#Javelin-Hurling Scientists Measure Antarctic Glacier Melt How quickly are glaciers in Antarctica melting? Researchers are launching javelin-shaped devices out of airplanes to help answer that question
So far scientists have deployed about 25 of these GPS-equipped javelins in Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier
and relay their positions for two to three years allowing researchers to figure out how quickly the glacier is flowing into the ocean.
Preliminary measurements show that the Pine Island Glacier's march to the sea is speeding up Gudmundsson told Ouramazingplanet.
The Pine Island Glacier is thinning faster than any other glacier in Antarctica and it's important to find out why
By some estimates this glacier alone could be responsible for about 5 percent of global sea level rise
Like many glaciers in polar regions the Pine Island Glacier's expanse of ice doesn't stop
That produces less resistance for the glacier on land which as a result slides toward the ocean faster than before Gudmundsson said.
And behind the Pine Island Glacier is an even larger section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet one of the largest in the world.
The glacier acts like a plug in a leaky dam and if it collapses it could have devastating consequences for global sea levels he added.
and hypertension said Jeffrey O'hara an agricultural economist with UCS's Food and Environment Program and the author of the recent report.
According to a 2012 U s. Department of agriculture study some 30 million Americans are living in poor neighborhoods more than a mile from the nearest supermarket.
The river is declining as a result of receding glaciers and smaller snowpacks both of which are consequences of a warming climate.
But even worse as the Athabasca flows downstream through the scarred industrial landscape it is contaminated by toxic waste leaching from tar-sands mining operations that poison the waters threatening wildlife
but now I realize it was only the tip of the iceberg. Back then the production of tar-sands oil had reached just a high point of 1. 2 million barrels per day when
and under President Barack Obama's climate test the pipeline should be rejected. Six years ago I was lucky to get a mention of our canoe expedition through the tar-sands region in the local Canadian papers.
I couldn't have imagined that six years later the U s. president would set a high-profile marker to review the proposed Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline based on its climate impacts.
Since I paddled down the Athabasca River the environmental devastation of the region has worsened only
and so has our climate. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. s
One redeeming quality Researchers have noticed that Africanized honeybees seem to be isolated in their current range by temperature and rainfall according to the USDA.
and they seem to dislike steady yearlong rainfall. Rainfall over 55 inches distributed evenly throughout the year is almost a complete barrier to Africanized honey bee spread entomologist Josã D. Villa of the Honey Bee Breeding Genetics
and Physiology Research Unit in Baton rouge La. told Agricultural Research magazine..While attacks by the bees remain very rare Miller told KCENTV. com that he's seen at least five cases of Africanized hives in the past month more than he usually sees all year.
Because of the lake s depth and the warm weather that comes in from the southwest Lake ontario rarely freezes over.
While the entire region is affected by lake-effect snow there is a prominent snow belt along the southeastern shore that can be deluged with 20 feet (600 cm) of snow annually.
The impact of the lake-effect snow can be felt as far as Syracuse N y
Lake ontario s climate is conducive to fruit tress and the area has become a major growing area for apples cherries peaches pears and plums.
The cave-sleeping may be related to a unique feature of this environment the spiny forest. In this area most of the trees are lined with woody spines starting near the ground making for easy climbing for predators.
'Moving Beyond an Unhelpful Phrase (Op-Ed) Margaret Mellon is a senior scientist for food and the environment at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS.
and the potential environmental risks of biotechnology holding a doctorate in molecular biology and a law degree.
#Light in Cloud Forests Can Outshine a Sunny Day In mist-enshrouded cloud forests the ecosystem can differ dramatically from those nearby.
Life Up in the Clouds Ethereal places Anyone who has been on a mountain hike has seen how the misty mountaintop ecosystem can be a world away from one just a few hours'hike below.
and wet with cloud bottoms often grazing the forest floor and mountaintops shrouded in fog for 60 to 80 percent of all the days in the growing season Reinhardt said.
Unsurprisingly on the few sunny days the trees were exposed to bright light and completely cloudy days were very very dark.
That's because light scattered from cloud edges combines with the direct sunlight amplifying the light exposure.
While an individual leaf may see less light the forest on average as an ecosystem sees quite a bit Reinhardt said.
But these sky island trees see a boost in their energy harvesting into midday perhaps to take advantage of a period
and so tended to be more drought-resistant than similar trees in other ecosystems. Â These trees might not be designed for
when the clouds are there but when the clouds are not there Reinhardt said. These are relatively high elevation sites so
when the clouds are not there it can get pretty dry. Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterâ and Google+.
+Â Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Livescience S
#'Longhorn'Dinosaur Fossil Discovered in Utah The fossilized remains of a newly identified dinosaur with horns so long they would put Triceratops to shame has been discovered in the Utah desert.
and changing food supplies these traits could be useful to breeders developing hardier breeds of cattle especially in the face of climate change Mctavish said.
The device would've been useful in muddy weather when shoes are under pressure as it makes the seam much more resistant to water.
In the dry (and generally not muddy) climate of ancient Egypt he said that it's a surprising innovation
Researchers at Emory University near Atlanta have demonstrated that primates map their environment using grid cells specialized neurons that help the animals navigate by overlaying a virtual grid made of triangles atop regularly spaced points in the environment.
the entorhinal cortex gets input about the environment from the senses and sends its output up to the hippocampus
These grids overlap to generate a high-resolution map of the entire environment. In humans the entorhinal cortex is one of the first areas to degenerate in Alzheimer's disease.
When Buffalo and her coworkers compared eye-tracking results to the electrode measurements they found that the monkeys like the rats were using neurons in the entorhinal cortex to construct a triangular grid they could superimpose on their environment.
The next step is to study grid cells in a 3-D virtual environment where the ability to manipulate the monkeys'surroundings permits researchers to study how grid cells respond to a range of variables.
Female blue tits that construct bigger nests and decorate them with fragrant plants have male partners that are more willing to invest in raising chicks Spanish researchers report in the journal Behavioral Ecology.
However for this new project the researchers generated a groundbreaking 4500 characters using a cloud-based and publicly accessible database called Morphobank.
Even after rainfall levels bounced back in the next several years the forest continued to suffer according to a NASA-led group of scientists.
The study's leader Sassan Saatchi of NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory Pasadena Calif. said that more frequent droughts due to climate change could drag on rainforest ecosystems and the carbon cycle in the long run.
or increase in frequency due to climate change large areas of the Amazon forest are likely to be exposed to persistent effects of droughts
This may alter the structure and function of Amazonian rainforest ecosystems. The 2005 drought affected a much bigger area than scientists had estimated previously Saatchi's team found through satellite observations.
and ecology Pimiento told Livescience. When you have a very large organism like Megalodon that can be very good or very bad.
and the ecosystem can support a lower population density of them since they need more resources including space to survive.
but Pimiento plans to look at climate data and information on other species to tease that out.
and climate that produced that pattern or with their prey and their competitors that made the species become large Pimiento said.
and extinction of the top predator lineage that must have had a significant impact to the ocean ecology said Kenshu Shimada a paleobiologist at Depaul University in Chicago who was involved not in the study.
#Melting Sea Ice Keeps Hungry Polar bears On land Polar bears the iconic victims of climate change are shifting their migration patterns because of changes in sea ice.
The findings are detailed today (March 19) in the Journal of Animal Ecology. Animal ecologists have been trying to figure out how seasonal conditions in the environment affect animal migration patterns
and how climate change can redistribute resources that affect those patterns. Keeping track of when polar bears move on
and off the ice is an important aspect of monitoring the risks to the population associated with climate change study leader Seth Cherry a graduate student in ecology at the University of Alberta Canada told Livescience in an email.
Polar bears hunt their main food source seals primarily while on sea ice. Changes in the ice are driving the bears to spend more time on land where they have to go longer without eating
Climate-induced changes that cause sea ice to melt earlier form later or both likely affect the overall health of polar bears in the area Cherry said. 10 Odd Facts About Arctic Sea Ice Cherry
These are precisely the kind of changes one would expect to see as a result of a warming climate.
Recent research suggests that a change in climate played a role in this emigration. In a 2008 American Scientist article researchers note that pollen remains indicate that the weather in at least part of the Mesa verde region became colder. oepresumably the most productive portions of this area became cold enough in the 900s to make maize
(farming) risky. Dry winters compounded this problem. This downturn in the climate did not last
and after A d. 930 evidence indicates that people moved back into the Mesa verde region. Their time at sites like Chaco Canyon to the south influenced them
In the American Scientist article researchers note that a mix of factors seems to be involved. oea combination of factors including climate change population growth competition for resources
Mexico is known for its tequila which is made from agave cactus that is well suited to the climate of central Mexico.
They would be appropriate for a general science class a biology class or an environmental science class.
While roads cover only a tiny fraction of the total land surface of South america's largest nation their effect on local ecosystems particularly rain forests may be huge.
The team's report which was published this month in the journal Regional Environmental Change concluded that approximately 10000 miles (17000 km) of roads were built every year in Brazil between 2004 and 2007.
This rampant road-building may be a major contributor to deforestation and habitat loss in one of planet Earth's most biologically diverse regions.
and the at which they are built is key to predicting deforestation Rob Ewers Imperial College London scientist
The effects that roads have on local ecosystems extend far beyond the locations of the roads themselves.
and connected ecosystems can continue to thrive despite the intrusion of human infrastructure. But road construction is just one of many factors leading to the continued deforestation of the world's largest rain forest.
Forest fires alone destroyed more than 33000 square miles (85500 square km) of forest between 1999 and 2010 according to a recent NASA release.
And a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that forest fires in the Amazon are only going to get worse as the region's annual dry season also known as fire season continues to extend every year.
</p><p></p><p>On June 4 meteorologists in Huntsville Ala. noticed a blob on their radar screen that looked like a strong thunderstorm
and not a drop of rain could be found within a few hundred miles. After some sleuthing and several wacky explanations the scientists have identified the culprit.</
and initially thought he was caught off-guard by a pop-up thunderstorm that wasn't in the forecast Matthew Havin data services manager at weather technology company Baron Services told Livescience in an email.
when they noticed a landslide on the lip of the summit crater. Within 15 seconds the whole north face of the mountain was on the move.
Keith put the plane into a steep dive to gain the speed to outrun the cloud of incandescent gas;
 The abrupt release of pressure over the magma chamber created a oenuees ardentes a glowing cloud of superheated gas
The cloud of ash darkened the skies causing streetlights to come on as far away as Spokane Wash. more than 300 miles (480 km) away.
As the north face was blown apart the heat instantly vaporized glacial ice and snow around the remaining parts of the mountain.
But much of this material is removed from the air by rain before it reaches the western Amazon Torres said.
a natural or man-made toxin disease drought heat starvation and even lightning. Spooky! Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena
Grasslands in the Namib desert start off homogenous but sparse rainfall and nutrient-poor soil spark intense competition between the grasses according to the new theory.
and nutrients from the soil causing their weaker neighbors to die and a barren gap to form in the landscape.
Finally they plugged the information along with climate data such as seasonal precipitation and temperatures into their computer models.
if they have more resources such as soil nitrogen and rainfall. This makes sense Cramer explained
and nutrients are already available in the environment. On the other hand the grasses require a large reservoir to sustain themselves
The researchers also discovered that rainfall strongly determines the distribution of the fairy circles across Namibia with circles only appearing in areas where there is just the right amount of rain (not too little but not too much.
but if there's too little rain the competition would become too severe and the circles would again disappear Cramer said.
Because the circles can only occur in this narrow moisture range differences in rainfall from year to year may cause them to suddenly disappear
The satellite called BIOMASS will use long range radar to pierce through clouds and collect data from forested regions inaccessible from the ground such as the boreal forests of Russia and the Amazon rain forest.
and better understand the role of deforestation in global climate change. The new data could also help inform reforestation projects aimed to slow the pace of climate change.
BIOMASS will be a hugely important instrument for global environmental science research in the coming years and its observations will be the basis of significant environmental policy in the areas of carbon cycling
and global warming Hank Shugart an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia and member of the BIOMASS advisory committee to the ESA said in a statement.
The BIOMASS satellite will cost roughly $525 million and is the seventh in ESA's fleet of Earth Explorer satellites
of which three are currently in orbit. Follow Laura Poppick on Twitter. Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.
It is also more resistant to rot-inducing fungi. oeour goal is to see regional wood species being used to make a new class of high-performance engineered wood products that excel in demanding environmental conditions said Matt Aro NRRI
#New US Natural Landmarks Relics of America's Past The National park service has designated two new national natural landmarks that stand as relics of ecosystems that were once widespread in the United states. The two new
s system (yes the drunker they were) the more likely they were to throw caution to the wind and ditch safe sex.
when a predator was introduced into their environment in this case how the birds'eyes followed a taxidermic raccoon as it rolled past the enclosure on a skateboard.
last year the event closed early due to Hurricane Sandy. This story was provided by Discovery News. w
whether genes environment or a combination of these factors are behind the disorder. OCPD or obsessive-compulsive disorder?
The tsunami killed an estimated 2000 adult albatrosses and about 110000 chicks in the wildlife refuge.
Ten of the positive samples were from chickens three from pigeons and seven from the surrounding environment.
It provides a rather unnatural environment where a lot of these different bird species that may have different flu viruses get together
Burj Khalifa in Dubai United arab emirates which reaches 2716.5 feet (828 m) into the sky. The building returns the claim of Earth's tallest freestanding structure to the Middle east:
Tallest lightning: High above Earth's surface extreme ultraviolet radiation from the sun reacts with air molecules to produce gigantic jets of lightning up to 56 miles (90 kilometers) tall that shoot up to the edge of space.
In 2001 scientists discovered these jets of lightning arcing from clouds in the lowest portion of the atmosphere the troposphere up to the ionosphere.
Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+.+Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Livescience i
However consumers may still wish to buy organic produce for environmental reasons: organically grown foods have a lower carbon footprint and use fewer pesticides.
That's when humanity's ecological footprint first exceeded the biocapacity of the planet. Before that people's ecological footprint measured as the area required to supply the food fish fiber
and energy we consume every year was within what the planet could sustain. In 1975 there were about 4. 1 billion people.
Future frontiers of agricultural expansion will most likely be in the tropics as people clear high-biodiversity tropical forests to raise cattle grow soy
Earth Overshoot Day is a reminder that such a high level of demand is already putting a huge ecological strain on our one planet.
You can do your part by taking personal actions to reduce your family's ecological footprint
and dragonflies ruled the skies. Tetrapods were becoming more specialized and two new groups of animals evolved.
Paleozoic geology and climate All this evolution took place against the backdrop of shifting continents and a changing climate.
which caused glaciers to form sending sea levels downward. Gondwana moved further south during the Ordovician while the smaller continents started to move closer together.
because its massive size prevented water-bearing rain clouds from penetrating far beyond the coasts. Â c
As a result many parents choose to eat at home in a controlled environment but group cookouts are possible
#Perfect Storm: Blizzard, Shutdown Pummel South dakota Ranchers On the same week that a federal budget standoff shut down vast swaths of the U s. government a freak blizzard shut down vast swaths of South dakota.
And both disasters have combined to devastate one of the state's biggest industries. The early autumn blizzard struck the state with unexpected fury dumping a record-breaking 19 inches (48 centimeters) of snow on Rapid city on Friday Oct 4.
Other parts of the state got more with some regions reporting snowdrifts almost 5 feet (1. 5 meters) deep.
As troubling as this storm was for people the blizzard was devastating for the region's cattle.
The 19 Weirdest Effects of the Government Shutdown As the snow melted the losses mounted for the state's ranchers who now face the grisly task of documenting the number of dead rotting cattle carcasses littering their land.
No assistance available Many of the cattle died of hypothermia winds in the blizzard reached 70 mph (113 km h)
The week prior to the blizzard temperatures were above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius)
She also voted against providing federal disaster assistance to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Nevertheless she's at the front of the line asking the federal government for money to help victims of South dakota's early-October blizzard said former U s. Treasury economist Joann Weiner in a Washington post blog Post it appears that Noem is against federal
spending until she's for it. South dakota's Sen. John Thune (R) also voted to defund the ACA
Like the snowstorm the government shutdown is causing major disruptions in people's lives and everyday business Johnson said in a statement.
The study was published today (July 26) in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Fungicides have been registered for use for many years
Agricultural pesticides and fungicides have been detected more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the east in the rural Sierra nevada's snow water air and amphibians.
and put toxicants at every clearing said Mourad Gabriel a University of California Davis wildlife disease ecologist who studies the effects of rodenticides on rare species. A lot of predators will use any type of trail system
so they don't pay much attention to what's around in their environment Smalling said. 40 Freaky Frog Photos Researchers collected Pacific chorus frogs on a north-south transect across Lassen volcanic national park Lake Tahoe Yosemite national park Stanislaus National Forest
The chemical concentrations were often higher in frog tissues than in the environment. The contaminants in the water and sediments were ridiculously low Smalling said.
Climate change is another factor. The complexity is very hard to deal with Shaffer said.
Winds coming off the Pacific ocean blow the aerosols west to the mountains where they fall out of the atmosphere in rain and snow.
The animals which travel long distances are considered environmental indicators of healthy forests. Since we often work in remote locations we sometimes make surprising discoveries in this case one that appears to be important for our understanding of human cultural history in the region Alexine Keuroghlian a researcher with WCS's Brazil program said in a statement.
and Pantanal ecosystems both for their cultural and natural heritage Julie Kunen director of WCS's Latin america and the Caribbean program said in a statement.
It faces threats in the wild including deforestation and hunting. Follow Megan Gannon onâ Twitterâ andâ Google+.
Op-Ed Suzy Friedman sustainable agriculture director for the Environmental Defense Fundâ contributed this article to Livescience's Expert Voices:
March 15 the New york times. The environmental devastation of Lake erie is a tragedy. But it s one that can be reversed.
For a decade the Environmental Defense Fund has been working with farmers and other partners in the Western Lake erie Basin to reduce fertilizer and sediment runoff.
But the payoff the size of the environmental win in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing algal blooms linked to agriculture is huge.
The most recent Ice age occurred then as glaciers covered huge parts of the planet Earth.
and Canada and parts of the northern United states. The remains of glaciers of the Ice age can still be seen in parts of the world including Greenland and Antarctica.
But the glaciers did not just sit there. There was a lot of movement over time and there were about 20 cycles
when the glaciers would advance and retreat as they thawed and refroze. Scientists identified the Pleistocene epoch s four key stages or ages Gelasian Calabrian Ionian and Tarantian.
While scientists haven t been able to determine the exact causes of an epoch changes in ocean current composition of the atmosphere changes in the position of the Earth in relation to the sun are believed to be key contributors.
Overall the climate was much colder and drier than it is today. Since most of the water On earth's surface was ice there was little precipitation
and rainfall was about half of what it is today. During peak periods with most of the water frozen global average temperatures were 5 to 10 degrees C (41 to 50 F) below today s temperature norms.
The variation in temperatures produced glacial advances because the cooler summers didn t completely melt the snow.
While Homo sapiens evolved many vertebrates especially large mammals succumbed to the harsh climate conditions of this period.
and climate change insufficient to account for the mega die off. Recent research suggests that an extraterrestrial object possibly a comet about 3 miles wide may have exploded over southern Canada nearly wiping out an ancient Stone age culture as well as megafauna like mastodons and mammoths a
What's more two different batches of the same herb could vary widely in their potency because of the environment in
#Precision farming Gains Global Foothold (Op-Ed) Lloyd Treinish leads the environmental science team in the Industry Solutions Department at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research center.
and the surrounding region to help predict weather conditions and optimize operations. While collecting real-time data on weather soil health of crops and air quality is important as is the availability of equipment
if skies are clear above your farm just outside of the city. At IBM we developed a precision agriculture weather-modeling service using Deep Thunder our Big data analytics technology for local customized high-resolution and rapid weather predictions.
With high accuracy Deep Thunder can deliver hyper-localized weather conditions up to three days in advance with calculations as fine as a single mile and as granular as every 10 minutes.
In practical terms a farmer armed with precise weather forecasting information may choose to hold off on fertilizing an area of a farm expecting heavy rains;
or he may irrigate only that portion of the farm that will not receive rainfall. With 70 percent of the world's freshwater supply already going to agriculture every drop counts.
and heavy rain can cause trucks to get stuck in mud. Coupling predictive analytics and modeling techniques with other sophisticated farming methods can prove to be quite beneficial
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