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Categories: Geoscience: Geochemistry, Geoscience: Oceanography
Published Harmful 'forever chemicals' removed from water with new electrocatalysis method
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have developed new electrochemical approaches to clean up pollution from 'forever chemicals' found in clothing, food packaging, firefighting foams, and a wide array of other products. A new study describes nanocatalysts developed to remediate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS.
Published After decades of Arctic sea ice getting faster and more hazardous for transport, models suggest a dramatic reversal is coming
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Will ice floating in the Arctic Ocean move faster or slower over the coming decades? The answer to this question will tell us whether marine transportation can be expected to get more or less hazardous. It might also have important implications for the rate of ice cover loss, which is hugely consequential for Northern Indigenous communities, ecosystems, and the global climate system. While observational data suggest the trend has been towards faster sea ice speeds, climate models project that those speeds will slow down during the summer season. This contrast has led to some questions around the plausibility of the model projections.
Published We know the Arctic is warming -- What will changing river flows do to its environment?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists recently combined satellite data, field observations and sophisticated numerical modeling to paint a picture of how 22.45 million square kilometers of the Arctic will change over the next 80 years. As expected, the overall region will be warmer and wetter, but the details -- up to 25% more runoff, 30% more subsurface runoff and a progressively drier southern Arctic, provides one of the clearest views yet of how the landscape will respond to climate change.
Published Arctic could become 'ice-free' within a decade
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source While summer sea ice loss in the Arctic is inevitable, it can be reversed if the planet cools down, researchers say.
Published Less ice in the Arctic Ocean has complex effects on marine ecosystems and ocean productivity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Most of the sunlight reaching the Arctic Ocean is reflected to space by sea ice, effectively shielding ocean ecosystems from sunlight. As the Arctic sea ice continues its downward trend, larger areas of the ocean become exposed to sunlight for longer periods, potentially allowing more primary production on the seafloor. However, according to a new study, this anticipated increase in primary production does not seem to be occurring uniformly across the Arctic Ocean.
Published Antarctica's coasts are becoming less icy
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists found unexpected evidence the area of polynyas around Antarctica is increasing dramatically, and it follows an intriguing cycle, growing and shrinking roughly every 16 years.
Published An evolutionary mystery 125 million years in the making
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Plant biologists have uncovered an evolutionary mystery over 100 million years in the making. It turns out that sometime during the last 125 million years, tomatoes and Arabidopsis thaliana plants experienced an extreme genetic makeover. Just what happened remains unclear. But the mystery surrounds CLV3, a gene key to healthy plant growth and development.
Published Humans have driven the Earth's freshwater cycle out of its stable state
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New analysis shows that the global freshwater cycle has shifted far beyond pre-industrial conditions.
Published Evolution-capable AI promotes green hydrogen production using more abundant chemical elements
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A research team has developed an AI technique capable of expediting the identification of materials with desirable characteristics. Using this technique, the team was able to discover high-performance water electrolyzer electrode materials free of platinum-group elements -- substances previously thought to be indispensable in water electrolysis. These materials may be used to reduce the cost of large-scale production of green hydrogen -- a next-generation energy source.
Published Researchers create coating solution for safer food storage
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Galvanized steel containers and surfaces are used for harvested produce because of their durability, strength and lower cost compared to stainless steel. However, bacteria residing in storage containers can cause corrosion. The new coating will reduce corrosion by at least 70 percent, researchers say.
Published Researchers use GPS-tracked icebergs in novel study to improve climate models
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research unearthed new information to help scientists better understand circulation patterns of ocean water around glaciers. In the summers of 2014 and 2019, a group of pioneers in glacial research attached GPS devices to 13 icebergs and tracked hourly changes in their positions as they passed through Greenland's Ilulissat Icefjord toward the ocean. Study results showed circulation in the primary fjord is greatly affected by freshwater flow from connecting tributary fjords, which is critically important to consider in circulation models.
Published Convergent evolution of algal CO2-fixing organelles
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers identified the proteins of a CO2-fixing organelle, namely, 'pyrenoid,' in the marine algal group Chlorarachniophyta and revealed various pyrenoid-associated proteins among algal groups, suggesting the independent evolution of pyrenoids in different algal groups.
Published Light into the darkness of photosynthesis
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers succeed at generating 3D visualizations of chloroplasts' copying machines.
Published Mercury rising: Study sheds new light on ancient volcanoes' environmental impact
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Massive volcanic events in Earth's history that released large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere frequently correlate with periods of severe environmental change and mass extinctions. A new method to estimate how much and how rapidly carbon was released by the volcanoes could improve our understanding of the climate response, according to an international team.
Published Microbial viruses act as secret drivers of climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have discovered that viruses that infect microbes contribute to climate change by playing a key role in cycling methane, a potent greenhouse gas, through the environment.
Published Lake ecosystems: Nitrogen has been underestimated
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An ecological imbalance in a lake can usually be attributed to increased nutrient inputs. The result: increased phytoplankton growth, oxygen deficiency, toxic cyanobacterial blooms and fish kills. Until now, controls in lake management have focused primarily on phosphorus inputs to counteract this effect. Now, this dogma is shaken by a study showing that nitrogen is also a critical driver for phytoplankton growth in lakes worldwide.
Published Researchers improve the stability of perovskite solar cells
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Perovskite solar cells are considered the strongest contender to replace silicon solar cells. While they achieve high power conversion energy, they also suffer from lead leakage and perovskite degradation due to moisture. Now scientists leverage the technique of interfacial passivation, where lead ions are bound by crown ether B18C6, obtaining 21.7% power conversion energy. The crown ether also resists degradation due to moisture for 300 hours at room temperature and 85% humidity.
Published How first cells could have formed on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New phospholipid discovery brings researchers closer to understanding how primordial cells emerged during origin of life.
Published Emergency atmospheric geoengineering wouldn't save the oceans
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Climate change is heating the oceans, altering currents and circulation patterns responsible for regulating climate on a global scale. If temperatures dropped, some of that damage could theoretically be undone. But employing 'emergency' atmospheric geoengineering later this century in the face of continuous high carbon emissions would not be able to reverse changes to ocean currents, a new study finds. This would critically curtail the intervention's potential effectiveness on human-relevant timescales.
Published 80 mph speed record for glacier fracture helps reveal the physics of ice sheet collapse
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research documents the fastest-known large-scale breakage along an Antarctic ice shelf. A 6.5-mile crack formed in 2012 over 5-and-a-half minutes, showing that ice shelves can effectively shatter -- though the speed is limited by seawater rushing in. The results help inform large-scale ice sheet models and projections of future sea level rise.