Category: Earth
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Increased Lightning Fires Threaten Boreal Forest Carbon Storage
New research reveals that lightning ignitions are a major cause of wildfires in intact extratropical forests. Utilizing machine learning, the study found that 77% of fires in these areas are due to lightning, a stark contrast to human-caused fires in tropical regions. With climate change increasing lightning frequency and forest flammability, these forests, crucial for…
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Rotifers Can Break Down Microplastics to Create Trillions More Particles
Rotifers are a group of microscopic zooplankton that live in freshwater ecosystems and oceans around the world. New research has shown that these miniature creatures are able to chew on microplastics, which breaks them up into even smaller and more dangerous pieces known as nanoplastics. Nanoplastics are smaller than one micron, or five times thinner…
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Low-intensity fires reduce wildfire risk by 60%, according to study
Researchers found that low-intensity fires reduced risk of high-intensity fires in conifer forests by about 60%. The reduction benefits are estimated to last about six years. Credit: Wu, et al., Science Advances There is no longer any question of how to prevent high-intensity, often catastrophic, wildfires that have become increasingly frequent across the Western U.S.,…
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NASA’s Sounding Rocket Rises Into Alaskan Skies
On November 8, 2023, NASA’s DISSIPATION mission was launched by a sounding rocket from Fairbanks, Alaska, with the goal of studying auroral impacts on the atmosphere. Credit: NASA/Lee Wingfield NASA launched the DISSIPATION mission from Alaska to study auroral heating of the atmosphere. A sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska,…
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Study concludes ocean acidification in the Mediterranean is already affecting the calcification of marine plankton
Collecting samples during a scientific campaign in the Mediterranean Sea. Credit: ICTA-UAB The acidification of the oceans caused by human activity is already altering the production of marine plankton shells in the Mediterranean Sea. This is the worrying conclusion of a study led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma…
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Study of wildfires in the US over 30 years shows number of houses burned has grown substantially
Net gains and losses in WUI area (a–c) and WUI housing units (d–f) in the 1990s (a, d), 2000s (b, e), and 2010s (c, f). Credit: Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.ade9223 A team of forestry management researchers at the University of Wisconsin, working with a colleague from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and another…
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Designing cities for 21st-century weather
Population exposures to four climate extremes in different climate regions at the beginning (BOC) and the end (EOC) of the 21st century, and effects of 21st-century climate change versus urban land expansion on such exposures. Credit: Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42084-x Weather extremes, such as heat waves and torrential rainfalls, are becoming more frequent and…
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Iceberg Mapping at Lightning Speed: AI Is 10,000x Faster Than Humans
In a groundbreaking development, researchers from the University of Leeds have unveiled a neural network that can swiftly and accurately chart the expanse of large… Continue Reading News Source: scitechdaily.com
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Significant increase in short-duration extreme precipitation over mountainous areas in China seen under global warming
A new study unveils the forces behind extreme hourly precipitation shifts in Southwest China. Credit: The background image by Lauser and the diagram of mechanism by Rouyi Jiang A new study led by Prof. Xiaopeng Cui from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with experts from the National Meteorological…
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Northern peatlands in Finland are still expanding, finds study
Lateral expansion study sites: Syysjärvi, Kaamanen, Salamajärvi, Patvinsuo and Siikaneva. The map also shows location of the main mire complex types in Finland: raised mires in the south and aapa mires further in the north. Map lines delineate study areas and do not necessarily depict accepted national boundaries. Credit: Global Change Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16988…