Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General
Published

How a drought led to the rise of skateboarding in 1970s California      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Why did professional skateboarding arise in southern California in the 1970s? Was it a coincidence, or was it a perfect storm of multiple factors? It's fairly well-known that a drought in southern California in the mid-1970s led to a ban on filling backyard swimming pools, and these empty pools became playgrounds for freestyle skateboarders in the greater Los Angeles area. But a new cross-disciplinary study shows that beyond the drought, it was the entanglement of environmental, economic and technological factors that led to the explosive rise of professional skateboarding culture in the 1970s.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

New study sheds light on how much methane is produced from Arctic lakes and wetlands      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New study looked at lakes in the Arctic, including those at Alaska's Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, to shed light on how much methane is produced from Arctic lakes and wetlands. Small unmapped lakes in the Arctic are far less abundant than previously thought, greatly reducing the cumulative methane emissions they were thought to contribute to Earth's atmosphere.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Extreme rainfall increases ag nutrient runoff, conservation strategies can help      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Nutrient runoff from agricultural production is a significant source of water pollution in the U.S., and climate change that produces extreme weather events is likely to exacerbate the problem. A new study looks at how extreme rainfall impacts runoff and suggests possible mitigation strategies.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

'Energy droughts' in wind and solar can last nearly a week      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Understanding the risk of compound energy droughts -- times when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow -- will help grid planners understand where energy storage is needed most.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Eco-friendly technologies for plastic production and biodegradation?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new article covering an overview and trends of plastic production and degradation technology using microorganisms has been published. Eco-friendly and sustainable plastic production and degradation technology using microorganisms as a core technology to achieve a plastic circular economy was presented.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology
Published

New geophysical technique enhances imaging of fluid-filled rocks finding connections with microearthquakes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have recently introduced a new method called ambient noise differential adjoint tomography, which allows researchers to visualise rocks with fluids better, leading to potential advancements in the discovery of water and oil resources, as well as applications in urban geologic hazard and early warning systems for tsunamis and the understanding of the water cycle.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Predictive models augur that at the end of the century fields will need more water than today      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team has published evapotranspiration projections for Andalusia through 2100, using a machine learning model that allows this data to be obtained based on the air temperature.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Polyethylene waste could be a thing of the past      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Experts have developed a way of using polyethylene waste (PE) as a feedstock and converted it into valuable chemicals, via light-driven photocatalysis. PE is the most widely used plastic in the world including for daily food packaging, shopping bags and reagent bottles, and the researchers say that while recycling of PE is still in early development, it could be an untapped resource for re-use.

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

Climate change will increase wildfire risk and lengthen fire seasons      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Wildfires are some of the most destructive natural disasters in the country, threatening lives, destroying homes and infrastructure, and creating air pollution. In order to properly forecast and manage wildfires, managers need to understand wildfire risk and allocate resources accordingly.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

New insights into Zebra mussel attachment fibers offer potential solutions to combat invasive species, develop sustainable materials      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A recent study has revealed that an unlikely event, occurring over 12 million years ago played an important role in shaping one of Canada's most damaging invasive species. Zebra and quagga mussels, belonging to the Dreissenid family, are widespread freshwater invasive species throughout North America that present a significant danger to native ecosystems by competing for resources. Using a fibrous anchor called a byssus, Dreissenid mussels contribute to biofouling on surfaces and obstruct intake structures in power stations and water treatment plants.

Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

First global estimate of marine aquarium trade to encourage sustainable practices      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research estimates 55 million marine organisms worth $2.15bn are sold in the marine aquarium trade each year, making it as valuable as global fisheries such as tuna.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Three proposals from researchers to meet EU climate goals      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The ability to meet EU climate goals is enhanced by investing in new technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Although it is currently unprofitable for both companies and countries to do so, there are solutions to make it financially viable.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Sister climate cities, utility data predict future water, electricity demands      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Modern-day Ciudad Mante, Mexico, could help Tampa, Florida, plan for shifting water and electricity demands due to climate change, according to an international team of researchers. Researchers used utilities data and climate analogs -- contemporary cities with climates close to what other cities are predicted to experience in the future -- to assess how climate change may impact residential water and electricity use across 46 cities in the United States.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Geoscientists map changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide over past 66 million years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international consortium of geoscientists has reconstructed atmosphereric levels of carbon dioxide going back 66 million years using proxies in the geoloogical record. Today's concenteration, 420 parts per million, is higher than it's ever been in 14 million years.

Ecology: Nature Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

Protected areas in Thailand are at a higher risk of forest fires when located away from indigenous communities      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Research has found that national parks and protected areas are at a higher risk of forest fires when located farther away from indigenous communities. Based on the analysis of satellite images from Thailand and case studies from other Southeast Asian countries, the research demonstrates that policymakers can achieve improvements in forest health by working collaboratively with indigenous communities. Involving communities results in reduction of forest fires and air pollution.

Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Researchers develop grassroots framework for managing environmental commons      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of sustainability scientists recently announced that they have developed a community-based framework, founded on extensive local and traditional knowledge, to help assess and respond to the kinds of ecological threats that are widely dispersed across a varied landscape and whose solutions are not immediately obvious. The framework, which was developed to address watershed issues in Honduras's Lake Yojoa, is widely applicable to a broad range of threats facing ecological commons wherever they may occur around the world.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Climate change shown to cause methane to be released from the deep ocean      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has shown that fire-ice -- frozen methane which is trapped as a solid under our oceans -- is vulnerable to melting due to climate change and could be released into the sea.

Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Greenhouse gases in oceans are altered by climate change impact on microbes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The ocean is a global life-support system, and climate change causes such as ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and nitrogen-deposition alter the delicate microbial population in oceans. The marine microbial community plays an important role in the production of greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide and methane. Scientists have explored the climate change impact on marine microbes. Their research helps raise awareness about climate change severity and the importance of ocean resources.