Geography News

February 29, 2016

Ocean Acidification Slows Coral Reef Growth

Antarctica Could Be Headed for Major Meltdown

Antarctic Ice Sheet More Vulnerable to ...

The Day Atlantic City Blew Away

Latest Headlines

updated 11:25pm EST

Ozone Depletion Chemicals: Tracking Down Lingering Source of Carbon Tetrachloride Emissions

Feb. 29, 2016 — Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), once commonly used as a cleaning agent, is an ozone-depleting chemical. Despite a worldwide ... read more

New Theory of Deep-Ocean Sound Waves May Aid Tsunami Detection

Feb. 29, 2016 — Researchers have now identified a less dramatic though far more pervasive source of acoustic-gravity waves: surface ocean waves, such as those that can be seen from a beach or the deck of a boat. ... read more

Americans Would Pay More to Support Biodiversity

Feb. 29, 2016 — Most Americans are willing to pay more taxes each year -- in some cases, as much as $35 to $100 more -- to support biodiversity conservation in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a national survey. ... read more

Plankton Feces Could Move Plastic Pollution to the Ocean Depths

Feb. 29, 2016 — Plastic waste could find its way deep into the ocean through the feces of plankton, new research ... read more

Offshore Wind Parks: Interactions and Local Climate

Feb. 29, 2016 — In 2015 alone, more than 500 offshore wind turbines were connected to the grid in Germany. So far, mutual interactions of wind parks and their potential effects on local ... read more

Philippines Affected by More Extreme Tropical Cyclones

Feb. 29, 2016 — A new study finds hazardous tropical cyclones in the Philippines are increasing in intensity causing widespread damage and loss of life, which may be due to rising sea-surface ... read more

When Sea Levels Rise, Damage Costs Rise Even Faster

Feb. 29, 2016 — Damages from extreme events like floods are even more relevant than the mean sea level itself when it comes to the costs of climate impacts for coastal regions. A team of scientists now provides a ... read more

Scientists Warn of the Dangers of Salt Pollution of Freshwaters If Preventive Measures Are Not Taken

Feb. 26, 2016 — A new article warns of the dangers of increasing water salinity for human health and freshwater ecosystems (rivers, lakes, ... read more

NASA Maps El Niño's Shift on US Precipitation

Feb. 25, 2016 — This winter, areas across the globe experienced a shift in rain patterns due to the natural weather phenomenon known as El Nino. A new NASA visualization of rainfall data shows the various changes in ... read more

NASA Sees a Different Kind of El Nino

Feb. 25, 2016 — A new NASA visualization shows the 2015 El Nino unfolding in the Pacific Ocean, as sea surface temperatures create different patterns than seen in the 1997-1998 El Nino. Computer models are just one ... read more

Facebook Is Mapping Every Building To Bring The Internet To Everyone

Bitter Cold Strikes Northern Plains, Great Lakes

Climate Change Warming World's Lakes, Says Study

NOAA: Warming Arctic Ocean Sets Another Record

NASA Demonstrates Airborne Water Quality Sensor

Feb. 29, 2016 — Monitoring the quality of freshwater supplies is a global concern, especially in thirsty California, where the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary and its watershed serve as a major freshwater source. ... read more

NASA, Partner Space Agencies Measure Forests in Gabon

Feb. 29, 2016 — A contingent of NASA airborne instruments and scientists on the ground, including some from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, has joined colleagues from space agencies in ... read more

New Prediction Tool Gives Warning of Rogue Waves

Feb. 25, 2016 — A new prediction tool may give sailors a 2-3 minute warning of an incoming rogue wave, providing them with enough time to shut down essential operations on a ship or offshore platform. The tool, in ... read more

Climate Change Speeds Up Gully Erosion

Feb. 25, 2016 — The erosion of large natural channels by flowing water -- gully erosion -- can wreak havoc on fields, roads, and buildings. In some cases, the sudden expansion of gullies even claims human lives. ... read more

Tracing Deep Ocean Currents

Feb. 25, 2016 — Radioactive isotopes typically take four years to reach the Norwegian coast from Sellafield on the north-eastern coast of England. Researchers are following the radioactive waste to understand how ... read more

Tropical Fires Fuel Elevated Ozone Levels Over Western Pacific Ocean

Feb. 24, 2016 — A diverse team of atmospheric chemists, meteorologists and modelers has traced the origins of mysterious pockets of high ozone concentrations and low water vapor in the air above the western Pacific ... read more

New Interactive Guide Tells the Story of Forest Products in the South

Feb. 24, 2016 — A new storymap allows users to interactively chart the ebb and flow of forest products across the southern states -- and visually tells the story of the decline of the forest products industry in the ... read more

Salt Marshes Will Persist Despite Rising Seas, Study Predicts

Feb. 24, 2016 — Traditional assessment methods overestimate salt-marsh vulnerability because they don't fully account for processes that allow for vertical and landward migration as water levels increase, a new ... read more

Wastewater Treatment Plants Significant Source of Microplastics in Rivers

Feb. 24, 2016 — Millions of tiny pieces of plastic are escaping wastewater treatment plant filters and winding up in rivers where they could potentially contaminate drinking water supplies and enter the food system, ... read more

New Climate Model Better Predicts Changes to Ocean-Carbon Sink

Feb. 24, 2016 — The relationship between our future carbon dioxide emissions and future climate change depends strongly on the capacity of the ocean-carbon sink. That is a question climate scientists have so far ... read more

Freshwater Biodiversity Has Positive Impact on Global Food Security

Feb. 24, 2016 — Inland freshwaters with a greater variety of fish species (biodiversity) have higher-yielding and less variable fisheries according to a new study. At least two billion people depend directly on ... read more

Climate Change Takes from the Poor, Gives to the Rich, Study Finds

Feb. 24, 2016 — Fish and other important resources are moving toward Earth's poles as the climate warms, and wealth is moving with them, according to a new ... read more

Underwater Robots Can Be Programmed to Make Independent Decisions

Feb. 23, 2016 — Researchers have authored a paper on the advantage of linking multi-sensor systems aboard an AUV to enable the vehicle to synthesize sound data in real-time so that it can independently make ... read more

El Niño Prolongs Longest Global Coral Bleaching Event

Feb. 23, 2016 — Global warming and the intense El Niño now underway are prolonging the longest global coral die-off on record, according to scientists monitoring and forecasting the loss of corals from disease and ... read more

Intense Deep-Ocean Turbulence in Equatorial Pacific Could Help Drive Global Circulation

Feb. 22, 2016 — The findings could help solve an outstanding mystery about the global ocean conveyor belt and improve future climate ... read more

Gulf of Mexico Historic Shipwrecks Help Scientists Unlock Mysteries of Deep-Sea Ecosystems

Feb. 22, 2016 — The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill significantly altered microbial communities thriving near shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico, potentially changing these diverse ecosystems and degrading the ... read more

What Do Canadians in Every Riding Believe About Climate Change?

Feb. 22, 2016 — A new interactive tool has been released to the public to visualize, with unprecedented detail, the geographic distribution of climate opinions across ... read more

Multiple Cosmic Impacts 790,000 Years Ago

Feb. 22, 2016 — Approximately 790,000 years ago there were multiple cosmic impacts on Earth with global consequences. Geoscientists have reached this conclusion after dating so-called tektites from various parts of ... read more

Sea Level Mapped from Space With GPS Reflections

Feb. 22, 2016 — The GPS signal used for ‘sat-navs’ could help improve understanding of ocean currents, according to new research. Ocean surface height measurements are routinely made from space by radar ... read more

Thousands of Pieces of Data Demonstrate That Sea Levels, Extreme Phenomena Are Evolving Independently

Feb. 22, 2016 — Together with the rise in sea levels, extreme phenomena associated with storms have also become a problem caused by climate change, a setback that added to the former, can also cause significant ... read more

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Market integration could help offset climate-related food insecurity

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