Where Do Trees Come From?

‘Dangerous blindspot’: why overlooking blue carbon could sink us When the ambitious plan to allow sea water to flood over the Steart peninsula in Somerset was completed in 2014, critics called it a waste of money. Floods had recently blighted the nearby area, and some local people argued the £20m spent on creating a new 250-hectare (617-acre) salt marsh would have been better spent on other flood-prevention projects. Seven years ago, the concept of “blue carbon” – how marine ecosystems store carbon – was in its infancy. Some research had looked at how mangrove forests absorb carbon, but little was known about how effective seagrass and salt marshes also were at absorbing greenhouse gas emissions. The two groups behind the salt marsh – the Environment Agency and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) – barely mentioned the climate.

Scary weather to follow if jet stream keeps moving Share this Article You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. Climate-caused disruptions to the North Atlantic jet stream are likely to have drastic weather-related consequences for societies on both sides of the Atlantic, research in Greenland indicates. New research provides insights into how the position and intensity of the North Atlantic jet stream has changed during the past 1,250 years. The findings suggest that the position of the jet stream could migrate outside of the range of natural variability by as early as the year 2060 under unabated greenhouse gas emissions. “…we can now begin to use the past as a sort of a prologue.”

Should rivers have the same rights as people? The Magpie River winds majestically through the forests of Quebec for nearly 200 miles. Its thundering ribbon of blue is cherished by kayakers, white-water rafters and the indigenous Innu people of Ekuanitshit. Earlier this year, in a first for Canada, the river was granted legal personhood by local authorities, and given nine rights, including the right to flow, the right to be safe from pollution – and the right to sue. Uapukun Mestokosho, a member of the Innu community who campaigned for the recognition of the Magpie’s rights said spending time on the river was “a form of healing” for indigenous people who could revive their traditional land-based practices that had been abandoned during the violence of the colonial era. Siberia’s ‘gateway to the underworld’ grows as record heat wave thaws permafrost On a spring day in 2019, Alexander Kizyakov rappelled down the 60-meter headwall of the Batagay megaslump in eastern Siberia, pausing to chisel out chunks of ice-rich soil that had been frozen for eons. “One of my hobbies is rock climbing,” says Kizyakov, a permafrost scientist at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Colleagues below sampled the most ancient soil along the base of the cliff.

Amazon rainforest now emitting more CO2 than it absorbs The Amazon rainforest is now emitting more carbon dioxide than it is able to absorb, scientists have confirmed for the first time. The emissions amount to a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, according to a study. The giant forest had previously been a carbon sink, absorbing the emissions driving the climate crisis, but is now causing its acceleration, researchers said. Most of the emissions are caused by fires, many deliberately set to clear land for beef and soy production. Yahoo is now a part of Verizon Media Yahoo is part of Verizon Media. By clicking "Accept all" you agree that Verizon Media and our partners will store and/or access information on your device through the use of cookies and similar technologies and process your personal data, to display personalised ads and content, for ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Your personal data that may be used Information about your account, device and internet connection, including your IP address Browsing and search activity while using Verizon Media websites and apps Precise location

Manifestations and mechanisms of the Karakoram glacier Anomaly 1.Hewitt, K. Rock avalanches that travel onto glaciers and related developments, Karakoram Himalaya, Inner Asia. Geomorphology 103, 66–79 (2009). Google Scholar 2.RGI Consortium. Randolph Glacier Inventory—A Dataset of Global Glacier Outlines: Version 6. 0 (Global Land Ice Measurements from Space, 2017); D. et al. A consensus estimate for the ice thickness distribution of all glaciers on Earth. Glacial rivers absorb carbon faster than rainforests, scientists find In the turbid, frigid waters roaring from the glaciers of Canada’s high Arctic, researchers have made a surprising discovery: for decades, the northern rivers secretly pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a rate faster than the Amazon rainforest. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, flip the conventional understanding of rivers, which are largely viewed as sources of carbon emissions. “It was a total surprise,” said Dr Kyra St Pierre, a biologist at the University of British Columbia and lead researcher on the project. “Given what we know about the rivers though … the findings are intuitive when you think about it.

Milankovitch (Orbital) Cycles and Their Role in Earth's Climate Our lives literally revolve around cycles: series of events that are repeated regularly in the same order. There are hundreds of different types of cycles in our world and in the universe. Some are natural, such as the change of the seasons, annual animal migrations or the circadian rhythms that govern our sleep patterns. Others are human-produced, like growing and harvesting crops, musical rhythms or economic cycles. Cycles also play key roles in Earth’s short-term weather and long-term climate. A century ago, Serbian scientist Milutin Milankovitch hypothesized the long-term, collective effects of changes in Earth’s position relative to the Sun are a strong driver of Earth’s long-term climate, and are responsible for triggering the beginning and end of glaciation periods (Ice Ages).

UK Emissions Interactive Map This interactive application allows you to explore emissions data from the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory for 2018. This map tool is optimised for modern web browsers, and may be slow in older browsers (such as Internet Explorer 8 or below). Ambient air quality concentration data can be explored using the ambient air quality maps on UK-AIR. Accessibility version Please choose accessibility layer from the list Licensing Information