Melting Permafrost Will Boost Temps, But Not Quickly
Climate scientists have long known that human-generated greenhouse emissions are only part of the story with global warming. A rising planetary temperature sets in motion all sorts of secondary effects that can boost the temperature even higher — effects like melting Arctic sea ice, rising levels of heat-trapping water vapor in the atmosphere, and … Read More
Image of the Day: Otters Are Climate-Saving Creatures
After studying 40 years worth of data, researchers from the University of California Santa Cruz have found that sea otters play an active role in combating climate change. And it's all thanks to their love of sea urchin, a natural predator of the carbon-sucking coastal seaweed, kelp. In the absence of otters, urchins dine like kings, but in their … Read More
Image of the Day: For This Forest, It’s Easy Being Green
The Iwokrama forest in Guyana is protected by the Conservation Trust Fund, which provides funds for managing the country’s intact protected tropical rainforests that are mostly untouched by humans. This is the first of its kind in Guyana. Having an ecosystem untouched by humans and industrial progress is a good thing for the climate. Deforestation … Read More
NASA Animation: Watching the Earth Breathe
When Charles Keeling first began measuring the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide levels in the late 1950’s, he noted first that they stood at about 315 parts per million (ppm), or 315 molecules of carbon dioxide for every million molecules of air. Soon after, though, he found that the concentrations were rising, thanks to the burning of fossil fuels … Read More
Image of the Day: ‘Supertrees’ Super Useful in Singapore
Trees clean the air. They take in carbon dioxide, a climate inducing greenhouse gas. They provide shade and thus keep forested areas cooler. They purify water. Giant man-made “supertrees in Singapore will now provide electricity. The 18 fake trees, some almost 165 feet tall, which were opened to visitors on June 29, make up a project from … Read More
Image of the Day: What On Earth Is On His Back?
Charcoal decorates the back of a laborer at an illegal charcoal camp nestled in the Brazilian rainforest. Much of the illegally logged trees from the Amazon end up in charcoal camps like this one. The charcoal then travels to the furnaces of smelters that produce pig iron, which is later turned into steel… Read More
The Issue of Population is More Than a Little Radioactive
But if you think about it, the Earth’s booming human population is at the root of just about every environmental crisis that threatens the natural world. Last October 31, Earth’s population reached 7 billion people (unofficially, because there’s no way to pinpoint the actual day, but it was in the ballpark). Every last one of them taps into the pla… Read More
Take a Ride Into Space With NASA’s Rubber Chicken
NASA isn’t just a science organization, though: it also has an educational mission, and to engage students in the science SDO does, mission scientist Tony Phillips created a mission mascot, Camilla Corona, with her own Twitter feed. Under Phillips’ mentorship, a group of high school and middle school students in Bishop, Calif., has gone beyond just… Read More
