EurekAlert! - Atmospheric Science

Bay Area thrushes nest together, winter together, and face change together

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(PRBO Conservation Science) Swainson's thrushes, from a local population near Bolinas, Calif., spend their winters together in Mexico, according to a new tracking study released by Point Blue Conservation Science. This result is important because it shows that the conservation of habitat for these local populations in California is tightly linked with climate and habitat changes in Mexico, where these birds spend their winters, 1,600 miles away.

NOAA, partners predict possible record-setting deadzone for Gulf of Mexico

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(NOAA Headquarters) NOAA-supported modelers at the University of Michigan, Louisiana State University, and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium are forecasting that this year's Gulf of Mexico hypoxic "dead" zone will be between 7,286 and 8,561 square miles which could place it among the ten largest recorded. A second NOAA-funded forecast, for the Chesapeake Bay, calls for a smaller than average dead zone in the nation's largest estuary.

Small dam construction to reduce greenhouse emissions is causing ecosystem disruption

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Oregon State University) Researchers conclude in a new report that a global push for small hydropower projects, supported by various nations and also the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, may cause unanticipated and potentially significant losses of habitat and biodiversity.

Stone Age technological and cultural innovation accelerated by climate

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) According to a study by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the University of Cardiff and the Natural History Museum in London, technological innovation during the Stone Age occurred in fits and starts and was climate-driven. Abrupt changes in rainfall in South Africa 40,000 to 80,000 years ago triggered the development of technologies for finding refuge and the behavior of modern humans. This study was recently published in Nature Communications.

MIT and UC Berkeley launch energy-efficiency research project

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Berkeley Haas School of Business) Researchers at MIT and UC Berkeley announce "The E2e Project," a new interdisciplinary research project that aims to evaluate and improve energy-efficiency policies and technologies. Its goal is to support and conduct rigorous and objective research, communicate the results and give decision-makers the real-world analysis they need to make smart choices.

Exposure to high pollution levels during pregnancy may increase risk of having child with autism

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Harvard School of Public Health) Women in the US exposed to high levels of air pollution while pregnant were up to twice as likely to have a child with autism as women who lived in areas with low pollution.

Second Atlantic season tropical depression forms

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Tropical Depression 2 formed in the western Caribbean Sea during the early afternoon hours on June 17. NOAA's GOES-13 satellite captured an image of the storm as it consolidated enough to become a tropical depression while approaching the coast of Belize. NOAA's GOES-13 satellite sits in a fixed orbit and monitors the weather in the eastern half of the continental United States and the Atlantic Ocean.

Pyrocumulus cloud billows from New Mexico fire

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) On June 12, 2013, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of the Silver fire burning east of Silver City, N.M. In addition to producing gray smoke plumes, the fire spawned a pyrocumulus cloud -- a tall, cauliflower-shaped cloud that billowed up above the smoke.

NASA satellite sees developing tropical depression near Philippines

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) System 91W appears ripe to become Tropical Depression 4 in the next couple of days as it continues moving north and parallels the east coast of the Philippines. NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of the developing low pressure area as it passed overhead in space on June 17.

Bullfrogs may help spread deadly amphibian fungus, but also die from it

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Oregon State University) Amphibian populations are declining worldwide and a major cause is a deadly fungus thought to be spread by bullfrogs, but a two-year study shows they can also die from this pathogen, contrary to suggestions that bullfrogs are a tolerant carrier host that just spreads the disease.

New study shows predators affect the carbon cycle

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies ) A new study shows that the predator-prey relationship can affect the flow of carbon through an ecosystem. This previously unmeasured influence on the environment may offer a new way of looking at biodiversity management and carbon storage for climate change.

Pesticides significantly reduce biodiversity in aquatic environments

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) The pesticides, many of which are currently used in Europe and Australia, are responsible for reducing the regional diversity of invertebrates in streams and rivers by up to 42 percent, researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Study identifies travel choices for a smaller carbon footprint

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) Planes, trains, or automobiles: what's the most climate-friendly way to travel? A new study by researchers from IIASA and CICERO brings better estimates of how much personal travel impacts the climate.

Jet stream changes cause climatically exceptional Greenland Ice Sheet melt

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Sheffield) Research from the University of Sheffield has shown that unusual changes in atmospheric jet stream circulation caused the exceptional surface melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet in summer 2012.

Global cooling as significant as global warming

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Newcastle University) International study confirms the link between global cooling and a crash in the marine ecosystem similar to that witnessed as a result of global warming.

Bushfires in north of Western Australia

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Since Australia is heading into their winter as the northern climates head into summer, the north of Western Australia is ripe for bushfires. Many have already begun as evidenced from this satellite pass by NASA's Aqua satellite which acquired this image with the Moderatete Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument aboard it.

OU researchers collaborate on $20 million NSF EPSCoR grant

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Oklahoma) University of Oklahoma researchers will collaborate with researchers from Oklahoma State University, the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and the University of Tulsa to advance understanding of how socio-ecological systems can adapt sustainability to increased climate change and variability in the state.

Intense: Navy, civilian planners get big assist in storm predictions

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Office of Naval Research) With the arrival of the Atlantic hurricane and Pacific typhoon season -- and the often dangerous storms that can accompany it -- new technology sponsored by the Office of Naval Research will help Navy and civilian officials alike plan for stormy weather. The Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System-Tropical Cyclone is a groundbreaking weather prediction model that offers forecasters a detailed look at tropical storms and accurate predictions of a storm's intensity from one to five days out.

UCLA climate study predicts dramatic loss in local snowfall

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Los Angeles) By midcentury, snowfall on Los Angeles-area mountains will be 30 to 40 percent less than it was at the end of the 20th century, according to a UCLA study released today and led by UCLA climate expert Alex Hall.

Study of oceans' past raises worries about their future

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(McGill University) A McGill-led international research team has completed the first global study of changes that occurred in the nitrogen cycle, at the end of the last ice age. Their study confirm that oceans are good at balancing the nitrogen cycle on a global scale. But the data also shows that it is a slow process that may take many centuries, raising worries about the effects of current changes in the ocean.

Energy from the windy heights

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA)) The electricity from our sockets could soon come from a high-tech device flying in the sky. The innovative research project to generate wind energy with the aid of a kite won over the "Venture Kick" jury; it is providing CHF 10,000 of support for the Empa spin-off "TwingTec".

New accurate portable instrument to measure the light pollution levels of a city

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Granada) Small and light, the instrument is easy to transport and can be used practically anywhere, without the need for large-scale installations like astronomical observatories.

New report identifies 'regret-free' approaches for adapting agriculture to climate change

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Burness Communications) Whether it’s swapping coffee for cocoa in Central America or bracing for drought in Sri Lanka with a return to ancient water storage systems, findings from a new report from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security chart a path for farmers to adapt to climate shifts despite uncertainties about what growing conditions will look like decades from now.

Autonomous energy-scavenging micro devices will test water quality, monitor bridges, more

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(SPIE--International Society for Optics and Photonics) Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario are using photonics in their quest to "bring the lab to the sample," developing sophisticated micro instruments that scavenge power from sunlight, body heat, or other sources, for uses such as monitoring water quality or assessing bridge safety.

New 'electronic nose' nano-sensor being developed for food safety, health

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Riverside) The "electronic nose" sensor developed by a University of California, Riverside engineering professor, and being commercialized by Innovation Economy Crowd, will be further refined to detect deadly pathogens including toxic pesticides in the global food supply chain, according to a recently signed product development and distribution agreement.