Study of Aerosols Stands to Improve Climate Models
Pasadena CA (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
Of all the factors that influence Earth's changing climate, the effect that tiny particles in Earth's atmosphere called aerosols have on clouds is the least well understood. Aerosols scatter and absorb incoming sunlight and affect the formation and properties of clouds.
Among all cloud types, low-level clouds over the ocean, which cover about one-third of the ocean's surface, have the bigg ...
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Tuvalu family cites global warming on accepted refugee application
Auckland, New Zealand (UPI) Aug 7, 2014 -
On a refugee application recently accepted by New Zealand, a Tuvalu family claimed they'd be forced out by global warming if they returned home. It's the first instance of refugees citing climate change as one of the reasons for their displacement.
But this particular family could be the first of many if sea level rise continues at the rate many climatologists have predicted. Tuvalu is ...
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Coronal Heating Theory Tested In NASA Sounding Rocket Mission
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 05, 2014 -
Scientists have recently gathered some of the strongest evidence to date to explain what makes the sun's outer atmosphere so much hotter than its surface. The new observations of the small-scale extremely hot temperatures are consistent with only one current theory: something called nanoflares - a constant peppering of impulsive bursts of heating, none of which can be individually detected - pr ...
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Study shows Asian carp could establish in Lake Erie with little effect to fishery
Notre Dame IN (SPX) Aug 08, 2014 -
According to a study published in the journal Conservation Biology by a group of scientists from the University of Notre Dame, Resources for the Future, U.S. Forest Service, University of Michigan and the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory, if bighead and silver carp were to establish in Lake Erie, local fish biomass is not likely to change beyond observations recorded in the last 3 decad ...
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Water 'microhabitats' in oil show potential for extraterrestrial life, oil cleanup
Pullman WA (SPX) Aug 08, 2014 -
An international team of researchers has found extremely small habitats that increase the potential for life on other planets while offering a way to clean up oil spills on our own.
Looking at samples from the world's largest natural asphalt lake, they found active microbes in droplets as small as a microliter, which is about 1/50th of a drop of water.
"We saw a huge diversity of bac ...
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Ocean's most oxygen-deprived zones to shrink under climate change
Seattle WA (SPX) Aug 08, 2014 -
As the complex story of climate change unfolds, many of the endings are grim. But there are exceptions. Predictions that the lowest-oxygen environments in the ocean would get worse may not come to pass. Instead, University of Washington research shows climate change, as it weakens the trade winds, could shrink the size of these extreme low-oxygen waters.
"The tropics should actually get be ...
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Fundamental plant chemicals trace back to bacteria
Madison WI (SPX) Aug 08, 2014 -
A fundamental chemical pathway that all plants use to create an essential amino acid needed by all animals to make proteins has now been traced to two groups of ancient bacteria. The pathway is also known for making hundreds of chemicals, including a compound that makes wood strong and the pigments that make red wine red.
"We have been trying to unravel the source of the phenylalanine amin ...
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