Wednesday, April 2

ENVIRONMENT

As The Gulf Of Mexico Warms Baby Bull Sharks Are Thriving In Texas And Alabama Bays
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT

As The Gulf Of Mexico Warms Baby Bull Sharks Are Thriving In Texas And Alabama Bays

Baby bull sharks are thriving in Texas and Alabama bays as the Gulf of Mexico warms. In late spring, estuaries along the U.S. Gulf Coast come alive with newborn fish and other sea life. While some species have struggled to adjust to the region’s rising water temperatures in recent years, one is thriving: juvenile bull sharks. We study this iconic shark species, named for its stout body and matching disposition, along the Gulf of Mexico. Over the past two decades, we have documented a fivefold increase in baby bull sharks in Mobile Bay, Alabama, and a similar rise in several Texas estuaries, as our new study shows. Despite the bull shark’s fearsome reputation, baby bull sharks are not cause for concern for humans in these waters. While adult bull sharks are responsible for an occasi...
Read More
The Atlantic Ocean Circulation Collapse
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT, TOP FOUR

The Atlantic Ocean Circulation Collapse

Is collapse of the Atlantic Ocean circulation really imminent? Icebergs’ history reveals some clues. When people think about the risks of climate change, the idea of abrupt changes is pretty scary. Movies like “The Day After Tomorrow” feed that fear, with visions of unimaginable storms and populations fleeing to escape rapidly changing temperatures. Icebergs that break off from Greenland’s glaciers carry enormous amounts of fresh water that can affect Atlantic currents. Hubert Neufeld via Unsplash , CC BY-SA While Hollywood clearly takes liberties with the speed and magnitude of disasters, several recent studies have raised real-world alarms that a crucial ocean current that circulates heat to northern countries might shut down this century, with potentially disastrous consequence...
Read More
La Niña And A Persistently Warm Ocean Teaming Up To Power Fierce Storms
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT

La Niña And A Persistently Warm Ocean Teaming Up To Power Fierce Storms

Hurricane forecast points to a dangerous 2024 Atlantic season, with La Niña and a persistently warm ocean teaming up to power fierce storms. The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1, and forecasters are predicting an exceptionally active season. If the National Hurricane Center’s early forecast, released May 23, is right, the North Atlantic could see 17 to 25 named storms, eight to 13 hurricanes, and four to seven major hurricanes by the end of November. That’s the highest number of named storms in any NOAA preseason forecast. Other forecasts for the season have been just as intense. Colorado State University’s early outlook, released in April, predicted an average of 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes and five major hurricanes. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Fo...
Read More
The Coming Cicada Invasion
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT, IN OTHER NEWS, TOP FOUR, VIDEO REELS

The Coming Cicada Invasion

Billions of cicadas are about to emerge from underground in a rare double-brood convergence. In the wake of North America’s recent solar eclipse, another historic natural event is on the horizon. From late April through June 2024, the largest brood of 13-year cicadas, known as Brood XIX, will co-emerge with a midwestern brood of 17-year cicadas, Brood XIII. This event will affect 17 states, from Maryland west to Iowa and south into Arkansas, Alabama and northern Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and Maryland. A co-emergence like this of two specific broods with different life cycles happens only once every 221 years. The last time these two groups emerged together was in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president. For about four weeks, scattered wooded and suburban areas will ring wit...
Read More
A Closer Look At The First SEC Approved US Climate Disclosure Rules
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

A Closer Look At The First SEC Approved US Climate Disclosure Rules

SEC approves first US climate disclosure rules: Why the requirements are much weaker than planned and what they mean for companies. After two years of intense public debate, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the nation’s first national climate disclosure rules on March 6, 2024, setting out requirements for publicly listed companies to report their climate-related risks and in some cases their greenhouse gas emissions. The new rules are much weaker than those originally proposed. Significantly, the SEC dropped a controversial plan to require companies to report Scope 3 emissions – emissions generated throughout the company’s supply chain and customers’ use of its products. The rules do require larger companies to disclose Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which are emissions fro...
Read More
Exploring The Depths Of Ocean Activities With AI And Satellite Imagery
No Comments
AI, ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Exploring The Depths Of Ocean Activities With AI And Satellite Imagery

We used AI and satellite imagery to map ocean activities that take place out of sight, including fishing, shipping and energy development. Humans are racing to harness the ocean’s vast potential to power global economic growth. Worldwide, ocean-based industries such as fishing, shipping and energy production generate at least US$1.5 trillion in economic activity each year and support 31 million jobs. This value has been increasing exponentially over the past 50 years and is expected to double by 2030. Transparency in monitoring this “blue acceleration” is crucial to prevent environmental degradation, overexploitation of fisheries and marine resources, and lawless behavior such as illegal fishing and human trafficking. Open information also will make countries better able to manage vital ...
Read More
Recyclable Polymer Materials Could One Day Help Reduce Single-Use Plastic Waste
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT

Recyclable Polymer Materials Could One Day Help Reduce Single-Use Plastic Waste

New class of recyclable polymer materials could one day help reduce single-use plastic waste. Hundreds of millions of tons of single-use plastic ends up in landfills every year, and even the small percentage of plastic that gets recycled can’t last forever. But our group of materials scientists has developed a new method for creating and deconstructing polymers that could lead to more easily recycled plastics – ones that don’t require you to carefully sort out all your recycling on trash day. In the century since their conception, people have come to understand the enormous impacts – beneficial as well as detrimental – plastics have on human lives and the environment. As a group of polymer scientists dedicated to inventing sustainable solutions for real-world problems, we set out to tackle...
Read More
A Virtual Power Plant — What It Is And How It Works — An Energy Expert Explains
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT, IN OTHER NEWS, TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

A Virtual Power Plant — What It Is And How It Works — An Energy Expert Explains

What is a virtual power plant? An energy expert explains. After nearly two decades of stagnation, U.S. electricity demand is surging, driven by growing numbers of electric cars, data centers and air conditioners in a warming climate. But traditional power plants that generate electricity from coal, natural gas or nuclear energy are retiring faster than new ones are being built in this country. Most new supply is coming from wind and solar farms, whose output varies with the weather. That’s left power companies seeking new ways to balance supply and demand. One option they’re turning to is virtual power plants. These aren’t massive facilities generating electricity at a single site. Rather, they are aggregations of electricity producers, consumers and storers – collectively known as distrib...
Read More
It’s Not Only Because Of How Warm And Wet Tropical Climates Are That Makes Them The Most Bio-diverse On Earth
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT, IN OTHER NEWS

It’s Not Only Because Of How Warm And Wet Tropical Climates Are That Makes Them The Most Bio-diverse On Earth

Tropical climates are the most biodiverse on Earth − but it’s not only because of how warm and wet they are. Life exists in every conceivable environment on Earth, from the peaks of towering mountains to the remote stretches of isolated islands, from sunlit surfaces to the darkest depths of the oceans. Yet, this intricate tapestry of existence isn’t spread uniformly. For centuries, scientists have marveled at the extraordinary variety of species exhibited in tropical regions. The breathtaking biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest, the teeming life in Madagascar’s unique ecosystems, the species-rich cloud forests of Costa Rica – the tropics showcase nature’s opulence. What makes the tropics so incredibly diverse? Since the dawn of biodiversity studies, scientists have believed the predom...
Read More
Rivers Are Losing Dissolved Oxygen From Their Water With Climate Change
No Comments
ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Rivers Are Losing Dissolved Oxygen From Their Water With Climate Change

As climate change warms rivers, they are running out of breath – and so could the plants and animals they harbor. As climate change warms rivers, they are losing dissolved oxygen from their water. This process, which is called deoxygenation, was already known to be occurring in large bodies of water, like oceans and lakes. A study that colleagues and I just published in Nature Climate Change shows that it is happening in rivers as well. We documented this change using a type of artificial intelligence called a deep learning model – specifically, a long short-term memory model – to predict water temperature and oxygen levels. The data that we fed the model included past records of water temperature and oxygen concentrations in rivers, along with past weather data and the features of adjoin...
Read More