Protecting large animals such as elephants and whales, and large plants like the sequoias, has a disproportionate positive impact on the health of the planet and resilience to climate change. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/why-to-conserve-large-animals-trees…
Tag: forests
The Municipal Bond Market Is Using Geospatial Data For Climate Risk Evaluation
mikeebbbd shares a report from Los Angeles Times: The $3.8-trillion municipal-bond market has found a new tool in its effort to understand the effects of climate change: satellites orbiting Earth. Assessing climate risks is a particularly vexing problem given that U.S. state and local governments tend to give investors information that’s too little or just too late. But the use of…
Ferocious fires in Australia intensified this week
The outlook for the bushfire situation in Australia continues to be grim. This post is an update via NASA, containing NOAA-NASA satellite images of actively burning fires and the resultant billowing smoke. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/ferocious-fires-in-australia-intensified-this-week…
Europe marks 40th anniversary of first Ariane rocket launch
The first Ariane space rocket lifted off over the forests of French Guiana 40 years ago, enabling Europe to at last take its place as an independent player in the international race for space. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-12-europe-40th-anniversary-ariane-rocket.html…
Remains of Earth’s oldest forest found in New York
Scientists found fossilized root systems of ancient trees – from what’s now Earth’s oldest known forest – near Cairo, New York. They looked “surprisingly modern,” the scientists said. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/oldest-forest-new-york-fossil-trees…
Wildfires Have Changed. It’s Time the Science Did Too.
A group of researchers are working to find a bigger, better way to predict how the world’s deadliest blazes will behave. One mathematical model provides the spine for almost every computer program used to analyze wildfire behavior in the US, yet there are a number of factors it doesn’t include, Technology Review reports. As a result, fire behavior analysts have been…
Will sea otters return to San Francisco Bay?
A new study shows that, if they can be returned to San Francisco Bay, California’s southern sea otter population can be tripled. There are now only about 3,000 of the otters left. But, first, they’ll need some help getting past the great white sharks. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/southern-sea-otters-reintroduction-san-francisco-bay…
Australia’s Bushfires Have Emitted 250m Tonnes of CO2, Almost Half of Country’s Annual Emissions
Bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland have emitted a massive pulse of CO2 into the atmosphere since August that is equivalent to almost half of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, Guardian Australia can reveal. From a report: Analysis by Nasa shows the NSW fires have emitted about 195m tonnes of CO2 since 1 August, with Queensland’s fires adding a further…
Amazon fires quickening glacier melting in Andes
The burning rainforest releases black carbon into the atmosphere, which, according to a growing number of scientific studies, directly contributes to the melting of glaciers. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/amazon-fires-glaciers-andes-melt-even-faster…
Researchers describe 71 new species in 2019
New species from 5 continents and 3 oceans include geckos, goblin spiders, flowering plants, and Mediterranean ants. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/new-species-discovered-in-2019…