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Archive for June 30th, 2015
More than 2,000sq km British countryside lost to development in six years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
Independent: More than 2,000sq km of the British countryside has been lost in just six years, with much of it giving way to urban development and resource extraction, according to research which finds the landscape is changing at an alarming rate.
Forests, farmland and wetlands are being cleared to make way for new housing, mineral extraction, golf courses and wind farms, according to a new map detailing the make-up of the ground.
Comparing the latest survey with the previous one, the work reveals that...
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Stream Restoration: Ecological Repair Could Take 25+ Years
Posted by Nature World News: Catherine Arnold on June 30th, 2015
Nature World News: Learning the science of stream restoration is an ongoing project. In 2009, for instance, the National Science Foundation (NSF) helped fund a project in which University of California at Berkeley researchers built an artificial river bed for learning purposes. The NSF release commented, "Stream restoration is an extremely complex and delicate science. Because there is no formula to create meandering streams. Successful stream restorers almost require a sixth sense to get everything right and set a...
New study reveals mechanism regulating methane emissions in freshwater wetlands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Though they occupy a small fraction of Earth's surface, freshwater wetlands are the largest natural source of methane going into the atmosphere. New research from the University of Georgia identifies an unexpected process that acts as a key gatekeeper regulating methane emissions from these freshwater environments.
The study, published in Nature Communications by Samantha Joye and colleagues, describes how high rates of anaerobic methane oxidation, a process once considered insignificant in these...
Yosemite forest fire example of possible things to come
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Forest composition, ground cover and topography are the best predictors of forest fire severity in the Western U.S., according to Penn State physical geographers who also see that the long history of fire exclusion on federal lands leads to uncharacteristically severe burns and potentially changes the dynamics of forests and their recovery.
A hunter's illegal campfire in Stanislaus National Forest adjacent to Yosemite National Park started what would become the Rim fire, the third largest fire...
Major midwest flood risk underestimated by as much as five feet, study finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
ScienceDaily: As floodwaters surge along major rivers in the midwestern United States, a new study from Washington University in St. Louis suggests federal agencies are underestimating historic 100-year flood levels on these rivers by as much as five feet, a miscalculation that has serious implications for future flood risks, flood insurance and business development in an expanding floodplain. "This analysis shows that average high-water marks on these river systems are rising about an inch per year -- that's...
Beleaguered residents return to homes destroyed in Wash state wildfire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
Reuters: Families whose homes were destroyed in a massive grassland wildfire in Washington state were allowed to return to their residences on Tuesday, as firefighters fought to contain the virtually unchecked blaze, officials said.
Fueled by triple digit temperatures and gusting winds, the so-called Sleepy Hollow fire has scorched nearly 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) of rolling grasslands and brush around the city of Wenatchee since it erupted on a parched central Washington hillside on Sunday. The blaze...
Flood Maps Can Get Much Sharper With A Little Supercomputing Oomph
Posted by National Public Radio: Joe Palca on June 30th, 2015
National Public Radio: A small company in California is hoping to make a big splash by providing detailed flood maps to homeowners and insurance companies. And to do that, the company is using one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. The company is called Katrisk, based in Berkeley, Calif. Hydrologist and computer modeler Dag Lohmann is one of the company's founders. He says the flood maps the Federal Emergency Management Agency already produces will tell you how prone a particular area is to flooding. But FEMA's...
New CO2 rules should aid Keystone XL approval, TransCanada says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
Reuters: TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO) said on Tuesday that tightening climate-change rules from the governments of Canada and the province of Alberta help justify the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project.
The company, Canada's No.2 pipeline operator, released a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other department officials saying that increased carbon levies for Alberta oil sands producers and new Canadian targets for greenhouse-gas emission cuts should serve to...
U.S., Brazil and China All Set Major Climate Goals
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on June 30th, 2015
Climate Central: The world got a major dose of climate clarity on Tuesday. The U.S., Brazil and China -- three of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters -- all released major commitments to reduce or at least slow their greenhouse gas emissions, protect forests and ramp up their use of renewable energy.
The flurry of activity comes with five months to go until major climate talks in Paris. Those talks are considered critical for a global climate agreement and Tuesday's news indicates a growing level of commitment...
Hawaiian Natives and Astronomers Clash on ‘Holy Mountain’
Posted by Arutz Sheva: None Given on June 30th, 2015
Arutz Sheva: There is trouble in the tropical paradise of Hawaii, as a culture clash pits natives defending a mountain on whose summit their ancestors believed "gods" dwelled against astronomers hoping to build the world's best telescope. Mauna Kea stands a full 14,000 feet above the ocean and more than six miles above the sea floor, making it the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak. But a new $1.4 billion telescope at the summit has the island divided, reports the Washington Post on Tuesday. Several...