Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

38 trillion dollars in damages each year: World economy already committed to income reduction of 19 % due to climate change      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Even if CO2 emissions were to be drastically cut down starting today, the world economy is already committed to an income reduction of 19% until 2050 due to climate change, a new study finds. These damages are six times larger than the mitigation costs needed to limit global warming to two degrees. Based on empirical data from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years, scientists assessed future impacts of changing climatic conditions on economic growth and their persistence.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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Substantial global cost of climate inaction      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Pioneering study reveals that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could reduce the global economic costs of climate change by two thirds. If warming continues to 3 degrees Celsius, global GDP will decrease by up to 10 percent -- with the worst impacts in less developed countries.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Severe Weather
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Paradox of extreme cold events in a warming world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The Warm Arctic-Cold Continent (WACC) phenomenon is the puzzling combination of Arctic warming and extreme coldness in specific mid-latitude regions. However, the progression of WACC events remains unclear amidst global warming. Scientists have now predicted a sharp decline in the WACC phenomenon post-2030s, affecting extreme weather events. These findings offer critical insights for communities, scientists, and policymakers to refine climate models and strategies and battle climate change.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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Scientists develop framework to measure plastic emissions and bolster U.N. efforts to reduce pollution      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have developed a framework for measuring plastic emissions akin to the global standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions. The approach boosts identification of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution from local to national levels and could help improve strategies in reducing emissions worldwide if incorporated into a global agreement on plastic pollution. Using Toronto as a model, the researchers estimated that in one year alone, Toronto emitted nearly 4,000 tonnes of plastic pollution.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Huge database gives insight into salmon patterns at sea      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A massive new analysis of high seas salmon surveys is enhancing the understanding of salmon ecology, adding details about where various species congregate in the North Pacific Ocean and their different temperature tolerances. The project integrates numerous international salmon studies from the North Pacific dating back to the 1950s.

Environmental: General Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

Fires pose growing worldwide threat to wildland-urban interface      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fires that devastate wildland-urban interface areas are becoming more common around the globe, a trend that is likely to continue for at least the next two decades, new research finds. Such fires are especially dangerous, both because they imperil large numbers of people and because they emit far more toxins than forest and grassland fires.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Severe Weather
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Yellowstone Lake ice cover unchanged despite warming climate      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

While most lakes around the world are experiencing shorter durations of ice cover, the length of time that Yellowstone Lake is covered by ice each year has not changed in the past century, possibly due to increased snowfall.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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Most countries struggle to meet climate pledges from 2009      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Nineteen out of 34 countries surveyed failed to fully meet their 2020 climate commitments set 15 years ago in Copenhagen, according to a new study by UCL researchers.

Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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Global North energy outsourcing demands more attention      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Manufacturing nations in the Global North are stockpiling energy and emission problems by outsourcing energy-intensive industrial processes to countries in the Global South.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Hidden threat: Global underground infrastructure vulnerable to sea-level rise      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

As sea levels rise, coastal groundwater is lifted closer to the ground surface while also becoming saltier and more corrosive. A recent study compiled research from experts worldwide showing that in cities where there are complex networks of buried and partially buried infrastructure, interaction with this shallower and saltier groundwater exacerbates corrosion and failure of critical systems such as sewer lines, roadways, and building foundations.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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GeoAI technologies for sustainable urban development      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

From heatwaves to pandemic diseases, the urban environments of the world face numerous challenges. Researchers are harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) and informatics to address emerging concerns related to environmental changes and urban growth.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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New radar analysis method can improve winter river safety      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a way to use radar to detect open water zones and other changes in Alaska's frozen rivers in the early winter. The approach can be automated to provide current hazard maps and is applicable across the Arctic and sub-Arctic.

Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Where have all the right whales gone?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Marine researchers have mapped the density of one of the most endangered large whale species worldwide, the North Atlantic right whale, using new data to help avoid right whales' harmful exposure to commercial fisheries and vessel strikes. The resulting maps, spanning 20 years of whale observations, are publicly available to inform risk assessments, estimations of whale harm/disturbance, marine spatial planning, and industry regulations to mitigate risk to right whales.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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Retention ponds can deliver a substantial reduction in tire particle pollution      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has shown that the presence of wetlands and retention ponds alongside major highways led to an average reduction of almost 75% in the mass of tire wear particles being discharged to aquatic waters. The researchers say that while the number of retention ponds and wetlands in the UK is quite small, the study has international significance as to the most effective ways to mitigate against the potential impacts of tire pollution on a global scale.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Oceanographers uncover the vital role of mixing down of oxygen in sustaining deep sea health      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Oceanographers have shown for the first time the important role of the 'mixing down' of oxygen in maintaining healthy conditions in the deep waters.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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Africa's iconic flamingos threatened by rising lake levels      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

It is one of the world's most spectacular sights -- huge flocks or 'flamboyances' of flamingos around East Africa's lakes -- as seen in the film Out of Africa or David Attenborough's A Perfect Planet. But new research has revealed how the lesser flamingo is at danger of being flushed out of its historic feeding grounds, with serious consequences for the future of the species.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Ocean currents threaten to collapse Antarctic ice shelves      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Meandering ocean currents play an important role in the melting of Antarctic ice shelves, threatening a significant rise in sea levels.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Volcanoes
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Cloud engineering could be more effective 'painkiller' for global warming than previously thought      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Cloud 'engineering' could be more effective for climate cooling than previously thought, because of the increased cloud cover produced, new research shows.

Ecology: Animals Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Geography
Published

Mapped: 33 new big game migrations across American West      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new set of maps that document the movements of ungulates was published today in the fourth volume of the Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States. The maps in this collaborative report series reveal the migration routes and critical ranges used by ungulates, or hooved mammals, in the western U.S., furthering scientists' understanding of the geography of big game migrations.