Monday, December 13th, 2021
A previously unknown source of the strong greenhouse gas nitrous oxide has been found in East Siberian Yedoma permafrost. Published in Nature Communications, the observation was made by an international group of researchers, with the lead of researchers from the University of Eastern Finland. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the third-most important greenhouse gas after carbon
Tuesday, November 30th, 2021
An international team of engineers and technicians has finished assembling a next-generation satellite that will make the first global survey of Earth’s surface water and study fine-scale ocean currents. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is just a year out from launch, and the final set of tests on the spacecraft have started.
Tuesday, November 16th, 2021
A new NASA-led study is the first to document changing atmospheric ammonia (NH3) concentrations in Africa over an extended period. Ammonia is an air pollutant that can lead to heart- and lung-related illness. When present in excess in an ecosystem, it can make soil more acidic and hinder plant growth. Ammonia is emitted naturally from
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021
On Oct. 29, 2021, ESA and NASA publicly released the first globally harmonzed assessment of aboveground biomass—information that’s vital for managing global climate change. The Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP) provides seamless access to aboveground biomass information from both NASA and ESA Earth observation data. The revolutionary open-science tool is now fully operational and
Thursday, October 14th, 2021
NASA released a climate action plan Oct. 7, 2021, aimed at averting mission impacts due to climate change, ensuring the resiliency of facilities and assets, and providing the nation and world unique climate observations, analysis, and modeling through scientific research. The plan is part of President Biden’s whole-of-government approach to confronting the climate crisis. Federal
Tuesday, October 5th, 2021
If it seems like enormous wildfires have been constantly raging in California in recent summers, it’s because they have. Eight of the state’s 10 largest fires on record—and 12 of the top 20—have happened within the last five years, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Together, those 12 fires
Tuesday, September 21st, 2021
Self-driving vehicles such as cars, ships and drones offer the potential for reduced costs, lower environmental impacts and fewer accidents. Now, a new open dataset from researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, sets a new standard for evaluating the algorithms of such vehicles, and the development of autonomous transport systems on roads, water and
Tuesday, September 7th, 2021
Scientists have known for decades that climate change makes wildfires more common, larger and more intense. Now an international team of scientists has demonstrated a new connection between fires and global warming. Using data from Landsat satellites, they discovered that wildfires in the western United States have been spreading to higher elevations due to warmer
Wednesday, August 25th, 2021
As soil and other surfaces dry, water is transferred into the air as water vapor (i.e., evaporation). Plants actively release water, moving it out of their leaves and stems and into the drier air (i.e., transpiration). The two combine for evapotranspiration: the process through which water leaves plants, soils and other surfaces. It’s a measurement
Tuesday, August 10th, 2021
Scientists are observing changes in the Earth’s climate in every region and across the whole climate system, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report released Aug. 9, 2021. Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the
