Major floods and droughts receive a lot of attention in the context of climate change, but University of Illinois researchers analyzed over five decades of precipitation data from North America to find that changes in nonextreme precipitation are more significant than previously realized and larger than those in extreme precipitation. These changes can have a strong effect on ecosystems, agriculture, infrastructure design and resource management, and point to a need to examine precipitation in a more nuanced, multifaceted way.
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Investigadores de Stanford se unen para reducir la contaminación y mejorar la salud
La epifanía de Stephen Luby surgió a 30.000 pies en el aire. El epidemiólogo de Stanford volaba sobre la India cuando se dio cuenta de que la vista desde su asiento en la ventana era adecuada para identificar hornos de ladrillo abajo en el suelo. La visión fue sorprendente por su potencial para arrojar luz sobre una pesadilla ambiental que mata a miles de personas cada año.
Small-scale fisheries have big impact on oceans
A new UBC study has found that small-scale fisheries may have a much larger impact on ocean ecosystems than previously thought, due to a lack of data on their development over time.
“We found that the influence from small-scale fisheries is far from small,” said Jennifer Selgrath, lead author who completed the research as a PhD student with UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and Project Seahorse. “In our case study in the Philippines, we found that the fisheries have become unsustainable because there are so many people trying to catch a limited number of fish and invertebrates.”
In a Stunning Turnaround, Britain Moves to End the Burning of Coal
Bigger than any medieval castle, with its 12 giant white cooling towers gleaming in the sun, the Drax Power Station dominates the horizon for tens of miles across the flat lands of eastern England. For four decades, it has been one of the world’s largest coal power plants, often generating a tenth of the U.K.’s electricity. It has been the lodestar for the final phase of Britain’s 250-year-long love affair with coal – the fuel that built the country’s empire and industrialized the world.
NASA-NOAA's Satellite Night-time Nod to Norma
Infrared imagery provides a look at tropical cyclones at night and NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite got a look at Tropical Storm Norma in the Eastern Pacific using infrared light.
NOAA teams with Paul G. Allen Philanthropies to expand deep ocean observations
In a groundbreaking public-private partnership, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory will deploy a large array of new deep ocean floats to expand ocean observations in a key area of the western South Atlantic Ocean.
These instruments, called Deep Argo floats, can collect data down to nearly four miles deep, and promise to lead scientists to a better understanding of how the bottom half of the ocean may influence long term weather, climate, and sea level rise.