Latest Earth sciences Stories

Up to two-thirds of Earth's permafrost likely will disappear by 2200 as a result of warming temperatures, unleashing vast quantities of carbon into the atmosphere, says a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.The carbon resides in permanently frozen ground that is beginning to thaw in high latitudes from warming temperatures, which will impact not only the climate but also international strategies to reduce fossil fuel...

A coupled-cycles framework is essential to balancing human needs with the health of the planetIf society wants to address big picture environmental problems, like global climate change, acid rain, and coastal dead zones, we need to pay closer attention to the Earth's coupled biogeochemical cycles. So reports a special issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, published this month by the Ecological Society of America."There are nearly seven billion people on the planet. And our...

A new analysis of the Northern Hemisphere's "albedo feedback" over a 30-year period concludes that the region's loss of reflectivity due to snow and sea ice decline is more than double what state-of-the-art climate models estimate.The findings are important, researchers say, because they suggest that Arctic warming amplified by the loss of reflectivity could be even more significant than previously thought.The study was published online this week in Nature Geoscience. It was funded...

Climatologists demand a differentiated discussionGlaciers of large mountain regions contribute, to some extent considerably, to the water supply of certain populated areas. However, in a recent study conducted by Innsbruck glaciologists and climatologists it has been shown that there are important regional differences. The results of the study are published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).In their recently published study the glaciologists and...

We all know how it feels to be low on energy after a long day. Or how it feels to be full of energy after a good night's rest or a good meal. Energy is just as important to Earth's everyday life as it is to ours."Exploring Energy" is the theme of this year's Earth Science Week, Oct. 10-16. The American Geological Institute hosts Earth Science Week annually in cooperation with various sponsors to engage people in Earth science and encourage stewardship of Earth.NASA develops, deploys and...

The Arctic Ocean is covered by a dynamic layer of sea ice that grows each winter and shrinks each summer, reaching its yearly minimum size each fall. While the 2010 minimum remains to be seen, NASA's Aqua satellite captured this snapshot on Sept. 3.How does the Aqua satellite "see" sea ice? Microwaves. Everything on Earth's surface -- including people -- emits microwave radiation, the properties of which vary with the emitter, thereby allowing the AMSR-E microwave sensor on Aqua to...

Two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have created new maps of Chesapeake Bay forested wetlands that are about 30 percent more accurate than existing maps.Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil scientist Greg McCarty and USDA Forest Service ecologist Megan Lang did this by merging two remote sensing devices: an airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) laser sensor with an advanced "synthetic aperture radar" (SAR) satellite sensor. McCarty is at the ARS Hydrology...

Permafrost warming continues throughout a wide swath of the Northern Hemisphere, according to a team of scientists assembled during the recent International Polar Year.Their extensive findings, published in the April-June 2010 edition of Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, describe the thermal state of high-latitude permafrost during the International Polar Year, 2007-2009. Vladimir Romanovsky, a professor with the snow, ice and permafrost group at the University of Alaska Fairbanks...

WASHINGTON, July 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scientists have produced a first-of-its kind map of the height of the world's forests by combining data from three NASA satellites. The map will help scientists build an inventory of how much carbon the world's forests store and how fast that carbon cycles through ecosystems and back into the atmosphere. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Maps of local and...

TEMPE, Ariz., June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Advancing Technology (UAT), a leading innovator in education focused on new and emerging technologies, has named Dr. Lynn Margulis, renowned theoretical biologist, author and distinguished University Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as the 2010 inductee in the Leonardo da Vinci Society for the Study of Thinking. Dr. Margulis' revolutionary work in biology earned her prestige in the field with her theory on the...