One million years ago a change in the tropics made the northern hemisphere ice masses expand

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Durham University (UK) have discovered that a million years ago, global climate changes occurred due to changes in tropical circulation in the Pacific similar to those caused by El Niño today. Changes in atmospheric circulation caused variations in heat fluxes and moisture transport, triggering a large expansion of the polar ice she

How to bring together positions and views of psychologists and ecologists, integrate these sciences for a goal common to all mankind – preservation and evolution of life on the Earth?

Psychologists deal with the human being as such, reflection of reality in individual mentality, without paying too much attention to what is going on around. Ecologists are concerned with the process of interaction between human beings and nature, however, they at times consider this interaction onl

The floodwaters that inundated New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina were similar in content to the city’s normal storm water and were not as toxic as previously thought, according to a study by researchers at Louisiana State University. Their study, the first peer-reviewed scientific assessment of the water quality of the Katrina floodwaters, is good news for those who’ve been exposed directly to the floodwaters, the scientists say.

But the LSU researchers caution t

Study examines culvert capacity in Keene, NH

The storm that dropped over 10 inches of rain on the Keene, NH area this past weekend will be a more frequent phenomenon due to climate change, according to two New Hampshire researchers. Michael Simpson and Latham Stack headed a research team within the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH. Their recently completed study is groundbreaking because it is the first to identify the specifi

In this study the possibilities of the North American oak (Quercus rubra L.) as an afforestation alternative in the Basque Country Autonomous Community were investigated. The aim was to expand the range of possibilities in forestry production, avoiding monospecific plantations but, at the same time, meeting the needs of the current economy on the basis of sustainable development.

The study centred on 6 plantations of various ages in Bizkaia, firstly studying the wealth of epigeous

Professor Ramón Barrio´s research team at the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has developed a series of new analytical methodologies in order to tackle the the problem of the persistence of certain commonly used pesticicides in ecosystems such as forests and agricultural land.

The characterisation of pesticicide residues in various matrixes and in kinetic studies on degradation as a function of meteorological parameters provided us wi

A relatively large number of algae grow in the North Sea. These form the basis for a much richer food chain than that found in the Atlantic Ocean. Dutch-sponsored researcher Yann Bozec calculated that coastal seas such as the North Sea remove about three times as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than would be expected on the basis of their small surface area.

The measured annual increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is only 60 percent o

Water from the Indian Ocean does not reach the South Atlantic Ocean continuously, but in separate packages. These are called Agulhas eddies, after the current along the east coast of Southern Africa where they originate from. Dutch researcher Astrid van Veldhoven characterised the fate of these rapidly rotating, three hundred kilometre wide and five kilometres deep, warm eddies during their journey to the Atlantic Ocean.

Over the past four years, the Royal Netherlands Institut

Earth’s wetlands are havens for wildlife and vital to the water cycle, but they are also under threat. An ESA-led initiative aims to develop a global wetland information service based on Earth Observation for conservation efforts. The Globwetland project has now entered a new phase, with prototype products being developed based on sites across four continents.

Abundant water makes wetlands the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth, more productive even than tropical ra

The high heat that accompanied the recent drought was the underlying cause of death for millions of pinyon pines throughout the Southwest, according to new research.

The resulting landscape change will affect the ecosystem for decades. Hotter temperatures coupled with drought are the type of event predicted by global climate change models. The new finding suggests big, fast changes in ecosystems may result from global climate change.

“We documented a massive forest die-

Scientists from nine nations have set sail for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Tahiti Sea Level Expedition, a research expedition initiated to investigate global sea level rise since the last glacial maximum, approximately 23,000 years ago. For six weeks, aboard the DP HUNTER, the expedition science party will work on the most extensive geological research investigation ever undertaken in a coral reef area. Off the coast of Tahiti, IODP scientists will take samples of fossil cora

Researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new and improved technique for the simultaneous measurement of sulfur isotopic ratios and concentrations of atmospheric sulfate using snow samples from Greenland and Kyrgyzstan.

Sulfur plays an important role in the Earth’s climate. Sulfate particles in the atmosphere scatter and absorb sunlight, provide “seeds” for cloud formation, and affect the r

Chinese men spurn traditional virility medicines

Chinese men are selectively switching from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction, but sticking with tradition for ailments such as arthritis, indigestion and gout, according to new research published in Environmental Conservation.

The finding supports a prediction made by Australian and Alaskan researchers at the advent of Viagra’s commercial release in 1998 that the new impot

Plant Research International, part of Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, together with CatchMabs, have announced a cooperative study to apply iMab technology to detect mycotoxins in food and plant pathogens in plant material. The partners will advance the work for applications at the nano-level.

CatchMabs develops ‘industrial Molecular Affinity Bodies’ (iMabs) – proteins capable of making highly specific and exceptionally strong combinations of previo

An ambitious initiative to utilise ESA satellite data to improve availability and management of African water resources took a further step forward on a hill slope overlooking Rome this week.

ESRIN, the European Centre for Earth Observation in Frascati near Rome, was the setting for the two-day TIGER Workshop which is being followed by three days of Earth Observation technology training sessions.

ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes and Head of ESRIN

Hurricane Erin raced across the North Atlantic and along the eastern seaboard in September 2001. She was used as an experiment for a study to improve hurricane tracking and intensity predictions, allowing meteorologists to provide more accurate and timely warnings to the public. Studies show that temperatures measured at an extremely high altitude collected from a hurricane’s center or eye can provide improved understanding of how hurricanes change intensity.

Hurricane Eri