Scientists at the University of Manchester will set off for Australia this week to undertake an in-depth study of tropical clouds and the particles sucked up into them to gain further insight into climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer.

The research will take place in Darwin, Australia as part of a major international field experiment to study transport by tropical thunderstorms and the type of high-altitude clouds they produce.

Manchester’s research will

One of the worst disasters to hit Europe in the last decade has served as a case study to investigate how satellite images can improve insurance risk modelling. Following the project’s end, reinsurance giant Swiss Re has added Earth Observation products to its comprehensive catastrophe database for the first time.

The three-week flooding of the Elbe River in August 2002 saw water levels reach 150-year highs across parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Numerous urban centres in

Roots are crucial for the development of strong, healthy crops. But until recently, exactly which genes are involved in the development of roots was still a mystery. Scientists from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to Ghent University have now analyzed a complete plant genome in order to identify the genes that are essential for the formation of capillary roots. For the first time, they are unraveling the genetic basis for the branching of the root system

Typically we think of rainfall as cleaning the air by removing dust as it falls through the atmosphere and helping plants grow that protect and hold the soil. But a new NASA-funded study looking at some of the world’s dustiest areas shows that heavy downpours can eventually lead to more dust being released into the atmosphere.

Typically drought reduces vegetation growth, increasing soil vulnerability to wind erosion, while rainfall tends to have the opposite effect. In the

Conservationists begin tracking Mom’s fourth litter

Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and their Russian colleagues from the Russian Far East recently fitted three wild 40-day-old Siberian tiger cubs with tiny radio-collars, marking the youngest wild tigers to be tracked by scientists. The elastic collars, which eventually fall off as the tigers grow, weigh just over five ounces and would fit on a large house cat. They give researchers crucial insights i

For the first time, researchers have detected high concentrations of a popular insecticide in suburban stream sediments, raising concerns about its effects on aquatic life.

Pyrethroids, the active ingredient used in most home and garden insecticides, have been on the market for years. Although the compounds are considered potentially less harmful to humans than other insecticides, surprisingly little information is available about their long-term impact on the environment, acc

The world’s major rice-producing countries – including the two most populous nations, China and India – have emphasized the importance of continuing to develop new rice varieties to guarantee Asia’s food security and support the region’s economic development.

Rice helps feed almost half Earth’s population on a daily basis, and just as important provides vital employment and income for billions of poor people, most of them in Asia. But, at a recent meeting in Indonesia of the regio

As Hurricane Wilma barrels towards the Florida coast, a last-minute acquisition by a unique instrument aboard ERS-2 is helping strengthen weather forecasters’ final predictions of its future course and strength.

The ERS-2 radar scatterometer data shown here was acquired by the satellite on 04:30 UTC this morning (06:30 CEST), then relayed via the ground station of the Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) at the University of Miami to be speedily p

Recent advances in wireless computing technology could improve deep-space missions like asteroid research and remote spacecraft operations by changing the way signals are sent from Earth. A new method designed to effectively deliver commands and instructions using hundreds of millions of tiny transmitters linked together could also free the giant satellite dishes currently used to send and receive the long-range information for other applications. A research paper describing the scheme for rela

With a quarter of the Earth’s land surface affected, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification regards desertification as a worldwide problem. Delegates from the 170-plus signatories to the Convention currently gathered in Nairobi have been briefed by ESA representatives and national partners on how satellites are being used to track desertification in Europe.

The Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 7) of the United Nations Convention to Comb

Across the animal kingdom, individuals face choices between patience and impulsivity. A classic case, confronted by all animals–humans included–is that between a small, immediate food reward and a delayed, but larger, reward. In such cases, impulsivity typically trumps patience as individuals fail to delay gratification. But what factors influence these decisions? Researchers have gained new insight into this question by showing that the particular ways in which animals exhibit patience and im

Parents whose grown children have not yet flown the nest can only sympathize with the Western bluebird.

While female fledglings fly off on their own in late summer, their brothers typically hang around through the winter and into the next breeding season, living off the bounty of their parents’ larder.

As with humans, though, as the money runs low, the kids split, according to a new study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley.

Janis Dick

How does a wound in certain plants like roses and grapevines develop into a tumor? The answer appears to lie in a common soil bacterium that is able to “smell” the wound and speed up the infection process.

Cornell University microbiologist Steve Winans says that the pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens enters the wound where it copies the genes required for infection, which can slip into the plant’s cells and their nuclear DNA, causing a cancer-like disease called crown gall. The

The classic model for explaining the biosynthesis of starch in plant leaves has been seriously called in to question. While to date the accepted belief has been that starch biosynthesis is produced solely in the chloroplast, biologist Nora Alonso Casajús’ PhD provides evidence to show that the greatest part of the precursor molecule in starch biosynthesis – known as ADPG – accumulates in the cytosol of the plants. This finding has meant a great advance in the race to obtain vegetables that can

This Envisat acquisition showing Typhoon Kirogi passing beneath Japan is the latest of more than 480 satellite images so far available for viewing in ESA’s new Earth Images Gallery.

The Gallery is a user-friendly showcase of spectacular images acquired by ESA Earth Observation satellites. The collection can be searched on a geographical basis, using a spinning globe to specify a continent of interest. The site then displays the distribution of available images. Select one to vi

The rapid structural breakdown of some important parts of the ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica is possible, has happened in the distant past, and some “startling changes” on the margin of these ice masses has been observed in recent years – raising disturbing concerns about sea level rise.

In a new report to be released Friday in the journal Science, researchers from Oregon State University and four other institutions in the U.S. and Europe outline dynamic mechanisms of