Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Recent news regarding the health of Earth’s atmosphere is mixed, with reports that holes in the ozone layer are shrinking and could be eliminated by 2040 tempered by the fact that global CO2 emissions have now surpassed 400 parts per million for the first time ever.

First, the good news…

In a paper published recently in the Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, researchers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center report that regulation of ozone-depleting chemicals in the years following the passing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987 has led to a decline in emissions of those substances.

As a result, the holes in the atmospheric layer are expected to be uniformly under eight million square miles (20 million square kilometers) within the next three decades, explained Engadget. The authors researched that conclusion based on analysis of data collected by the space agency’s AURA satellite, which reported levels of ozone-depleting chemicals each year.

Thanks to AURA’s findings, NASA said, “scientists can confidently say that the ozone hole will be consistently smaller than 8 million square miles by the year 2040.” They added that they plan to continue monitoring the recovery using the satellite’s data, and that they “hope to see its full recovery before the end of the century.”

And now, the bad news…

On the same day that NASA reported their findings regarding the ozone layer, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association revealed that the global monthly average of airborne CO2 had surpassed the 400 parts per million mark – just eight months after UN officials predicted that the planet would cross that threshold in roughly two years, according to Engadget.

“It was only a matter of time that we would average 400 parts per million globally,” said Pieter Tans, lead scientist of NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. “Reaching 400 parts per million as a global average is a significant milestone… This marks the fact that humans burning fossil fuels have caused global carbon dioxide concentrations to rise more than 120 parts per million since pre-industrial times. Half of that rise has occurred since 1980.”

Collecting data from 40 different locations worldwide, the organization reported that the average growth rate of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere from 2012 to 2014 was 2.25 ppm per year, the highest ever recorded over a period of three consecutive years. This also means that the planet is now 50 ppm past the UN’s established “safe limit” for atmospheric CO2 emissions.

James Butler, director of NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division, seemed pessimistic in regards to the feasibility of reserving these trends. “Elimination of about 80 percent of fossil fuel emissions would essentially stop the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” he said, “but concentrations of carbon dioxide would not start decreasing until even further reductions are made, and then it would only do so slowly.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Researchers from the University of Vienna have reportedly discovered “a missing link” in the evolution of eukaryotes, organisms whose cells contain a nucleus and other organelles enclosed within a membrane, from simpler single-celled known as prokaryotes.

Writing in Wednesday’s edition of the journal Nature, Dr. Christa Schleper of the Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology and her colleagues report on the discovery of a new, complex type of microorganism that could be the closest relatives of complex biological life.

Identified by the study authors as a novel candidate archael phylum known as Lokiarchaeota, this new microorganism “forms a monophyletic group with eukaryotes in phylogenomic analyses and whose genomes encode an expanded repertoire of eukaryotic signature proteins,” suggesting that this phylum had “sophisticated membrane remodeling capabilities.”

The Lokiarchaea form a group of Archaea, which have surprisingly similar to the ancestors of modern eukaryotes. (Credit: Copyright Christa Schleper)

They added that their findings “provide strong support for hypotheses in which the eukaryotic host evolved from a bona fide archaeon, and demonstrate that many components that underpin eukaryote-specific features were already present in that ancestor.” This served as a “genomic “starter-kit” of sorts that supported “the increase in the cellular and genomic complexity that is characteristic of eukaryotes” that was characteristic of Lokiarchaeota.

Finding proteins for membrane remodeling, cytoskeleton formation

As Dr. Schleper and her colleagues explained in a statement, genomic research has found the organelles that deliver energy in eukaryotic cells (mitochondria) stem from an early bacterial symbiont, and that current models indicate that archaea also played a key role in the evolution of eukaryotes.

Based on this information, the authors proposed that a primordial Archaeon may have engulfed a bacterium, transforming into a complex eukaryotic cell. In phylogenetic trees, Lokiarchaeota are a direct sister group to eukaryotes, they said, meaning that the ancestors of eukaryotes emerged directly from archaea, and the genome of Lokiarchaeota also revealed that it housed genetic data for some proteins that had previously only been found in eukaryotes.

Some of those proteins are responsible for membrane remodeling and cytoskeleton formation, which helps determine a eukaryotic cell’s shape, the research team said. Those featured would be required by a primordial cell or archaeon to engulf bacteria during the initial stages of eukaryotic evolution, explained first author and former Ph.D. student Anja Spang.

“It is as if we had just discovered the primates i.e. the next living relatives of humans, who also give us interesting insights into the nature of the last common ancestor,” added Dr. Schleper. “However, the common ancestor of Lokiarchaeota and Eukaryotes dates much further back, approximately two billion years. We are curious to analyze the life style and cellular structure of Lokiarchaeota, as it might give even more exciting insights into early evolution.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

In popular culture, ancient Norsemen are often depicted as murderous invaders, but a new study published earlier this week in the European Journal of Archaeology suggests that the early days of the Viking Age were more about commerce than conquering.

In the study, Dr. Steven Ashby of the University of York’s Department of Archaeology and his colleagues discovered that the Viking Age may have predated the first raid on England by about 70 years, and that the Scandanavians were travelling to a trading center in Denmark.

Those journeys from Norway to the Ribe, Denmark were underway during the eighth century CE and can be directly linked to the development of that town as a commercial hub, the authors said. They based their finding on the discovery of reindeer antlers in the archaeological remains of the town’s former marketplace, since reindeer are not native to Denmark.

Trade likely kickstarted the Viking expansion

The antlers, Dr. Ashby and his fellow researchers surmise, was likely imported from Norway and serves as proof that the Vikings visited Ribe well before they started pillaging raids. The antlers were essential to the manufacture of hair combs, one of the key industries of the Viking Age, and the fact that they were hard to find locally suggests the presence of a trade network.

The study demonstrates that early Viking travelers had access to large quantities of these reindeer antlers, and that they likely sold them to craftworkers in Southern Scandinavia, Dr. Ashby noted. This indicates that merchants from the north were visiting the trade center earlier than previously believed, and may have “kickstarted the Viking expansion.”

While the new discovery does not disprove the existence of violent, aggressive Vikings, which Dr. Ashby said are known to have existed, it reveals that there is far more that characterizes the Viking Age, including “transformations across northern Europe in terms of political organization, religion, economics, and social structure.”

“However, the changes we see – the development of long-distance trade, the spread of Christianity, the rebirth of towns, the centralization of authority are ultimately sparked by the fact that Scandinavians (and others) are travelling around a lot more,” the professor told redOrbit via email. “No doubt their trading missions contained an element of violence too!”

So why did the Viking Age happen in the first place?

What was it that originally made Scandinavians decide to get in their boats, and travel off on long voyages to dangerous places, to bring back personal wealth?  What Dr. Ashby and his co-authors found is that the earliest recorded raids (which began around AD 793 in Britain) are not actually the times that  early-medieval Scandinavians engaged in long-distance travel.

“They were travelling down from the arctic to southern Scandinavia as early as the 720s,” he told redOrbit. “They were probably doing this for commercial gain. This suggests that a network of trade, centered around the early town of Ribe, and soon to incorporate others such as Birka in Sweden, Hedeby in Germany, and Kaupang in Norway, was already starting to develop before the traditional start of the Viking Age.”

“What is really exciting about this is that it answers a very long-running debate in Viking studies,” he added. “Did the raiding activity that characterizes the Viking age eventually lead to commercial trade, the development of towns, and so on, as Scandinavians came into contact with other kingdoms? Or was urban trade already in existence, thus creating awareness of and contact with the outside world, which eventually turned violent?”

“Our results demonstrate that the latter is far more likely,” Dr. Ashby concluded, as the Vikings were members of an urban network that bound people living in rural and wilderness regions with those residing in important commercial hubs. Rural peoples that comprised raiding parties would likely have known what was taking place all over the world.

The biomolecular technique behind the discovery

The discovery was made using a biomolecular technique known as ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry), which was invented at York University and characterizes the proteins in the collagen component of organic material. This minimally-destructive technique is used to identify animal species, and this is not the first time that Dr. Ashby has enjoyed its benefits.

“The advantage of ZooMS is that although not so precise, it is more reliable that ancient DNA, as well as being quicker and cheaper, and requiring very small samples,” he said. “That means that we can do two things: One, we can analyze very highly-worked objects that curators would otherwise be nervous about us damaging in the sampling process, and two, we can analyze very large quantities of very tiny fragments of bone and antler.”

Bone and antler are “very difficult to afford with DNA,” the professor added. “For these reasons, it is an excellent choice for those of us who work in the study of bone objects, and so far I have used it in two big studies: This Danish one, and another Scottish one, where we showed that pre-Viking combs thought to be made of reindeer, and thus indicated early contact with Scandinavia, were in fact nothing of the sort.”

“So we have pushed back the date for long-distance travel in Scandinavia itself, but done the opposite for the first appearance of Scandinavians in Scotland,” he said. Specifically, previous findings eliminated the possibility of contact between Scandinavia and the British Isles prior to AD 793, and the new study provides evidence that residents of the remote parts of Scandinavia were visiting Ribe and possibly other trade centers early on in their culture.

“I expect the technique is going to continue to transform our understanding of craft and trade in the Viking Age and beyond,” noted Dr. Ashby, who was joined by Soren Sindbaek, a specialist in Viking Age trade and urbanism from Aarhaus University in Denmark, and Ashley Coutu, who specializes in the biomolecular analysis of bone, antler, and ivory, on the study.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Barry Clifford, the explorer who is perhaps best known for finding the remains of the wrecked ship Whydah, has reportedly found the long-lost treasure of 17th Century Scottish pirate William Kidd – though some experts are treating his claims with skepticism.

According to BBC News, Clifford and his colleagues found and recovered a 50 kilogram silver bar in the waters around the  island of Sainte Marie in Madagascar. The bar, which was given to the country’s president in a special ceremony, is believed to have come from the wreck of Kidd’s ship, the Adventure Galley, and is thought to be one of many buried there.

Divers just pulled this 50 kg silver bar out off Sainte Marie island Madagascar. Say it could be pirate treasure. pic.twitter.com/bdH9bFWBlB

— Martin Vogl (@martinvogl) May 7, 2015

“Captain’s Kidd’s treasure is the stuff of legends. People have been looking for it for 300 years… I really didn’t expect this,” Clifford said. “There’s more down there. I know the whole bottom of the cavity where I found the silver bar is filled with metal. It’s too murky down there to see what metal, but my metal detector tells me there is metal on all sides.”

Uncertain origins of the newly-discovered silver bar

Captain Kidd, who was originally recruited by British authorities to combat pirates before he turned to piracy himself, looted the Armenian ship the Quedagh Merchant in 1698. The ship had an English captain, and it is believed that  that much of the stolen cargo belonged to the British East India Company. Kidd was captured, found guilty of piracy and executed in 1701.

BBC reporter Martin Vogl said that there is much excitement in Madagascar about the find, but is the silver bar actually part of Kidd’s treasure? Clifford and his colleagues have little doubt that their discovery actually belonged to the notorious pirate. They also pointed out that the bar is marked with what appears to be a letter S and a letter T and has its origins in 17th-Century Bolivia.

The spot where the silver bar was found. Just off the coast in shallow water. pic.twitter.com/Mk8oNE3iGl

— Martin Vogl (@martinvogl) May 7, 2015

“After 15 years of research and expeditions to Madagascar, I have made an incredible discovery. While investigating the shipwreck I believe to be Captain Kidd’s Adventure Galley I uncovered a giant silver bar,” Clifford told the History Channel, which was filming the expedition for an upcoming broadcast. “All the evidence points to it being part of Captain Kidd’s treasure. It’s a huge find for my team but an even bigger find for Madagascar and world history.”

Historian Robert Ritchie is not completely convinced by Clifford’s claims. As he told The Washington Post, “If there was only one ship that had been sunk in that harbor I’d be much more confident that it related to Captain Kidd. But a number of ships had sunk there. I’m doubtful, but who knows? It could well be from the Adventure Galley. But it would be from one of Kidd’s men more than from Kidd himself.”

Barry Clifford, team leader and well known underwater explorer, after handing over the bar. pic.twitter.com/1aqOcXMvQc

— Martin Vogl (@martinvogl) May 7, 2015

Soldiers guard the silver treasure with the President of Madagascar in the background. pic.twitter.com/elBlVVBZrb

— Martin Vogl (@martinvogl) May 7, 2015

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

The discovery of a new species of monkeyflower in Scotland three years ago has unexpectedly led to a second finding – one that could provide new insight into the evolutionary process.

University of Stirling evolutionary biologist Dr. Mario Vallejo-Marin, who was responsible for first locating the new species on the banks of a stream in South Lanarkshire in 2012, decided to go on an expedition to the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland two years later.

As Dr. Vallejo-Marin, a senior lecturer in the School of Natural Sciences, explained in a statement, “Orkney was a missing region which hadn’t been sampled. There were different varieties of monkey flower on the island, but when we spotted this population I knew it was unusual as after looking at hundreds of plants, you get to recognize the subtle differences.”

“Usually a species forms once in a particular location then spreads to other regions,” he added. “In this case, the opposite has occurred as the same species has evolved multiple times in different places. It shows that when the conditions are right, the origin of species is a repeatable phenomenon.”

Doubling down on chromosomes to form a hybrid species

The monkeyflower species, which Dr. Vallejo-Marin called Mimulus peregrinus (a name which means “the foreigner”) because it originated from two different invasive species, was described as a rare find because these types of hybrid types are normally unable to reproduce.

In this case, however, the flower doubled the amount of DNA contained within its cells, evolving to create a new species through a process known as polyploidisation. In polyploidisation, a plant that normally has two sets of chromosomes winds up having four, allowing different interspecies breeding to occur. It is through this process that wheat, cotton, and tobacco originated.

Dr. Vallejo-Marin, who published his findings in the journal Evolution, said that is impossible to determine if Mimulus peregrinus originated in the northern or southern part of Scotland, but that the discovery of this “very young species” has “allowed us to study evolution as it happens.”

“We only know of a handful of other plant species as young as Mimulus peregrinus and so in this respect it is like looking at the big bang in the first milliseconds of its occurrence,” he explained, adding that the new type of monkeyflower “is an example of how some branches can come back together again and spawn new species that are in part the combination of their ancestors.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Thanks to some cutting-edge technology, researchers from the European Academy of Bozen (EURAC) in Italy have discovered the oldest-known blood cells, using a nano-sized probe to find erythrocytes on the body of the 5,300-year-old mummy known as Ötzi the Iceman.

Originally recovered from an Alpine glacier along the Austrian-Italian border in 1991, Ötzi has been the subject of extensive postmortem research and forensic investigation since the recovery, according to National Geographic. While no blood residue had previously been detected, many other details of his death (due in part to being shot with an arrow) were unearthed.

Albert Zink, head of the EURAC Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, explained that previous analysis had found “no traces” of blood, “even when they opened some arteries… it was thought maybe the blood had not preserved and had completely degraded, or that he lost too much blood because of the arrow injury” on his back, he added.

However, by using the probe to trace Ötzi’s wound areas, and recording those movements with a laser, Zink and his colleagues were able to find classic “doughnut shape” red blood cells on the Stone Age corpse. The findings represent the “oldest clear evidence for red blood cells,” he said.

Ötzi’s death came quickly

Previous research had suggested evidence of prehistoric blood on tools and other artifacts from the era, but as National Geographic explained, those studies carried with them a high degree of uncertainty due to the structural similarity of red blood cells to bacteria and pollen. By using a laser to illuminate the wounds, Zink’s team confirmed their molecular composition.

“The morphological and molecular composition of the blood corpuscle is verified by atomic force microscope and Raman spectroscopy measurements,” they wrote in a paper published in Wednesday in the journal Journal of the Royal Society: Interface. “The cell size and shape approximated those of healthy, dried, recent RBCs. Raman spectra of the ancient corpuscle revealed bands that are characteristic of haemoglobin.”

“Additional vibrational modes typical for other proteinaceous fragments, possibly fibrin, suggested the formation of a blood clot. The band intensities, however, were approximately an order of magnitude weaker than those of recent RBCs,” they added. “This fact points to a decrease in the RBC-specific metalloprotein haemoglobin and, thus, to a degradation of the cells. Together, the results show the preservation of RBCs in the 5000 year old mummy tissue.”

Since fibrin, a blood-clotting agent, is formed immediately when a person’s body is wounded, then disappears, finding the agent in the arrow would suggests that Ötzi’s died shortly after he was shot, Zink explained. This indicates that the Iceman died a quick death and “definitely” did not survive “a few hours or a few days” after first being shot with the projectile, he added.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Feathered fossils discovered by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China represent the earliest known members of the clade that produced modern birds, according to research published in Nature Communications.

The fossils, which were found in northeastern China by paleontologists Min Wang and Zhonghe Zhou, push back modern bird lineage by a minimum of five million years, and possibly indicates that their roots can be traced back even farther, explained Science.

The birds appear to have belonged to a species of wading bird that was also a nimble flyer. The fossils had intact plumage that dated back to at least 130 million years ago. The fossils were said to be well preserved, and revealed anatomical features indicating that trails vital to the creature’s long-term success evolved earlier than previously expected.

Holotype of Archaeornithura meemannae. (Credit: Nature Communications)

“New bird fossils seem to come out every week now,” University of Edinburgh paleontologist Stephen Brusatte told Science, “and they are revolutionizing our understanding of bird evolution. But of all the new specimens, this is one of the most important found over the last decade.”

Filling in the fossil gap for modern birds

Birds originally started evolving from dinosaurs approximately 150 million years ago during the end of the Jurassic period, when a group of smaller meat-eaters first used their feathered wings to take flight. These flying dinosaurs eventually split into two distinct groups of birds, including the one that ultimately gave rise to modern avian species, the ornithuromorphs.

Cladogram showing the systematic position of Archaeornithura meemannae among Mesozoic birds. (Credit: Nature Communications)

According to the authors, the new fossils represent the oldest record of ornithuromorphs found to date from the early cretaceous of China. The two skeletons were found at the Sichakou basin in Hebei province, and the new species was named Archaeornithura meemannae. They were 15 centimeters tall and had no feathers on its legs, suggesting that it had a wading lifestyle. Also, the size and shape of its bones indicated good aerial maneuverability.

“The new fossils fill the gap in time and also in anatomy,” said Science. “Each exquisitely preserved specimen has the telltale traits of a modern bird: fan-shaped tail feathers, highly fused bones at the ends of the wings, and the U-shaped wishbone familiar to anyone who has carved a roast chicken. The fossils even have a small projection on the front edge of their wings – known to boost maneuverability during flight – that is remarkably similar to that of today’s birds.”

“Furthermore, Archaeornithura had long legs and feet apparently adapted to wading in water, similar to those of today’s plovers, suggesting that modern birds arose in aquatic habitats,” the website added. The authors believe that the fossils reveal the origins of the same features that would ultimately allow modern birds to survive the Cretaceous extinction events.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

A researcher from Florida International University has reportedly discovered a palm-like, thorn-covered plant in Liberia that only grows on top of diamonds. (Well, actually, on top of columns of volcanic rock known as kimberlite pipes that are left behind by ancient eruptions that exhumed diamonds from the mantle.)

Provided the discovery is accurate, Science explains, the plants could provide an easy way for people to find the location of diamond deposits buried deep beneath the ground. The species is known as Pandanus candelabrum, and is the first indicator species for diamond-rich kimberlite, FIU researcher Stephen Haggerty wrote in his recent Economic Geology study.

Haggerty, who also serves as chief exploration officer of Youssef Diamond Mining Company, a firm with mining interests in Liberia, said that he suspects P. candelabrum adapted to kimberlite soils because they are rich in nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus.

The ‘X’ that marks the spot

As the website pointed out, P. candelabrum would not be the first plant species to indicate the presence of ore-bearing rocks. For instance, both Lychnis alpina, a small pink-flowering plant in Scandinavia, and Haumaniastrum katangense, a white-flowered shrub in Africa, are associated with copper because they can tolerate seepage from the mineral into the soil.

However, as Haggerty explained in his paper, “the identification of Pandanus candelabrum, with stilt-like aerial roots, is the first plant to be described that has a marked affinity for kimberlite pipes. This could dramatically change the exploration dynamics for diamonds in West Africa, as geobotanical mapping and sampling is cost-effective in tough terrain.”

Kimberlite pipes are rare, he told Science, but they can bring diamonds to the surface through eruptions after the gems form deep beneath the surface in extreme temperatures and pressures. Out of 6,000 known kimberlite pipes in the world, 600 contain diamonds, and only 10 percent are high-enough quality to be worth the time and effort required to mine them.

Once the rainy season passes, he plans to continue his work, hoping to find out how the plants get their nutrients from the kimberlite soil, and to analyze bulk samples of the soil to see if they are worth mining. He also intends to see if P. candelabrum is visible from aerial and satellite imagery, which would make it easier for West African countries to locate the diamond deposits.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Few places in the world are as aptly named as Lost Lake, a mysterious body of water located in the mountains of Oregon that completely vanishes once per year, disappearing through a hole in its north side, according to various recently-published media reports.

As Jude McHugh, spokesperson for the Willamette National Forest, told the Bend Bulletin back in April, the hole has been there for as long as anyone can remember and was caused by an open lava tube, a type of geographic feature commonly found throughout the region.

Lava tubes form when flowing magma hardens near the surface while continuing to flow downhill closer to the still-hot interior, the newspaper explained. If the lava in the interior flows outward before it hardens, it leaves behind a tunnel-like structure that can either be opened to the surface following an eruption, or over time as a result of erosion.

McHugh noted that it is unclear if the water flowing into the lava tube’s hole travels to an outlet located somewhere else, but that odds are that it just seeps into the porous subsurface, adding to the large aquifer which feeds springs on both side of the Cascade mountains.

According to the Washington Post, Lost Lake empties out in the winter after the snowpack of the mountain range freezes, drying up the source of inflow that the body of water relies upon to keep filled. Once the snow melts in the summer, it fills up again. Officials said that a similar lava tube drain exists at nearby Fish Lake, which also experiences a similar seasonal cycle.

Asking the experts: How unique is Lost Lake?

So just how common is this phenomenon? RedOrbit asked Kathryn Thorbjarnarson, associate professor in the San Diego State University Department of Geological Sciences, and she explained that lava tubes “are typically found in geologic settings of basalt lava flows,” which “tend to be associated with oceanic hot spots” such as those found in Hawaii and Iceland.

“Lava tubes are common in those regions with ones above the water table able to be hiked through,” such as Thurston lava tube in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Thorbjarnarson said via email. The Columbia and Snake River plateaus also have plentiful basalt lava from past eruptions, she said, and Lava Beds National Monument in northern California is home to lava tubes historically used “by Native Americans in wars to hide and to launch sneak attacks.”

How unusual is it for something like this to happen, where a lake winds up being completed drained? In most cases, the professor explained, seepage or evaporation loss resulting from these lava tubes is “a slow process,” with the water level dropping when outflows exceed inflows.

“What is unique in this situation is the relatively fast drop as inflows are drastically stopped (snowpack solid and no melt water) and the seepage through the large lava tube network results in a fast drop in water level and draining of the lake,” Thorbjarnarson said. “When the snowpack starts to melt again, the inflow exceeds the drainage rate and the lake fills up again.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Predictions that an active underwater volcano located some 300 miles off the Washington and Oregon coasts would erupt sometime this year may have come true, as Axial Seamount appears to have shown signs indicative of an eruption over the past few weeks.

Credit: Bill Chadwick, Oregon State University

While the region has started experiencing thousands of tiny earthquakes over the past few days (a sign that magma is moving towards the surface) and the seafloor has dropped by nearly eight feet, the volcanic activity has yet to be confirmed, according to Oregon State University.

Provided the eruption can be verified, it will prove that forecasts made by OSU professor Bill Chadwick and Scott Nooner of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington in September 2014 were correct. Chadwick and Nooner predicted that such an event would occur this year during a public lecture and blog posts, and was repeated by the duo last week at a workshop.

Basis of their forecasts

Their forecasts were based on previous research, funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which demonstrated how the volcano repeatedly inflates and deflates like a balloon in response to magma inflow.

“Basically, we have been following a pattern of the volcano inflating with magma between eruptions and then deflating during eruptions,” Chadwick, who is also affiliated with the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, told redOrbit via email. “The seafloor actually moves up and down and we measure that with precise pressure sensors.”

“This sort of thing is measured at volcanoes on land with GPS and other methods, but this is the first time we’ve done this on a submarine volcano,” the professor added. “We think the volcano has erupted because we are seeing temperatures rise on instruments connected to a new cabled observatory that reaches out to the seamount. We don’t know for sure though, and probably won’t know until we can go out there with a ship within the next few months.”

Chadwick admitted in a statement that he had some doubts about the prediction even the night just before the volcanic activity started, since he and Nooner had no real certainty that it would take place. He said it was more of a way to test their hypothesis about the pattern they observed, and that it was both repeatable and predictable in nature.

An opportunity to learn more about volcano systems

Since Axial Seamount is so close to the northwest coast, and because it has a unique structure (it is on very thin ocean crust and has a simpler “plumbing system” than most land-based volcanoes, according to Chadwick), it can reveal much about the inner-workings of volcano magma systems and help experts determine if and how eruptions could be effectively predicted.

“With the new cabled observatory, Axial Seamount is a place where we can learn a lot about submarine volcanism (the most common kind on Earth), how volcanic events perturb the local hydrothermal vents and biological communities, and we can learn about what happens before, during, and after eruption, what observations can be used to predict them, and then how that information can be applied to more complicated volcanic systems on land,” he told redOrbit.

One of three bottom-pressure/tilt instruments in the summit caldera at Axial Seamount that is connected to the OOI Cabled Array network. This instrument measured vertical movements of the seafloor during the recent volcanic eruption. (Credit: National Science Foundation/Ocean Observatories Initiative, University of Washington, Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility)

Chadwick added that the potential activity at Axial “has no impact on the Cascadia subduction zone and has not increased or decreased the risk of a large coastal earthquake. The seismicity at Axial is very small and there is no risk of the volcanic activity causing a tsunami. Even if Axial is erupting lava (which we think it is), this will have no effect on the surface ocean – Axial is too deep (1500 m depth) and it is virtually impossible for heat release from the seafloor to make it to the ocean surface.”

He and Nooner plan to return to Axial in August to gather more data, but OSU said that it may be possible for other experts to visit the seamount earlier than that, with an expedition possible as soon as this month. They hope to confirm that there was an eruption, and if so, to measure the volume of lava that was involved with the event, the university noted.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Tony Benken for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

The comparison of Cuban vs. non-Cuban cigars is an interesting debate.

Cuban cigars for many years were known as the best of the best. However, when the Castro’s took the farms from the farmers, many of the best producers immediately left the country–for Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, etc. Those families–the Fuente’s, the Padron’s, etc.–have now had more than 50 years to hone their craft in these other countries. Just as there are cheaply made cigars (and cheap tobacco used) in any country, the same holds true with Cuba.

I have read reports stating that approximately 70% of all cigars sold as Cuban, aren’t even Cuban cigars, just cheap cigars re-banded to take advantage of non-educated tourists. That being said, I would put many cigars from other countries up against a Cuban, and they would likely win, depending on the brand, taster’s palate, etc.

Regarding the question of if they’re better or not:

Like any cigar, your favorite will be different from my favorite. Are there terrific Cuban cigars? Of course. Are there terrific Nicaraguan cigars? Yes. Same with Dominican cigars, and Honduran sticks, etc. However, many people believe that ALL Cuban cigars are better than their counterparts. This is just inherently false.

Why are Cubans perceived as better to the general public? One main reason: Supply and Demand. You can’t get them here, therefore they’re “cool”. It’s like Prohibition in the ’20s. You were a star if you had some liquor in your basement. And now it’s the same with Cuban cigars. There are some outstanding Cubans out there–don’t get me wrong. But true aficianados know that they are outstanding Nicaraguan and Honduran cigars, as well.

Some things to think about regarding Cuban cigars:

1.  The embargo has NOT been lifted. Only Congress can do that, not the President, and they haven’t. What you CAN do, is bring $100 worth of cigars back into the US if you happen to travel to Cuba without being penalized. On average, that equates to about 4-5 cigars.

2.  The farms are state-owned. So by purchasing those Cuban cigars, you are, in fact, supporting the Castro regime.

3.  Cuba is a poor country and the Castro’s are greedy, so normal farming techniques may not be utilized in the interest of quick dollars. This means quality may suffer. And this is my main fear should the embargo be lifted. Cuba will flood the US market with as many cigars as they can pump out–aging, resting fields, quality control, etc. be damned.

4.  Many of the older rollers in Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic learned their craft in Cuba. They teach the younger rollers that technique. So, the rolling of a cigar someplace other than Cuba doesn’t make it a less desirable cigar.

El cigarro perfecto

My perfect cigar changes almost daily. I look at cigars a lot like wine. Sometimes I want something I know is good and I’ll enjoy. For me, currently, that is the Fuente Signature, the Rocky Patel 2003 Cameroon, or the Liga Undercrown. However, I love to try new cigars to see what flavors and nuances I may be missing out on. It just depends on my mood and the environment. I smoke different cigars when I am with my friends on a back porch vs. mowing the lawn.

The most interesting impact of lifting of the Cuban embargo (if it happens) will be this: The blends that American cigar smokers will get to experience. Imagine a cigar with Dominican and Honduran filler, a binder of Nicaraguan tobacco leaf, and a Cuban wrapper. Or Cuban filler with Nicaraguan binder and wrapper. It has potential to be very intriguing.

Tony Benken is the owner of Big Star Cigar Lounge in Mount Juliet, TN. Prior to opening Big Star, he worked for 20 years in the country music industry. He loves a good cigar, racing his Porsche 944, and spending time with his wife and two daughters. You can reach him at [email protected] or visit his shop just outside of Nashville.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.