Climate change triggering global collapse in insect numbers, stressed farmland shows 63% decline: New research

Phys.org  April 21, 2022 Although research has shown that biodiversity changes are driven primarily by land-use change and increasingly by climate change, the potential for interaction between these drivers and insect biodiversity on the global scale remains unclear. Researchers in the UK have shown that the interaction between indices of historical climate warming and intensive agricultural land use is associated with reductions of almost 50% in the abundance and 27% in the number of species within insect assemblages relative to those in less-disturbed habitats with lower rates of historical climate warming. These patterns are particularly evident in the tropical realm. […]

Warming oceans will significantly alter how sound travels underwater

Phys.org  March 24, 2022 A considerable fraction of marine life depends on sound, marine mammals exploit sound in all aspects of their life. Researchers in Italy studied the impact of climate change in sound propagation by computing the three-dimensional global field of underwater sound speed based on present conditions (2006–2016) and a future climate scenario identifying two “acoustic hotspots” where larger sound speed variations are expected. Their results indicated that the identified acoustic hotspots would present substantial climate-change-induced sound speed variations toward the end of the century, potentially affecting the vital activities of species in the areas. They provided evidence […]

Carbon dioxide could be stored below ocean floor, research shows

Science Daily  March 7, 2022 Naturally occurring methane (CH4) hydrates in oceanic sediments have been stable for millions of years kept in place by the natural pressure created by the weight of the seawater above. At low-temperature and under high-pressure conditions created by the ocean, CO2 can be trapped within water molecules, forming an ice-like substance. These CO2 hydrates form at a temperature just above the freezing point of water and can store as much as 184 cubic metres of CO2 in one cubic meter of hydrates. An international team of researchers (Singapore, USA – industry) recreated the conditions of […]

Iodine in Desert Dust Destroys Ozone – Could Prolong Greenhouse Gas Lifetimes

SciTech Daily  December 31, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Colorado, NCAR, industry, University of Wisconsin, NESDIS, Spain, Argentina) has shown that dust is a source of gas-phase iodine, indicated by aircraft observations of iodine monoxide (IO) radicals inside lofted dust layers from the Atacama and Sechura Deserts that are up to a factor of 10 enhanced over background. Gas-phase iodine photochemistry, commensurate with observed IO, is needed to explain the low O3 inside these dust layers (below 15 ppbv; up to 75% depleted). The added dust iodine can explain decreases in O3 of 8% regionally […]

Liquid marbles: how this tiny, emerging technology could solve carbon capture and storage problems

Phys.org  December 8, 2021 Research shows “liquid marbles”—tiny droplets coated with nanoparticles—could possibly address current challenges in materials used to capture carbon. Gas from the reactor hits the marbles, where it clings to the nanoparticle outer shell, the gas then reacts with the liquid within, separating the CO₂ and capturing it inside the marble. CO₂ can be taken out and stored underground, and then recycle the liquid for future processing. This process can be a more time and cost-efficient way of capturing CO₂. However, many properties of liquid marbles remain elusive as physical experiments have their limitations. An international team […]

Lightning strikes may trigger short-term thinning in the ozone layer

Phys.org  October 11, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Colorado, Finland) used detailed computer simulations to follow what happened in the atmosphere after Hurricane Patricia that struck Texas and Mexico in 2015 and had more than 33,000 lightning strikes over the span of just two-and-a-half hours, the May 1917 storm in the Caribbean, and the 2013 storm over Nebraska. As the storms progressed, the electron energy raining down to Earth began to react with gasses high in Earth’s atmosphere, concentrations of certain molecules in the air, including hydrogen oxides and nitrogen oxides, shot up almost at […]

Research reveals potential of an overlooked climate change solution

Phys.org  September 27, 2021 Carbon dioxide removal has an increasingly well-established research agenda and technological foundation. There is no framework for methane removal. While some removal technologies are being developed, modelling of their impacts is limited. An international team of researchers (USA – Stanford University, UC Irvine, University of Pennsylvania, Germany, UK, Canada, France) conducted the first simulations using a methane emissions-driven Earth System Model to quantify the climate and air quality co-benefits of methane removal, including different rates and timings of removal. They defined a novel metric, the effective cumulative removal, and used it to show that each effective […]

China to release updated climate plans ‘in near future’: envoy

Phys.org  August 3, 2021 Climate negotiators from 196 countries and the European Union as well as businesses, experts and world leaders will gather in Glasgow in November for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) summit. Under the Paris Agreement, countries are meant to have submitted updated 2030 climate targets ahead of COP26, but nearly half have yet to do so. China said they will soon release their updated plans. The United Nations is pushing for a global coalition committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 which will cover all countries. Many scientists now say 1.5 degrees must […]

Nearly 14,000 Scientists Warn That Earth’s ‘Vital Signs’ Are Rapidly Worsening

Science Alert  August 2, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – Oregon State University, Tufts University, Australia, South Africa) suggests a “three-pronged near-term policy approach”: a significantly higher global price on carbon, a worldwide phase-out and eventual ban of fossil fuels, and development of climate reserves to protect and restore biodiversity and carbon sinks. They have presented a suite of graphical vital signs of climate change over the last 40 years for human activities that can affect GHG emissions and change the climate and climatic impacts using only relevant data sets that are clear, understandable, systematically collected for at […]

Earth’s interior is swallowing up more carbon than thought

Phys.org  July 26, 2021 The best-understood parts of the carbon cycle are at or near Earth’s surface, but deep carbon stores play a key role in maintaining the habitability of our planet by regulating atmospheric CO2 levels. An international team of researchers (UK, Germany, China, France, Switzerland, Singapore) conducted a series of experiments that support growing evidence that carbonate rocks become less calcium-rich and more magnesium-rich when channeled deeper into the mantle. This chemical transformation makes carbonate less soluble meaning it doesn’t get drawn into the fluids that supply volcanoes. Instead, most of the carbonate sinks deeper into the mantle […]