Jul 26 2010

First-of-Its-Kind Map Details the Height of the Globe’s Forests

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ScienceDaily (July 21, 2010) — Using NASA satellite data, scientists have produced a first-of-its kind map that details the height of the world's forests. Although there are other local- and regional-scale forest canopy maps, the new map is the first that spans the entire globe based on one uniform method.
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Jul 26 2010

Thick smog from heatwave fires covers Moscow

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Muscovites struggled to breathe on Monday and Red Square was blanketed in smoke as a record-setting heatwave that that has already ruined crops caused fires that set the area around the capital ablaze. The emergency ministry said 34 peat fires and 26 forest fires were blazing on Monday in the area surrounding Moscow, covering 59 hectares (145 acres). Experts warned the air had become dangerous. State-run RIA news agency said airports serving Moscow, a city of 14 million, had been unaffected by the thick smoke, whose sharp, cinder-filled smell permeated the city and crept into offices, homes and restaurants via windows and doors.
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Jul 25 2010

Severe Weather slams Midwest US, with tornadoes & flooding

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Powerful storms spawned by intense heat and humidity produced flooding and tornadoes in the Midwestern United States on Saturday, disrupting travel and cutting power to thousands of homes. The National Weather Service said more than 7.5 inches of rain -- the amount the city would see over two months during a normal summer -- fell at Midway Airport in Chicago in the past day. "A large area is being impacted by this system," said Jack Hales, a weather service forecaster based in Norman, Oklahoma. "But some of the heavier rain totals ... have been in Chicago. The water content in the atmosphere is very high." The National Weather Service issued severe weather alerts for many areas in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and flood watches for dozens of counties.
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Jul 24 2010

New NOAA Analysis Gives Further Clues about Location and Movement of Subsurface Oil in Gulf – and how little of it there is

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Remember the debate about the subsurface "plumes" or oil released by the leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico? A new report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy about subsurface oil monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico contains preliminary data collected at 227 sampling stations extending from one to 52 kilometers from the Deepwater Horizon/BP wellhead. The data shows that the movement of subsurface oil is consistent with ocean currents and that the concentrations continue to be more diffuse as you move away from the source of the leak. This confirms the findings of the previous report. The report comes from the Joint Analysis Group (JAG), which is comprised of the afore mentioned agencies and was established to facilitate cooperation and coordination among the best scientific minds across the government and provide a coordinated analysis of information related to subsea monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Jul 23 2010

Buckyballs

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Astronomers using the NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered carbon molecules, known as fullerenes (and when arranged in a spherical form it is commonly called a buckyball, in space for the first time. Buckyballs are soccer ball shaped molecules that were first observed in a laboratory 25 years ago. A fullerene is any molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Cylinders are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes. Fullerenes are similar in structure to graphite, which is composed of stacked graphene sheets of linked hexagonal rings; but they may also contain pentagonal (or sometimes heptagonal) rings.
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Jul 23 2010

Honda Civics in Japan to Be 100% Hybrid

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Year after year, the Honda Civic has been one of the most popular car models in the United States. The model has done relatively well in Japan, too. The company introduced a hybrid Civic in the US, but we all know how well they sold—drive around certain neighborhoods in LA and Northern California and you would think the Toyota Prius was the only car available on the market. The hybrid Civic, sadly for Honda, never had the chance to compete.
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Jul 23 2010

The Smog to Heart Connection

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It is well known that certain concentrations of air pollution can adversely affect human respiratory condition. What is not as well-known is how air pollution can affect the heart. A new study presented at the American Heart Association's Basic Cardiovasular Sciences 2010 Scientific Session by researchers from Texas A&M links ground-level ozone (smog) to cell deaths in the heart.
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Jul 23 2010

Cork, Plastic, or Twist? The Cork Industry Tightens the Screws on Winemakers

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More wineries are moving towards plastic bottles and aluminum caps and away from cork stoppers. Some would say this is unfortunate for a host of reasons. Harvesting cork is an ancient practice that keeps a cluster of cork trees, which are almost entirely in Portugal and Spain, alive.
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Jul 23 2010

Climate bill in doubt as Democrats delay action

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U.S. Senate Democrats said on Thursday they will wait until September at the earliest to take up broad climate-change legislation, a potentially fatal blow to the White House push to curb greenhouse gases. The delay means Democrats have little time to advance the complex legislation amid intense political pressure in the weeks before November congressional elections. It also could derail global climate change initiatives, as the world's major economies and greenhouse gas emitters insist the United States play a leading role.
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Jul 22 2010

The Air Near the BP Oil Spill

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By now most people know about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its effects or potential effects on water quality and wildlife. Now the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had released measurements of the air quality in the area. Scientists found common air pollutants, such as ozone, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide, in amounts typical of urban areas in U.S. cities. However, 15 to 70 kilometers downwind from the oil spill, concentrations of certain hydrocarbons were much higher than than would be found in urban air.
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