Researchers from NASA, the National Snow and Ice Data Center and others using satellite data have detected a significant loss in Arctic sea ice this year.
On Sept. 21, 2005, sea ice extent dropped to 2.05 million sq. miles, the lowest extent yet recorded in the satellite record. Incorporating the 2005 minimum using satellite data going back to 1978, with a projection for ice growth in the last few days of this September, brings the estimated decline in Arctic sea ice to 8.5 percent
The work involved a multidisciplinary task, undertaking the study of phases of mineralogical and physico-chemical interest. Selenites were synthesised, given that they are a new field and likely to present original physical properties. Their study was carried out using crystallographic methods and the behaviour of their physical properties was investigated.
As a result of this research, twenty-four selenites of different transition metals were synthesised. These were grouped as a fu
Ancient lakes and wetlands are being replaced by forest
Lakes and wetlands in the Kenai Peninsula of south-central Alaska are drying at a significant rate. The shift seems to be driven by climate change, and could endanger waterfowl habitats and hasten the spread of wildfires.
In a paper published in the August 2005 issue of the NRC Research Press’ Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Eric Klein and his colleagues document a significant landscape shift from wetland
Important clues to the environment in which the early Earth formed may be emerging from Purdue University scientists’ recent study of a particular class of meteorites.
By examining the chemistry of 29 chunks of rock that formed billions of years ago, probably in close proximity to our planet, two Purdue researchers, Michael E. Lipschutz and Ming-Sheng Wang, have clarified our understanding of the conditions present in the vicinity of the ancient Earth’s orbit. Because
The upper layer of the earth’s crust may be investigated using high-rise buildings’ vibrations under the wind pressure. This simple and economical method of seismic survey was developed by the specialists of the Arkhangelsk Institute of Ecological Problems of the North (Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth (Russian Academy of Sciences) under the guidance of F. N. Yudakhin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The m
The Natural Disaster Hotspots report released earlier this year showed that the U.S. Gulf Coast is among the world’s most at-risk regions in terms of human mortality and economic loss due to storms like Katrina and Rita.
The study, which was produced by researchers from the Center for Hazards and Risk Research, The International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI), the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the Lamont-Doherty Earth
As Hurricane Rita entered the Gulf of Mexico, ESA’s Envisat satellite’s radar was able to pierce through swirling clouds to directly show how the storm churns the sea surface. This image has then been used to derive Rita’s wind field speeds.
Envisat acquired this Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) image at 0344 UTC on 22 September (2345 on 21 September in US Eastern Daylight Saving Time), when Hurricane Rita was passing west of Florida and Cuba. The image
The CryoSat validation programme took another important step forward on Wednesday with the official handover of a unique set of data that had been collected by the intrepid Dutch Polar Explorer Marc Cornelissen on behalf of ESA during his recent expedition to the North Pole.
In March this year, Marc Cornelissen left Cape Arctichesky in northern Russia to lead the Pole Track 2005 expedition on a 1,000 km ski trek to the geographic North Pole. Along the way, the expedition team depl
A gradual lengthening of the snow-free season in Alaska’s tundra, and a corresponding northward progression of the growth of shrubs and trees, may be creating a cycle of warmer and longer summers in the Alaskan Arctic according to a new study to be published in the Sept. 22, 2005, issue of Science Express.
The resulting atmospheric heating in the region of northern Alaska is equivalent to what might be observed if there was a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. C
The impact of global warming on European weather patterns has been underestimated, according to a new report published in Nature this week.
Dr Gillett, of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, compared Northern Hemisphere air pressure changes at sea level over the past 50 years with predicted changes from nine state-of-the-art climate models.
The Northern Hemisphere Circulation study found that present climate change models – computer representations of
CryoSat, a major satellite mission developed by UK scientists to help resolve climate change uncertainties at the poles, will be launched at 16:02 (BST) Saturday 8 October from the Khrunichev Space Centre, Plesetsk, in Russia.
Pre-launch press conference: 10:00am, 3 October
Venue: Earth Gallery, Natural History Museum, London
This European Space Agency mission will:
– test whether global warming is reducing sea ice.
– accurately predict sea level rise caused by
The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes worldwide has nearly doubled over the past 35 years, even though the total number of hurricanes has dropped since the 1990s, according to a study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The shift occurred as global sea surface temperatures have increased over the same period. The research will appear in the September 16 issue of the journal Science, published by the AAAS, the science
Scientists using satellite imagery found that at least 23 percent of the water released from the mouth of the Mississippi River from July through September 2004 traveled quite a distance – into the Gulf of Mexico, around the Florida Keys, and into the Atlantic Ocean.
The researchers combined data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites with information collected from ships to study the water discharge, appearing
Researchers have uncovered new evidence of a sudden, fatal dose of global warming 180 million years ago during the time of the dinosaurs. The scientists’ findings, published in Nature, 14 September, could provide vital clues about the climate change we are experiencing today.
PhD student Dave Kemp, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, and supervisors Drs. Angela Coe and Anthony Cohen from the Open University Department of Earth Sciences, along with Dr. Lorenz Sc
The Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) and Uppsala University have shown that a method previously used to warn about mining quakes can be used to predict where and when earthquakes are going to take place.
“Using this method, major quakes like the one that caused the tsunami could be predicted better, both in terms of time and geographic area,” says Leif Persson, a researcher at FOI.
Seismology researchers at FOI and Uppsala University have retrospectively examined
Scientists in Global Drifter Program deploy ceremonial 1,250th buoy
An ambitious idea spawned more than 20 years ago to develop a new way to watch the world change has come to fruition.
The Global Drifter Program (GDP), largely led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and Scripps Distinguished Professor Peter Niiler, will meet its lofty goal of blanketing the globe on Sept. 18 when the program’s 1,250th instrument is
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