Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Recovering rare earth elements in environmental water      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A research group has succeeded in selectively recovering trace rare earth elements in synthetic seawater and environmental water, such as hot spring water, using baker's yeast with a phosphate group added. The phosphorylated yeast is expected to be utilized as a material for recovering useful metals and removing toxic metals, thereby contributing to the realization of a metal resource-circulating society.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Scientists develop new way to measure wind      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Atmospheric scientists have developed an algorithm that uses data from water vapor movements to measure wind. This could help predict extreme events like hurricanes.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

2022 Tongan volcanic explosion was largest natural explosion in over a century, new study finds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The 2022 eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga was more powerful than the largest U.S. nuclear explosion, according to a new study. The 15-megaton volcanic explosion from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, one of the largest natural explosions in more than a century, generated a mega-tsunami with waves up to 45-meters high (148 feet) along the coast of Tonga's Tofua Island and waves up to 17 meters (56 feet) on Tongatapu, the country's most populated island.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology
Published

How did the Andes Mountains get so huge? A new geological research method may hold the answer      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

How did the Andes -- the world's longest mountain range -- reach its enormous size? This is just one of the geological questions that a new method may be able to answer. With unprecedented precision, the method allows researchers to estimate how Earth's tectonic plates changed speed over the past millions of years.

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

New look at climate data shows substantially wetter rain and snow days ahead      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new look at climate data shows that, by the end of the century, the heaviest days of rain and snowfall across much of North America will likely release 20 to 30 percent more moisture than they do now. Much of the increased precipitation will occur in winter, potentially exacerbating flooding in regions such as the upper Midwest and the west coast. Researchers also found that heavy precipitation days historically experienced once in a century will become more frequent -- as often as once every 30 or 40 years in the Pacific Northwest and southeastern United States.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Shift to 'flash droughts' as climate warms      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

'Flash droughts' have become more frequent due to human-caused climate change and this trend is predicted to accelerate in a warmer future, according to new research.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Predictive power of climate models may be masked by volcanoes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Simulated volcanic eruptions may be blowing up our ability to predict near-term climate, according to a new study.

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

The hidden culprit behind nitrogen dioxide emissions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A research team assesses neighborhood-scale NO2 exposure using a European satellite. High-rise apartment complexes are a significant source of emissions that should be considered in the development of clean air policies.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Landslides Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Increased droughts are disrupting carbon-capturing soil microbes, concerning ecologists      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Soil stores more carbon than plants and the atmosphere combined, and soil microbes are largely responsible for putting it there. However, the increasing frequency and severity of drought, such as those that have been impacting California, could disrupt this delicate ecosystem. Microbial ecologists warn that soil health and future greenhouse gas levels could be impacted if soil microbes adapt to drought faster than plants do.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

How did Earth get its water?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Our planet's water could have originated from interactions between the hydrogen-rich atmospheres and magma oceans of the planetary embryos that comprised Earth's formative years.

Ecology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Humans need Earth-like ecosystem for deep-space living      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Can humans endure long-term living in deep space? The answer is a lukewarm maybe, according to a new theory describing the complexity of maintaining gravity and oxygen, obtaining water, developing agriculture and handling waste far from Earth.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Geoscience: Earth Science
Published

British flower study reveals surprise about plants' sex life      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A study of Britain's native flowering plants has led to new insights into the mysterious process that allows wild plants to breed across species -- one of plants' most powerful evolutionary forces.  When wild flowering plants are sizing up others they may often end up in a marriage between close relatives rather than neighbors, a new study has revealed.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology
Published

Critical observations of sinking coasts      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using satellite-obtained data from 2007-21, researchers mapped the entire East Coast to demonstrate how the inclusion of land subsidence reveals many areas to be more vulnerable to floods and erosion than previously thought.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

World's biggest cumulative logjam, newly mapped in the Arctic, stores 3.4 million tons of carbon      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Throughout the Arctic, fallen trees make their way from forests to the ocean by way of rivers. Those logs can stack up as the river twists and turns, resulting in long-term carbon storage. A new study has mapped the largest known woody deposit, covering 51 square kilometers (20 square miles) of the Mackenzie River Delta in Nunavut, Canada, and calculated that the logs store about 3.4 million tons (about 3.1 million metric tons) of carbon.

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

As rising temperatures affect Alaskan rivers, effects ripple through Indigenous communities      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Six decades of river gage data gathered from nine rivers in Alaska highlight the cumulative and consequential impacts of climate change for local communities and ecosystems in the Arctic.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Stopping storms from creating dangerous urban geysers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers develop a computational model of stormwater piping to study storm geysers. They used this model to understand why storm geysers form, what conditions tend to make them worse, and what city planners can do to prevent them from occurring. The authors say the best cure for a storm geyser is bigger pipes; however, that advice is little help to cities with existing pipeline infrastructure. In these systems, the focus must be on minimizing the potential damage by reducing the height of the geysers, the volume of expelled water, or the resulting damage to the pipeline.

Archaeology: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Volcanoes Paleontology: Climate
Published

Study re-evaluates hazards and climate impacts of massive underwater volcanic eruptions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Material left on the seafloor by bronze-age underwater volcanic eruptions is helping researchers better understand the size, hazards and climate impact of their parent eruptions, according to new research.

Chemistry: General Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Severe Weather Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Lightning strike creates phosphorus material      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A lightning strike in New Port Richey, Florida, led to a chemical reaction creating a new material that is transitional between space minerals and minerals found on Earth. High-energy events, such as lightning, can cause unique chemical reactions. In this instance, the result is a new material -- one that is transitional between space minerals and minerals found on Earth.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Trees in areas prone to hurricanes have strong ability to survive even after severe damage      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The island of Dominica took a direct hit from Category 5 Hurricane Maria. Nine months afterward, researchers found that while 89% percent of trees located in nine previously documented forest stands were damaged, but only 10 percent had immediately died. The most common damage was stem snapping and major branch damage. The damage with the highest rates of mortality were uprooting and being crushed by a neighboring tree. Large individual trees and species with lower wood density were susceptible to snapping, uprooting and mortality. Those on steeper slopes were more prone to being crushed by neighboring trees.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Cities will need more resilient electricity networks to cope with extreme weather      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Dense urban areas amplify the effects of higher temperatures, due to the phenomenon of heat islands in cities. This makes cities more vulnerable to extreme climate events. Large investments in the electricity network will be necessary to cool us down during heatwaves and keep us warm during cold snaps, according to a new study.