Switching up: Marine bacteria shift between lifestyles to get the best resources
Researchers have found that marine bacteria exploit resource patches efficiently by switching between attached and planktonic lifestyles, and fine-tuning the time spent on patches depending on their quality. Bacteria stayed longer on higher-quality patches, as predicted by patch use theory. Future studies in this area could help to predict the role of marine bacteria in the global carbon cycle.
EarthSkyâs top 10 tips for super stargazers
Here are 10 simple tips that can help you connect with the night sky, and have fun.
Island-building in Southeast Asia created Earth’s northern ice sheets
Tectonic processes are thought to have triggered past ice ages, but how? A new analysis of mountain building in the maritime tropics of Southeast Asia attributes the last ice age, which reached a maximum 15,000 years ago, to increasing rock weathering in the rising island arc from Sumatra to New Guinea over the past 15 million years, with the first ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere appearing about 3 million years ago.
2020 Arctic sea ice minimum 2nd lowest on record
On September 15, 2020, Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum extent, the 2nd-lowest on record. The Arctic region in general is warming 3 times faster than the rest of the planet.
2020 Arctic sea ice minimum at second lowest on record
The 2020 minimum extent, which was likely reached on Sept. 15, 2020 measured 1.44 million square miles (3.74 million square kilometers).
‘A crazy year up north’: Arctic sea ice shrinks to 2nd-lowest level on record – USA TODAY
Sea ice is frozen ocean water that melts each summer, then refreezes each winter. “The year 2020 will stand as an exclamation point on the downward trend in Arctic sea ice extent.” Shrinking sea ice is just one of many…
Satellite data helps climbers ascend Mt. Everest
Data from ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite help climbers negotiate a treacherous glacier on the route to Mt. Everest’s summit.
Wildfire on the rise since 1984 in Northern California’s coastal ranges
High-severity wildfires in northern coastal California have been increasing by about 10 percent per decade since 1984, according to a new study.
Mercury concentrations in Yukon river fish could surpass EPA criterion by 2050
The concentration of mercury in the fish in Alaska’s Yukon River may exceed the EPA’s human health criterion by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming are not constrained, according to new research.
Earthâs glaciers and ice sheets are melting
Several new studies released in recent weeks paint a dire picture of the ongoing melting of Earth’s freshwater ice sheets and glaciers, 99% of which are found in Greenland and Antarctica.
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