Deadly Japan quake and tsunami spurred global warming, ozone loss
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 31, 2015 -
Buildings destroyed by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake released thousands of tons of climate-warming and ozone-depleting chemicals into the atmosphere, according to a new study.
New research suggests that the thousands of buildings destroyed and damaged during the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan four years ago released 6,600 metric tons (7,275 U.S. tons) of gases stored i ...
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Spring plankton bloom hitches ride to sea's depths on ocean eddies
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 31, 2015 -
Just as crocus and daffodil blossoms signal the start of a warmer season on land, a similar "greening" event - a massive bloom of microscopic plants, or phytoplankton - unfolds each spring in the North Atlantic Ocean from Bermuda to the Arctic.
Fertilized by nutrients that have built up during the winter, the cool waters of the North Atlantic come alive every spring and summer with a vivid ...
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Massive study explores ocean response to abrupt climate change
San Francisco CA (SPX) Mar 31, 2015 -
A 30-foot-long core sample of Pacific Ocean seafloor is changing what we know about ocean resiliency in the face of rapidly changing climate. A new study reports that marine ecosystems can take thousands, rather than hundreds, of years to recover from climate-related upheavals.
The study's authors - including Peter Roopnarine, PhD, of the California Academy of Sciences - analyzed thousands ...
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Photosynthesis hack needed to feed the world by 2050
Champaign IL (SPX) Mar 31, 2015 -
Using high-performance computing and genetic engineering to boost the photosynthetic efficiency of plants offers the best hope of increasing crop yields enough to feed a planet expected to have 9.5 billion people on it by 2050, researchers report in the journal Cell.
There has never been a better time to try this, said University of Illinois plant biology professor Stephen P. Long, who wro ...
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Climate change does not cause extreme winters
Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Mar 31, 2015 -
Cold snaps like the ones that hit the eastern United States in the past winters are not a consequence of climate change. Scientists at ETH Zurich and the California Institute of Technology have shown that global warming actually tends to reduce temperature variability.
Repeated cold snaps led to temperatures far below freezing across the eastern United States in the past two winters. Parts ...
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