Phytoplankton are responsible for producing the oxygen we breathe as well as soaking up the carbon we emit and feeding the fish we eat. They are a crucial part of ocean ecosystems and essential to life as we know it on Earth. NASA is launching a new satellite in early 2024 to study these aquatic …
Continue reading “NASA to identify phytoplankton from space”
New research shows that the cooling effect that volcanic eruptions have on Earth’s surface temperature is likely underestimated by a factor of two, and potentially as much as a factor of four, in standard climate projections.
Subsoils are the greatest storehouses for carbon, as well as one of the most important sources of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Global warming is speeding up the decomposition of soil humus. It is also having an effect on the waxy compounds which help plants store carbon in their leaves according to a new study.
The vast northern forests of Canada and Alaska are moving northwards as a result of climate change. Also, the shift is faster at the southern boreal boundaries than the northern ones. The discrepancy indicates that boreal forests are contracting on a continental scale, according to a new study. The team used 20 years of satellite …
Mycorrhizal fungi live in cooperation with plants, offering nutrients, water and protection from pests in exchange for carbon-rich sugars. New research shows that this single group of fungi may be playing a bigger role in storing carbon than we thought.
It’s not even summer yet, but 2023 is set to be the worst wildfire year in recent memory. As of June 5, wildfires in Canada have destroyed 3.3 million hectares of land, including 2.2 million hectares of managed forest land, according to Werner Kurz, a senior scientist with the Canadian Forest Service.
Planting trees is often a go-to action for benefiting the planet, but it turns out that it really matters what types of trees you plant – and where. Tree diversity, or the amount and distribution of tree species in a forested area, is very important for things like growth, biodiversity and building resilience to the …
A new study indicates that an extinct offshore volcano in Portugal could potentially store 1.2-8.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide, representing 24-125 years of the country’s industrial emissions. The method termed ‘in situ mineral carbonation’ allows CO2 to react with specific rock types to create new, safely stored minerals.
