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Archive for February 15th, 2016
NASA Says Sea-Level Rise Temporarily Slowed By Aquifers & Lakes
Posted by Nature World: None Given on February 15th, 2016
Nature World: For the first time, scientists can see how water storage on land affects how much and how fast sea levels have risen. An orbiting NASA satellite calculated the amount of water stored on Earth's continents, and the measurements revealed that terrestrial bodies are soaking up an extra 3.2 trillion tons of water, which is briefly mitigating the rise in sea level by approximately 20 percent. This land water is being stored in lakes, underground aquifers and the soil. Researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion...
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Scientists discover new microbes that thrive deep in the earth
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: They live several kilometers under the surface of the earth, need no light or oxygen and can only be seen in a microscope. By sequencing genomes of a newly discovered group of microbes, the Hadesarchaea, an international team of researchers have found out how these microorganisms make a living in the deep subsurface biosphere of our planet.
Microorganisms that live below the surface of the earth remain one of the last great areas of exploration. Organisms that live there have not been grow in...
Two-thirds of the world’s population doesn’t have reliable access to fresh water
Posted by Mongabay: Mike Gaworecki on February 15th, 2016
Mongabay: New research paints a sobering picture about the water crisis looming over our heads. Previous studies have estimated anywhere from 1.7 and 3.1 billion people are already living with severe water shortages. But those studies underestimated the extent of water scarcity, according to researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, who published their findings in the journal Science Advances last week. The researchers say their results show that two-thirds of the global population — some...
Harmful Algae Toxins Found In 13 Alaskan Marine Animals
Posted by Nature World: None Given on February 15th, 2016
Nature World: Harmful algae toxins have been found in as many as 13 marine animals living in Alaska, according to a new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Researchers examined the stomach content, urine and feces of whales, walruses, sea lions, seals, porpoises and sea otters in the search of two types of toxins: domoic acid and saxitoxin.
"What really surprised us was finding these toxins so widespread in Alaska, far north of where they have been previously documented in...
Solar cells help purify water in developing countries
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a water purification plant that provides clean water far beyond the reach of the electrical grid -- thanks to solar cells. With the help of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus, these small and portable solar cell stations have now been placed across rural Bangladesh. "750 million people lack access to clean water across the globe. Providing safe drinking water is one of the biggest challenges and one of the most important goals for humanity,"...
Four billion people affected by severe water scarcity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: There are four billion people worldwide who are affected by severe water scarcity for at least one month a year. That is the conclusion of University of Twente Professor of Water Management, Arjen Hoekstra, after many years' extensive research. This alarming figure is much higher than was previously thought. His ground-breaking research was published in Science Advances. Professor Hoekstra's team is the first research group in the world to identify people's water footprint from month to month and...
Clouds reveal new particle formation process
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: n addition to precipitation, clouds influence the climate in various ways: they cover 70% of Earth's surface and represent nearly 15% of the volume of the atmosphere. Scientists need to understand their underlying chemical and physical mechanisms in order to better integrate them into climate change models.
An international team of researchers at the Laboratoire interuniversitaire des systèmes atmosphériques (CNRS/Université Paris-Est Créteil/Université Paris Diderot) and the Laboratoire chimie...
Climate scientists face tight deadline to deliver 1.5C research
Posted by Climate Home: None Given on February 15th, 2016
Climate Home: The UN`s climate science panel faces a tight deadline to drum up research on a 1.5C global warming limit.
Adopted as an aspirational goal at last December`s Paris summit, the 1.5C threshold is seen as critical to protect vulnerable communities. But most available analysis focuses on the longer standing 2C target.
Accordingly, in the small print of the deal was a request to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for a special report on 1.5C, by 2018.
That effectively gives researchers...
Shallow fracking wells contaminate drinking water, warns US scientist
Posted by Climate Home: Alex Pashley on February 15th, 2016
Climate Home: A kitchen tap catching fire in 2010 documentary Gasland highlighted the risks of the US shale boom, and energised a movement of anti-fracking activists.
Amid the controversy, does living near a gas or oil well really affect your drinking water?
"The answer to that question is usually 'no,` but there are exceptions," said Rob Jackson as the Stanford professor presented his research on groundwater quality on Sunday to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The US pumped out...
Footprints of primitive reptiles and amphibians from 280 million years ago
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: The ichnites or fossilised footprints of the Manyanet Valley (within the municipality of Sarroca de Bellera) are in two areas that differ in their environments: meandering fluvial systems in one and unconfined waters in the other. These two palaeoenvironments would have been inhabited by groups of different tetrapods during the Permian Period. The early tetrapods (from the Ancient Greek word meaning "four-footed") were the first vertebrates to tread terra firma, developing lungs to capture atmospheric...