy, and called for changes in research priorities to better forecast these long-term trends.

The findings of the international workshop on HABs and climate Change were published Friday in the journal Harmful Algae. The workshop was organized under the auspices of the North <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/noumea-in-the-south-pacific-archipelago-of-new-caledonia/">Pacific</a> Marine Science Organization (PICES) and the Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) and endorsed by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The central findings were that while there are reasons to expect HABs to increase with climate change, poor scientific understanding seriously limits forecasts, and current research strategies will not likely improve this capacity. Climate Change Will Bring More Harmful Algal Blooms

Empirical observations suggest cause for grave concern. Northward expansion of phytoplankton species, wider seasonal windows for HAB development, and an increasing prevalence of HABs worldwide all indicate a future with greater problems.

The impacts of algal blooms are extensive. Although phytoplankton blooms normally fuel productive ecosystems, some blooms create very low oxygen concentrations in bottom waters, killing or driving out marine fish or benthic organisms. Others produce potent neurotoxins that threaten ecosystems and human health.

Evidence suggests that these destructive blooms, called red tides in the past but more properly "harmful" algal blooms, are increasing in frequency and severity, possibly from human causes. "There is growing concern among scientists that climate change may exacerbate this trend," said Prof. Mark Wells, University of Maine and organizer of the workshop. "We are frustrated by the inadequate national research focus to determine the likelihood of these worst-case scenarios."

The combined effects of increasing temperature and atmospheric CO2 are affecting ocean surface temperatures, nutrients, light, and ocean water acidity, all of which affect marine ecosystems. These factors influence not just the intensity of algal blooms but also their composition. The question is whether climate change will enable harmful species to outcompete other phytoplankton. "It is critically important that we learn as much as possible, as precisely as possible, to fill the critical gap in knowledge between the current and the future phytoplankton community structure," says Professor Charles Trick, Western University, Canada.

The challenge is that the mechanisms driving the development of most HABs are only partially understood. "We need to build on and link our patchwork knowledge of HABs to the forecast patterns of climate change if we are to better prepare society for future HAB scenarios," said Wells.

The intense toxic phytoplankton blooms off the west coast of North America this summer appear to be associated with unusual warming-related conditions. "Does this large scale harmful algal bloom provide a window into the future?" said Dr. Vera Trainer of NOAA Fisheries' Northwest Fisheries Science Center. "While it still is unclear, there is reason for substantial concern."

The workshop participants developed several urgent recommendations on research priorities. These include re-orientating research to study how harmful species interact in planktonic communities, focus more intensive study on key organisms, emphasize developing ecological and forecast models, and strengthen linkages among global, national and regional observation programs.

"Past research has brought great understanding of individual HAB organisms; future work must concentrate on how these harmful species fit into their ecosystems. It is the most significant coastal challenge facing society today," said Trick.

Although workshop participants were optimistic, they urged fundamental shifts in HAB research so that science can better inform public debate over climate change effects on the oceans, rather than just seeking to explain destructive patterns after they develop.

---

<a href="http://www.noaa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NOAA</a>

Climate Change Will Bring More Harmful Algal Blooms

Climate Change Will Bring More Harmful Algal Blooms. Marine scientists...

Study: Global Warming Could Still Be Limited To Only 2 Degrees Celsius.They study conclude that effectively limiting climate change is possible if a major economy acts as a forerunner, while other nations follow -- and, importantly, by doing so they do not have to agree on common criteria for fairness.

"If either the European Union or the US would pioneer and set a benchmark for climate action by others, the negotiation logjam about fair burden sharing could be broken," lead author Malte Meinshausen from the Potsdam Institute for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/experts-have-outlined-the-top-ten-climate-insights-of-2020/">Climate</a> Impact Research and the University of Melbourne says. "Our analysis shows that they would have to roughly double their current domestic 2030 emissions reductions targets -- which would certainly require substantial efforts. Yet it seems to be one of the few options to stay on track for eventually limiting warming below 2 degrees <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=Celsius&amp;cvid=9c83945212f34c8faaffc7c3fe8ecf3c&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Celsius</a> and fend off a drastic increase of weather extremes and sea-level rise.Study: Global Warming Could Still Be Limited To Only 2 Degrees Celsius

Two conflicting fairness criteria must be dealt with

While the UN Climate Change Convention holds up the formula of 'common but differentiated responsibility', the world is currently divided into two main camps, simply speaking. One is in favor of distributive justice at some point in the future: emissions per person would be roughly same in every country by 2050. This includes the EU and the USA. The other camp, with China and India, calls for corrective justice: the emissions of the past should be taken into account to achieve equal cumulative emissions per person. This kind of fairness scheme would mean that those that emitted less in the past can emit more in the future on a per-capita basis.

Analyses of emissions reduction pledges and past negotiations show that, unsurprisingly, countries tend to adhere to the allocation principle which allows them to least reduce emissions, compared to their international competitors. Since China and India industrialized only recently, in the past they emitted less than the EU and the US did. Yet today China emits more than the EU and US combined on an absolute basis, and about the same as the EU on a per-capita basis.

'This seems less utopian than a uniform regulation'

"Now we have calculated how much a major economy would have to cut its greenhouse gas output if all the other countries would follow the emissions allocation scheme that is most favourable to them -- so some base their reduction number on the equal per capita scheme, others include the historical emissions, and still the 2-degree limit is met," says co-author Louise Jeffery from the Potsdam Institute. The scientists call this concept diversity-aware leadership. "This seems less utopian than a uniform regulation," says Jeffery. "But it builds on the assumption that most economically relevant countries participate in one way or another and ensures that the global efforts are successful in limiting warming to 2°C."

In this scenario, the US national emissions reduction target would have to be roughly 50 percent instead of currently 22-24 percent below 2010 levels by 2030. Alternatively, the equivalent target for the EU would have to be about minus 60 percent instead of currently 27 percent below 2010 (27% below 2010 being equal to the announced 40% below 1990 target).

It's in the numbers: China will not take the lead

China could also take the lead, but beyond political considerations already the numbers show that this is unlikely. In fact, the quantification of the Chinese pledge indicates the largest gap between a leadership target and a currently proposed peaking by 2030. If China wanted to assume leadership, China would have to reduce emissions by 32 percent below 2010 levels by 2030. In a scenario of equalized cumulative per-capita emissions, it would only need to reduce them by 4 percent. This seems little, but would in fact be a most crucial contribution.

"If you look at what pledges the countries put on the table for Paris so far, it's clearly not enough to keep warming within the internationally agreed 2-degree limit -- hence the current 'intended nationally determined contributions' can only be regarded as a first step in the right direction," says co-author Sebastian Oberthuer from Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Based on IPCC databases, the scientists derived their proposition which is contrary to previous assumptions about allocation schemes. "If we postpone action until we have universal agreement on a fair allocation of emissions reductions," he says, "the result will be fair only in that everybody will lose -- because climate change will hit us all."

"Our study thus anticipates the upcoming Paris climate summit, which will see countries make their mitigation contributions in an independent bottom-up manner," says Joeri Rogelj from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. "This is a fundamental break with the past," he says, "and in this new landscape, our study introduces an important new concept which helps us understand how major countries can still assume a leadership role on this highly fragmented playing field.

---

<a href="http://www.iiasa.ac.at/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.iiasa.ac.at/</a>

&nbsp;

Study: Global Warming Could Still Be Limited To Only 2 Degrees Celsius

Study: Global Warming Could Still Be Limited To Only 2...

Study: Only 4 Percent Of The Ocean Is Protected. Despite global efforts to increase the area of the ocean that is protected, only four percent of it lies within marine protected areas (MPAs), according to a University of British Columbia study.

UBC Institute for Ocean and Fisheries researchers found that major swaths of the ocean must still be protected to reach even the most basic global targets.

In 2010, representatives from nearly 200 countries met in Nagoya, <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/sea-walls-help-protect-japan-from-tsunamis/">Japan,</a> and adopted the United Nations' Aichi Targets, in a bid to stem the rapid loss of biodiversity. The countries committed to protecting at least 10 per cent of the ocean by 2020.

"The targets call for much more than just 10 per cent protection," said lead author Lisa Boonzaier. "They require that protected areas be effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected, all of which will help to ensure that MPAs contribute to more than percentage targets and meet the goal of conserving biodiversity."

Boonzaier believes that not only do countries need to create more MPAs, they need to improve the protection they afford biodiversity by making a greater percentage of them no-take and enforcing them as such.

"No-take" marine protected areas are zones where it is prohibited to extract any resources, including living resources, such as fish, crustaceans, and seaweed, and non-living resources, such as oil and gas. Only 16 per cent of the area that is protected or 0.5 per cent of the global ocean--is designated as "no take."

However, the past decade has seen improvement. In 2006, only an estimated 0.65 per cent of the ocean was protected.

"Given the creation of very large marine protected areas in recent years, notably though the Global Ocean Legacy Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, there is a chance that the Aichi Targets can be reached, which would be a major achievement," said co-author Daniel Pauly, a professor at the Institute for Ocean and Fisheries.

---

<a href="http://www.ubc.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of British Columbia</a>

Study: Only 4 Percent Of The Ocean Is Protected. Despite...

Carbon Dioxide

Republican Congress Moves To Block Obama's Clean Power Plan. Congressional Republicans are moving to block President Barack Obama's clean power plan to force steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Ed Whitfield say they will file resolutions early this week opposing Obama's plan to impose new regulations on new and existing coal-fired plants.
The two Kentucky Republicans were expected to file the challenges filed under the little-used Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to block executive actions with simply majority votes. The maneuver is subject to a presidential veto and has rarely been successful in overturning executive branch rules.
Still, it allows opponents to set up votes calculated to embarrass the Obama administration ahead of international climate talks in Paris this fall.
Republican senators are expected to tout the congressional challenge in a series of floor speeches starting Tuesday. One notable exception is New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who became the first GOP senator to support Obama's sweeping regulation that mandates carbon emissions cuts from the nation's power plants.
Ayotte, who is locked in a difficult re-election fight, said Sunday that the Clean Power Plan would "address climate change through <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/clean-energy-should-be-prioritized-during-covid-19-recovery/">clean-energy</a> solutions that will protect our environment."
New Hampshire is already well on its way to meet the plans' goals, Ayotte said, adding that she would monitor the plan to ensure it does not have an adverse impact on state energy costs.
McConnell said in a statement that the regulations being imposed under the Clean Power Plan "make it clearer than ever that the president and his administration have gone too far - and that Congress should act to stop this regulatory assault."
The administration's "crusade for ideological purity" threatens the livelihoods of coal miners and their families in Kentucky and other states, McConnell said. Republican Congress Moves To Block Obama's Clean Power Plan
"These are Kentuckians who just want to work, provide for their families and deliver the type of low-cost energy that attracts more jobs to Kentucky. And coal is what allows so many of them do all that," he said.
The congressional resolutions follow court challenges filed Friday by industry groups and states dependent on fossil fuels. The challenges from all but two of the 25 states were filed by Republicans. They deride the plan as an "unlawful power grab by Washington bureaucrats" that will kill coal mining jobs and drive up electricity costs.
The Obama administration and environmental groups counter that the rules are needed to cut carbon emissions while curbing the worst impacts of climate change and sea-level rise. They also say the plan will spur new clean-energy jobs.
The new rules require states to cut carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030, based on emissions in 2005. Each state has a customized target and is responsible for drawing up an effective plan to meet its goal.
The EPA says it has authority to enact the plan under the Clean Air Act.
Follow Matthew Daly: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Republican Congress Moves To Block Obama's Clean Power Plan

Republican Congress Moves To Block Obama's Clean Power Plan. Congressional...

Study: Global Warming Could Still Be Limited To Only 2 Degrees Celsius. Study: Global Warming Could Still Be Limited To Only 2 Degrees Celsius. They study conclude that effectively limiting climate change is possible if a major economy acts as a forerunner, while other nations follow -- and, importantly, by doing so they do not have to agree on common criteria for fairness.

"If either the European Union or the US would pioneer and set a benchmark for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/great-tits-can-adapt-to-climate-change-but-only-to-a-point/">climate</a> action by others, the negotiation logjam about fair burden sharing could be broken," lead author Malte Meinshausen from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Melbourne says. "Our analysis shows that they would have to roughly double their current domestic 2030 emissions reductions targets -- which would certainly require substantial efforts. Yet it seems to be one of the few options to stay on track for eventually limiting warming below 2 degrees Celsius and fend off a drastic increase of weather extremes and sea-level rise."

Two conflicting fairness criteria must be dealt with

While the UN Climate Change Convention holds up the formula of 'common but differentiated responsibility', the world is currently divided into two main camps, simply speaking. One is in favor of distributive justice at some point in the future: emissions per person would be roughly same in every country by 2050. This includes the EU and the USA. The other camp, with China and India, calls for corrective justice: the emissions of the past should be taken into account to achieve equal cumulative emissions per person. This kind of fairness scheme would mean that those that emitted less in the past can emit more in the future on a per-capita basis.

Analyses of emissions reduction pledges and past negotiations show that, unsurprisingly, countries tend to adhere to the allocation principle which allows them to least reduce emissions, compared to their international competitors. Since China and India industrialized only recently, in the past they emitted less than the EU and the US did. Yet today China emits more than the EU and US combined on an absolute basis, and about the same as the EU on a per-capita basis.

'This seems less utopian than a uniform regulation'

"Now we have calculated how much a major economy would have to cut its greenhouse gas output if all the other countries would follow the emissions allocation scheme that is most favourable to them -- so some base their reduction number on the equal per capita scheme, others include the historical emissions, and still the 2-degree limit is met," says co-author Louise Jeffery from the Potsdam Institute. The scientists call this concept diversity-aware leadership. "This seems less utopian than a uniform regulation," says Jeffery. "But it builds on the assumption that most economically relevant countries participate in one way or another and ensures that the global efforts are successful in limiting warming to 2°C."

In this scenario, the US national emissions reduction target would have to be roughly 50 percent instead of currently 22-24 percent below 2010 levels by 2030. Alternatively, the equivalent target for the EU would have to be about minus 60 percent instead of currently 27 percent below 2010 (27% below 2010 being equal to the announced 40% below 1990 target).

It's in the numbers: China will not take the lead

China could also take the lead, but beyond political considerations already the numbers show that this is unlikely. In fact, the quantification of the Chinese pledge indicates the largest gap between a leadership target and a currently proposed peaking by 2030. If China wanted to assume leadership, China would have to reduce emissions by 32 percent below 2010 levels by 2030. In a scenario of equalized cumulative per-capita emissions, it would only need to reduce them by 4 percent. This seems little, but would in fact be a most crucial contribution.

"If you look at what pledges the countries put on the table for Paris so far, it's clearly not enough to keep warming within the internationally agreed 2-degree limit -- hence the current 'intended nationally determined contributions' can only be regarded as a first step in the right direction," says co-author Sebastian Oberthuer from Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Based on IPCC databases, the scientists derived their proposition which is contrary to previous assumptions about allocation schemes. "If we postpone action until we have universal agreement on a fair allocation of emissions reductions," he says, "the result will be fair only in that everybody will lose -- because climate change will hit us all."

"Our study thus anticipates the upcoming Paris climate summit, which will see countries make their mitigation contributions in an independent bottom-up manner," says Joeri Rogelj from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. "This is a fundamental break with the past," he says, "and in this new landscape, our study introduces an important new concept which helps us understand how major countries can still assume a leadership role on this highly fragmented playing field.

---

<a href="http://www.iiasa.ac.at/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.iiasa.ac.at/</a>

&nbsp;

Ancient Permafrost Quickly Transforms To Carbon Dioxide Upon Thawing. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and key academic partners including the University of Colorado Boulder have quantified how rapidly ancient permafrost decomposes upon thawing and how much carbon dioxide is produced in the process.

Huge stores of organic carbon in permafrost soils -- frozen for hundreds to tens of thousands of years across high northern latitudes worldwide -- are currently isolated from the modern day carbon cycle. However, if thawed by changing climate conditions, wildfire, or other disturbances, this massive carbon reservoir could decompose and be emitted as the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, or be carried as dissolved organic carbon to streams and rivers.

"Many scientists worldwide are now investigating the complicated potential end results of thawing permafrost," said Rob Striegl, USGS scientist and study co-author. "There are critical questions to consider, such as: How much of the stored permafrost carbon might thaw in a future climate? Where will it go? And, what are the consequences for our climate and our aquatic ecosystems?"

At a newly excavated tunnel operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers near Fairbanks, Alaska, a research team from USGS, CU-Boulder and and Florida State University set out to determine how rapidly the dissolved organic carbon from ancient (about 35,000 years old) "yedoma" soils decomposes upon soil thaw and how much carbon dioxide is produced.

Yedoma is a distinct type of permafrost soil found across Alaska and Siberia that accounts for a significant portion of the permafrost soil carbon pool. These soils were deposited as wind-blown silts in the late Pleistocene age and froze soon after they were formed.

"It had previously been assumed that permafrost soil carbon this old was already degraded and not susceptible to rapid decomposition upon thaw," said Kim Wickland, the USGS scientist who led the team.

The researchers found that more than half of the dissolved organic carbon in yedoma permafrost was decomposed within one week after thawing. About 50 percent of that carbon was converted to carbon dioxide, while the rest likely became microbial <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/woody-biomass-neutral/">biomass</a>.

"What this study adds is that we show what makes permafrost so biodegradable," said Travis Drake, the lead author of the research. "Immediately upon thaw, microbes start using the carbon and then it is sent back into the atmosphere." Drake was both a USGS employee and a master's degree student at CU-Boulder during the investigation.

The researchers attribute this rapid decomposition to high concentrations of low molecular weight organic acids in the dissolved organic carbon, which are known to be easily degradable and are not usually present at high concentrations in other soils.

These rates are among the fastest permafrost decomposition rates that have been documented. It is the first study to link rapid microbial consumption of ancient permafrost soil-derived dissolved organic carbon to the production of carbon dioxide.

An important implication of the study for aquatic ecosystems is that dissolved organic carbon released by thawing yedoma permafrost will be quickly converted to carbon dioxide and emitted to the atmosphere from soils or small streams before it can be transported to major rivers or coastal regions.

---

<a href="http://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Colorado Boulder</a>

Ancient Permafrost Quickly Transforms To Carbon Dioxide Upon Thawing

Ancient Permafrost Quickly Transforms To Carbon Dioxide Upon Thawing. Researchers...

Republican Congress Moves To Block Obama's Clean Power Plan. Congressional Republicans are moving to block President Barack Obama's clean power plan to force steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Ed Whitfield say they will file resolutions early this week opposing Obama's plan to impose new regulations on new and existing coal-fired plants.
The two Kentucky Republicans were expected to file the challenges filed under the little-used Congressional Review Act, which allows <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/congress-moves-again-to-prevent-obama-from-protecting-water-quality/">Congress</a> to block executive actions with simply majority votes. The maneuver is subject to a presidential veto and has rarely been successful in overturning executive branch rules.Republican Congress Moves To Block Obama's Clean Power Plan
Still, it allows opponents to set up votes calculated to embarrass the Obama administration ahead of international climate talks in Paris this fall.
Republican senators are expected to tout the congressional challenge in a series of floor speeches starting Tuesday. One notable exception is New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who became the first GOP senator to support Obama's sweeping regulation that mandates carbon emissions cuts from the nation's power plants.
Ayotte, who is locked in a difficult re-election fight, said Sunday that the Clean Power Plan would "address climate change through clean-energy solutions that will protect our environment."
New Hampshire is already well on its way to meet the plans' goals, Ayotte said, adding that she would monitor the plan to ensure it does not have an adverse impact on state energy costs.
McConnell said in a statement that the regulations being imposed under the Clean Power Plan "make it clearer than ever that the president and his administration have gone too far - and that Congress should act to stop this regulatory assault."
The administration's "crusade for ideological purity" threatens the livelihoods of coal miners and their families in Kentucky and other states, McConnell said.
"These are Kentuckians who just want to work, provide for their families and deliver the type of low-cost energy that attracts more jobs to Kentucky. And coal is what allows so many of them do all that," he said.
The congressional resolutions follow court challenges filed Friday by industry groups and states dependent on fossil fuels. The challenges from all but two of the 25 states were filed by Republicans. They deride the plan as an "unlawful power grab by Washington bureaucrats" that will kill coal mining jobs and drive up electricity costs.
The Obama administration and environmental groups counter that the rules are needed to cut carbon emissions while curbing the worst impacts of climate change and sea-level rise. They also say the plan will spur new clean-energy jobs.
The new rules require states to cut carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030, based on emissions in 2005. Each state has a customized target and is responsible for drawing up an effective plan to meet its goal.
The EPA says it has authority to enact the plan under the Clean Air Act.
Follow Matthew Daly: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Ancient Permafrost Quickly Transforms To Carbon Dioxide Upon Thawing. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and key academic partners including the University of Colorado <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/western-u-s-wildfires-will-increase-the-threat-of-dangerous-debris-flows/">Boulder</a> have quantified how rapidly ancient permafrost decomposes upon thawing and how much carbon dioxide is produced in the process.

Huge stores of organic carbon in permafrost soils -- frozen for hundreds to tens of thousands of years across high northern latitudes worldwide -- are currently isolated from the modern day carbon cycle. However, if thawed by changing climate conditions, wildfire, or other disturbances, this massive carbon reservoir could decompose and be emitted as the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, or be carried as dissolved organic carbon to streams and rivers.

"Many scientists worldwide are now investigating the complicated potential end results of thawing permafrost," said Rob Striegl, USGS scientist and study co-author. "There are critical questions to consider, such as: How much of the stored permafrost carbon might thaw in a future climate? Where will it go? And, what are the consequences for our climate and our aquatic ecosystems?"

At a newly excavated tunnel operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers near Fairbanks, Alaska, a research team from USGS, CU-Boulder and and Florida State University set out to determine how rapidly the dissolved organic carbon from ancient (about 35,000 years old) "yedoma" soils decomposes upon soil thaw and how much carbon dioxide is produced.

Yedoma is a distinct type of permafrost soil found across Alaska and Siberia that accounts for a significant portion of the permafrost soil carbon pool. These soils were deposited as wind-blown silts in the late Pleistocene age and froze soon after they were formed.

"It had previously been assumed that permafrost soil carbon this old was already degraded and not susceptible to rapid decomposition upon thaw," said Kim Wickland, the USGS scientist who led the team.

The researchers found that more than half of the dissolved organic carbon in yedoma permafrost was decomposed within one week after thawing. About 50 percent of that carbon was converted to carbon dioxide, while the rest likely became microbial biomass.

"What this study adds is that we show what makes permafrost so biodegradable," said Travis Drake, the lead author of the research. "Immediately upon thaw, microbes start using the carbon and then it is sent back into the atmosphere." Drake was both a USGS employee and a master's degree student at CU-Boulder during the investigation.

The researchers attribute this rapid decomposition to high concentrations of low molecular weight organic acids in the dissolved organic carbon, which are known to be easily degradable and are not usually present at high concentrations in other soils. Ancient Permafrost Quickly Transforms To Carbon Dioxide Upon Thawing

These rates are among the fastest permafrost decomposition rates that have been documented. It is the first study to link rapid microbial consumption of ancient permafrost soil-derived dissolved organic carbon to the production of carbon dioxide.

An important implication of the study for aquatic ecosystems is that dissolved organic carbon released by thawing yedoma permafrost will be quickly converted to carbon dioxide and emitted to the atmosphere from soils or small streams before it can be transported to major rivers or coastal regions.

---

<a href="http://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Colorado Boulder</a>

Coral Damage From BP Gulf Oil Spill Worse Than Previously Thought. Gulf coral damage from the massive BP oil spill is more extensive than previously thought, according to a new study that revealed sick and dying corals in the rich, deep-water <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=enviorment&amp;cvid=319258dbcb644718b586066e7c29e4d0&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">environment</a> off the coasts of Alabama and Mississippi known as the Pinnacles.
Using remotely operated submarines, researchers explored the Pinnacle Reef in September 2011 and found more than 400 coral colonies were injured. <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/the-great-barrier-reef-has-lost-half-its-corals-in-two-decades/">Corals</a> - such as sea whips, sea fans and black corals - were covered in a scum of dead tissues and oily residue. Some showed severe damage, such as bare skeletons and missing branches.Coral Damage From BP Gulf Oil Spill Worse Than Previously Thought
These colonies are found about 35 miles to 68 miles to the north of BP PLC's blown-out well, which spewed more than 130 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Previous discoveries of coral damage were found south of the BP well and in much deeper water. The coral in the Pinnacles live about 200 feet under the water surface.
The Pinnacles is a rocky outcropping on the Continental Shelf about 70 miles off the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama.
The study was conducted by a team of Florida State University researchers and federal scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was also done as part of the work to assess damage from the spill, the so-called natural resources damage assessment. The study is set to be published in Deep-Sea Research, an oceanography journal.
The paper said the damaged coral showed signs of injury from an "acute, isolated event rather than ongoing natural processes." It based this conclusion on previous explorations that looked at the corals between 1997 and 1999, which found the corals were mostly healthy.
"We saw many injured colonies," said Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University. He is one of the authors of the study.
He believes a much larger area of the Pinnacles most likely suffered similar damage.
"The area we have looked at so far is only the tip of the iceberg," he said.
The researchers believe oil floating over the Pinnacles was sprayed with chemical dispersants, which led to oil sinking and contaminating the reef. The paper also says a tropical storm that passed over the area during summer 2010 churned up the sea and caused oil to reach the corals.
"It is a new region and a new ecosystem showing impact," said Erik Cordes, a deep-sea marine scientist familiar with the Pinnacles Reef study. He's been involved with teams looking at coral damage closer to the site of the BP blowout.
"We'll have to monitor it over time," Cordes said.
Even though more than five years have passed since the spill, scientists are still locked in studies to figure out where the oil went and what effects it had on the Gulf ecosystem.
MacDonald said one way to protect the reef from further damage would be to designate it as a protected marine sanctuary.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Coral Damage From BP Gulf Oil Spill Worse Than Previously Thought

Coral Damage From BP Gulf Oil Spill Worse Than Previously...

Coral Damage From BP Gulf Oil Spill Worse Than Previously Thought. Gulf coral damage from the massive BP oil spill is more extensive than previously thought, according to a new study that revealed sick and dying corals in the rich, deep-water environment off the coasts of <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/tornado-track-tuscaloosa-alabama/">Alabama</a> and Mississippi known as the Pinnacles.
Using remotely operated submarines, researchers explored the Pinnacle Reef in September 2011 and found more than 400 coral colonies were injured. Corals - such as sea whips, sea fans and black corals - were covered in a scum of dead tissues and oily residue. Some showed severe damage, such as bare skeletons and missing branches. <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=coral&amp;cvid=e638910df970478fa44cf0030b081ad9&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Coral</a> Damage From BP Gulf Oil Spill Worse Than Previously Thought
These colonies are found about 35 miles to 68 miles to the north of BP PLC's blown-out well, which spewed more than 130 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Previous discoveries of coral damage were found south of the BP well and in much deeper water. The coral in the Pinnacles live about 200 feet under the water surface.
The Pinnacles is a rocky outcropping on the Continental Shelf about 70 miles off the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama.
The study was conducted by a team of Florida State University researchers and federal scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was also done as part of the work to assess damage from the spill, the so-called natural resources damage assessment. The study is set to be published in Deep-Sea Research, an oceanography journal.
The paper said the damaged coral showed signs of injury from an "acute, isolated event rather than ongoing natural processes." It based this conclusion on previous explorations that looked at the corals between 1997 and 1999, which found the corals were mostly healthy.
"We saw many injured colonies," said Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University. He is one of the authors of the study.
He believes a much larger area of the Pinnacles most likely suffered similar damage.
"The area we have looked at so far is only the tip of the iceberg," he said.
The researchers believe oil floating over the Pinnacles was sprayed with chemical dispersants, which led to oil sinking and contaminating the reef. The paper also says a tropical storm that passed over the area during summer 2010 churned up the sea and caused oil to reach the corals.
"It is a new region and a new ecosystem showing impact," said Erik Cordes, a deep-sea marine scientist familiar with the Pinnacles Reef study. He's been involved with teams looking at coral damage closer to the site of the BP blowout.
"We'll have to monitor it over time," Cordes said.
Even though more than five years have passed since the spill, scientists are still locked in studies to figure out where the oil went and what effects it had on the Gulf ecosystem.
MacDonald said one way to protect the reef from further damage would be to designate it as a protected marine sanctuary.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Feds: Efforts To Block Greater Sage Grouse Protection Is Dangerous. Attempts by rural Nevada counties, mining companies and others to block new U.S. policies intended to protect the greater sage grouse could backfire on the critics and ultimately force the reconsideration of a recent decision to keep the bird off the list of endangered species, federal land managers warn.
Justice Department lawyers representing three U.S. agencies say it took an unprecedented effort by officials in 11 western states from <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=california&amp;cvid=789232de7ee341cda75f43dc3068a27a&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">California</a> to the Dakotas to persuade the Fish and Wildlife Service last month to reverse its 2010 conclusion that protection of the grouse was warranted under the Endangered Species Act.
The new finding was based on assumptions that added protections in the land-planning amendments being challenged will be carried out to ensure the grouse no longer is threatened with extinction, they said in a brief filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Reno.
Any injunction blocking implementation would "diminish the protections for sage grouse ... undo four years of collaboration and could undermine FWS' finding," U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden wrote.
U.S. District Judge Miranda Du has set a hearing for Nov. 12 in Reno to consider granting a preliminary injunction blocking the amendments.
Elko and Eureka counties and others filed the lawsuit on Sept. 23 - the day after Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced the listing decision. The Wyoming Stock Growers Association also is suing in federal court there, and Idaho's governor has signed onto a separate lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
The Nevada lawsuit says the plans could run mining companies and ranchers out of business, block construction of a wind energy project that could bring Elko County $500 million and deny firefighters and law officers access to existing roads during emergencies.
Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt added his name to the lawsuit last week - over the objections of Gov. Brian Sandoval - along with Churchill, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Pershing and Washoe counties in the state.
The government, in its first formal response, says the opponents misrepresent and exaggerate the potential effects. It says they have proven no irreparable harm and are challenging prematurely the planning-level amendments that offer guidelines but render no specific decisions on individual grazing, mining or other federal permits.
"They allege speculative injuries that will come to pass, if at all, only after future site-specific decisions are made," Bogden wrote. He especially challenged claims the protections could restrict use of thousands of miles of existing roads and threaten public safety by inhibiting the travel of emergency responders.
"The amendments do not close any existing routes," Bogden wrote. "But even if they did, the agencies' regulations exempt emergency vehicles from OHV (off-highway vehicle) restrictions."
The lawsuit accuses the government of "attempting a massive management change" for more than 20 million acres of public land in Nevada without proper environmental review - nearly 3 million acres where new mining claims are prohibited for at least two years and more than 16 million acres subject to what the lawsuit calls onerous travel restrictions.
The two-year freeze on some new mining claims was triggered by Jewell's proposal last month to withdraw 10 million acres of public lands in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming under the 1872 Mining Law, which was passed then to encourage the development of lands in the western U.S.
But Bogden said the proposed withdrawal is subject to "valid existing rights and has no immediate effect on mining operations." It's subject to public comment through Dec. 23.
Likewise, nothing in the guidelines themselves would prevent <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/scientists-reconstruct-66-million-year-record-of-earths-climate/">construction</a> of the $500 million China Mountain Wind Energy Project in Elko County, he said. "Elko's County's speculation that ultimately it will not be approved is not an imminent injury," Bogden said.
The lawsuit says the government inappropriately dismissed Elko County's plan to increase livestock grazing as a way to bolster grouse habitat by slowing the growth of vegetation that fuel wildfires. But Bogden said there is "no scientific evidence to support a correlation between increased grazing and improved sage grouse habitat."Feds: Efforts To Block Greater Sage Grouse Protection Is Dangerous
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Feds: Efforts To Block Greater Sage Grouse Protection Is Dangerous

Feds: Efforts To Block Greater Sage Grouse Protection Is Dangerous....

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXGGiynIjs
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Greenland is not sinking. In fact, it is the opposite.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-contrasting-climate-response">A contrasting climate response</h2>



Most coastal towns are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sinking-land-will-intensify-the-effects-of-rising-sea-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preparing for higher sea levels</a>, but <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-no-longer-has-to-worry-about-rising-sea-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Greenland presents</a> a different scenario during climate change. The ground there is rising at a remarkable rate. Over the past decade, some areas have lifted about 20 centimeters, which translates to roughly 2 meters per century. This rate significantly exceeds current projections for sea level rise.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-geological-rebound-process-through-climate-change">Geological rebound process through climate change</h2>



The mechanism behind this phenomenon is straightforward. As the ice sheet melts, the immense weight is removed from the bedrock, causing the land to rebound upward. This process resembles the way compressed material springs back when pressure is released.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-monitoring-networks">Scientific monitoring networks</h2>



Researchers at the <a href="https://www.dtu.dk/english/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Technical University of Denmark</a> are documenting this uplift using the GNET network, consisting of 61 GPS stations positioned around Greenland's coast. These sensors can detect movement with millimeter precision, providing detailed measurements of the ongoing changes.



The data reveal that current uplift rates exceed the gradual rebound occurring since the last ice age ended approximately 12,000 years ago. This acceleration corresponds directly with increased ice sheet melting rates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coastal-transformation">Coastal Transformation</h2>



This uplift is actively reshaping Greenland's coastline. New islands and rocky formations, called "skerries," are emerging as previously submerged land surfaces rise above the water level. This represents a notable contrast to global concerns about rising seas.



The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, demonstrates the varied regional impacts of climate change. While many locations face rising water levels, Greenland's bedrock is literally rising above the surrounding seas.



The full study was recently published in <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023GL104851" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.



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Greenland's ground rises while coasts worldwide face higher seas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXGGiynIjs Greenland is not sinking. In fact, it is the...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSM3EVeGHJU
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Companies like MindStudio help companies train their employees to implement the latest AI Agent building platform.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-agent-training-transforms-the-workplace-fear-factor-into-a-competitive-advantage">AI agent training transforms the workplace 'fear factor' into a competitive advantage</h2>



Organizations that offer comprehensive artificial intelligence training to their workers find remarkable value that extends well beyond basic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mind-wandering-might-be-more-productive-than-you-think/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">productivity improvements</a>. Emerging research demonstrates that carefully crafted AI training programs <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-does-not-replace-human-creativity-but-enhances-it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">enhance</a> corporate performance, lower operational costs, and dramatically improve employee psychological well-being by turning workplace uncertainty into professional empowerment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-addressing-the-widespread-ai-anxiety-crisis-among-us">Addressing the widespread 'AI anxiety' crisis among us</h2>



A staggering 53% of employees expressed concern that the use of AI tools to automate work tasks could make them appear disposable to their employers, according to <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microsoft</a>'s 2024 workplace survey. Such pervasive worry about being substituted by machines has caused what researchers have termed "AI technostress" – a psychological state that can result in occupational burnout and poorer mental well-being.



Data published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/palcomms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a> showed that belief in AI learning ability was a moderator in the link between technology adoption and work pressure, and higher confidence significantly lowered negative psychological responses. Workers provided ample training to become competent with AI software have significantly lower stress.



Companies like <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MindStudio</a> have platforms for building what are known as "AI Agents". In essence, AI Agents are simply tools that employees can build for themselves or their teams quickly and inexpensively. MindStudio will even train entire companies, from the CEO on down, at no cost. By letting MindStudio empower employees, companies avoid hiring more IT staff, buying more software, and implementing solutions to problems that do not exist.



MindStudio even has partners locally for companies, like <a href="http://www.dominnus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dominnus</a> with offices in the Carolinas, California, and Denver, to help build AI Agents and support employees as they become resident AI experts for their organization. The training provided by MindStudio is applicable across other AI Agent building platforms as well.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-productivity-through-focused-learning">Revolutionary productivity through focused learning</h2>



Organizations that implement large-scale AI training programs achieve dramatic outcomes. Employees performed tasks significantly better when they utilized AI support compared to when they didn't, according to <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nielsen Norman Group</a> research findings. Their study documented productivity increases of 66% for a variety of professional tasks.



Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis research finds workers record 33% higher productivity in time working with generative AI tools. The benefit is equivalent to 5.4% of work time savings for AI users – around 2.2 hours per week for full-time workers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-psychological-well-being-benefits-through-ai-competence">Psychological well-being benefits through AI competence</h2>



The emotional transformation when employees are provided with proper technology training is a fundamental transformation from fear to professional confidence. A survey of 600 employees across industries, carried out by ScienceDirect, proved that AI capabilities strengthen work environment commitment and improve job satisfaction.



A <a href="https://www.lut.fi/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LUT University</a> study discovered that AI adoption has no direct effect on workers' well-being but does so indirectly through working conditions like task optimization and safety protocols. Strategically deployed AI that involves correct training can actually increase workplace mental well-being.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-replacement-anxiety-to-partnership-confidence">From 'replacement anxiety' to 'partnership confidence'</h2>



Although 35% of those interviewed in recent McKinsey studies were concerned about workforce displacement, firms with large-scale training initiatives witness such fears dissipate quickly. The World Economic Forum found that two out of three respondents believe AI competencies will enhance their career prospects and job marketability.



This shift from fear to trust has measurable implications for job satisfaction. Applied Sciences research indicates AI can create tailored wellness programs based on individual employee requirements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-financial-benefits-of-increased-retention">Financial benefits of increased retention</h2>



The mental health advantages of AI learning have a direct impact on organizational bottom lines in the form of a positive feedback cycle with high retention of employees. Recent ROI research validates that artificial intelligence learning has a beneficial impact on employee turnover and satisfaction levels.



PriceWaterhouseCoopers' research documents 20% to 30% improvements in productivity, market speed, and revenue in organizations that attempt systematic AI adoption through comprehensive training.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-environmental-advantages-of-ai-enabled-teams">Environmental advantages of AI-enabled teams</h2>



AI training has unforeseen environmental benefits as it makes the work environment more efficient. According to a study in Scientific Reports, the carbon footprint in writing and illustrating work is significantly lower when AI performs it compared to humans. AI software produces 130 to 1,500 times less CO2 equivalent per page of text created than human authors.



In addition, AI-driven remote work functionality significantly reduces environmental impact. Research by Cornell University and Microsoft indicates that remote workers reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 54% by not commuting daily to offices. Hybrid workers working remotely two to four days a week can reduce their carbon footprint by 11% to 29%.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cumulative-organizational-advantages">Cumulative organizational advantages</h2>



The compounding gains of better mental well-being, reduced turnover, increased productivity, and environmental benefits flow to enterprises from the pairing. McKinsey analysis estimates the long-term AI potential at $4.4 trillion in incremental productivity growth opportunity from business use cases.



As of now, 75% of knowledge workers globally utilize generative AI, mirroring widespread adoption patterns. Organizations that provide organized training and assistance see the most favorable results in productivity, worker satisfaction, and ecological sustainability.



The research overwhelmingly indicates that companies that invest in proper AI education, like that offered through <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MindStudio</a>, establish win-win scenarios where employees are both more empowered and less stressed, and companies enjoy the gains of increased productivity, reduced turnover, and improved mental health outcomes throughout their workforce.



For more on MindStudio's free AI training for companies, visit the website's of MindStudio and Dominnus from the links below.



The research was published across a variety of peer-reviewed journals, including <a href="https://www.nature.com/palcomms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a>, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence</a>, and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci">Applied Sciences</a>.



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MindStudio.AI: <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.mindstudio.ai</a>



Dominnus: <a href="https://www.dominnus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.dominnus.com</a>

AI agent training boosts mental health and profits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSM3EVeGHJU Companies like MindStudio help companies train their employees to...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDXqTGEmi4
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Scientists give plants superpowers against bacterial disease</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-natural-solution-to-disease-through-crop-modification">A natural solution to disease through crop modification.</h2>



The agricultural industry stands at a crossroads between productivity and environmental responsibility, and crop modification often carries a negative connotation. While chemical pesticides have long been the go-to solution for crop protection, their harmful effects on ecosystems and human health have prompted scientists to seek alternatives. The recent breakthrough by <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Southampton</a> researchers offers a promising path forward through the precise manipulation of plant-associated microbial communities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-science-behind-microbial-partnerships">The science behind microbial partnerships</h2>



Plants naturally harbor diverse ecosystems of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms that function as biological allies. These microscopic partners contribute to disease resistance, nutrient absorption, and stress tolerance. However, until now, scientists lacked the tools to deliberately reshape these communities to enhance crop protection.



The Southampton team's approach centered on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/engineered-plant-microbiomes-the-future-of-crop-protection/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modifying lignin biosynthesis genes in rice plants</a>. This strategic intervention altered the plant's metabolic output, creating conditions that favored beneficial bacterial populations while suppressing harmful ones. The result was a living defense system embedded within the plant itself.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-global-food-security">Implications for global food security</h2>



The successful demonstration against Xanthomonas oryzae, the pathogen responsible for bacterial blight in rice, represents more than a laboratory achievement. Rice feeds nearly half the world's population, and bacterial blight causes devastating crop losses annually. Traditional control methods rely heavily on pesticides that contaminate soil and water systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-beyond-disease-resistance">Looking Beyond Disease Resistance</h2>



While disease protection represents the immediate application, the research framework opens doors to broader agricultural improvements. Future developments could engineer microbiomes to enhance nutrient uptake, reducing dependence on synthetic fertilizers. This dual benefit addresses both crop productivity and environmental sustainability.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-path-forward">The path forward</h2>



As this technology advances from laboratory to field applications, it promises to reshape sustainable agriculture. The ability to program plants with their own biological defense systems could herald a new era where crops protect themselves naturally, reducing chemical inputs while maintaining yields necessary for global food security.



The study is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44335-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Revolutionizing agriculture through microbiome engineering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDXqTGEmi4 Scientists give plants superpowers against bacterial disease A natural...

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</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-don-t-we-ever-hear-about-acid-rain-anymore-the-environmental-crisis-that-was-solved">Why don't we ever hear about "acid rain" anymore? The environmental crisis that was solved</h2>



Remember the 1980s when acid rain dominated headlines? Dire warnings about rain eating buildings, killing fish, and destroying forests filled every news cycle. Then, almost like magic, acid rain vanished from public discourse. What happened? Did we actually solve one of the late 20th century's most pressing environmental challenges?



The answer might surprise you. Unlike many environmental issues that drag on indefinitely, acid rain represents one of modern history's most successful ecological recovery stories. It's a tale of science, politics, and technology working together to tackle what seemed impossible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What was acid rain?</h2>



Acid rain isn't regular rain having a bad day – it's precipitation that became significantly more acidic due to air pollution. When power plants, factories, and vehicles burn fossil fuels, they release sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The science behind it</h2>



Think of acid rain as nature's chemistry experiment gone wrong. These compounds react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. When mixed with water vapor in clouds, they create precipitation with dangerously low pH levels.



While clean rain has a pH of about 5.6, acid rain could drop as low as 4.2 to 4.4 – roughly as acidic as tomato juice or coffee. According to US Geological Survey documentation, Scottish chemist Angus Smith first coined "acid rain" in 1872, but it didn't become a household phrase until the 1960s and 1970s when Swedish scientist Svante Odén documented its devastating effects on Scandinavian lakes and European forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The crisis at its peak</h2>



During the height of public concern, environmental damage was both widespread and visible. This wasn't some abstract future threat – people could see destruction happening in real-time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Environmental devastation</h2>



The most dramatic impacts were impossible to ignore. Research documented by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shows that in the Adirondack Mountains, more than 200 lakes became so acidic they couldn't support fish life. The Adirondack Council reports that 409 lakes once supported brook trout, but many lost their fish populations due to acid rain.



By 1976, when scientists cataloged all acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, researchers found that half of the lakes over 2,000 feet above sea level had no fish, according to studies published in environmental journals. The acidification process worked like a slow-motion disaster. As acid rain fell into watersheds, it gradually lowered pH levels. Fish couldn't survive in acidic water, and their food sources died off too.



Trees at high elevations showed stress directly linked to acid rain. It weakened them by leaching nutrients and making them susceptible to disease. Historical records show Germany's Black Forest saw nearly half its trees damaged by the mid-1980s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic impact</h2>



Acid rain wasn't just environmental – it was expensive. Acidic precipitation corroded infrastructure, buildings, and monuments. Historic stone structures deteriorated at accelerated rates. Tourism suffered as lakes became fishless and forests declined. EPA economic analyses from the period documented repair costs mounting into billions annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The solution: government action and technology</h2>



Transformation from crisis to success required unprecedented cooperation between governments, industries, and environmental groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Clean Air Act of 1990</h2>



The turning point came with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. This represented a fundamentally new approach to environmental regulation, as documented in EPA historical records.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cap-and-trade success</h2>



Instead of mandating specific technologies, the 1990 amendments introduced something revolutionary: a cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide emissions. EPA program documentation shows this market-based approach set overall limits but allowed companies to trade emission allowances.



The genius was harnessing market forces to find cost-effective pollution reduction. Companies reducing emissions cheaply could sell excess allowances to those facing higher costs. Research published in environmental economics journals and EPA progress reports shows this resulted in dramatic SO2 reduction at a fraction of projected costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Technology advances</h2>



Policy provided the framework, but technology made reductions possible. Studies in atmospheric science journals document the widespread adoption of flue gas desulfurization systems ("scrubbers") that removed sulfur dioxide before it reached the atmosphere. By the 2000s, new installations could remove over 95% of SO2 emissions, according to EPA technical reports.



The push coincided with cleaner energy development. Natural gas produces fewer sulfur compounds than coal. Wind and solar, emerging in the 1990s, captured growing market share, reducing reliance on high-sulfur coal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-we-don-t-hear-about-it-today">Why we don't hear about it today</h2>



Why did acid rain disappear from headlines? Simple: the problem was largely solved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success doesn't make news</h2>



There's an old journalism saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Environmental success stories don't generate urgency like crisis reporting. Media attention shifted to other challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. There's only so much environmental anxiety the public can absorb, and newer concerns replaced acid rain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mission accomplished</h2>



The primary reason is beautifully simple: interventions worked. EPA monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990. Academic research published in environmental science journals confirms pH levels in formerly affected areas returned closer to normal. This represents one of history's most dramatic environmental recoveries. Studies by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation show fishless lakes now support healthy populations. Forests recovered, and building damage slowed dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-it-really-gone">Is it really gone?</h2>



The crisis is largely resolved, but monitoring data shows the problem isn't completely eliminated – it's managed to acceptable levels. Some areas still experience occasional events during high pollution periods. International environmental research indicates that rapidly industrializing Asian countries face similar problems to what we experienced decades ago, though they're implementing successful strategies.



EPA research shows nitrogen oxide emissions proved more challenging than sulfur dioxide, coming from vehicles and mobile sources. Climate science studies suggest changing weather patterns add complexity to how acid rain forms and falls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What this teaches us</h2>



The acid rain experience proves that seemingly intractable environmental problems can be solved with scientific understanding, political will, and technological innovation. Environmental monitoring data shows recovery speed was remarkable – within a decade, measurable improvements appeared in air quality and ecosystem health.



Success came from bipartisan support across party lines. Policy analysis studies show the market-based approach appealed to those preferring economic incentives while achieving environmental goals. This support created lasting policy surviving political changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h2>



Acid rain's disappearance from public consciousness represents environmental science's greatest success stories. Through effective regulation, technological innovation, and international cooperation, we transformed an overwhelming crisis into a manageable challenge.



Today's silence isn't because we forgot – it's because we solved it. The 1990 Clean Air Act, combined with technology and energy market changes, reduced acid rain emissions over 90%, according to comprehensive EPA data analysis.



This success offers hope for current challenges. It proves complex problems can be solved when science, policy, and technology work together. As we face climate change and plastic pollution, acid rain reminds us that dramatic positive change is possible.



Next time someone asks whether environmental regulations work, remember acid rain. It's proof that sometimes, we get it right.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Sources: This article draws from EPA official documentation and progress reports, peer-reviewed research published in environmental and atmospheric science journals, historical data from the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records, US Geological Survey publications, policy analysis studies, and environmental monitoring data collected over three decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



1. Is acid rain completely gone? No, but EPA monitoring shows it's reduced to manageable levels. US sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990, making acid rain much less severe than the 1980s crisis.



2. How long did solving take? Environmental monitoring data shows significant improvements began within 5-10 years of 1990s emission controls. Full ecosystem recovery took longer – some areas need 20-30 years for complete recovery.



3. What made the solution successful? Clear scientific understanding, visible damage motivating action, bipartisan support, available technology, and innovative market-based policies like cap-and-trade.



4. Do other countries have acid rain problems? Yes, particularly rapidly industrializing Asian countries. However, international environmental research shows many implement similar successful control strategies.



5. Could acid rain return? Potentially, if regulations weaken or we return to high-sulfur coal without controls, though effects would take years to become severe according to environmental projections.



6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"? The United States Environmental Protection Agency produced a wonderful teacher's guide for ages 14 and under that you can find on the EPA website here: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf</a>



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The environmental problem we actually solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk Acid rain and a crisis solved. Why don't we...

Green,Ecoduct,Over,An,Empty,Highway,During,Sunset.

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A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that wildlife tunnels significantly reduce amphibian road mortality during seasonal migrations. 



Frogs and salamanders often cross roads to reach breeding ponds each spring, but many are killed by vehicles. 



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vermont</a>, in collaboration with local citizens and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, installed two underpass tunnels in 2015. 



Over a 12-year monitoring period, they observed an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths, and up to 94% for non-climbing species like salamanders. 



The study used a before-after-control-impact design and documented more than 5,200 amphibians, highlighting the tunnels’ effectiveness even in nearby buffer zones.



Funded at $342,397 - far cheaper than wildlife crossings for large mammals - the project showcased the power of community-led conservation.



Local groups initiated the effort after observing mass amphibian deaths. Wildlife cameras later captured over 2,200 amphibians using a tunnel in just one spring, along with other species like raccoons and bobcats, indicating wider ecosystem benefits.



This marks the first peer-reviewed, long-term data set in the northeastern U.S. confirming amphibian-specific underpasses work. 



The study urges transportation departments to incorporate these designs into road planning and highlights how community action, thoughtful infrastructure, and persistence can make a real difference for biodiversity.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1617138125000780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes how Earth is unique in our solar system for its ability to sustain liquid water on its surface. But now, the water cycle is shifting as the climate warms, and scientists must find ways to predict how these changes will affect water availability.



Overall, 96 percent of Earth's water is saltwater, and nearly all of freshwater is found in ice and groundwater. These sources of water are linked as it passes through solid, liquid and gas phases.



In a warmer climate, the water cycle will be transformed. It will be easier for water to evaporate and form clouds, and storms will become more frequent and intense. Some regions will get too much water, while others will be left without enough water. In addition, soil moisture will be lost - which threatens food security.



Scientists are using satellite data from over the last 40 years to track changes that are happening in the water cycle. This will ultimately help us prepare for extreme events and better manage our water resources, according to ESA.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> features images of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The photographs capture the start of the mysterious "spoke season" on Saturn - when unexplained features appear on its rings. 



According to NASA, both the cause of the spokes and their seasonal variability have yet to be fully explained by planetary scientists.



"Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun," explains NASA.



"The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn. (When the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere of a planet.) As the autumnal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, draws near, the spokes are expected to become increasingly prominent and observable."



Experts believe that the spokes may be a product of the planet's variable magnetic field. When magnetic fields interact with solar wind, an electrically charged environment is created. This phenomenon is visible on Earth as the northern lights.&nbsp;



"Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings," says NASA.



The spokes were first observed in the early 1980s by NASA's Voyager mission. Depending on the angle of the rings, the spokes can appear dark or light.



"Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn’s spokes this season than ever before," said NASA senior planetary scientist Amy Simon, head of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.



"Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/">NTU Singapore</a> reveals that some plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed samples of various tropical plant species to test for levels of heavy metals and metalloids. The study showed that there are existing plants with high levels of these contaminants, which means that these species are great candidates for drawing pollutants out of the soil.&nbsp;



Among the plants examined in the study, 12 species had accumulated several types of heavy metals and metalloids. These plants are widely available, including species that are native to Singapore.



“In a small nation like Singapore, land may be repurposed to support new development plans, so it is important that we have a green and sustainable way to remediate land that is contaminated," said Professor Lam Yeng Ming.



"We set out to uncover how to better make use of tropical plants to do phytoremediation and through advanced characterization techniques, we showed how some of these tropical plant species can be an environmentally friendly and literally a 'green' way to remove contaminants in soil."&nbsp;



"Phytoremediation also has benefits of cost effectiveness, simplicity of management, aesthetic advantages, and long-term applicability and sustainability. The strategy prevents erosion and metal leaching by stabilizing or accumulating heavy metals, so that helps reduce the risk of contaminant spread.”



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes why herbicides are not as effective in killing weeds anymore. In the 20th century, chemical companies developed thousands of herbicides. The most commonly used herbicide was glyphosate, which was introduced in 1974.



Over the past few decades, dozens of species of weeds have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Depending on the site of action, the part of the plant that an herbicide interacts with, weeds may even be resistant to herbicides that have not been developed yet.&nbsp;



With increasing resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides, weeds are - once again - becoming a major concern for farmers.&nbsp;



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) describes a dust storm on Mars that was nearly twice the size of the United States. As the storm covered the southern hemisphere of the planet, some of NASA’s explorers had to delay their normal activities.



NASA’s Insight lander put itself in a "safe mode" for 11 days to conserve battery power because solar power was disrupted by the dust. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter postponed flights until conditions improved.



"A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor Martian dust storms like this one and serve as lifelines to Earth by relaying data from the rovers and lander on the ground back to the team. This includes the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and Odyssey," reports JPL.



"Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they rise – warming the cold Martian atmosphere."



The images in the video were captured by NASA’s Curiosity as the dust rolled in. A fleet of orbiters monitored the dust storm from above, relaying data from Mars’ explorers back to scientists on Earth.



Video &amp; Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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