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Environmental News Network -- Know Your Environment
A survey of ice in Greenland has uncovered evidence suggesting a kilometer-wide iron asteroid slammed into that island, perhaps as recently as 12,000 years ago during the end of the Pleistocene. The resulting 19-mile-wide impact crater has remained hidden under a half-mile-thick ice sheet until now. It recently was exposed by an ultra-wideband chirp radar system developed at the Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), headquartered at the University of Kansas.
To battle the summer heat, office and residential buildings tend to crank up the air conditioning, sending energy bills soaring. Indeed, it’s estimated that air conditioners use about 6 percent of all the electricity produced in the United States, at an annual cost of $29 billion dollars — an expense that’s sure to grow as the global thermostat climbs.
The U.S. has less fresh groundwater than previously thought, according to research by UC Santa Barbara scientists.
When rains fell on the arid Atacama Desert, it was reasonable to expect floral blooms to follow. Instead, the water brought death.
U.S. forests, wetlands and agricultural lands could absorb one-fifth of greenhouse gas pollution — equivalent to emissions from all U.S. vehicles.
Not all polar bears are in the same dire situation due to retreating sea ice, at least not right now.
