• The Sahara Desert is Expanding, According to New UMD Study

    The Sahara Desert has expanded by about 10 percent since 1920, according to a new study by University of Maryland scientists. The research is the first to assess century-scale changes to the boundaries of the world’s largest desert and suggests that other deserts could be expanding as well. The study was published online March 29, 2018, in the Journal of Climate.

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  • Walleye Fish Populations Are in Decline

    Walleye, an iconic native fish species in Wisconsin, the upper Midwest and Canada, are in decline in northern Wisconsin lakes, according to a study published this week in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Species.

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  • Ocean acidification: Herring could benefit from an altered food chain

    As soon as they start life, it's all about survival for juvenile young fish. They must learn to catch prey and to escape enemies. Additionally, at this stage of their lives they are highly sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature, oxygen and the pH of the water. Exactly these factors are currently changing on a global scale: temperature is rising, the oxygen content of the ocean is decreasing and more and more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere dissolves in the seawater, where it forms carbonic acid and lowers the pH level. But not only directly, also indirectly elevated CO2 affects the survival of fish larvae, because it can change their food supply.

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  • Intensifying Tropical Storm Jelawat Evaluated by NASA's GPM Satellite

    The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite flew almost directly above large intensifying tropical storm Jelawat and found strong storms generating very heavy rainfall,

    ​GPM passed over the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and captured data on Jelawat on March 28, 2018 at 1:10 a.m. EDT (0510 UTC).

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  • The Arctic Sea-Ice Loss and Winter Temperatures in Eurasia

    The Arctic warming and the decline of the polar sea ice, do these phenomena have a connection to the cooling trends of winter in the Eurasia?

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  • Rapid Emissions Reductions Would Keep CO2 Removal and Costs in Check

    Rapid greenhouse-gas emissions reductions are needed if governments want to keep in check both the costs of the transition towards climate stabilization and the amount of removing already emitted CO2 from the atmosphere. To this end, emissions in 2030 would need to be at least 20 percent below what countries have pledged under the Paris climate agreement, a new study finds – an insight that is directly relevant for the global stock-take scheduled for the UN climate summit in Poland later this year. Removing CO2 from the atmosphere through technical methods including carbon capture and underground storage (CCS) or increased use of plants to suck up CO2 comes with a number of risks and uncertainties, and hence the interest of limiting them.

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  • Norfolk’s Iconic Swallowtail Butterfly at Risk from Climate Change

    Norfolk’s butterflies, bees, bugs, birds, trees and mammals are at major risk from climate change as temperatures rise – according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

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  • Satellite Finds Southerly Wind Shear Affecting Tropical Depression Jelawat

    Satellite imagery showed that Tropical Depression Jelawat was still dealing with southerly vertical wind shear that was pushing the bulk of its clouds north of its center.

    On March 27, Jelawat was centered over 100 miles from Yap State in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Yap State is one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia. The other states are Chuuk State, Kosrae State and Pohnpei State.

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  • Saharan Dust Makes Orange Snow

    Maybe this is what it would be like to ski on Mars.

    In late March 2018, the people of Eastern Europe and Russia found their snow cover had a distinctly orange tint. The color came from vast quantities of Saharan dust that was picked up by strong winds, lofted over the Mediterranean Sea, and deposited on Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia. Skiers in the Caucasus Mountains snapped photos that looked like they could have come from the Red Planet.

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  • Virginia Tech 'Fog Harp' Increases Collection Capacity for Clean Water

    Fog harvesting may look like whimsical work.

    After all, installing giant nets along hillsides and mountaintops to catch water out of thin air sounds more like folly than science. However, the practice has become an important avenue to clean water for many who live in arid and semi-arid climates around the world.

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