and his team build confidence in greenhouse gas measurements taken from aircraft and satellites which can cover large areas more effectively.
A NASA aircraft soon appears overhead carrying a prototype satellite instrument that records high-resolution images of methane that scientists can use to identify gas plumes.
and buildings with broader denser remote-sensing observations from aircraft mountaintops and satellites. Other instruments track winds and vertical motion of the atmosphere--both of which are key to interpreting the greenhouse gas measurements.
NASA's recently launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite is capable of detecting the enhanced levels of carbon dioxide over the world's largest cities
and those resulting from biological influences such as urban green spaces and adjacent forest and croplands
Doing so requires more frequent and dense measurements and the ability to sense multiple species of greenhouse gases from Earth's surface and from space.
These super-sites will provide a link between measurements from the surface instrumentation network and from satellites overhead.
Satellites such as NASA's OCO-2 and Japan's Greenhouse Gases Satellite (GOSAT) periodically sample the air over Los angeles and a subset of other cities around the world.
It may someday serve as part of an international constellation of carbon monitoring satellites providing frequent comprehensive mapping of greenhouse gases across entire cities and broader regions.
and atmospheric moisture future satellites will also use'chemical cameras'to map the distributions of greenhouse gases
the Keck Institute for Space Studies Pasadena California; and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Sacramento California.
Sigma Space Corporation Lanham Maryland; Resources for the Future Washington D c.;and the INFLUX team.
because larger trees require more space hence each stand will have fewer trees explains Pretzsch. The scientists are putting the growth acceleration down to rising temperatures and the extended growing season.
If you think about a mass extinction caused by catastrophic event such as a meteorite impacting Earth you might imagine all species are equally likely to die Blonder said.
Despite the fact that tropical forests are the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems on the planet more is known about bellybutton bacteria than bacteria on trees in the tropics.
or FFDAS this new system was used to quantify 15 years of CO2 emissions every hour for the entire planet--down to the city scale.
These maps provide a scientific independent assessment of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions--something policy-makers can use
The research team combined information from space-based nighttime lights a new population database national statistics on fuel use
#Diversified farming practices might preserve evolutionary diversity of wildlifeas humans transform the planet to meet our needs all sorts of wildlife continue to be pushed aside including many species that play key roles in Earth's life-support systems.
and we have the tools for action to try keep temperature increases within 2â°C to give our planet a chance
It is high time the ocean as the primary driver of the planet's climate and attenuator of climate change becomesa central part of climate change discussions said Wendy Watson-Wright Executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.
which protects us from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. Ocean Acidificationfor the first time this Bulletin contains a section on ocean acidification prepared in collaboration with the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC
The albedo effect refers to the amount of radiation reflected by the surface of the planet.
and heat back into space than darker forests.)Unger says the combined effects of reduced BVOC emissions
Since the mid-19th century the percentage of the planet covered by cropland has doubled more than from 14 percent to 37 percent.
since they generally reflect solar radiation back into space. Therefore a 50 percent reduction in forest aerosols has spurred actually greater warming since the pre-industrial era.
Called the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar the instrument will be the first to systematically probe the depths of the forests from space.
The instrument will be built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland. As a global leader in research and discovery related to environmental sustainability the University of Maryland is extraordinarily proud to be a part of this new venture with our partners from NASA said University of Maryland Vice president and Chief Research
when combined with the historical record of changes captured by the U s s longstanding program of Earth-orbiting satellites such as Landsat and MODIS.
The MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer is an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.
because it's a laser-based system called a lidar that can measure the distance from the space-based instrument to Earth's surface with enough accuracy to detect subtle variations including the tops of trees the ground and the vertical distribution of aboveground
Its immediate predecessors are Goddard's Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESAT) and airborne Land Vegetation and Ice Sensor known as LVIS
By combining these findings with spatially comprehensive maps from other satellites showing where development and deforestation are taking place
The plastic materials provide certain benefits to the process as the occupying space there allows better aeration and growing area.
#Study shows where on the planet new roads should and should not goresearchers have created a'large-scale zoning plan'that aims to limit the environmental costs of road expansion
Now an ambitious study has created a'global roadmap'for prioritising road building across the planet to try to balance the competing demands of development and environmental protection.
Pebble-size particles may jumpstart planet formationrocky planets like Earth start out as microscopic bits of dust tinier than a grain of sand
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have discovered that filaments of star-forming gas near the Orion Nebula may be brimming with pebble-size particles--planetary building blocks 100
If confirmed these dense ribbons of rocky material may well represent a new mid-size class of interstellar particles that could help jumpstart planet formation.
The large dust grains seen by the GBT would suggest that at least some protostars may arise in a more nurturing environment for planets said Scott Schnee an astronomer with the National Radio astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville Virginia.
and something similar can be said for planet formation. The new GBT observations extend across the northern portion of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex a star-forming region that includes the famed Orion Nebula.
The star-forming material in the section studied by the GBT called OMC-2/3 has condensed into long dust-rich filaments.
The filaments are dotted with many dense knots known as cores. Some of the cores are just starting to coalesce
Though incredibly small compared to even the most modest of asteroids dust grains on the order of a few millimeters to a centimeter are incredibly large for such young star-forming regions.
Rather than typical interstellar dust these researchers appear to have detected vast streamers of gravel--essentially a long and winding road in space said NRAO astronomer Jay Lockman who was involved not in these observations.
and we have known that there are things the size of asteroids and planets but if we can confirm these results it would add a new population of rocky particles to interstellar space.
The most recent data were taken with the Green Bank Telescope's high frequency imaging camera MUSTANG.
MUSTANG-1. 5 the even more-sensitive successor to MUSTANG and ARGUS a camera designed for mapping the distribution of organic molecules in space.
vegetables for skin with sun-kissed glowforget sun beds sunbathing and fake tanning lotions. The secret to a sexy healthy glow lies in eating your five-a-day reveals new breakthrough research from Taylor & francis. A new and innovative study recently published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental psychology sheds new light on the importance
analysis showsa new analysis suggests the planet can produce much more land-plant biomass--the total material in leaves stems roots fruits grains
When you try to estimate something over the whole planet you have to make some simplifying assumptions said University of Illinois plant biology professor Evan Delucia who led the new analysis
but the theory tells us that what is possible on the planet is much much higher than
I don't want to be the guy that says science is going to save the planet and we shouldn't worry about the environmental consequences of agriculture we shouldn't worry about runaway population growth he said.
While the toxic substances in e-cigarettes are lower than those in cigarette smoke nonsmokers could be exposed involuntarily to nicotine in any confined space where e-cigarettes are used Unregulated e-cigarettes could potentially turn back the clock to the days
This changes the speed of the huge current in the Atlantic ocean that circulates heat throughout the planet.
Currently there is no ground-or satellite-based global network monitoring soil moisture at a local level.
http://smap. jpl. nasa. gov/NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns.
and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community
and protecting our home planet. For more information about NASA's Earth science activities in 2014 visit:
This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on August 15 2014.
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length n
when you see this raging fire where exactly is all this energy being released in space?
) In a computer model we are using very small volumes of space on the order of one cubic millimeter on one end to a cubic meter on the other end he says.
We model these on a grid as a region of space. Fire is a process in
#What are made stars of? Determining stellar compositions made easier with new catalogan Arizona State university alumna has devised the largest catalog ever produced for stellar compositions.
Called the Hypatia Catalog after one of the first female astronomers who lived 350 AD in Alexandria the work is critical to understanding the properties of stars how they form
and possible connections with orbiting planets. And what she found from her work is that the compositions of nearby stars aren't as uniform as once thought.
Since it is not possible to physically sample a star to determine its composition astronomers study of the light from the object.
This is known as spectroscopy and it is one of the most important tools that an astronomer has for studying the universe.
The digital catalog is a compilation of spectroscopic abundance data from 84 literature sources for 50 elements across 3058 stars in the solar neighborhood within 500 lightyears of the Sun. It essentially lists the compositions of stars
but only stars that are like the Sun --or F-G-or K-type (the Sun is A g-type star)--that are relatively near to the Sun. This catalog can hopefully be used to guide a better understanding of how the local neighborhood has evolved explains Natalie Hinkel who graduated from ASU in 2012 with her doctorate in astrophysics
and is now a postdoctoral fellow at San francisco State University (SFSU). Putting together a catalog this large that is an accumulation of other people's work required a substantial amount of background research--compiling the first 50 datasets took her about six months.
The most obvious one for astronomers is looking at stars who host extrasolar planets or exoplanets.
Since 1997 we've known that stars with giant Jupiter-like planets have quite a bit of iron in them.
However with a catalog of this magnitude we can now study literally all of the other elements measured in stars in great detail to see
if there are relationships between the presence of a planet (gaseous or terrestrial) and the element abundances explains Hinkel.
Another example would be to look at the abundances of stars that rotate quickly versus those that rotate slowly to see
While constructing the catalog Hinkel noticed that the stars in the solar neighborhood reveal unexpected compositions
The Sun is in the disk of the galaxy where the vast majority of the Milky way's young stars are located.
As the disk rotates so too do the stars--both in the direction of the disk as well as in smaller random motions.
Because of this motion within the disk the stars are considered to be well mixed--like a tossed salad.
--or many stars that have similar abundances in close proximity to each other explains Hinkel. However what Hinkel found is that the nearby'solar salad'is comprised of lettuce at the bottom chunks of tomato in the middle (where the middle of the galactic plane is) then lettuce again on top.
In this case the lettuce are stars that all have a high abundances of quite a few elements
and the tomatoes are stars that have low abundances of those same elements. In other words the solar neighborhood does not appear to be mixed a salad;
The Pine Barrens gentian species (Gentiana autumnalis) thrives after its ecosystem has experienced disturbance as one of the earliest species to begin re-inhabiting empty spaces--a phase known as early succession.
This island is way out in the North Atlantic where the sun doesn't shine much she said.
One of the biggest moves in agriculture Vierstra says is to be able to grow plants at higher density allowing producers to plant more crops in a given area thus saving space and other resources.
Plants in full sun absorb red light while shaded plants receive only the leftover far-red light. The type of light the phytochrome sees tells the plant
Photoconversion between the active and inactive states of phytochromes is arguably the most important twitch on this planet as it tells plants to become photosynthetic
By mutating the phytochromes we created plants that think they're in full sun even when they're not Vierstra says.
and crop sciences professor Keith Paustian is implementing the new web-based tool COMET-Farm in conjunction with the report.
COMET-Farm is unique in that it allows non-experts to use very advanced methods databases and models for greenhouse gas inventory via a fully spatial user-friendly interface.
The lead software engineer on COMET-Farm CSU computer science alumnus Kevin Brown is the lead software engineer on COMET-Farm
Carbon particles floating around in the spaces between the droplets also absorb scattered sunlight converting it to heat.
and conclusively demonstrating the evolutionary relationships of the most popular insects on the planet Rubinoff said.
The study also suggests butterflies are the ancestral group to the tens of thousands of moth species on the planet
when bats'spread across the planet as a means of escaping these and other nocturnal predators Kawahara said.
The ranches'physical geography including open spaces and the proximity of wooded areas in which the cats can hide
and coupled them with publicly available satellite imagery to scale carbon inventories up to the national level.
and travel and created sacred spaces. They were aware of the succession so they staggered burns by 5 to 10 years to create mosaics of forest in different stages
Soil respiration releases carbonthe planet's soil releases about 60 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year which is far more than that released by burning fossil fuels.
We hope that soon we will be able to examine agricultural practices in even greater detail--with the launch of the European space agency's Sentinel satellites which will provide regular data at even higher spatial resolution.
and outside factors such as the sun pesticides and other pollutants Dalaly explained. If left to roam free these free radicals can attack DNA proteins
and net radiation--defined as the amount of energy from the sun that is absorbed by the land minus the amount reflected back into the atmosphere by Earth's surface.
The team also had to correct the data for errors due to changes in instruments or satellites
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this week NASA's Aura satellite and its four onboard instruments measure some of the climate agents in the atmosphere including greenhouse gases clouds
Measuring Greenhouse Gaseswhen the sun shines On earth some of the light reaches and warms the surface.
and how they change over time said Bryan Duncan an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland.
along with data records from previous satellites going back to 1985 to show that the tropical cirrus cloud distribution has been steady giving scientists information about the interplay among water vapor ice and the life cycle of these clouds.
Aerosols reflect radiation from the sun back into space; this tends to cool Earth's surface. Aerosols such as dust and smoke also absorb radiation
http://mls. jpl. nasa. gov/index-eos-mls. phpnasa monitors Earth's vital signs from land air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne
and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community
and protecting our home planet. For more information about NASA's Earth science activities in 2014 visit:
and distribution of plants and animals around the globe big data has yet to make a mark on conservation efforts to preserve the planet's biodiversity.
The values calculated were compared with monitoring data from many different wells and data from the GRACE satellites.
These satellites measure changes in Earth's gravity field. DÃ ll has come to the conclusion that the rate at
and by critically reviewing the findings from 17 different pieces of research has found that outdoor spaces can offer environments that promote relaxation encourage activity
) the systematic review also found that gardens could offer welcome spaces for interactions with visitors helping to stimulate memories for dementia patients
and ensuring staff have time to let residents enjoy an outdoor space to its full potential.
and setting influences its ability to affect wellbeing yet it's clear that these spaces need to offer a range of ways of interacting--to suit different people's preferences and needs.
and can pack far more information into less space. For example manufacturers have announced plans for RRAM prototype chips that will be capable of storing about one terabyte of data on a device the size of a postage stamp--more than 50 times the data density of current flash memory technology.
Bocage which becomes a mazeto return to the hive bees navigate according to the position of the sun
#Cosmic grains of dust formed in supernova explosionthere are billions of stars and planets in the universe.
A star is glowing sphere of gas while planets like Earth are made up of solids.
The planets are formed in dust clouds that swirled around a newly formed star. Dust grains are composed of elements like carbon silicon oxygen iron and magnesium.
But where does the cosmic dust come from? New research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University shows that not only can grains of dust form in gigantic supernova explosions they can also survive the subsequent shockwaves they are exposed to.
The results are published in the scientific journal Nature. How the cosmic dust is formed has long been a mystery to astronomers.
The elements themselves are formed out of the glowing hydrogen gas in stars. The hydrogen atoms fuse together into heavier and heavier elements
and in the fusion process the star emits radiation in the form of light that is energy.
and giant clouds of gas are slung out into space where they are recycled into new stars in a vast cosmic cycle.
which are massive stars that die in a gigantic explosion. But how do the elements grow into'larger clumps'like cosmic dust grains?
even though dust grains composed of heavy elements would form in supernovae the supernova explosion is so violent that the grains of dust may not survive.
Jens Hjorth explains that first they had to wait for the right luminous supernova to explode.
This was a very bright supernova 10 times brighter than the average supernova. The exploding star itself had been very massive more than 40 times the mass of the Sun. Researchers from the Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute Aarhus University
and NASA among others followed the explosion right from the start and the following 2â years and analysed the light from the very bright supernova.
Dust formed through shock interaction Dust absorbs light and from our data we could calculate a curve that told us the about the amount of dust the composition of the dust and the size of the dust grains.
which the star expels material containing hydrogen helium and carbon. This gas cloud resides as a shell around the star.
There are more of these outbursts and the shell around the star gets denser. Finally the star explodes
and the dense gas cloud take centre stage. When the star explodes the shockwave hits the dense gas cloud like a brick wall.
It is all in gas form and incredibly hot but when the eruption hits the'wall'the gas gets compressed
and cools down to about 2000 degrees. At this temperature and density elements can nucleate
but may be from sol for sun or from solamen for consolation comforting or quieting. Some of them are permanently quieting
Researchers are continuing that tradition by designing robots to work in a deep-space habitat tending gardens and growing food for astronaut explorers.
and use it in future space missions said Tracy Gill NASA's technology strategy manager at the Kennedy space center in Florida.
Plants Growing in Free Habitat Spaces. Instead of an area set aside just for vegetation the approach calls for plants to be distributed in any available space in a deep-space habitat.
The X-Hab challenge is a university-level project designed to engage and retain students in science technology engineering and math or STEM.
and manufacture of functional prototype subsystems that could be used in extraterrestrial habitats and during deep-space exploration missions.
It is a concept for producing edible plants during long-term missions to destinations such as Mars. Heather Hava who is working on a doctorate in aerospace engineering sciences explains that the goal is to have robots do much of the monotonous tasks saving time
and takes advantage of unutilized space in the habitat. In their new system a Remotely Operated Gardening Rover or ROGR travels around the habitat tending to a fleet of Smartpots or SPOTS
which would be distributed throughout the deep-space habitat's living space. The SPOTS facilitate plants growing in a small custom-designed hydroponic growth chamber with computerized systems to monitor the vegetation's progress.
We envision dozens of SPOTS on a space habitat said Dane Larsen who is working on a master's degree on computer science.
While living in a space habitat is basically residing in a mechanized environment Hava says humans by their makeup still need to be around nature.
Now I have an opportunity to bridge Earth farming systems to space. Hava noted that the team has benefited from support from former NASA astronaut Joe Tanner who now is a senior instructor of aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado and Nikolaus Correll assistant professor of computer science at the university.
NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation selected seven projects from six universities for the 2013-2014 X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge.
and concepts that could be used in future deep-space habitats. In doing so they worked in close cooperation with members of the NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Program's Deep-space Habitat Project team.
The challenge encourages multidisciplinary approaches outreach efforts and partnerships with experts and industry. Participants are required to explore NASA's work on development of deep-space habitats
and help the agency gather new ideas to complement its current research and development. The University of Colorado Boulder also is among five universities selected by NASA for the 2015 X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge.
The team's project will focus on designing a Deployable Greenhouse for Food Production for deep-space missions.
Hava says she would like to have an opportunity to apply her research on a deep-space mission.
While the research is said exciting she I would love to go to Mars and explore. I see myself as potentially being the first Mars space gardener.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by NASA. The original article was written by By Bob Granath NASA's Kennedy space center Florida.
Mission 5 of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is scheduled to launch to the space station on July 11.
The provision of food in space proved popular the focus of four studies. Students from Riebli Elementary and Mark West Charter School in California examine
The Cottage Lane students hope to determine how long the plant takes to germinate in microgravity while the Florida group looks at the frequency of lettuce seed germination in space.
which could be used as antiseptics or in food production in space. A study by Murray Hill Middle school in Maryland investigates the effects of microgravity on microencapsulation a process that could be used to help control the rate at
Sixth graders at North Attleborough Middle school in Massachusetts want to know the answer which could eventually be put to use healing wounds in space and On earth.
whether calcium sulfate crystals grown in space differ in size from those On earth. Crystal formation may cause jellyfish born in microgravity to lose their sense of direction
which would come in handy up in space. Eighth graders at Pennsauken Phifer Middle school in New jersey will examine the growth rate in microgravity of penicillium which future astronauts could grow as an antibiotic to treat infections.
Two teams are interested in rust in space St peter's School students in Kansas city Missouri want to determine how microgravity affects oxidation
which is part of the National Center for Earth and Space science Education (NCESSE) in the U s. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally.
A strategic partnership with Nanoracks LLC working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement makes the space station available as a student laboratory.
Participation by nine of the Mission 5 communities was possible in part thanks to a grant to NCESSE from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) a National Partner on SSEP.
Whether or not any of them continue conducting science investigations in space when they grow up the astronauts of the future will be grateful for their hard work now.
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