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Categories: Geoscience: Earth Science, Physics: General
Published Seven steps to achieving the right to clean indoor air post-pandemic
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Seven lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic about ventilation's crucial role in preventing the spread of airborne pathogens has been set out in a new article.
Published How Saharan dust regulates hurricane rainfall
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research underscores the close relationship between dust plumes transported from the Sahara Desert in Africa, and rainfall from tropical cyclones along the U.S. Gulf Coast and Florida.
Published Southern Ocean absorbing more carbon dioxide than previously thought, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has found that the Southern Ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide (CO2) than previously thought. Using direct measurements of CO2 exchange, or fluxes, between the air and sea, the scientists found the ocean around Antarctica absorbs 25% more CO2 than previous indirect estimates based on shipboard data have suggested.
Published Study of urban moss raises concerns about lead levels in older Portland neighborhoods
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Lead levels in moss are as much as 600 times higher in older Portland, Oregon, neighborhoods where lead-sheathed telecommunications cables were once used compared to lead levels in nearby rural areas, a new study of urban moss has found.
Published New study supports stable mantle chemistry dating back to Earth's early geologic history and over its prodigious evolution
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new analysis of rocks thought to be at least 2.5 billion years old helps clarify the chemical history of Earth's mantle -- the geologic layer beneath the planet's crust. The findings hone scientists' understanding of Earth's earliest geologic processes, and they provide new evidence in a decades-long scientific debate about the geologic history of Earth. Specifically, the results provide evidence that the oxidation state of the vast majority of Earth's mantle has remained stable through geologic time and has not undergone major transitions, contrary to what has been suggested previously by other researchers.
Published Trees reveal climate surprise -- bark removes methane from the atmosphere
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Tree bark surfaces play an important role in removing methane gas from the atmosphere.
Published A new way to make element 116 opens the door to heavier atoms
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have successfully made super-heavy element 116 using a beam of titanium-50. That milestone sets the team up to attempt making the heaviest element yet: 120.
Published Drawing water from dry air
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A prototype device harvests drinking water from the atmosphere, even in arid places.
Published 3D-printed microstructure forest facilitates solar steam generator desalination
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Faced with the world's impending freshwater scarcity, researchers turned to solar steam generators, which are emerging as a promising device for seawater desalination. The team sought design inspiration from trees and harnessed the potential of 3D printing. They present technology for producing efficient SSGs for desalination and introduces a novel method for printing functional nanocomposites for multi-jet fusion. Their SSGs were inspired by plant transpiration and are composed of miniature tree-shaped microstructures, forming an efficient, heat-distributing forest.
Published Hot traces in rock
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fluids circulating underground change rocks over the course of time. These processes must be taken into account if they are to be used as a climate archive. Researchers have used 380-million-year-old limestones from Hagen-Hohenlimburg to show in detail which climate information is still preserved in the rock.
Published Tropical plant species are as threatened by climate change as widely feared, study confirms
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Biologists who set out to better understand the effects of climate change on plant species in tropical mountain regions found that even small variations in temperature and moisture can have massive impacts, threatening not only plants that live there, but also the ecosystems they support. A study based on labor-intensive fieldwork and analysis in tropical mountain regions shows that a warmer and drier climate will lead to massive losses of plant species.
Published Researchers enhance tool to better predict where and when wildfires will occur
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A newly enhanced database is expected to help wildfire managers and scientists better predict where and when wildfires may occur by incorporating hundreds of additional factors that impact the ignition and spread of fire.
Published Converting captured carbon to fuel: Study assesses what's practical and what's not
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new analysis sheds light on major shortfalls of a recently proposed approach to capture CO2 from air and directly convert it to fuel using electricity. The authors also provide a new, more sustainable, alternative.
Published Agriculture: Less productive yet more stable pastures
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Climate change will have a considerable influence on the biodiversity and productivity of meadows and pastures. However, according to the results of the large-scale climate and land use experiment the extent of these changes depends on the land use. Grassland optimized for high yield responds much more sensitively to periods of drought than less intensively used meadows and pastures.
Published Deep-ocean floor produces its own oxygen
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of researchers has discovered that metallic minerals on the deep-ocean floor produce oxygen -- 13,000 feet below the surface. Discovery challenges long-held assumptions that only photosynthetic organisms generate Earth's oxygen. Minerals at the abyssal seafloor appear to act like geobatteries to produce oxygen in a process that does not require sunlight.
Published New dawn for space storm alerts could help shield Earth's tech
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Space storms could soon be forecasted with greater accuracy than ever before thanks to a big leap forward in our understanding of exactly when a violent solar eruption may hit Earth. Scientists say it is now possible to predict the precise speed a coronal mass ejection (CME) is travelling at and when it will smash into our planet -- even before it has fully erupted from the Sun.
Published Come closer: Titanium-48's nuclear structure changes when observed at varying distances
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have found that titanium-48 changes from a shell model structure to an alpha-cluster structure depending on the distance from the center of the nucleus. The results upend the conventional understanding of nuclear structure and are expected to provide clues to the Gamow theory on the alpha-decay process that occurs in heavy nuclei, which has not been solved for nearly 100 years.
Published Minerals play newly discovered role in Earth's phosphorus cycle
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Plants and microbes are known to secrete enzymes to transform organic phosphorus into bioavailable inorganic phosphorus. Now, researchers found that iron oxide in soil performs the same transformation. Discovery is important for food security, which requires phosphorus as a crop fertilizer.
Published Although tiny, peatland microorganisms have a big impact on climate
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Polyphenols are generally toxic to microorganisms. In peatlands, scientists thought microorganisms avoided this toxicity by degrading polyphenols using an oxygen-dependent enzyme, and thus that low-oxygen conditions inhibit microbes' carbon cycling. However, a new study found that Arctic peatland microorganisms used alternative enzymes, with and without oxygen, to break down polyphenols. This suggests carbon stored in these ecosystems is more at risk than previously thought.
Published Sea ice's cooling power is waning faster than its area of extent
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source As sea ice disappears and grows less reflective, the Arctic has lost around a quarter of its cooling power since 1980, and the world has lost up to 15%, according to new research.