Top Stories

Dying Waters: India Struggles to Clean Up Its Polluted Urban Rivers

Standing on a small concrete bridge, environmental activist Janak Daftary gestures toward the crowded banks of the Mithi River, which runs through the heart of Mumbai.

>> Read the Full Article

Maximizing the Environmental Benefits of Autonomous Vehicles

The added weight, electricity demand and aerodynamic drag of the sensors and computers used in autonomous vehicles are significant contributors to their lifetime energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study.

>> Read the Full Article

UBC researchers use drones to track jellyfish blooms

Jellyfish blooms are becoming more widespread and scientists are looking for ways to understand them better, including their impact on species like salmon that compete with them for food sources. Now, researchers at the University of British Columbia have enlisted aerial drones to track these jellyfish clusters, their behaviours, and populations in greater detail.

>> Read the Full Article

Snapping shrimp may ring 'dinner bell' for gray whales off the Oregon coast

Scientists have for the first time captured the sounds of snapping shrimp off the Oregon coast and think the loud crackling from the snapping of their claws may serve as a dinner bell for eastern Pacific gray whales, according to new research by NOAA and Oregon State University presented here today.

>> Read the Full Article

NASA’s Longest Running Survey of Ice Shattered Records in 2017

Last year was a record-breaking one for Operation IceBridge, NASA’s aerial survey of the state of polar ice. For the first time in its nine-year history, the mission, which aims to close the gap between two NASA satellite campaigns that study changes in the height of polar ice, carried out seven field campaigns in the Arctic and Antarctic in a single year.

>> Read the Full Article

Small Lakes and Temporary Ponds Release CO2 into the Atmosphere Even When They Are Dry

Temporary lakes and ponds emit CO₂ during all year –even when they are dry-, and dry areas are the ones emitting a larger amount of carbon to the atmosphere. This phenomenon, described now for the first time, could have an impact on the global carbon cycle that controls Earth’s climate, according to a study led by the lecturer Biel Obrador, form the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona, and Núria Catalán, from the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA).

>> Read the Full Article

'Excess Emissions' Make Significant Contribution to Air Pollution

When Hurricane Harvey struck Texas in August, industrial facilities in the state shut down, then reopened a few days later. In doing so, they produced nearly 2,000 tons of "excess emissions" -- air pollutants in addition to what was allowed as part of their normal operation.

>> Read the Full Article

Projecting the Impacts of Climate Change

How might climate change affect the acidification of the world’s oceans or air quality in China and India in the coming decades, and what climate policies could be effective in minimizing such impacts?

>> Read the Full Article

Genetic Limits Threaten Chickpeas, a Globally Critical Food

Perhaps you missed the news that the price of hummus has spiked in Great Britain. The cause, as the New York Times reported on February 8: drought in India, resulting in a poor harvest of chickpeas. Far beyond making dips for pita bread, chickpeas are a legume of life-and-death importance—especially in India, Pakistan, and Ethiopia where 1 in 5 of the world’s people depend on them as their primary source of protein.

>> Read the Full Article

Post-eruption sunsets shed light on historical wind patterns

Recent research by climate modelers Kevin Hamilton and Takatoshi Sakazaki at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) investigated the possibility of using historical observations after large equatorial volcanic eruptions to learn about the properties of the winds in the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere 10–30 miles above Earth’s surface.

>> Read the Full Article