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|  | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #45 on Nov 8, 2007, 2:28am » | |
Scientists Enhance Mother Nature's Carbon Handling Mechanism
![[image]](http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/948/071107074316569ad6hd1.jpg "[image]")
Volcanic silicate rock in Hawaii. In natural silicate weathering, carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in fresh water and forms weak carbonic acid. As the water percolates through the soil and rocks, the carbonic acid converts to a solution of alkaline carbonate salts. This water eventually flows into the ocean and increases its alkalinity. An alkaline ocean can hold dissolved carbon, while an acidic one will release the carbon back into the atmosphere. The more weathering, the more carbon is transferred to the ocean where some of it eventually becomes part of the sea bottom sediments. (Credit: Michele Hogan)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 7, 2007) — Taking a page from Nature herself, a team of researchers developed a method to enhance removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and place it in the Earth's oceans for storage.
Unlike other proposed ocean sequestration processes, the new technology does not make the oceans more acid and may be beneficial to coral reefs. The process is a manipulation of the natural weathering of volcanic silicate rocks. Reporting in Nov. 7 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, the Harvard and Penn State team explained their method.
"The technology involves selectively removing acid from the ocean in a way that might enable us to turn back the clock on global warming," says Kurt Zenz House, graduate student in Earth and planetary sciences, Harvard University. "Essentially, our technology dramatically accelerates a cleaning process that Nature herself uses for greenhouse gas accumulation."
In natural silicate weathering, carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in fresh water and forms weak carbonic acid. As the water percolates through the soil and rocks, the carbonic acid converts to a solution of alkaline carbonate salts. This water eventually flows into the ocean and increases its alkalinity. An alkaline ocean can hold dissolved carbon, while an acidic one will release the carbon back into the atmosphere. The more weathering, the more carbon is transferred to the ocean where some of it eventually becomes part of the sea bottom sediments.
"In the engineered weathering process we have found a way to swap the weak carbonic acid with a much stronger one (hydrochloric acid) and thus accelerate the pace to industrial rates," says House.
The researchers minimize the potential for environmental problems by combining the acid removal with silicate rock weathering mimicking the natural process. The more alkaline ocean can store carbon as bicarbonate, the most plentiful and innocuous form of carbon in the oceans.
According to House, this would allow removal of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a matter of decades rather than millennia.
Besides removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, this technique would counteract the continuing acidification of the oceans that threatens coral reefs and their biological communities. The technique is adaptable to operation in remote areas on geothermal or natural gas and is global rather than local. Unlike carbon dioxide scrubbers on power plants, the process can as easily remove naturally generated carbon dioxide as that produced from burning fossil fuel for power.
The researchers, Kurt House; Daniel P. Schrag, director, Harvard University Center for the Environment and professor of Earth and planetary sciences; Michael J. Aziz, the Gordon McKay professor of material sciences, all at Harvard University and Kurt House's brother, Christopher H. House, associate professor of geosciences, Penn State, caution that while they believe their scheme for reducing global warming is achievable, implementation would be ambitious, costly and would carry some environmental risks that require further study. The process would involve building dozens of facilities similar to large chlorine gas industrial plants, on volcanic rock coasts.
"This work shows how we can remove carbon dioxide on relevant timescales, but more work is be needed to bring down the cost and minimize other environmental effects," says Christopher H. House.
The Link Energy Foundation, Merck Fund of the New York Community Trust, U.S. DOE and NASA supported this work.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071107074316.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #46 on Nov 8, 2007, 2:29am » | |
Old McDonald Had A Phytochemical
ScienceDaily (Nov. 7, 2007) — Forget the moo-moo here and quack-quack there. Farmers may find phytochemicals to be the barnyard bonanza.
And water may be the drop in the bucket that cashes in on the tug-o-war between urban and rural interests, according to research by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.
That’s because applying less water to certain vegetables in the farm patch increases disease-preventing phytochemicals, or nutrients, for which consumers may one day pay a premium, scientists say.
“When we know what phytochemicals a vegetable contains, then the environmental and cultural strategies a grower uses can have an important impact on their content,” said Dr. Daniel Leskovar, horticultural researcher for Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Uvalde.
He said growers are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of phytochemicals in vegetable crops and know the key component for selling the crop still is quality.
“Attributes -- color, size, texture -- are still extremely important in the produce market,” he said. “But the consumer is rapidly gaining knowledge about the benefits of phytonutrients that these vegetables contain. We can see that a segment of the consumer population is more prone to consume this type of product at the higher price.”
An independent survey for the United Soybean Board this year indicated “60 percent of consumers are willing to pay extra for healthier foods.”
From the time a tiny seed or transplant is plunged into the soil until it is harvested, a vegetable plant is subjected to a multitude of manipulations aimed at producing the most and best for consumers.
Everything from the precise day of planting to the type of soil and growing temperatures can determine the outcome. Leskovar said a plant that grows tall or wide in a given year could be either because of its variety or because it had the right irrigation, or proper fertilization – or both.
But Leskovar said researchers are beginning to examine beyond the size of the crop and pounds it yields to determine the content of healthy compounds in the produce and how farming methods may alter those.
Because water is becoming more restricted for farmers in southern and western Texas, Leskovar said, scientists decided to look at what would happen to the compounds if the traditional amount of moisture put on the crops was reduced.
“Why irrigation? We depend on irrigation from the Edwards Aquifer which is the main source of water for over 1.7 million people and also is the main source for irrigation in the Winter Garden area,” he said. “We expect that the water-use regulations are going to be harder, and so we have to be prepared for using less water.”
Currently, farmers in that area are not allowed to use more than 24 inches per acre in a given year. If that amount has been applied, a grower can not use more water on a food crop to save it, even if drought threatens to kill the entire field.
By comparison, turf grasses need about 1 inch of water a week – 52 inches a year - to stay green and growing, according to American-Lawns.com, an independent turf education entity.
But farmers may have a better incentive to reduce water on crops, Leskovar noted, if they can draw a higher price for the health aspects.
First pick for the research were watermelons, Leskovar said. As their very name suggests, melons need lots of water. Also, they contain carotenoids and lycopene – antioxidants that protects against cancer and other diseases in humans.
“Lycopene does not decrease and can actually maintain or even slightly increase with deficit irrigation without having too much of significant loss in yield,” he said. “We also know that lycopene increases with maturity. So the more precise the timing of harvest, the greater the potential for more lycopene in those watermelons.”
Leskovar and fellow researchers in Uvalde performed similar studies on other crops such as spinach which is high in lutein, beta carotene and vitamin C.
“If we could reduce by just 25 percent (of the optimum water amount),” he said of the results, “we would have a slight decline in yield as expected, but we would have a significant increase in phytochemicals for spinach.”
They also will experiment applying the irrigation water in different ways such as through a center pivot or by subsurface drip to find the most efficient way to apply less water.
“The industry does not demand per se a high lycopene tomato or high beta carotene spinach,” Leskovar said. “I feel that in the near future, there will be a segment that will be demanding a product with high phytochemical content. But of course, this will take a little time.”
When that happens, the methods being verified through these scientific studies now will be ready for grower application, he said.
“We are kind of anticipating to that aspect, so that we will be ahead of the game,” he added.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071107160108.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #47 on Nov 11, 2007, 10:04am » | |
Scientists Successfully Simulate Photosynthesis And Design A Better Leaf
![[image]](http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/5922/0711091232012812dc8nd1.jpg "[image]")
In a computer model, researchers at Illinois were able to simulate the photosynthetic behavior of actual leaves. Here, a gas exchange system measures the rate of carbon dioxide and electron transport in intact leaves. (Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2007) — University of Illinois researchers have built a better plant, one that produces more leaves and fruit without needing extra fertilizer. The researchers accomplished the feat using a computer model that mimics the process of evolution. Theirs is the first model to simulate every step of the photosynthesis process.
Photosynthesis converts light energy into chemical energy in plants, algae, phytoplankton and some species of bacteria and archaea. Photosynthesis in plants involves an elaborate array of chemical reactions requiring dozens of protein enzymes and other chemical components. Most photosynthesis occurs in a plant’s leaves.
“The question we wanted to ask, was, ‘Can we do better than the plant, in terms of productivity?’ ” said principal investigator Steve Long, a professor of plant biology and crop sciences at the University of Illinois.
It wasn’t feasible to tackle this question with experiments on actual plants, Long said. With more than 100 proteins involved in photosynthesis, testing one protein at a time would require an enormous investment of time and money.
“But now that we have the photosynthetic process ‘in silico,’ we can test all possible permutations on the supercomputer,” he said.
The researchers first had to build a reliable model of photosynthesis, one that would accurately mimic the photosynthetic response to changes in the environment. This formidable task relied on the computational resources available at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Xin-Guang Zhu, a research scientist at the center and in plant biology, worked with Long and Eric de Sturler, formerly a specialist in computational mathematics in computer sciences at Illinois, to realize this model.
After determining the relative abundance of each of the proteins involved in photosynthesis, the researchers created a series of linked differential equations, each mimicking a single photosynthetic step. The team tested and adjusted the model until it successfully predicted the outcome of experiments conducted on real leaves, including their dynamic response to environmental variation.
The researchers then programmed the model to randomly alter levels of individual enzymes in the photosynthetic process.
Before a crop plant, like wheat, produces grain, most of the nitrogen it takes in goes into the photosynthetic proteins of its leaves. Knowing that it was undesirable to add more nitrogen to the plants, Long said, the researchers asked a simple question: “Can we do a better job than the plant in the way this fixed amount of nitrogen is invested in the different photosynthetic proteins?”
Using “evolutionary algorithms,” which mimic evolution by selecting for desirable traits, the model hunted for enzymes that – if increased – would enhance plant productivity. If higher concentrations of an enzyme relative to others improved photosynthetic efficiency, the model used the results of that experiment as a parent for the next generation of tests.
This process identified several proteins that could, if present in higher concentrations relative to others, greatly enhance the productivity of the plant. The new findings are consistent with results from other researchers, who found that increases in one of these proteins in transgenic plants increased productivity.
“By rearranging the investment of nitrogen, we could almost double efficiency,” Long said.
An obvious question that stems from the research is why plant productivity can be increased so much, Long said. Why haven’t plants already evolved to be as efficient as possible?
“The answer may lie in the fact that evolution selects for survival and fecundity, while we were selecting for increased productivity,” he said. The changes suggested in the model might undermine the survival of a plant living in the wild, he said, “but our analyses suggest they will be viable in the farmer’s field.”
The research findings appear in the October issue of Plant Physiology, and will be presented November 9 at the BIO-Asia 2007 Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. The research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071109123201.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #48 on Nov 12, 2007, 9:01am » | |
From: By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
Published November 11, 2007 09:50 PM
Scientists strive to pinpoint warming forecasts
OSLO (Reuters) - Moving on from the risk of global warming, scientists are now looking for ways to pinpoint the areas set to be affected by climate change, to help countries plan everything from new crops to hydropower dams.
Billion-dollar investments, ranging from irrigation and flood defenses to the site of wind farms or ski resorts, could hinge on assessments about how much drier, wetter, windier or warmer a particular area will become.
But scientists warn precision may never be possible. Climate is so chaotic and the variables so difficult to compute that even the best model will be far from perfect in estimating what the future holds.
"We need to give indications which are at the scale countries can use to make decisions," said Michel Jarraud, head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which oversees the U.N.'s climate panel.
"We need to come to a scale which is smaller than countries like Spain or France or the UK. You really need to come to smaller scales -- 100, 200 kms (60-120 miles).
"We are not yet there."
The U.N. climate panel meets in Valencia, Spain, on November 12-17 to issue a final report summing up more than 3,000 pages of findings this year that blamed humans for climate change and outlined solutions.
It will also look at what a next report, perhaps in 2013 if governments agree on spending, might contain. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
An IPCC report in April gave regional projections for a warmer climate such as a melting of the Himalayan glaciers or better growing conditions for Nordic forests, but the scale is often too vague to be of great use.
DAMS, SKI SLOPES
Farmers from Africa to Australia would like to know which areas are threatened by desertification. Ski operators from the Alps to the Rocky Mountains wonder how high the snow line will be before investing in new hotels or ski lifts.
But forecasts may never be precise enough to estimate which of two neighboring valleys in the Andes, for instance, might get wetter and be better suited to a hydroelectric dam.
"To get down to the site-level would be a huge step," said Martin Parry, a British scientist who co-chairs the IPCC section devoted to regional impacts of climate change.
The impact of global warming depends largely on how many people keep burning fossil fuels, a main source of greenhouse gases, or develop cleaner energies such as wind or solar power.
"I don't think that an assessment in 2013 would deliver that much more detail needed for planners on water issues," said Johan Kuylenstierna of the Stockholm International Water Institute. "The uncertainties will still be quite high."
Planners already know enough to act in many cases. The smallest grids used for climate projections are 50x50 km (31x31 miles).
FIRST-FLOOR KITCHENS
London is looking into ways to confront projected regional risks such as more floods from North Sea surges up the Thames, more heatwaves and a drier climate.
Painting houses white to protect against heatwaves makes sense, Parry said. Homeowners in areas at greater risk of floods could raise electrical goods such as fridges or washing machines off the ground floor.
Parry said some farmers in eastern England were considering selling and moving north to Scotland because they reckoned they could soon grow the same crops on land that costs less now.
A rise in sea-levels is already factored in as a threat to all coasts. The IPCC projects that sea-levels will rise by 7-23 inches this century.
"It would be pretty unwise to build a nuclear power station at sea-level," Parry said.
WATER
Kuylenstierna said there may well be stronger evidence by 2013 that climate change is under way, such as melting Arctic ice or a drier Mediterranean region. That would in turn give pointers to future change.
"But to break that down to information to a level relevant to a city or a hydroelectric dam base is a different question. I think nature is much more complex," he said.
"Even so, we can start making a lot of investments today."
Glaciers are already melting in mountain ranges from the Andes to the Himalayas, so countries should invest in flood protection along vulnerable rivers and consider new irrigation needs if glaciers, a source of water in dry seasons, vanish.
In Florida, the population has soared to about 18 million from below 1 million in 1920, with ever more people living near the coast. New construction codes should aim to help protect against hurricane damage and rising seas.
(Editing by Robert Woodward and Sara Ledwith)
http://www.enn.com/climate/article/24375
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #49 on Nov 14, 2007, 8:09am » | |
Sowing the seeds of farming's future
VIEWPOINT
Les Firbank
Global food stocks are running low and rich nations should not take security of supplies for granted, argues Les Firbank. In this week's Green Room, he outlines his vision for sustainable farming amid the uncertainties we face in the 21st Century.
The area for food production will decline as farmland is lost to housing, bio-energy cropping and, ultimately, sea level rise
In the last 12 months, the price of wheat has doubled, and all of a sudden, talk of food security is back on the agenda.
Global food stocks are running low.
There are three main reasons:
* increasing use of crops for bio-energy, especially in the US
* increasing demand for meat and milk products in the developing world (livestock are often fed grain and seeds, even if for only part of the year)
* poor harvests around the world following droughts and floods
We are already seeing changes to farming. In Europe, the set-aside programme, a way of managing food surpluses by paying farmers not to grow crops, will no longer apply.
This alone will not be enough; the area for food production will decline as farmland is lost to housing, bio-energy cropping and, ultimately, sea level rise.
This means we will need to produce more food per hectare from the farmland that will remain.
Lessons from history
The last time that food shortage was a real issue in Britain was around the time of World War II.
It will not be acceptable to increase production without regard for the environment
Production was increased both by bringing marginal land into use, and intensification through pesticides, artificial fertilisers, new varieties and new machinery.
But this was at a high environmental cost, not all of which has been reversed. The importance of land management to water quality, flood control, soil conservation, landscape beauty and biodiversity had simply not been appreciated.
Only recently have we started to think about how agriculture should contribute to managing climate change by controlling the release of greenhouse gases and by storing carbon in the soil.
It will not be acceptable to increase production without regard for the environment, and we will increasingly demand food that is safe and contributes to healthy diets.
Equally, it will not be acceptable to lose those historic agricultural landscapes important to our emotional well-being and connection with nature.
Fresh vision
Societies will need a new vision of sustainable agriculture that addresses production, environmental and social needs together, that balances our own potential and needs in Britain with those of Europe and rest of the world.
Moreover, this new vision needs to be flexible enough to cope with sudden change, whether this is the spread of a new disease like bluetongue virus, changing patterns of rainfall or increased demand for cereals.
While no one knows what future farming will be like in detail, we know enough to start to sketch what would help its sustainability.
We need to be more self-sufficient in food, water and energy. This will protect us in times of rapidly changing global conditions, and will help ensure that we do not export our problems to other parts of the world.
Indeed, given the suitability of Britain's soils and climate, we should think about developing our potential to export more of our food and energy - it will be needed.
We also need diversity in agriculture. There will be no single path to sustainability; organic farming and hi-tech plant and animal breeding will be part of the mix, possibly concentrated in different parts of the country and serving different markets.
Waste not...
Controlling waste in the food chain is another issue that needs to be addressed. There is no point producing more food from the land without trying to use what we already have more efficiently.
We throw away around a third of our food; this can be reduced, and what is left could be used for biogas energy production.
We will need to accept that rural landscapes may change, as they have always done, and to think about how change should be managed.
Agricultural land should be valued more highly by society, as should land that is needed to supply our rivers and reservoirs with the water we need and the land that will be required to deliver renewable energy.
It will become harder to balance the needs of everyone; perhaps we need a new land planning system that takes a more holistic view of our future needs than we have now.
These changes will not just happen by themselves; we need investment in industry, people and technologies.
Perhaps the biggest change is that we all need to see agriculture as one of our most important industries for the future.
Professor Les Firbank is head of the North Wyke Research Station at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, UK
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7092407.stm
Published: 2007/11/13 13:17:44 GMT
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
|
Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #50 on Nov 16, 2007, 9:47pm » | |
Doomsday vault begins deep freeze
Engineers have begun the two-month process of cooling down a "doomsday vault", which will house seeds from all known varieties of key food crops.
The temperature inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will drop to -18C (0F) in order to preserve the seeds.
Built deep inside a mountain, it aims to safeguard the world's crops from future disasters, such as nuclear wars, asteroids or dangerous climate change.
The first seeds are scheduled to arrive at the Arctic site in mid-February.
The Norwegian government is paying the $9m (£4.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house 4.5 million seed samples.
The collection and maintenance of the seeds is being co-ordinated by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which has responsibility of ensuring the "conservation of crop diversity in perpetuity".
"The seed vault is the perfect place for keeping seeds safe for centuries," said Cary Fowler, the Trust's executive director.
"At these temperatures, seeds for important crops like wheat, barley and peas can last for up to 1,000 years."
Future proof
The seed vault will be built 120m (364ft) inside a mountain on Spitsbergen, one of four islands that make up Svalbard.
The site, 1,000km (621 miles) north of mainland Norway, was chosen as the location for the vault because it was very remote and it also offered the level of stability required for the long-term project.
The vast collection is intended to act as insurance against disasters so food production can be restarted anywhere on the planet following a regional or global catastrophe.
"It is very satisfying to see the vault evolve from a bold concept to an impressive facility that has everything we need to protect crop biodiversity," said Terje Riis-Johansen, the Norwegian Agriculture and Food Minister.
Engineers are using the surrounding rock and permafrost as a "cold store", an energy efficient approach that has become popular in Norway.
"We believe the design of the vault will ensure that the seeds will stay well preserved even if forces such as global warming raise temperatures outside the facility," explained project manager Magnus Tveiten.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7097052.stm
Published: 2007/11/16 10:33:05 GMT
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
|
Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #51 on Nov 18, 2007, 8:06am » | |
Ocean Plankton Reducing Greenhouse Gases By Using More Carbon Dioxide
![[image]](http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/959/071117121016f5cfdbjs7.jpg "[image]")
Microalgae under the microscope: CO2-feeders in the ocean. (Credit: A. Stuhr/ IFM-GEOMAR)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 18, 2007) — Microscopically tiny marine organisms known as plankton increase their carbon uptake in response to increased concentrations of dissolved CO2 and thereby contribute to a dampening of the greenhouse effect on a global scale. An international group of scientists led by the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany documented this biological mechanism in a natural plankton community for the first time.
In simulations of the future ocean, they measured an increased CO2 uptake of up to 39%. The unexpected positive effect for the global climate system harbours at the same time considerable risks for the oceans and their ecosystems.
The study points to three major areas of concern: increased CO2 uptake by plankton will accelerate the rate of ocean acidification in deeper layers, lead to a decrease in oxygen concentrations in the deeper ocean, and will negatively influence the nutritional quality of plankton. The latter development can have consequences for entire food webs in the ocean.
The world oceans are by far the largest sink of anthropogenic CO2 on our planet. Until now, they have swallowed almost half of the CO2 emitted through the burning of fossil fuels. However, can the oceans continue to alleviate the steady rise in atmospheric CO2 in the future? Current models for the development of the global climate system do not incorporate the reaction of marine organisms nor the processes that they influence.
Professor Ulf Riebesell, marine biologist at IFM-GEOMAR in Kiel and the first author of the study, gives insight into the motivation for the research: “We need to learn a lot more about the biology of the oceans, because the organisms play a decisive role in the carbon cycle. How do they affect the chemical balance and what are their responses to the enormous environmental changes we are currently experiencing?” The Nature publication provides new insights into these effects and their dimension.
To investigate the biological processes and their potential changes with time, the scientists made use of an unusual experimental set up in the Raunefjord in Norway. Here, a series of nine mesocosms, enclosures manufactured from a specialized synthetic material and measuring 10 meters in depth, were used to isolate 27 cubic meters of natural fjord water. In the experimental design, Ulf Riebesell and his team maintained three enclosures at current CO2 conditions as a control, while they infused CO2 in the remaining mesocosms to simulate predicted concentrations for the year 2100 and the year 2150.
The critters in the mesocosms responded quickly to the extra serving of CO2. The higher the concentration of dissolved carbon dioxide, the faster the microalgae incorporated the greenhouse gas via photosynthesis. Can CO2 act as a fertilizer in the ocean? The scientists measured an increased uptake of up to 39% compared to current rates.
Ulf Riebesell describes the reaction of his team: “We expected the organisms to show distinct reactions to changing CO2 conditions. What really surprised us, however, was the dimension of this effect. Basically, we can now say that the biology in the oceans is significantly affecting the global climate system.” In the final step of the experiment, the scientists wanted to find out what happens with the rapidly proliferating biomass. Again the experiments in the Raunefjord provided insights: the extra CO2 bound in organic matter sank to depth after the peak of the algal bloom.
The CO2 fertilization of marine plankton can have a positive effect on climate change in the future. The greenhouse gas consumed by plankton and removed from the surface ocean when the dying cells sink to depth makes way for the uptake of more CO2. In a way, the tiny organisms act as a biological conveyer belt for the transport of carbon dioxide out of the surface and into the deep ocean.
What appears to be a blessing for the atmospheric greenhouse effect may prove to be a curse for deep ocean ecosystems. Decomposition of the increased biomass will consume more oxygen, a major problem for marine animals that occupy deep habitats. Another consequence of the biological conveyer belt is the accelerated rate of ocean acidification in the deep ocean due to more rapid transport of CO2 to depth. The authors also expect direct affects on marine organisms based on previous observations. Planktonic crustaceans that were fed with CO2-enriched microalgae displayed slower growth rates and were less proliferous.
Ulf Riebesell remarks on the consequences of the study: "Our results probably represent only the tip of the iceberg. I am certain that scientists will discover further biological feedback mechanisms in the near future. It is essential not only to identify and to understand these mechanisms, but also to quantify their effect on the global climate system, now and in the future. “
The experiments in Bergen were conducted in the framework of the research program CARBOOCEAN, funded by the European Union.
Journal reference: Enhanced biological carbon consumption in a high CO2 ocean. Ulf Riebesell1, Kai Schulz1, Richard Bellerby2,3, Mona Botros1, Peter Fritsche1, Michael Meyerhöfer1, Craig Neill2, Gisle Nondal2,3, Andreas Oschlies1, Julia Wohlers1 & Eckart Zöllner1.
1. Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany
2. Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen, Norway
3. Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071117121016.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
|
Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #52 on Nov 18, 2007, 8:35am » | |
A New Model To Simulate Forest Growth
![[image]](http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/611/071117111207113bcfddn8.jpg "[image]")
Forest in Maryland, USA. Tree development within a forest largely depends on how much space trees have both on the ground and in the air, around the treetops. (Credit: Michele Hogan)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2007) — The Algorithm Engineering Group at the UPM’s School of Computing has developed, in conjunction with a forestry engineer from the University of Córdoba, a simulator modelling the evolution of a forest. This tool, called Vorest, is a forestry engineering research aid and an excellent example of how to apply computational geometry to real-world problems.
Tree development within a forest largely depends on how much space they have both on the ground and in the air, around the treetops. Trees compete to dominate the space they need to develop, and this relates these biological systems directly to Voronoi diagrams. A Voronoi diagram can be seen as the space partition as a result of expanding the sites in the diagram.
Vorest users can examine what impact the space the trees take up has on the development of a forest. This includes the space transfer dynamics between neighbouring trees dictated by their life strategies, and the outcome in terms of tree growth and mortality. Vorest’s simulation process is based on the fact that any tree is surrounded by an influence region of variable size that determines the future growth of the individual tree.
User flexibility
Vorest automatically calculates the influence regions, but offers users a wide range of options for deciding how growth should be simulated depending on this region. The application outputs two key classes of visual information.
First, Vorest represents the Voronoi diagram modelling the influence regions of each of the trees loaded in the program at any point of their growth. Second, it generates a more or less detailed representation of what the trees could really be expected to look like in their natural environment. The application then is able to generate a detailed 3D scene of what the forest really looks like.
Users will be able to manipulate this scene using textures to improve soil appearance or even by configuring the SkyBox representation. This produces a basic, but effective 3D background effect. The application has a straightforward and easy-to-use interface, and users have no need of computing expertise to operate the system.
The model was developed by Manuel Abellanas and Carlos Vilas from the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid’s School of Computing and by Begoña Abellanas from the Department of Forestry Engineering at the Universidad de Córdoba. They were advised by Professor Oscar García from Canada’s Northern British Columbia University, who was a visiting professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics this year.
Useful models
Forest simulation models or forest growth models are very useful for forest managers and forestry researchers in many respects. A forest growth model aims to describe the dynamics of the forest closely and precisely enough to meet the needs of the forester or forestry researcher.
Dynamics includes all the change processes throughout the forest’s or tree’s lifetime. The primary changes in the forestry field are related to the incorporation, growth and death of trees, a forest’s key asset. There are many forest growth models. Vorest models the individual tree.
The most common uses of these models for managers are to forecast timber production or, less often, other forestry products (cones, cork, etc.) and to simulate different forestry management alternatives with a view to decision making. The models help to forecast what long-term effects a forestry management intervention is likely to have on both timber production and the future conditions of the actual forest, as well as the impact of interventions on other forest values.
For forestry researchers, models are most useful as tools for researching forest dynamics. A forest growth model like Vorest describes the dynamics of the forest closely and precisely enough to meet the needs of forestry managers or forestry researchers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071117111207.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #53 on Nov 18, 2007, 8:40am » | |
Rogue Wave Detection
![[image]](http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/7456/071117091502113e044tv5.jpg "[image]")
Rogue wave detection. The image on the left corresponds to the raw radar image, while the one on the right is the image once processed by the software. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Alcal)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2007) — Giant waves, also known as monster waves, have been talked about by sailors for centuries, often related to unexplained disappearances at sea, but no one quite believed them. They have been considered merely a myth until recently, when new studies using technological developments like buoys, radars and satellites have scientifically proven the existence of rouge waves, and that they exist in much higher numbers than it was ever expected.
These rogue waves could be the cause of tragic accidents at sea, not only because of their immense power and heights that reach over 30 meters, but it is their unpredictable nature that poses a bigger threat; they emerge as unexpected mighty walls of water towering from calm seas. This is why Jose Carlos Nieto, a researcher from the Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid in collaboration with the German research centre GKSS have developed a software tool that can detect these waves and monitor their evolution in time and space.
There are currently other methods of detection, like wave rider buoys to measure the height of waves at sea, but the information they provide is not as complete since buoys only measure the waves at a single point at sea, thus lacking the spatial dimension. This software detects the wave front from a radar image and is now being commercialised by a spin-off company of the GKSS.
The image of the sea that forms on a radar screen is the result of different mechanisms of interaction between the electromagnetic energy emitted by the radar and the sea surface. The detection of the reflected energy from the wave by the system does not depend so much on the wave’s height, but on other factors such as the wind and wave inclination.
The tool developed by Professor Nieto from the signal theory department of the Universidad de Alcalá translates the radar image into a measurement of the elevation of the waves. The software uses a mathematical model to evaluate and process by different mechanisms the radar image that is generated and another model to determine the spatial and temporal dimensions of the waves.
In the radar images above, the image on the left corresponds to the raw radar image, while the one on the right is the image once processed by the software. Thanks to the colour code it can be appreciated that higher waves propagate as a group. This effect is called wave grouping and has a great relevance for the safety of marine structures such as ships, dikes, platforms. The software can be used to provide warning of an approaching extreme wave, giving time to prepare and minimise its effects.
The accurate wave dynamics that the software provides could also be used to predict the precise trajectory of oil spills and other contaminants that float on the sea, and it is on this application that most of the current investigation is being carried out at the Universidad de Alcalá by Professor Nieto, member of the High frequency technology group, among other specialists like physicists and telecommunications engineers from the signal theory department of the UAH.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071117091502.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #54 on Nov 19, 2007, 8:01am » | |
Scorpion Toxin Makes Insecticidal Fungus Deadly To Insect Pests
![[image]](http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4774/0711172114051c6afe7ht8.jpg "[image]")
Fungus injected with deadly scorpion toxin can kill mosquitoes quickly. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Maryland, College Park)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2007) — University of Maryland entomology professor Raymond St. Leger has discovered how to use scorpion genes to create a hypervirulent fungus that can kill specific insect pests, including mosquitoes that carry malaria and a beetle that destroys coffee crops, but does not contaminate the environment as chemical pesticides do.
In the November issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, St. Leger and Chengshu Wang, a colleague from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, describe how they were able to bioengineer a new version of the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae to inject specific insects with the scorpion toxin Androctonus australis insect neurotoxin (AaIT), and kill them within a few days.
“Scorpions have toxins that are superbly adapted to killing insects,” explains St. Leger. “A scorpion kills by stabbing its prey, so we were looking for a way to get the toxin into the insect without the scorpion.
“Fungi are really good at that because they are naturally infective. They land on the insect’s outer surface, insert little tubes called hyphae, and grow within the insect. You could almost see them as tiny hypodermic needles. If you can get the fungus to insert a toxin into the insect, you can kill the insect very quickly. This is what we did.”
Speeding up the Process
The naturally occurring M. anisopliae fungus and other strains like it are already being used to control agricultural pests and mosquitoes, but their effectiveness has been limited in comparison to chemical pesticides. Unlike chemical pesticides, these altered fungi can be used to target specific insects and do not pose a threat to the environment.
In Australia, the fungus is sprayed from airplanes to target locusts and grasshoppers that decimate food crops. In Africa, the spores of the M. anisopliae fungus are put on sheets and hung inside houses to kill mosquitoes. “The problem is it takes quite a few fungal spores to kill the mosquito, and it is slow,” says St. Leger. “It reduces the number of mosquito bites that people get, but it doesn’t keep people from getting malaria or dengue. We’re trying to get a supercharged, hypervirulent fungus that will take out the mosquitoes quickly.”
St. Leger also is looking at the possibility of using the enhanced fungus to attack the coffee berry borer, an invasive beetle that causes severe damage to organic coffee crops in Colombia and other parts of Latin America. After oil, coffee is the largest legally traded commodity in the world, so the industry is eager to develop biopesticides that will protect the crop.
Synthetic Gene
To produce the insect-killing fungus, St. Leger created a synthetic scorpion gene which he inserted into the M. anisopliae fungus. “You can’t just take out the scorpion gene and put it into the fungus. You have to turn that piece of DNA into something that the M. anisopliae can use properly,” he explains.
He also had to create what he calls an “on/off switch” in front of the gene so the fungus will produce the scorpion toxin only when it is in the blood of the insect. “The fungus will never produce it under any other circumstances.”
St. Leger tested the infectivity of the transgenic fungus against mosquitoes, caterpillars and the coffee borer beetle. It was nine times more virulent than the wild M. anisopliae in killing mosquitoes, 22 times more virulent to caterpillars, and 30 times more virulent to the coffee borer beetle.
St. Leger believes this supercharged, pathogenic fungus has great potential to become a cost effective biopesticide that can kill using far fewer spores than the wild M. anisopliae fungus. He is currently using a range of genes, including scorpion toxins, to create additional biocontrol agents that are also highly specific to important pest species.
The journal article is entitled “A scorpion neurotoxin increases the potency of a fungal insecticide.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071117211405.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #55 on Nov 26, 2007, 6:50am » | |
Marine Scientists Warn Human Safety, Prosperity Depend On Better Ocean Observing System
![[image]](http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/6862/07112509232126f1537nf3.jpg "[image]")
Deploying deep-ocean moored buoy. Across Earth's equatorial region, roughly 50 moored buoys have been deployed to measure temperature, currents, waves and winds, salinity, carbon dioxide, allowing scientists to study the signs of and predict destructive weather patterns such as El Niño. Scientists say four times as many are needed to create more uniform coverage. (Credit: NOAA)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2007) — Speedy diagnosis of the temper and vital signs of the oceans matters increasingly to the well being of humanity, says a distinguished partnership of international scientists urging support to complete a world marine monitoring system within 10 years.
The Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) says warming seas, over-fishing and pollution are among profound concerns that must be better measured to help society respond in a well-informed, timely and cost-effective way.
"A system for ocean observing and forecasting that covers the world's oceans and their major uses can reduce growing risks, protect human interests and monitor the health of our precious oceans," says Dr. Tony Haymet, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, USA, and Chair of POGO's Executive Committee.
"The world community resolved to construct a comprehensive, integrated ocean observing system two decades ago. The good news is we have demonstrated that a global ocean observing system can be built, deployed and operated with available technologies. Now we must move from experiment and proof-of-concept to routine use. We have progressed less than halfway to our initial goals. Let's complete the task before we are struck by more tsunamis or comparable calamities."
The cost of an adequate initial system would require a further investment roughly estimated at $2-3 billion, involving:
* a stable network of satellites surveying vast extents of the surface of the oceans;
* fixed stations taking continuous measurements on the seafloor or as floats and buoys moored in the water column and at the surface;
* small robot submarine ocean monitors, some drifting with the currents, others motoring along programmed routes;
* marine animals ingeniously outfitted with electronic tags that equip them to capture and transmit data about the environments they visit;
* merchant marine and research vessels, opportunistically observing along their routes.
Data analysis, integration with observations from the atmosphere and other sources, and assimilation into models then may produce insights and forecasts useful to the public and policy makers.
"Oceans cover a majority of our planet -- 71% -- yet are vastly under-sampled," says Dr. Haymet. "We have an urgent need and new technological marvels available today to complete a system by which marine scientists could authoritatively diagnose and anticipate changing global ocean conditions -- something akin to the system that enables meteorologists to predict weather.
"A continuous, integrated ocean observing system will return the investment many times over in safer maritime operations, storm damage mitigation, and conservation of living marine resources, as well as collecting the vital signs of the ocean that are needed to monitor climate change."
The scientists' call for completion of the "first draft" of the ocean observing system is made as ministers and officials from the 71 member nations of GEO (the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations) assemble in Cape Town, South Africa, Nov. 28-30. The meeting will review progress and map out next steps in a 10-year effort to build a ground-based, ocean-drifting, air-borne and space-based Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to monitor all of Earth's environmental conditions.
Technologies
"The rapid pace of technological development is opening up entirely new approaches to ocean measurement, including biological and physical observations from fish and marine mammals. The potential for exploiting the merchant marine as platforms for monitoring ocean properties, although well demonstrated, offers tremendous opportunity for further development. Molecular biological techniques are transforming the way we identify species and interpret their evolutionary development; important opportunities exist for combining biological and physical data to better understand the linkage between marine ecosystems and ocean dynamics," says David Farmer, Fellow of the Royal Society and head of the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography.
Among technologies deployed by ocean observers:
Diving Robotic Probes
Deployments today include some 3,000 small, drifting "Argo" probes that measure pressure, salinity and temperature at depths down to 2 km and return to the surface every 10 days to transmit readings via satellite. The instruments measure conditions driving climate change. POGO officials say up to 10 times as many floats are needed to produce a high-resolution global picture of marine conditions.
Unmanned vehicles and research vessels
Field testing is underway of so-called 'air-clippers': atmosphere and ocean surface sensors tethered to balloons. With these sensors, scientists have achieved concurrent atmospheric and ocean measurements from within the eye of a strong cyclone where the balloons become trapped.
Meanwhile, scientists using robotic submersible equipment to record life and conditions in the remote deep ocean say they have barely scratched the surface with resources available.
Aboard research ships, scientists can sample and monitor marine species distribution and abundance, and develop the next generation of observing technologies -- devices, for example, that perform at-sea DNA sequencing of microbial, bacterial, and planktonic life forms, yielding real-time marine equivalents of "pollen counts".
Innovative Sonar Approaches
The naval acoustics technology of transmitting sound in all directions but detecting it with a hydrophone array and then transforming the signal into an image of objects in the ocean, has been demonstrated with spectacular success in the coastal ocean. Images covering thousands of square kilometres have revealed the presence of very large fish schools containing tens of thousands of fish and spanning many kilometres. Other sonar systems are allowing the mapping and characterization of the seafloor with unprecedented accuracy.
Tags
As part of the international Census of Marine Life (CoML), approximately 2,000 marine animals that journey into the open, deep ocean have been tagged by project TOPP (Tagging of Pacific Palagics), creating a team of animal oceanographers that reveal biodiversity hotspots, nurseries, and migratory routes that need protection and also describe the physical state of the areas of the oceans the animals inhabit.
The 22 species tagged include elephant seals, white sharks, leatherback turtles, squid, albatross and sooty shearwaters.
Light, depth, temperature and salinity data captured by the tags are transmitted via satellite as the creatures travel. Elephant seals, for example, spend 10 months at sea and dive up to 1.5 km below the ocean surface.
Acoustic tags deployed by another CoML project, POST (Pacific Ocean Salmon Tracking), allows researchers to follow animals that stay on the shallow continental shelves, such as salmon and sturgeon, as correspondents, creating insights into their migration and survival -- where and why they die -- that suggest better strategies for sustainable fisheries. Over 12,000 POST-coded acoustic tags have been released over the POST array, resulting in more than 4 million detections of the movements and survival of the tagged animals.
CoML Chief Scientist Ron O'Dor says the endorsement and support of ministers in Cape Town is being urged for the Ocean Tracking Network, recently created to expand use of these techniques into a continuous worldwide system.
CoML experts also want GEO ministers to endorse standard protocols to govern a global, low cost near-shore biodiversity monitoring system, operational within five years, to shed light on invasive species, climate change and other concerns.
Moored buoys
Across Earth's equatorial region, roughly 50 moored buoys have been deployed to measure temperature, currents, waves and winds, salinity, carbon dioxide, allowing scientists to study the signs of and predict destructive weather patterns such as El Niño. Scientists say four times as many are needed to create more uniform coverage. Some areas have no sampling stations at all.
In a growing number of places, meanwhile, pressure gauges deployed near shore and on the deep seafloor help detect both sea level rise and tsunamis. The deep-sea operation involves a surface buoy to receive the information from below and relay it to ground stations via satellite. There were six such Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) stations, all of them deployed in the Pacific, at the time of the earthquake and devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. An additional 32 DART buoys were soon announced, including stations in the Indian, Caribbean and Atlantic oceans.
Cabled observatories
Using cables hundreds of kilometers long on the seabed at depths down to 3 km, dotted with instrument "nodes," scientists can access and control scientific sensors and remotely-operated vehicles and cameras.
The information gleaned will improve understanding of plankton blooms, fish migrations, changing ocean conditions, climate change, underwater volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and the processes that cause them, and help warn of approaching tsunamis.
Satellites
The ocean observing system suffers from major gaps in the observational coverage of satellites, which provide a high-altitude window on such marine characteristics as sea surface roughness, temperature, currents, ice cover and shifting meadow-like areas where marine plants grow.
Societal benefits
Are oceans absorbing less carbon and thus losing the ability to dampen climate change? Is the flow of deep water in the North Atlantic slowing to bring a chill -- the premise of Hollywood's apocalyptic film "The Day After Tomorrow"? Are reefs being bleached? Scientists envision an ongoing, integrated ocean observing system that routinely surveys and monitors conditions and offers prompt diagnoses and timely forecasts of problems -- practical information of benefit to humanity in many ways:
Mitigating damage from natural disasters and bad weather
Deeper understanding of ocean behaviour will help society better forecast and protect itself from catastrophic storms such as hurricanes, typhoons and tsunamis.
Better ocean information will improve short- and long-range weather and climate prediction, thereby strengthening disaster preparedness and damage mitigation and strategies for agricultural and seafood harvests. As well, better ocean observing will improve safety of the marine transportation network -- which conveys 90% of goods traded internationally -- with accurate, timely information about ocean conditions.
Human health and well-being
Among the benefits offered by better ocean observing: measurement of sea surface temperatures could predict movement of fish from traditional waters, and even outbreaks of disease, which have been associated with warmer water, while monitoring pollution-induced eutrophication will help predict toxic algal blooms.
Energy Oceans are a growing source of energy -- oil and especially natural gas -- as operators reach into the seafloor in deeper and deeper parts of the ocean with multi-billion dollar facilities. Offshore wind farms would also depend on timely, reliable information on ocean conditions. Better ocean observation will help harness various energy sources safely and efficiently with minimal environmental impact.
Climate and ocean acidity
A more fully developed ocean observing system will foster important new insights into how altered ocean conditions, including warmer water and increasing acidity, affect weather, climate and the role of the oceans as a carbon sink. Scientists want to know how warmer water, for example, impacts microscopic life forms that consume some 50 giga-tonnes of carbon per year, about the same as all plants and trees on land.
Water resources
As the planet's primary reservoir, oceans govern the global water cycle. Improved ocean observations will help scientists better understand precipitation patterns.
Marine ecosystems and biodiversity
A majority of life on Earth eats, swims, crawls, fights and lives in oceans. Water temperatures affect where species live and travel, as well as the distribution of nutrients, plankton and on up the food web. An integrated ocean observing system will illuminate the impact of shifting ocean conditions and pollution on marine and coastal ecosystems and the distribution, abundance and biodiversity of organisms.
Calls for Action
D. James Baker, former Administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says: "The exciting progress to date also shows the size of the remaining opportunity. We have pathetically few measurements of the oceans relative to their importance to life on Earth and the extent to which we rely on them for energy, weather, food and recreation."
According to South African oceanographer John Field, chair of the Scientific Committee of the Global Ocean Observing System: "In the first few decades of this century we can develop an ocean observing system comparable in value to the system we so appreciate for our weather forecasts. If in the year 2020 ocean monitoring and prediction are much improved, we may recall the 2007 Cape Town Summit as when governments intensified the key commitments."
"People who watch and worry about each sea unite in support of a much improved, integrated global ocean observing system," says Prof. Howard Roe, Director Emeritus, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, U.K. and past POGO Chair, who will lead the POGO delegation in Cape Town.
Finally, notes Jesse Ausubel, CoML program director for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: "2012 will be the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic. I think Captain Smith would be disappointed by the continuing hesitation to firm up our ocean observing system."
About POGO
The Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) links much of the ocean research community. POGO was created by directors and leaders of major oceanographic institutions to focus attention on technical compatibility among observing networks; shared use of infrastructure; and on public outreach and capacity building.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071125092321.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #56 on Nov 26, 2007, 6:53am » | |
Helping Bangladesh Save Lives: Supercomputer Models Provided 24 Hours In Advance Of Cyclone Sidr
![[image]](http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2994/07112114491712db2cdlg1.jpg "[image]")
Original storm surge model transmitted by Mashriqui. (Credit: Hassan Mashriqui)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2007) — Early on the morning of Nov. 16, Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh and showed no mercy. The death toll continues to rise even today. Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. But, nearly 24 hours in advance of the storm, Hassan Mashriqui, assistant extension professor of coastal engineering with LSU, the LSU AgCenter and the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, gave Bangladesh emergency officials storm surge maps so detailed that area agencies were able to take action, saving countless lives.
"It's nice to know that LSU's capabilities helped people there before disaster struck," said Mashriqui. "It's the practical application of all of our theoretical research."
On Nov. 12, he saw that the cyclone had developed in the Bay of Bengal. Watching its progress closely, he contacted Imtiaz Hossain, assistant to Robert Twilley, the very next day. Twilley, associate vice chancellor of research and economic development at LSU, director of the Coastal Systems and Society Agenda, professor of coastal sciences and leader of the Shell Coastal Environmental Modeling Laboratory, or CEML, immediately gave Mashriqui access to a large portion of CEML's supercomputing capabilities to facilitate the development of storm surge models.
The following day, Mashriqui went to Tampa, Fla., to give a lecture at a hurricane conference. It was from his hotel room that he was able to access the LSU supercomputing network and run the first model. What he saw sent him scrambling to contact Bangladesh officials.
"These models are incredibly accurate and highly detailed," Mashriqui said. "You can pinpoint events down to small counties and towns. We were looking at a 10 -- 12 foot storm surge that would devastate anything in its path."
Through an LSU student whose father is employed at the Bangladesh Ministry of Food and Disaster Management in the Office of Disaster Management and Relief Bhaban, a unit that operates much like FEMA, Mashriqui was then able to communicate his findings to dozens of agencies who could then act by raising the danger signal to its highest level, moving people out of harm's way and concentrating relief efforts before the storm even hit.
A native of the area, Mashriqui first began running storm surge models on the Bay of Bengal several years ago in conjunction with LSU's Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, forming the Bay of Bengal Cyclone Surge Modeling Program. This project provides modeling support for the Bay of Bengal basin and strives to build partnerships with appropriate agencies.
"The advance notice we were able to provide certainly saved lives and helped to lessen the devastation," said Mashriqui. "When you can pinpoint the areas of impact and determine the level of storm surge that far ahead of landfall, it provides critical time for agencies and officials to focus energy and resources to the areas that will need them most."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071121144917.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #57 on Nov 27, 2007, 10:03am » | |
Environmental Researchers Propose Radical 'Human-centric' Map Of The World
![[image]](http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/9374/071126112255216cc82du4.jpg "[image]")
Map of Anthropogenic Biomes. (Credit: The Encyclopedia of Earth)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2007) — Ecologists pay too much attention to increasingly rare "pristine" ecosystems while ignoring the overwhelming influence of humans on the environment, say researchers from McGill University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
Prof. Erle Ellis of UMBC and Prof. Navin Ramankutty of McGill assert that the current system of classifying ecosystems into biomes (or "ecological communities") like tropical rainforests, grasslands and deserts may be misleading. Instead, they propose an entirely new model of human-centered "anthropegenic" biomes in the November 19 issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
"Ecologists go to remote parts of the planet to study pristine ecosystems, but no one studies it in their back yard," said Ramankutty, assistant professor in McGill's Department of Geography and the Earth System Science Program. "It's time to start putting instrumentation in our back yards -- both literal and metaphorical -- to study what's going on there in terms of ecosystem functioning."
Existing biome classification systems are based on natural-world factors such as plant structures, leaf types, plant spacing and climate. The Bailey System, developed in the 1970's, divides North America into four climate-based biomes: polar, humid temperate, dry and humid tropical. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ecological land classification system identifies 14 major biomes, including tundra, boreal forests, temperate coniferous forests and deserts and xeric shrublands. For their part, Ellis and Ramankutty propose a radically new system of anthropogenic biomes -- dubbed "anthromes" -- which includes residential rangelands, dense settlements, villages and croplands.
"Over the last million years, we have had glacial-interglacial cycles, with enormous changes in climate and massive shifts in ecosystems," said Ramankutty. "The human influence on the planet today is almost on the same scale. Nearly 30 to 40% of the world's land surface today is used just for growing food and grazing animals to serve the human population."
The researchers argue human land-use practices have fundamentally altered the planet. "Our analysis was quite surprising," said Ramankutty. "Only about 20% of the world's ice-free land-surface is pristine. The rest has some kind of anthropogenic influence, so if you're studying a pristine landscape, you're really only studying about 20% of the world."
"If you want to think about going into a sustainable future and restoring ecosystems, we have to accept that humans are here to stay. Humans are part of the package, and any restoration has to include human activities in it."
Note: Graphs, interactive anthrome maps and an overview of the topic are available online at http://www.eoearth.org/article/Anthropogenic_biomes
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071126112255.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
|
Big Bunny
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #58 on Nov 28, 2007, 9:16pm » | |
Venus offers Earth climate clues
Observations of the planet Venus might assist efforts to tackle the threat of climate change here on Earth.
Data from a European probe orbiting Venus paints a picture of a planet that may once have been like Earth, but later evolved in a very different way.
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
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| | Re: Mitigating The Collapse of Gaia
« Reply #59 on Nov 30, 2007, 7:02am » | |
European Union Forests Expanding, Absorbing Carbon At Surprisingly High Rate
ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2007) — European Union countries likely require an old ally -- Mother Nature and her forests -- to meet an ambitious post-Kyoto goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020, according to new research.
The University of Helsinki study says that despite rising population and affluence, the EU can meet its obligations post-Kyoto (2012-2020). However, it will likely require more than energy savings, new technologies and mitigating non-CO2 gasses such as methane; partial credit for expansion of the region's forests could be decisive, say researchers Pekka E. Kauppi, Laura Saikku and Aapo Rautiainen, whose report, The Sustainability Challenge of Meeting Carbon Dioxide Targets in Europe by 2020, is published today in the peer-reviewed UK journal Energy Policy.
The study finds that between 1990 and 2005, expansion of above-ground tree vegetation in the 27 EU countries annually absorbed an additional 126 teragrams (126 million tonnes) of carbon -- equal to 11% of the region's emissions.
The rate varied from 10% in the 15 old member states (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France , Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK) to 15% in the 12 new members (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia).
The findings were surprising, says study leader Prof. Kauppi, who with colleagues in 1992 estimated the rate of increase of CO2 absorbsion through the expansion of forests at no more than 5%.
The study shows that total CO2 sequestered by EU forests relative to national emissions varies widely from country to country. In Latvia, for example, forests more than offset per capita emissions. And forests in Lithuania, Sweden, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Finland absorb a large part of national emissions. At the other end of the scale are lightly-forested countries such as Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Denmark.
The new paper builds on work reported last year by Prof. Kauppi and international collaborators, who revealed the shift from deforestation to afforestation in the world's most forested nations. They advanced a more sophisticated approach to measuring forest cover that considers not just forested area but density of trees per hectare.
Their "Forest Identity" calculation also quantifies the biomass and atmospheric carbon stored in forests. They reported that, amid widespread concern about deforestation, growing stock has in fact expanded over the past 15 years in 22 of the 50 countries with most forest, including several EU members.
"The good news is that trees are extremely efficient mechanisms for capturing and storing carbon," says Prof. Kauppi, a member of the Nobel-laureate UN International Panel on Climate Change. "The better news is that Europe's forests are thriving and expanding and therefore will play an increasingly important role in helping the EU to reach its environmental goals."
"Every year, the expanding European forests remove a surprisingly large amount of carbon from the atmosphere," says co-author Aapo Rautiainen. "According to rough estimates, their impact in reducing atmospheric carbon may well be twice that achieved by the use of renewable energy in Europe today."
Under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU commited to an 8% reduction of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, using 1990 as the base year. Under the protocol, countries do not get credit for increasing natural carbon sinks through forestry and agriculture. Negotiations on an accord to cover the post-Kyoto period 2012 to 2020 are underway.
The researchers note the daunting challenge confronting EU nations in order to meet a post-Kyoto commitment to reduce emissions 20% from 1990 levels by 2020: a dramatic reduction of energy used per unit of GDP and de-carbonization of energy supply against a backdrop of rising population and affluence.
CO2 emissions in EU nations grew by an average of roughly 1% every three years between 1992 and 2004. To reduce CO2 emissions in EU27 by 20% in the next 12 years, carbon emission per economic output needs to at least halved (49 to 64% depending on the growth of population and economy).
The report's authors note that Europe-wide emissions have not yet started to decline and that time is running out for the EU to successfully embark on it ambitious 2020 goal.
"Policies that accelerate the expansion of our forest biomass not only represent a win-win for climate change and biodiversity, they also open up economic opportunities," says co-author Laura Saikku. "Land owners can benefit with new industries like forest-based bio-energy production. This could also help to reduce one of the main threats to sustained forest expansion -- the need to open land to produce agricultural biofuels as alternatives to fossil fuels."
Publication of the research, funded by IFEE-consortium of the Academy of Finland, co-incides with a Group on Earth Observations ministerial meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the focus of which is the monitoring of forest and other ecosystems.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071129113752.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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