Friday, February 15th, 2013
For more than a decade, scientists have observed “ship tracks” in natural-color satellite imagery of the ocean. These bright, linear trails amidst the cloud layers are created by particles and gases from ships. They are a visible manifestation of pollution from ship exhaust, and scientists can now see that ships have a more subtle, almost invisible, signature
Wednesday, February 13th, 2013
An international team of scientists using new measurements from ESA’s ice mission has discovered that the volume of Arctic sea ice has declined by 36% during autumn and 9% during winter between 2003 and 2012.
Thursday, February 7th, 2013
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of state dashboards and comparative maps that provide the public with information about the performance of state and EPA enforcement and compliance programs across the country.
Thursday, February 7th, 2013
Arctic Environment Ministers are calling for “urgent action” to reduce black carbon, methane, and HFCs in order to help protect the Arctic and reduce the risk of setting off self-amplifying feedback mechanisms that accelerate warming and lead to irreversible impacts. The Ministers’ call to action is presented in the Chair’s conclusions released today at the
Sunday, February 3rd, 2013
As part of NOAA’s agency-wide Habitat Blueprint effort, they have chosen the Russian River Valley watershed in California as their first Habitat Focus Area. Habitat Focus Areas are places where they can pool resources and expertise to maximize the conservation of important habitat.
Thursday, January 17th, 2013
A new way of studying and visualizing Earth science data from a NASA and U.S. Geological Survey satellite program is resulting in, for the first time, the ability to tease out the small events that can cause big changes in an ecosystem.
Thursday, January 17th, 2013
A deep and persistent drought struck vast portions of the continental United States in 2012. Though there has been some relief in the late summer, a pair of satellites operated by NASA shows that the drought lingers in the underground water supplies that are often tapped for drinking water and farming.
Wednesday, January 16th, 2013
Total toxic air releases in 2011 declined 8 percent from 2010, mostly because of decreases in hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions, even while total releases of toxic chemicals increased for the second year in a row, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report published today.
Friday, December 21st, 2012
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized changes to Clean Air Act standards for boilers and certain incinerators that will achieve extensive public health protections by slashing toxic air pollution, including mercury and particle pollution, while at the same addressing feedback provided by industry and labor groups, increasing the rule’s flexibility and dramatically reducing
Thursday, December 6th, 2012
Forests, grasslands and shrublands and other ecosystems in the West sequester nearly 100 million tons (90.9 million metric tons) of carbon each year, according to a Department of the Interior report released today. Carbon that is absorbed or “sequestered” through natural processes reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The 100 million tons
