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Categories: Geoscience: Geography, Offbeat: Space
Published Climate change to shift tropical rains northward
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Atmospheric scientists predict that unchecked carbon emissions will force tropical rains to shift northward in the coming decades, which would profoundly impact agriculture and economies near the Earth's equator. The northward rain shift would be spurred by carbon emissions that influence the formation of the intertropical convergence zones that are essentially atmospheric engines that drive about a third of the world's precipitation.
Published Too many missing satellite galaxies found
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Bringing us one step closer to solving the 'missing satellites problem,' researchers have discovered two new satellite galaxies.
Published New class of Mars quakes reveals daily meteorite strikes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of researchers combine orbital imagery with seismological data from NASA's Mars InSight lander to derive a new impact rate for meteorite strikes on Mars. Seismology also offers a new tool for determining the density of Mars' craters and the age of different regions of a planet.
Published Projected loss of brown macroalgae and seagrasses with global environmental change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers predict that climate change will drive a substantial redistribution of brown seaweeds and seagrasses at the global scale. The projected changes are alarming due to the fundamental role seaweeds and seagrasses in coastal ecosystems and provide evidence of the pervasive impacts of climate change on marine life.
Published The density difference of sub-Neptunes finally deciphered
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The majority of stars in our galaxy are home to planets. The most abundant are the sub-Neptunes, planets between the size of Earth and Neptune. Calculating their density poses a problem for scientists: depending on the method used to measure their mass, two populations are highlighted, the dense and the less dense. Is this due to an observational bias or the physical existence of two distinct populations of sub-Neptunes? Recent work argues for the latter.
Published Antarctic ice shelves hold twice as much meltwater as previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Slush -- water-soaked snow -- makes up more than half of all meltwater on the Antarctic ice shelves during the height of summer, yet is poorly accounted for in regional climate models. The findings could have profound implications for ice shelf stability and sea level rise.
Published New twists on tornadoes: Earth scientist studies why U.S. has so many tornadoes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Across the Midwest during the warmer months, studying the sky for signs of storms and tornadoes becomes one of the most popular pastimes. Working at the intersection of climate science and meteorology and using modeling, scientists are looking at the big picture of what causes severe storms and tornadoes -- and what dictates where they occur.
Published Researchers address ocean paradox with 55 gallons of fluorescent dye
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have directly measured cold, deep water upwelling via turbulent mixing along the slope of a submarine canyon in the Atlantic Ocean.
Published El Niño forecasts extended to 18 months with innovative physics-based model
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source As more attention is drawn to possible severe weather around the world scientists are looking to improve planning for possible droughts, floods and other scenarios. A team of researchers created a new tool that will allow forecasting of El Nino Southern Oscillation by up to 18 months.
Published Precision instrument bolsters efforts to find elusive dark energy
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Dark energy -- a mysterious force pushing the universe apart at an ever-increasing rate -- was discovered 26 years ago, and ever since, scientists have been searching for a new and exotic particle causing the expansion. Physicists combined an optical lattice with an atom interferometer to hold atoms in place for up to 70 seconds -- a record for an atom interferometer -- allowing them to more precisely test for deviations from the accepted theory of gravity that could be caused by dark energy particles such as chameleons or symmetrons. Though they detected no anomalies, they're improving the experiment to perform more sensitive tests of gravity, including whether gravity is quantized.
Published Shocked quartz reveals evidence of historical cosmic airburst
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers continue to expand the case for the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The idea proposes that a fragmented comet smashed into the Earth's atmosphere 12,800 years ago, causing a widespread climatic shift that, among other things, led to the abrupt reversal of the Earth's warming trend and into an anomalous near-glacial period called the Younger Dryas.
Published Pillars of creation star in new visualization from NASA's Hubble and Webb telescopes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Made famous in 1995 by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the Pillars of Creation in the heart of the Eagle Nebula have captured imaginations worldwide with their arresting, ethereal beauty. Now, NASA has released a new 3D visualization of these towering celestial structures using data from NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. This is the most comprehensive and detailed multiwavelength movie yet of these star-birthing clouds.
Published Underwater mountains have a big impact on ocean circulation
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Colossal undersea mountains, towering up to thousands of metres high, stir up deep sea currents: impacting how our ocean stores heat and carbon. An international team used numerical modelling to quantify how underwater turbulence around these mountains, called seamounts, influences ocean circulation; finding it is an important mechanism in ocean mixing and one that is missing from climate models used in policymaking.
Published Surprising phosphate finding in NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Early analysis of the asteroid Bennu sample returned by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed dust rich in carbon, nitrogen, and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it. Dominated by clay minerals, particularly serpentine, the sample mirrors the type of rock found at mid-ocean ridges on Earth. The magnesium-sodium phosphate found in the sample hints that the asteroid could have splintered off from an ancient, small, primitive ocean world.
Published Telltale greenhouse gases could signal alien activity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source If aliens modified a planet in their solar system to make it warmer, we'd be able to tell. A new study identifies the artificial greenhouse gases that would be giveaways of a terraformed planet.
Published First of its kind detection made in striking new Webb image
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For the first time, a phenomenon astronomers have long hoped to directly image has been captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). In this stunning image of the Serpens Nebula, the discovery lies in the northern area of this young, nearby star-forming region.
Published Geologists expect Chang'e-6 lunar surface samples to contain volcanic rock and impact ejecta
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source On June 25, China's Chang'e-6 (CE-6) lunar probe is set to return to Earth, carrying the first surface samples collected from the farside of the Moon. In anticipation of this historic event, scientists are publishing their predictions for the unique materials that may be found in the CE-6 samples.
Published A hidden treasure in the Milky Way -- Astronomers uncover ultrabright x-ray source
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers uncovered that a well-known X-ray binary, whose exact nature has been a mystery to scientists until now, is actually a hidden ultraluminous X-ray source.
Published Carbon dioxide's heavy stamp on temperature: Doubling CO2 may mean 7 to 14 degree increase
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A doubling of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere could cause an increase in the average temperature on earth from 7 to even a maximum of 14 degrees. That is shown in the analysis of sediments from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
Published Star clusters observed within a galaxy in the early Universe
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The history of how stars and galaxies came to be and evolved into the present day remains among the most challenging astrophysical questions to solve yet, but new research brings us closer to understanding it. New insights about young galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization have been revealed. Observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the galaxy Cosmic Gems arc (SPT0615-JD) have confirmed that the light of the galaxy was emitted 460 million years after the big bang. What makes this galaxy unique is that it is magnified through an effect called gravitational lensing, which has not been observed in other galaxies formed during that age.