Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Satellite data shows sustained severe drought in Europe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Europe lacks groundwater -- a lot of groundwater. The continent has already been suffering from a severe drought since 2018. This is confirmed by satellite data.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

The key to weathering rapid sea-level rise may lie in a Massachusetts salt marsh      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers recently announced that salt marshes, critical habitats threatened by rapid sea-level rise, may in fact thrive despite higher water levels. The key factor that determines whether salt marshes collapse or flourish involves not water, but sediment.

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Landslides Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

A changing flood recipe for Las Vegas      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Las Vegas, with its rapid urbanization and desert landscape, is highly vulnerable to flooding. For this reason, flood managers have built an extensive system of drainage ditches and detention basins to protect the public. Now, a new study shows how intentional engineering and urban development are interacting with climate change to alter the timing and intensity of flood risk.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Science of sediment transport key to river conservation and protection      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have devised a better way to measure how fast sediment flows in rivers -- information that can help scientists and planners better prepare for flooding and weather-related events, understand salmon activity and even restore rivers.

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Climate change likely to uproot more Amazon trees      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Tropical forests are crucial for sucking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But they're also subject to intense storms that can cause 'windthrow' -- the uprooting or breaking of trees. A new study finds that more extreme thunderstorms from climate change will likely cause a greater number of large windthrow events in the Amazon, which could impact the rainforest's ability to serve as a carbon sink.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Geoscience: Severe Weather Offbeat: Earth and Climate
Published

When migrating birds go astray, disturbances in magnetic field may be partly to blame      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Disturbances to Earth's magnetic field can lead birds astray -- a phenomenon scientists call 'vagrancy' -- even in perfect weather, and especially during fall migration. While other factors such as weather likely play bigger roles in causing vagrancy, researchers found a strong correlation between birds that were captured far outside of their expected range and the geomagnetic disturbances that occurred during both fall and spring migrations.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

NASA says 2022 fifth warmest year on record, warming trend continues      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Earth's average surface temperature in 2022 tied with 2015 as the fifth warmest on record, according to an analysis by NASA. Continuing the planet's long-term warming trend, global temperatures in 2022 were 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.89 degrees Celsius) above the average for NASA's baseline period (1951-1980), scientists report.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Using machine learning to help monitor climate-induced hazards      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Combining satellite technology with machine learning may allow scientists to better track and prepare for climate-induced natural hazards, according to new research.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

That sinking feeling: Are ice roads holding up under January's unseasonable warmth?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Vital winter ice road infrastructure may be cracking and sinking under the load of an unseasonably warm start to the new year across Europe and North America. New research warns that ice roads, essential for moving people, food, medicine and fuel in remote northern communities, as well as heavy machinery used by industry, may become unsustainable as the climate warms. This poses significant issues this century.

Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Landscaping for drought: We're doing it wrong      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Despite recent, torrential rains, most of Southern California remains in a drought. Accordingly, many residents plant trees prized for drought tolerance, but a new study shows that these trees lose this tolerance once they're watered.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Exotic wheat DNA helps breed 'climate-proof' crops      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Wheat containing exotic DNA from wild relatives benefits from up to 50 per cent higher yields in hot weather compared with elite lines lacking these genes.

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Fathoming the hidden heatwaves that threaten coral reefs      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The severity of marine heatwaves (MHWs) that are increasingly impacting ocean ecosystems, including vulnerable coral reefs, has primarily been assessed using remotely sensed sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), without information relevant to heating across ecosystem depths. Here, using a rare combination of SST, high-resolution in-situ temperatures, and sea level anomalies observed over 15 years near Moorea, French Polynesia, we document subsurface MHWs that have been paradoxical in comparison to SST metrics and associated with unexpected coral bleaching across depths. Variations in the depth range and severity of MHWs was driven by mesoscale (10s to 100s of km) eddies that altered sea levels and thermocline depths and decreased (2007, 2017 and 2019) or increased (2012, 2015, 2016) internal-wave cooling.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Spring sunny heat waves caused record snow melt in 2021, adding to severe water supply impacts across the Western US      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers examine the role of spring heatwaves on the melting rates of mountain snowpacks across the West. They found that in April 2021, record-breaking snowmelt rates occurred at 24% of all mountain snowpack monitoring sites in the region, further compounding the impacts of extended drought conditions.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Cyclone researchers: Warming climate means more and stronger Atlantic tropical storms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Tropical cyclone researchers report a warming climate could increase the number of tropical cyclones and their intensity in the North Atlantic, potentially creating more and stronger hurricanes. In a second research paper, researchers examine a possible explanation for the relatively constant number of tropical cyclones around the globe every year.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

How climate change impacts the Indian Ocean dipole, leading to severe droughts and floods      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers now have a much better understanding of how climate change can impact and cause sea water temperatures on one side of the Indian Ocean to be so much warmer or cooler than the temperatures on the other -- a phenomenon that can lead to sometimes deadly weather-related events like megadroughts in East Africa and severe flooding in Indonesia.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Climate risk insurance can effectively mitigate economic losses      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Global warming is expected to lead to an accumulation of particularly intense hurricanes in the United States. This may substantially increase the economic losses caused by these storms. Better insurance could effectively mitigate the climate change-induced increase in economic losses. This is shown in a new study examining the effectiveness of climate risk insurance in the US.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

The adverse health effects of disaster-related trauma      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study has found that individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to experience disaster-related home loss, and they are also more likely to develop functional limitations following the disaster. 

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Skiing over Christmas holidays no longer guaranteed -- even with snow guns      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For many people, holidays in the snow are as much a part of the end of the year as Christmas trees and fireworks. As global warming progresses, however, white slopes are becoming increasingly rare. Researchers have calculated how well one of Switzerland's largest ski resorts will remain snow reliable with technical snow-making by the year 2100, and how much water this snow will consume.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

New study models the transmission of foreshock waves towards Earth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As the supersonic solar wind surges towards Earth, its interaction with our planet's magnetic field creates a shock to deflect its flow, and a foreshock filled with electromagnetic waves. How these waves can propagate to the other side of the shock has long remained a mystery.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Ultrathin solar cells promise improved satellite performance      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As low Earth orbit becomes more cluttered, it becomes increasingly necessary to use middle Earth orbits, and radiation-tolerant cell designs will be needed. Making photovoltaics thinner should increase their longevity because the charge carriers have less far to go during their shortened lifetimes. Scientists propose a radiation-tolerant photovoltaic cell design that features an ultrathin layer of light-absorbing material. Compared to thicker cells, nearly 3.5 times less cover glass is needed for the ultra-thin cells to deliver the same amount of power after 20 years of operation.