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Tracking Global Forest Changes | Earth Wise

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India is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world.  An estimated 47,000 plant species and 89,000 animal species can be found in India, with more than 10% of each thought to be on the list of threatened species.

India is also one of the 10 most forest-rich countries in the world.  Trees cover approximately 25% of the nation.  But this is still a significant decline from years past.  In fact, between the 1890s and 1990s, a combination of rapid development and resource overexploitation caused India to lose nearly 80% of its native forest area.  Today, as India’s forests continue to disappear, researchers are trying to help preserve what forest remains. 

Using satellite-monitoring data, researchers from The Ohio State University have developed a deep learning algorithm that could provide real-time land use and land cover maps for parts of India. 

The land use monitoring system was trained using satellite data from Norway’s International Climate and Forests Initiative.  By combining this data with a global land cover map produced by Tsinghua University in China, the researcher team’s deep learning model was able to acquire a more detailed type of base map of the area.  Using their model, the researchers were able to process 10 monthly maps.  Their research was recently  presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.   

Using these maps, the researchers were able to detect seasonal shifts across india.  These include changes to barren land, how crop land was affected by monsoons, and the distribution of forests in mountainous regions. 

Understanding the impact of these seasonal changes will help scientists better predict the effects of climate change on forests.

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Using deep learning to monitor India’s disappearing forest cover

Photo, posted January 20, 2013, courtesy of Frontier Official via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Oxygen Loss In Lakes | Earth Wise

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Researchers from Cornell University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that the continual warming in the world over the past 25 years has been reducing the amount of oxygen in many lakes.

Data from more than 400 lakes – mostly in the United States – shows that lakes with dissolved oxygen losses strongly outnumber those with gains.  Overall, the researchers found that the amount of low oxygen water is increasing by 0.9% to 1.7% per decade on average  and the volume of lake water lacking oxygen has increased by more than 50% from 25 years ago.

In the summer, lake surfaces may be about 70 degrees while the lake bottom may be about 40 degrees.  The colder water is denser than the warmer water which causes resistance to the layers mixing.  It is akin to having oil and vinegar in a cruet.  This is known as stratification.   The result is that oxygen from the atmosphere is prevented from replenishing dissolved oxygen in deep waters.  This is a normal seasonal phenomenon.

However, with winter ending sooner than it used to, seasonal stratification is starting earlier and ending later. As warming continues, it is likely that there will be an increasing number of oxygen-depleted lakes in the future.

Oxygen deprivation in water can lead to hypoxia (low oxygen) and even anoxia (no oxygen), which have negative consequences for fish and other species.  Reducing oxygen in lake water can lead to buildup of methane.   Nutrients from agricultural runoff, released from unsettled lake sediment, increase the likelihood of harmful algal blooms.

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Warming climate prompts harmful oxygen loss in lakes

Photo, posted June 23, 2010, courtesy of Alexander Acker via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Assessing The Planet’s Most Unique Birds | Earth Wise

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Birds come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes and plumages.  The physical attributes of birds are adaptations that have taken countless millennia to develop, and physical attributes are closely related to the roles birds play in their environment.   

According to a new study led by researchers from the University College London in the U.K., bird species with extreme or uncommon combinations of traits have the highest risk of extinction.  Losing these bird species and the unique roles they play in the environment, including seed dispersal, pollination and predation, could have severe consequences on the health of ecosystems.

In the study, which was recently published in the British Ecological Society journal Functional Ecology, the researchers analyzed the extinction risk and physical attributes of 99% of all living bird species.  The research team used a dataset of measurements collected from living birds and museum specimens.  The measurements included things like beak size and shape, and the length of wings, tails and legs.  The researchers combined this data with extinction risk, and then ran simulations to see what would happen if the most threatened birds were to go extinct.

Some of the bird species that are both most unique and most threatened include the Christmas Frigatebird and the Bristle-thighed Curlew.  Kiwis were excluded from the study because the researchers viewed them as extreme morphological outliers.

While most unique birds were also classified as threatened on the Red List, the research was unable to show what links uniqueness in birds to extinction risk

The research team warns that if more isn’t done to protect these threatened species and avoid extinctions, the functioning of ecosystems will be dramatically disrupted.

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Planet’s most unique birds at higher risk of extinction

Photo, posted June 25, 2012, courtesy of Kristine Sowl / USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Mauna Loa Eruption And Climate Tracking | Earth Wise

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Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, erupted for the first time in nearly 40 years in late November.  A 124-foot aluminum tower at the top of the volcano has been the site of carbon dioxide measurements for over 60 years but the eruption cut off power to the site, stopping the monitoring.

Carbon dioxide measurements on Mauna Loa began in 1958.  The project was started by geochemist Charles Keeling and eventually taken over by his son Ralph Keeling upon his father’s death in 2005.  It is the longest continuous record of the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the world.

Mauna Loa is an ideal location for carbon dioxide monitoring because it is a remote location away from both carbon dioxide sources like dense population centers and roads, and carbon sinks like areas of heavy vegetation.

There are hundreds of carbon dioxide monitoring stations around the world, including more than 70 operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, so the interruption will not stop global recordkeeping.  But Mauna Loa holds significant symbolism as the first and most frequently sited source of carbon dioxide data.

There have been other interruptions in the measurements.  Federal budget cuts in 1964 paused them for about 3 months.  A 1984 eruption also cut off power to the facility and shut it down for about a month.

When the facility first started operating, the average carbon dioxide concentration was measured at 313 parts per million.   Most recently, levels have peaked at around 421 parts per million, the greatest concentration in at least 4 million years. 

Power will be restored to the Mauna Loa facility and its measurements will resume.

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Mauna Loa Eruption Threatens a Famous Climate Record

Photo, posted November 29, 2022, courtesy of L. Gallant / USGS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Decarbonizing Could Save Trillions | Earth Wise

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Scientists have long been calling for a transition to clean energy to prevent catastrophic impacts of climate change.  For much of that time, many people and, specifically, many of those in power, were skeptical of the need to do something about the warming climate.  But even as the facts about the changing climate became increasingly undeniable, there continued to be fears that the transition to clean energy sources would be unacceptably expensive and harmful to the economy.

A recent study published by Oxford University shows that the opposite is true:  a concerted effort to convert to green energy technologies such as solar, wind, and batteries, will save the world enormous amounts of money.

The Oxford study shows that a transition to nearly 100% clean energy by 2050 results in a lower-cost energy system that provides energy access to more people around the world.  The energy transition is expected to save the world at least $12 trillion compared to continuing our current levels of fossil fuel use.

The cost of renewable energy sources has been going down for decades and they are already cheaper than fossil fuels in many situations.  It is expected that they will become cheaper than fossil fuels across almost all applications over time.  Accelerating the transition will allow renewables to become cheaper faster.

The study made use of probabilistic models to estimate the costs of various possible future energy systems based on past data.  Even the most pessimistic models showed that scaling up green technologies is likely to drive their costs down so far that they will generate net cost savings and that the faster the transition goes, the more will be saved.  The result will be a cleaner, cheaper, more energy secure future.

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Decarbonising the energy system by 2050 could save trillions

Photo, posted July 12, 2010, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Coping With Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Extreme weather events including prolonged drought and heavy rainfall are becoming more common and more severe as global temperatures rise.  As the climate continues to change in the coming decades, how will animals respond? 

Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have examined how different mammals react to climate change. They analyzed data on population fluctuations from 157 mammal species around the world.  They compared these fluctuations with weather and climate data from the same time period.  The research team had 10 or more years of data for each species studied. 

The researchers found that mammals that live for a long time and/or produce less offspring –  like llamas, elephants, bears, and bison – are more climate resilient than small mammals with short lives — like mice, possums, lemmings, and rare marsupials. 

For example, large, long-lived mammals can invest their energy into one offspring, or simply wait for better times if conditions become challenging.  On the other hand, small, short-lived mammals like rodents have more extreme population changes in the short term. In the event of a prolonged drought, large portions of their food base may rapidly disappear, and they are left to starve because they have limited fat reserves.

However, the research team notes that the ability of a species to withstand climate change must not be the only factor when assessing a species’ vulnerability.  In fact, in many cases, habitat destruction, poaching, pollution, and invasive species pose a larger threat to animal species than climate change. 

While the study only examined 157 species, the findings enable researchers to also predict how animals they know less about will react to climate change.

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Which animals can best withstand climate change?

Photo, posted July 8, 2018, courtesy of Ray via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

California Trees Are Dying | Earth Wise

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California relies on extensive forests to help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.  But extensive drought and increasingly frequent wildfires have been reducing the state’s tree population for the past three decades.

A comprehensive study by a team of scientists from the University of California Irvine used satellite data to study vegetation changes between 1985 and 2021.  Across the entire state, tree cover area has declined 6.7% over that time period.  The results varied from region to region across the state.

Southern California exhibited the sharpest decline, where 14% of the tree population in local mountain ranges vanished, potentially permanently.  In the Sierra Nevada mountains, tree populations were relatively stable until about 2010.  After that, a severe drought followed by historically large wildfires resulted in a 8.8% die-off of trees.  The northern parts of the state, with higher rainfall and cooler temperatures, fared better, being able to more easily recover from wildfires.

The study goes beyond measuring the tree population of the state and its effects on carbon storage.  The data is also important for understanding how changes in forest cover affects water resources and fire behavior in the state.

The decline of trees in California is affecting the carbon storage abilities of the state.  The satellite survey showed that as the tree populations have dropped, the state’s coverage of shrubs and grasses has risen, possibly indicating that permanent ecosystem shifts are occurring.  The forces contributing to the decline of trees in California are not going away any time soon.  As a result, the threat to California’s ability to mitigate the effects of climate change continues to grow.

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UCI study: California’s trees are dying, and might not be coming back

Photo, posted March 24, 2016, courtesy of David Fulmer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Marine Predation And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Climate change is taking a toll on forests, farms, freshwater resources, and economies all around the world.  But ocean ecosystems remain the center of global warming.

Despite their vast ability to absorb heat and carbon dioxide, oceans are warming.  In fact, according to scientists, the oceans have absorbed 90% of all the warming that has occurred during the past 50 years. 

The ocean’s surface layer, which is home to most marine life, takes most of this heat.  As a result, the top 2,300 feet of global ocean water has warmed approximately 1.5°F since 1901.

Well it turns out that a hotter ocean is also a hungrier ocean.  According to a new study recently published in the journal Science, researchers discovered that predator impacts in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans peak at higher temperatures.  The effects of more intense marine predation could disrupt ecosystem balances that have existed for millennia. 

An international research team led by the Smithsonian Institution and Temple University analyzed predator and prey data collected from 36 sites, running along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts from Alaska in the north to Tierra de Fuego at the tip of South America.  The research team found that, in warmer waters, predators’ more voracious appetites left outsized marks on the prey community.  Total prey biomass plunged in warmer waters when prey were left unprotected.  However, in the coldest zones, leaving prey exposed or protected made nearly no difference at all.  

As the oceans continue to warm, more intense predation will create winners and losers and could jeopardize the overall health of marine ecosystems.  

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As the ocean heats up hungrier predators take control

Photo, posted July 14, 2017, courtesy of Jonathan Chen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Fires Are Larger And More Frequent | Earth Wise

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According to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder, wildfires have gotten much larger and much more frequent across the United States since the year 2000.  The rise in wildfires in recent years has been attributed to the changing climate and the new research shows that large fires have become more common and have been spreading into new areas that previously did not burn.

The researchers analyzed data from over 28,000 fires that occurred between 1984 and 2018 using satellite imagery along with detailed state and federal fire history records.

The results are that there were more fires across all regions of the contiguous U.S. from 2005 to 2018 compared to the previous 20 years.  In the West and East, fire frequency doubled, and in the Great Plains, fire frequency quadrupled.  The amount of land burned each year at least tripled in those regions.

The team discovered that the size of fire-prone areas increased in all regions of the contiguous U.S. in the 2000s, meaning that the distance between individual fires has been getting smaller than it was in previous decades and the fires have been spreading into areas that did not burn in the past.

This comprehensive study confirms what has been assumed by the media, public, and firefighting officials.  The results also align with increasing risk trends such as the growing development of natural hazard zones. Projected changes in climate, fuel, and ignitions suggest that there will be more and larger fires in the future.  More large fires plus intensifying development mean that the worst fire disasters are still to come.

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U.S. Fires Four Times Larger, Three Times More Frequent Since 2000

Photo, posted May 3, 2013, courtesy of Daria Devyatkina via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Computing With Honey | Earth Wise           

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Researchers are always working to develop faster and more powerful computers.  Some of them believe that the future of computing lies with neuromorphic computers, which are systems designed to mimic the neurons and synapses found in the human brain.

The human brain has more than 100 billion neurons with more than 1 quadrillion synapses or connections among them.  These numbers far exceed anything people have built.  There have been some neuromorphic computer chips made that have the equivalent of more than 100 million neurons per chip, but this is still far less than the number in the brain.  Despite all its complexity, the brain uses vastly less power than a powerful computer.  Some supercomputers use tens of millions of watts to operate; the brain uses around 10 to 20 watts.

Many researchers are searching for biodegradable and renewable ways to make neuromorphic computing components.  Researchers at Washington State University have demonstrated a way to make them using, of all things, honey.  The honey is used to form a memristor, which is a component similar to a transistor that can both process and store data in memory.  The device uses honey processed into a solid form and sandwiched between two metal electrodes.  The organic device is very stable and reliable over a long time.

So far, these devices are on a micro scale – about the size of a human hair.  The researchers want to develop them on a nanoscale, which is about 1/1000 the width of a human hair, and then bundle many millions or even billions together to make a neuromorphic computing system.  Such a honey-based system would be renewable and biodegradable – which, pardon the pun, would be really sweet.

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Honey holds potential for making brain-like computer chips

Photo, posted January 28, 2008, courtesy of Dino Giordano via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Spring is Sooner And Warmer In The United States | Earth Wise

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Despite some March snowstorms in the Northeast, the record shows that spring is getting warmer and coming sooner in the United States.

The independent research organization Climate Central analyzed 52 years of spring data across the United States.  Half of the 234 locations studied had an increase in their average spring temperatures of at least 2 degrees.  About 70% of the locations had at least 7 extra days above their normal spring temperatures.  About the only part of the country where spring hasn’t gotten much warmer is in the upper Midwest.

Over that time period, the average spring temperature in Albany, NY has increased by 2.1 degrees.  And compared with 1970, there are now 11 more warm spring days in New York’s Capital Region.

Spring warming has been greatest in the Southwest.  The three cities with the largest temperature increases were Reno, Nevada at 6.8 degrees, Las Vegas, Nevada with 6.2 degrees, and El Paso, Texas with 5.9 degrees.

Spring has been arriving early as a result of the warming conditions, cutting into the cold winter months.  While an early spring sounds like nothing but good news, the shift can cause problems.  An early spring and early last freeze can lengthen the growing season.  With it comes the arrival of mosquitoes and pollen and its associated allergy season.

A greater problem is that spring warming can disrupt the timing of ecosystem events.  For example, migratory birds could show up at the wrong time, impacting their food availability and breeding success.

As the overall climate changes, so does the spring.

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2022 Spring Package

Photo, posted March 20, 2011, courtesy of Suzie Tremmel via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Historic Western Drought | Earth Wise

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The American Southwest has suffered from drought conditions since the year 2000.  The drought has reduced water supplies, devastated farmers and ranchers, and it has helped to fuel numerous wildfires across the region.  It has generally been considered to be worst in 500 years.

According to a recent analysis, the drought has become so severe that it has actually led to the driest two decades in at least 1,200 years and the changing climate is largely responsible.  The summer of 2021 was especially dry; about 2/3 of the West was in severe drought conditions.

Scientists at UCLA used tree ring data to gauge drought.  Based on that analysis, 2000-2021 is the driest 22-year period since 800 A.D. which is as far back as the data goes.

The study confirmed the role of temperature, more than precipitation, in driving exceptional droughts.  Precipitation levels can go up and down over time and can vary in different regions.  But the ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are causing temperatures to generally rise over time.  Warmer temperatures make the air more capable of pulling water out of the soil, out of vegetation, out of crops, and out of forests.  All of that makes drought conditions more severe.

A megadrought is generally considered to be one that is both severe and long.  But even during one, there can be wet years.  2005 was a notable one.  But there must be enough consecutive wet years to actually end a drought.

Several previous megadroughts over the past 1,200 years lasted as long as 30 years.  So, the current drought is in full swing and may go on for a long time to come.

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How Bad Is the Western Drought? Worst in 12 Centuries, Study Finds.

Photo, posted September 25, 2021, courtesy of David Sierralupe via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Tree Diversity | Earth Wise

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Scientists have estimated that there are more than 8 million species of plants and animals in existence.  Amazingly, only about 1.2 million of them have been identified and described so far and most of those are actually insects.  Millions of other organisms have yet to be discovered.

One would imagine that most of these unknown species are tiny things that are hard to spot or encounter.  But our ignorance of species even applies to trees, which are pretty easy to spot if you encounter them.

A new study involving more than 100 scientists across the globe has produced an estimate of the number of tree species on the Earth.  The new global estimate is that there are 73,000 tree species, which is about 14% more than previously thought.  Based on a combination of data from two global datasets, the study yielded a total of 64,100 documented tree species worldwide.  The researchers then used novel statistical methods to estimate the total number of unique tree species at biome, continental, and global scales, which includes species yet to be discovered and described by scientists.  Therefore, the estimate predicts that there are likely to be over 9,000 tree species still to be found.

Roughly 40% of the undiscovered tree species are likely to be in South America, which is the continent with the highest number of rare tree species and the highest number of continentally endemic tree species – meaning those found only on that continent.  Hot spots of undiscovered tree species are likely the tropical and subtropical moist forests of the Amazon basin and the Andes-Amazon interface.

Extensive knowledge of tree richness and diversity is key to preserving the stability and functioning of ecosystems.

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Number of Earth’s tree species estimated to be 14% higher than currently known, with some 9,200 species yet to be discovered

Photo, posted November 5, 2017, courtesy of Deensel via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Batteries On Wheels | Earth Wise

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Transportation accounts for nearly a quarter of the direct carbon dioxide emissions coming from burning fuel.  As a result, electrification of transport is one of the major ways we can reduce emissions.  Increasing the number of electric vehicles over time is essential for meeting emissions targets.

But electric vehicles have the potential to do more than deliver emissions reduction; they can also provide other energy services.

More and more electric cars provide over 200 miles of driving range, but most cars are actually driven no more than 30 miles a day.  As a result, the fleet of electric cars represents a huge bank of energy stored in battery packs and mostly sitting around unused.  This presents an opportunity to leverage this resource.

Car battery packs could be used to absorb excess renewable energy generated in the middle of the day (for example from solar installations) or at night (from wind farms) and potentially then to export stored energy to power homes and support the grid.  This energy system is known as V2G, or vehicle-to-grid technology.

The University of Queensland in Australia has launched a unique international trial to see if the spare battery capacity in vehicles could be used for these purposes.  The university has partnered with Teslascope, which is an online analytics platform used by Tesla owners to track the performance of their cars.  Tesla owners wishing to be part of the study authorize the collection of their data and, in turn, receive a free 12-month subscription to the Teslascope service.  The study will collect data from Tesla owners in Australia, the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the UK.

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Can EV spare battery capacity support the grid?

Photo, posted February 8, 2009, courtesy of City of St Pete via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Coral Reefs And Ecosystem Services

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A new study led by the University of British Columbia provides the first comprehensive look at what climate change, overfishing, and habitat destruction of coral reefs mean for their ecosystem services.  For humans, this means how the global decline in coral reefs has affected their ability to provide essential benefits including food, livelihoods, and protection from storms.

The study found that global coverage of living corals has declined by about half since the 1950s and the diversity of reef species has declined by more than 60%.  So, it is no surprise that there has been a significant loss in the ability of reefs to provide ecosystem services.

The study analyzed data from coral reef surveys around the world, fisheries catches, indigenous consumption, and more.  Apart from the declines in reef coverage and biodiversity, the study found that fish catches on coral reefs peaked in 2002 and has steadily declined since then, despite increased fishing efforts.

The findings of the study led the researchers to conclude that continued degradation of coral reefs in the years to come threaten the well-being and sustainable development of millions of people in communities on the coast that depend on coral reefs.  Fish and fisheries provide essential nutrients in places with few alternative sources of nutrition.  Coral reef biodiversity and fisheries have added importance for indigenous communities, where important cultural relationships exist with reefs.

The study’s authors say that the results are a call to action.  The level of destruction happening all over the world’s coral reefs is threatening people’s culture, their daily food, and their history.  It is not just an environmental issue; it is a human rights issue.

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Photo, posted September 22, 2010, courtesy of David Burdick / NOAA Photo Library via Flickr.

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Carbon From 25 Cities | Earth Wise

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There are roughly 10,000 cities in the world, defined as places with at least 50,000 inhabitants with a sufficient population density.  Roughly half the world’s population lives in cities.

Urban carbon emissions are one of the world’s biggest problems with respect to the climate.  A new study has determined that just 25 cities globally are responsible for 52% of urban greenhouse gas emissions.

The study gathered data on greenhouse gas emissions in 167 cities in 53 countries.  The results were that megacities in Asia, such as Shanghai and Tokyo, were among the biggest total emitters, and that major cities in Europe, the US, and Australia tended to have larger per capita emissions.  Several Chinese cities, however, matched levels seen in developed countries.  Researchers tracked emissions over time in 42 of the cities studied.  Some cities saw declining emissions in the period between 2005 and 2016.  These included Oslo, Houston, Seattle, and Bogota.  Others saw large increases, including Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, and Venice.

The largest sources of emissions are power generation, industry, and transportation.  In a third of the cities, road transportation alone accounted for over 30% of emissions.  (Railways, waterways, and aviation combined only accounted for less than 15% of total emissions).

Half of the world’s population lives in cities, but cities are responsible for more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions.  Thus, cities have a big responsibility for the decarbonization of the global economy.  Of the 167 cities in the study, 113 have set emission-reduction targets.  But as the study shows, cities have much more work to do to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

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Two Dozen Large Cities Produce 52 Percent of Urban Carbon Emissions

Photo, posted December 1, 2017, courtesy of Hector Galbis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Russian Forests And Climate Mitigation | Earth Wise

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Russia is the largest country in area in the world, almost equal in size to the sum of the next two largest – Canada and the U.S.   Russia is also the world’s largest forest country, containing more than one-fifth of the world’s forests.  As a result, the country’s forests and forestry activities have enormous potential for impacting climate mitigation.

Since the dissolution of the USSR, there has been a decline in the availability of information on the state of Russia’s forests.  The Soviet Forest Inventory and Planning System compiled information until 1988.  Since then, the Russian National Forest Inventory has been the source of forest information on the national scale, and it hadn’t produced a comprehensive inventory until 2020.

The new data indicates that Russian forests have in fact accumulated a large amount of additional biomass over the intervening years.  Using the last Soviet Union report as a reference point, the new results show that the ongoing stock accumulation rate in Russian forests over the 26-year period is of the same magnitude as the net forest stock losses in tropical countries.

Thus, it is clear that Russian forests have great potential in terms of global climate mitigation as well as potential co-benefits relating to the green economy and sustainable development.   It is important to note that as the impact of climate change increases, disturbances to the Russian forests could have severe adverse effects on global climate mitigation efforts.

While much of the world’s attention is rightfully upon tropical rainforests in the Amazon and elsewhere, it is important to not ignore the largest country in the world hosting the largest land biome on the planet where even small percentage changes in the amount of forest biomass could have a major global impact.

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Russian forests are crucial to global climate mitigation

Photo, posted June 6, 2015, courtesy of Raita Futo via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Climate Change And Heat-Related Deaths | Earth Wise

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According to a new study recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change, more than one-third of the world’s heat-related deaths each year are attributable to human-induced climate change. 

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK  and the University of Bern in Switzerland analyzed data from 732 locations in 43 countries.  They took observed temperatures and compared them with 10 computer models simulating a world without climate change.  By applying this technique to their data, the researchers were able to calculate for the first time the actual contribution of anthropogenic climate change in increasing mortality risks due to heat.

The research team found that 37% of all heat-related deaths between 1991 and 2018 were attributable to the warming of the planet due to human activities.  This percentage was highest in South America, Central America, and South-East Asia. 

In the United States, 35% of heat deaths were found to be a result of climate change.  New York had the most heat-related deaths at 141, and Honolulu had the highest percentage of heat deaths attributable to climate change at 82%.

But scientists caution that this is only a small portion of the climate’s overall impact. Many more people die from other extreme weather amplified by climate change, including severe storms, floods, and droughts.  Heat-related death figures will grow exponentially as temperatures rise.

According to the research team, the study’s findings highlight the need to adopt stronger climate change mitigation strategies, and to implement interventions to protect people from the adverse consequences of heat exposure.    

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Global warming already responsible for one in three heat-related deaths

Photo, posted April 14, 2017, courtesy of Karim Bench via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Overwintering Fires | Earth Wise

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Fires that go on for long periods of time, surviving the snow and rain of winter to reemerge in the spring, are becoming more common in high northern latitudes as the climate warms.  Such fires are called holdover fires, hibernating fires, overwintering fires, or even zombie fires.  Whatever people choose to call them, this type of wildfire is occurring more often.

These smoldering fires start out as flaming fires but then enter an energy-saver mode.  They start above ground but then smolder in the soil or under tree roots through the winter.  They barely survive based on the oxygen and fuel resources that they have but can transition back into flaming fires once conditions are more favorable.

Dutch researchers used ground-based data with fire detection data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instruments on the Terra and Aqua satellites to study fires in the boreal forests of Alaska and Canada’s Northwest Territories.  They found a way to identify overwintering fires based on their unique characteristics.  

Their data indicates that overwintering fires tend to be linked to high summer temperatures and large fire seasons.  Between 2002 and 2018, overwintering fires generally accounted for a small amount of the total burned area in the region but in individual years with hot and severe fire seasons, the number can escalate.  In 2008 in Alaska, for example, overwintering fires accounted for nearly 40% of the burned area.

Early detection of these overwintering fires could help with fire management and reduce the amount of carbon – which is stored in large amounts in the region’s organic soils – that gets released to the atmosphere during fires.

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Overwintering Fires on the Rise

Photo, posted September 14, 2017, courtesy of Andrew R. Mitchell/USDA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Deep Learning And Dirty Air | Earth Wise

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Poor air quality is a major global problem.  According to the World Health Organization, exposure to air pollution is linked to the premature deaths of an estimated seven million people every year.  In fact, 9 out of 10 people breathe air that contains more pollutants than what the WHO considers safe.  Air pollution is the fourth largest threat to human health, trailing only high blood pressure, dietary risks, and smoking.

But predicting pollution levels at a given place and time remains challenging.  According to a new study recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, scientists are turning to deep learning to improve air quality estimates. 

According to researchers, satellite observations and ground observations both measure air pollution, but both have major limitations.  For example, satellites may collect data at the same time and at the same location each day, but they miss how emissions may vary throughout the day.  Ground-based observations from weather stations do continuously collect data, but they only do so in a limited number of locations.    

As a result, scientists have turned to deep learning – a type of machine learning – to analyze the relationship between satellite and ground-based observations of nitrogen dioxide around Los Angeles.  Nitrogen dioxide is associated with emissions from traffic and power plants.  The researchers were able to rely on the learned relationship to take daily satellite observations and create hourly estimates of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide levels in approximately three mile grids.     

According to the research team, this study could be repeated for other greenhouse gases, and applied to different cities and regions – or even whole continents. 

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Scientists turn to deep learning to improve air quality forecasts

Air Pollution

Photo, posted November 4, 2019, courtesy of Ninara via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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