Phys.org September 9, 2024 An international team of researcher (US – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, UCLA, University of Maine, University of Hawaii, University of Southern California, American University, UC Santa Barbara, San José State University, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, UC Santa Cruz, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Columbia University, Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea) developed a set of activities, and a unit called centennial tonne (1,000 kg) to measure ocean iron fertilization (OIF). The conducted Field studies in the Northeast Pacific; Improved modeling for field studies, Data assimilation; Predictions at larger scales; Improvements in Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) […]
Category Archives: Global warming
Sweeping global study charts a path forward for climate-resilient agriculture
Phys.org September 9, 2024 Agriculture’s global environmental impacts are widely expected to continue expanding, driven by population and economic growth and dietary changes. In their review an international team of researchers (USA – University of Minnesota, Cornell University, UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, The Nature Conservancy, MN, World Resources Institute, Columbia University, Stanford, Scotland, Denmark, Italy, UK) highlighted climate change as an additional amplifier of agriculture’s environmental impacts, by reducing agricultural productivity and efficiency of agrochemicals, increasing soil erosion, accelerating the growth and expanding the range of crop diseases and pests, and increasing land clearing. They identified multiple pathways through […]
Enhancing microbe memory to better upcycle excess COâ‚‚
Phys.org August 30, 2024 Microbial cells often lose the multicopy expression plasmids during long-term cultivations. Because of the advantages related to titers, yields, and productivities plasmid stability is essential for industrially relevant biobased processes. Researchers in the UK designed and tested plasmid addiction systems based on the complementation of essential genes. They stabilized a multicopy plasmid by implementing a plasmid addiction tool based on the complementation of mutants lacking RubisCO, which is essential for CO2 fixation. Expressing the mevalonate pathway operon (MvaES) using this addiction system resulted in the production of carbon yields of ∼25%. According to the researchers the […]
Three-year study suggests air pollution increases thunderstorm danger
Phys.org August 20, 2024 Researchers at James Madison University investigated thunderstorm environments in two distinct geographic regions to assess the aerosol and thermodynamic environments surrounding thunderstorm initiation. 12-years of cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flash data were used to reconstruct thunderstorms occurring in a 225 km radius centered on the Washington, D·C. and Kansas City Metropolitan Regions. A total of 196,836 and 310,209 thunderstorms were identified for Washington, D.C. and Kansas City, MO. Merging hourly meteorological and aerosol data with the thunderstorm event database they found that warm season thunderstorm environments in benign synoptic conditions were considerably different in thermodynamics, aerosol properties, […]
Small but mighty: Why microbes could be part of climate solutions
Phys.org August 12, 2024 Methane and nitrous oxide (N2O) are greenhouse gases that rank second and third behind carbon dioxide as primary contributors to global warming and climate change. Outside of fossil sources, these gases are emitted by microorganisms as they interact with their environment. Researchers in Canada many strategies have targeted reduction of methane emissions. However, the microbial communities that live in these settings can respond to mitigation efforts by producing more N2O, which reduces or even negates the positive climate impact. Mitigation approaches often have not accounted for these trade-offs, and doing so requires additional monitoring to make […]
Sea ice’s cooling power is waning faster than its area of extent, new study finds
Phys.org July 17, 2024 Sea ice cools Earth by reducing its absorbed solar energy. An international team of researchers (USA – University of Michigan, Finland) combined radiative transfer modeling with satellite-derived surface albedo, sea ice, and cloud distributions to quantify the top-of-atmosphere sea ice radiative effect (SIRE). The Arctic Sea ice radiative effect has weakened by about 24%, since 1980. The planetary cooling effects of Arctic and Antarctic Sea ice during 2016–2023 were about 20% and 12% less, respectively, than they were during 1980–1988. Arctic SIRE has weakened, implying a 21%–27% reduction in the reflective power of Arctic Sea ice […]
True scale of carbon impact from long-distance travel revealed
Phys.org July 2, 2024 Researchers in the UK characterized the long-distance travel pattern in England and explored its importance on carbon emissions from and decarbonization of passenger travel. They found that only 2.7% of a person’s trips are for long distance travel (>50 miles one-way), but they account for 61.3% of the miles and 69.3% of the greenhouse gas (CO2 equivalent) emissions from passenger travel. Flying for leisure and social purposes are the largest contributors to long distance miles and emissions. Overall, per capita travel emissions have started decreasing slowly from 2007, but are still higher than in 1997. They […]
Simple new process stores carbon dioxide in concrete without compromising strength
Phys.org June 26, 2024 The current concrete carbonation approaches are hindered by low CO2 capture efficiency and high energy consumption, often resulting in weakened concrete. An international team of researchers (USA – Northwestern University, Switzerland) experimentally explored a carbonation approach that resorts to injecting CO2 into a cement suspension subsequently used to manufacture concrete, turning the carbonation reaction into an aqueous ionic reaction with a very fast kinetics compared to traditional diffusion-controlled approaches. This approach achieved a CO2 sequestration efficiency of up to 45% and maintained an uncompromised concrete strength. The study showed that the CO2 injection rate influenced the […]
Carbon dioxide, the main culprit of global warming, reborn as an antioxidant substance
Phys.org May 24, 2024 Microbial CO2 electroreduction (mCO2ER) offers a promising approach for producing high value multicarbon reductants from CO2 by combining CO2 fixing microorganisms with conducting materials. The solubility and availability of CO2 in an aqueous electrolyte pose significant limitations in this system. A team of researchers in South Korea demonstrated the efficient production of long-chain multicarbon reductants within a wet amine-based catholyte medium during mCO2ER. Optimizing the concentration of the biocompatible CO2 absorbent, monoethanolamine (MEA) led to enhanced CO2 fixation in the electroautotroph bacteria. MEA in the catholyte medium redirected the carbon flux towards carotenoid biosynthesis during mCO2ER. […]
Scientists discover a new type of porous material that can store greenhouse gases
Phys.org April 29, 2024 Researchers in the UK have developed a two-step, hierarchical synthesis that assembled a trigonal prismatic organic cage into a more symmetric, higher-order tetrahedral cage. Both the preformed [2+3] trigonal prismatic cage building blocks and the resultant tetrahedral [4[2+3]+6]cage molecule were constructed using ether bridges. This strategy afforded the tetrahedral cage molecule excellent hydrolytic stability that was not a feature of more common dynamic cage linkers. Despite its relatively high molar mass, tetrahedral cage exhibited good solubility and crystallized into a porous superstructure. By contrast, the [2+3] building block was not porous. The tetrahedral cage molecule showed […]