New study confirms extensive gas leaks in the North Sea

by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

On the basis of investigations directly on the seafloor it was possible to determine the amount of escaping gas. Credit: ROV team/GEOMAR

During expeditions to oil and gas reservoirs in the central North Sea in 2012 and 2013, scientists of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany) became aware of a phenomenon that had been hardly recognized before. They discovered that methane bubbles emerged from the seabed around abandoned wells. The gas originates from shallow gas pockets, which lie less than 1000 meters deep below the seafloor and that were not the target of the original drilling operations. An initial assessment showed that these emissions could be the dominant source of methane in the North Sea.

A new study published by GEOMAR scientists today in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, confirms this initial estimate on a larger data basis. "We have combined investigations at additional wells with extensive seismic data. The results clearly show that thousands of tons of methane are leaking from old drill holes on the North Sea floor every year," says Dr. Christoph Böttner, who is the main author of the study, which is part of his doctoral thesis at GEOMAR.

During expeditions with RV POSEIDON in 2017 and 2019, the researchers were able to detect gas leakage at 28 of 43 directly investigated wells. "The propensity for such leaks increases the closer the boreholes are located with respect to shallow gas pockets, which are normally uninteresting for commercial use. Apparently, however, the disturbance of the overburden sediment by drilling process causes the gas to rise along the borehole," explains Dr. Matthias Haeckel from GEOMAR, who lead the study.

In addition, the team used available seismic data of the industry from the British sector of the North Sea to make further statements about the boreholes in the area. "We cover 20,000 square kilometers of seafloor in our study, which is approximately the size of Wales. This area contains 1,792 wells of which we have information. We evaluated a number of factors, such as location, distance to shallow gas pockets, and age, based on our direct measurements and weighted how these factors promote methane gas leakage from old wells. The most important factor was indeed the distance of the wells from the gas pockets," explains Dr. Böttner.

Distribution of drill holes across the Exclusive Economic Zones of the UK, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Credit: Christoph Böttner/GEOMAR.

The positions of the boreholes and the location and extent of the gas pockets indicate that this area of the North Sea alone has the potential to emit 900 to 3700 tons of methane every year. "However, more than 15,000 boreholes have been drilled in the entire North Sea," adds Dr. Haeckel.

In seawater, methane is usually consumed by microbes. This can lead to local seawater acidification. In the North Sea, about half of the boreholes are at such shallow water depths that part of the emitted methane can escape into the atmosphere. Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide.

The authors of the study encourage the industry to publish their data and recommend more independent emission measurements from abandoned wells in order to develop stricter guidelines and legally binding regulations for abandonment procedures.

"The sources and sinks of methane, the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, are still subject to large uncertainties. This also applies to emissions from the fossil energy sector. In order to better understand the reasons for the continuously increasing methane concentrations in the atmosphere and to be able to take mitigation measures, it is important to have a reliable numbers of the individual anthropogenic contributions," summarizes Dr. HaeckelOil and gas wells as a strong source of greenhouse gases

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More information: Christoph Böttner et al, Greenhouse gas emissions from marine decommissioned hydrocarbon wells: leakage detection, monitoring and mitigation strategies, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijggc.2020.103119

Provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

Stunning space butterfly captured by telescope

by ESO

Credit: ESO

Resembling a butterfly with its symmetrical structure, beautiful colors, and intricate patterns, this striking bubble of gas—known as NGC 2899—appears to float and flutter across the sky in this new picture from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). This object has never before been imaged in such striking detail, with even the faint outer edges of the planetary nebula glowing over the background stars.


NGC 2899's vast swathes of gas extend up to a maximum of two light-years from its center, glowing brightly in front of the stars of the Milky Way as the gas reaches temperatures upwards of ten thousand degrees. The high temperatures are due to the large amount of radiation from the nebula's parent star, which causes the hydrogen gas in the nebula to glow in a reddish halo around the oxygen gas, in blue.

This object, located between 3000 and 6500 light-years away in the Southern constellation of Vela (The Sails), has two central stars, which are believed to give it its nearly symmetric appearance. After one star reached the end of its life and cast off its outer layers, the other star now interferes with the flow of gas, forming the two-lobed shape seen here. Only about 10-20% of planetary nebulae display this type of bipolar shape.

Astronomers were able to capture this highly detailed image of NGC 2899 using the FORS instrument installed on UT1 (Antu), one of the four 8.2-meter telescopes that make up ESO's VLT in Chile. Standing for FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph, this high-resolution instrument was one of the first to be installed on ESO's VLT and is behind numerous beautiful images and discoveries from ESO. FORS has contributed to observations of light from a gravitational wave source, has researched the first known interstellar asteroid, and has been used to study in depth the physics behind the formation of complex planetary nebulae.


This image was created under the ESO Cosmic Gems program, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The program makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO's science archive.

Gemini South telescope captures exquisite planetary nebula

Provided by ESO

New analysis method predicts disruptive solar flares

by Meredith Fore, Inside Science, American Institute of Physics

An image of a solar flare captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on Oct. 2, 2014. Credit: NASA/SDO

Solar flares—violent explosions on the surface of the sun—can send blasts of radiation hurtling toward Earth. While the planet's magnetic field protects humans on the surface, powerful solar flares can disable satellites, power grids and radio communications. But scientists aren't sure exactly what triggers solar flares, which makes it difficult to predict when one will occur. One theory suggests these massive explosions can be set off by small disturbances in the sun's magnetic field. Now, researchers have applied that theory to develop a novel method of predicting solar flares before they happen. This method could make the forecasting of solar flares more accurate and reliable than ever before.

Solar flares are intimately connected with the sun's magnetic field. While the lines of Earth's magnetic field are straight and static, running from the south pole to the north pole, the surface of the sun is a chaotic sea of ions and heat, making its magnetic field lines wildly more complicated.

Some models suggest that solar flares occur when many magnetic field lines merge into one far larger loop. This can be caused by something as small as a single cosmic particle striking the surface—if the conditions are right. The new prediction method uses satellite images to find the places on the sun where conditions are ripe for these magnetic reconnections, and therefore solar flares. These conditions can also suggest how big a potential flare can be.

"At some positions on a mountain, a small crack can trigger an avalanche," said Kanya Kusano, a professor of Earth and space science at Nagoya University in Nagoya, Japan, and lead author of the study. "But in other places, only a big crack will trigger it. We implement our theory to calculate how many magnetic reconnections, at a certain position, are required to trigger a solar flare."

An X-class solar flare flashes on the edge of the Sun on March 7, 2012. This image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a type of light that is invisible to human eyes, called extreme ultraviolet light. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO

Kusano's work analyzed satellite data from the nine biggest solar flares in the last two solar cycles, and found his method was able to predict seven of them from satellite images alone. He and his colleagues detailed their findings online July 30 in the journal Science.Researchers shed new light on solar flares

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More information: Kanya Kusano et al. A physics-based method that can predict imminent large solar flares, Science (2020). DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz2511

Journal information: Science 

Provided by Inside Science, American Institute of Physics 

This story is republished courtesy of Inside Science. Read the original story here. Used with permission. Inside Science is an editorially independent news service of the American Institute of Physics.

British Airways parent IAG swoops for more cash to survive crisis

by Roland Jackson

IAG kept most of its aircraft parked during the coronavirus outbreak due to travel restrictions, leading to massive losses

Airline giant IAG, the owner of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, on Friday logged a 3.8-billion-euro ($4.5 billion) first-half net loss—and launched a capital-raising to help it navigate the demand-destroying coronavirus crisis.

The European travel giant, whose portfolio also includes Aer Lingus, Level and Vueling, said in a results statement that the loss after taxation in the six months to June compared with year-earlier profit of 806 million euros.

The airline conglomerate has been ravaged this year by COVID-19, which grounded planes worldwide as global lockdowns and border closures sought to halt the spread of the killer disease.

"The results ... were significantly impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19, which has had a devastating impact on the global airline and travel sectors, particularly from late February 2020 onwards," the company said.

Sales more than halved to just 5.3 billion euros in the first six months of the year, while it swung to a pre-tax loss of 4.2 billion euros after a profit of 1.0 billion euros last time around.

The London-listed titan has meanwhile embarked upon a massive jobs-slashing efficiency drive, in line with carriers like Air Canada, American Airlines and Lufthansa.

And on Friday, IAG announced it would seek to raise up to 2.75 billion euros in capital from investors.

'Substantial losses'

"All IAG airlines made substantial losses," said Chief Executive Willie Walsh, noting that second-quarter traffic collapsed by a staggering 98.4 percent as a result of government travel restrictions—and capacity shrank 95.3 percent.

"We have seen evidence that demand recovers when government restrictions are lifted," he said, adding that IAG had taken extra measures to reassure customers about health and safety.

But Walsh said "we continue to expect that it will take until at least 2023 for passenger demand to recover to 2019 levels."

The International Air Transport Association had warned earlier this week that global air traffic will not return to levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic until at least 2024, adding that new UK restrictions on travel with Spain had created a lot of uncertainty.

British Airways had already warned in April that it could slash up to 12,000 jobs, or a quarter of its workforce, in a drastic restructuring as the carrier grapples with fallout from the deadly pandemic.

Britain's BALPA pilots' trade union is meanwhile consulting members over a provisional agreement with BA over plans to cut wages by 20 percent and potentially shed about 270 jobs. The ballot closes on Friday.

'Darkest hour'

In late morning deals on Friday, IAG's share price tumbled 9.3 percent to 164.21 pence as many investors took flight on the grim set of news.

London's FTSE 100 index, on which the group is listed, flatlined at 5,987.62 points.

"Who will back International Consolidated Airlines in its darkest hour?" asked AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

"The airline sector is in desperate need of cash to help see it through a very difficult period and investors will be taking considerable risk by participating in its rights issue."

While Mould said cash injection will give IAG a bit of breathing space, the pace of the airline sector recovery is out of its hands.

"It is dependent on the course of coronavirus and government decisions on travel restrictions, quarantines and lockdowns in case of new flare-ups."

British Airways parent dives into huge quarterly loss

Will next AirPods feature bone conduction?

by Peter Grad , Tech Xplore

Credit: US Patent 10,728,649 B1

Will Apple's next big air bud project be called iBone?

Maybe not, but the folks at Cupertino are exploring a new approach to its AirPod line of earpieces.

A patent was granted to Apple on Tuesday for a design that would use bone conduction to transmit sounds instead of a traditional ear piece placed in the ear.

With bone conduction, the user wears a device that transmits vibrations through the skull directly to the cochlea, the inner ear structure than converts vibrations to neural signals that our brains interpret as sounds. The device is held by a band wrapped behind the head. This leaves the ears free and is helpful when the user requires minimal interference with hearing ambient sounds.

It allows for ear bud functionality in environments where regular ear buds would not function, such as under water. And it is more convenient for joggers, for instance, who should find more stability with firmly placed bone-conduction devices than with less stable ear buds that can easily fall out when running.

There currently are a few ear buds based on bone conduction on the market, such as the AfterShokz Aeropex and Pyle PSWBT550.

Some critics say the sound quality of bone conduction ear pieces is inferior to standard ones. This is largely due to bone conduction's poor handling of high frequency sounds. The technology works best with sounds in the 4,000 Hz level and below, while sounds spanning 4,000 Hz to 20,000 Hz are better handled by traditional air bud transmission called air induction.

Apple's patent, titled "Multipath audio stimulation using audio compressors," addresses this problem by relying on two transmission methods. One component of what may eventually become the AirPod 3 would use a bone-conduction transducer to transmit low- and mid-frequency sounds, while high-frequency sounds would be handled by the traditional ear bud approach using an air-conduction transducer.

Actually, Apple has researched this area of sound transmission before. They have obtained a patent for noise cancellation on bone conduction devices, relying on accelerometers to detect vibrations. Apple's current line of AirPods have noise cancellation, but they do not feature bone conduction.

It may not yet have had the name, but the principle of bone conduction can be traced back at least nearly 200 years. The great composer Ludwig van Beethoven compensated for his nearly total hearing loss in his later years by attaching one end of a rod to his piano and the other between his teeth so he could "hear" his compositions. Musicians commonly use that approach today when tuning a piano. With both hands occupied tuning the keys, the tuners grasp a tuning fork between their teeth that helps prolong the sound while they match the precise pitch.

Interestingly, a health product back in 2013 relied on bone conduction to help encourage kids to brush their teeth. Arm and Hammer Tooth Tunes unveiled its "Music in Your Mouth" campaign featuring toothbrushes that played two-minute clips of the enormously popular boy band One Direction. The toothbrushes streamed vibrations through the bristles of the toothbrush into the young lads' mouths.

Arm and Hammer promoted the devices with the slogan, "It's like a private One Direction concert in their mouth!"

A password of another kind: User identification through the skull

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More information: US Patent 10,728,649 B1

Apple Insider

Amazon closer to launching satellites, upping internet reach
by Joseph Pisani

The Amazon DTW1 fulfillment center is shown in Romulus, Mich. Amazon is heading to space. The online shopping giant received government approval to put more than 3,200 satellites into orbit that would beam down internet service to earth. Amazon said the satellites could provide internet to parts of the world that don't have it. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

Amazon.com is one step closer to space.

The company received government approval to put more than 3,200 satellites into orbit with the goal of beaming internet service to earth.
Amazon said the satellites could provide internet to parts of the world that don't have it. It could also become a new business for Amazon, selling internet service to people or companies.
"We have heard so many stories lately about people who are unable to do their job or complete schoolwork because they don't have reliable internet at home," said Amazon executive Dave Limp, in a written statement.
Amazon said it will spend $10 billion on the initiative, called Project Kuiper. It's opening a research facility in Redmond, Washington, where the satellites will be designed and tested.
That would be about twice the profit that the Seattle company made in its most recent three-month financial reporting period.
Other companies have already put satellites into orbit, including SpaceX, the rocket company owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. SpaceX received government approval for the project in 2018.
Space is a major focus of Amazon's founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man. He privately owns a space exploration company and has spoken of, at some point in the distant future, the potential of relocating manufacturing and other heavy industries to space, keeping the resulting emissions out of the earth's atmosphere.
Amazon didn't say when it expects to have Project Kuiper operating, but the Federal Communications Commission, which approved the initiative on Thursday, said half of its satellites must be in orbit by July 2026.

© 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

NASA's Webb Telescope will study Jupiter, its rings, and two intriguing moons

WAIT WHAT JUPITER HAS RINGS?!

by Leah Ramsay/Christine Pulliam, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Cyclone storms encircle Jupiter's North Pole, captured in infrared light by NASA's Juno spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM
Jupiter, named for the king of the ancient Roman gods, commands its own mini-version of our solar system of circling satellites; their movements convinced Galileo Galilei that Earth is not the center of the universe in the early 17th century. More than 400 years later, astronomers will use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to observe these famous subjects, pushing the observatory's instruments to their fullest capabilities and laying the groundwork for far-reaching scientific discovery.


A diverse team of more than 40 researchers, led by astronomers Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley and Thierry Fouchet of the Observatoire de Paris, have designed an ambitious observing program that will conduct some of Webb's first scientific observations in the solar system—studying Jupiter, its ring system, and two of its moons: Ganymede and Io.

"It will be a really challenging experiment," said de Pater. "Jupiter is so bright, and Webb's instruments are so sensitive, that observing both the bright planet and its fainter rings and moons will be an excellent test of how to get the most out of Webb's innovative technology."

Jupiter

In addition to calibrating Webb's instruments for Jupiter's brightness, astronomers must also take into account the planet's rotation, because Jupiter completes one day in only 10 hours. Several images must be stitched together in a mosaic to fully capture a certain area—the famous storm known as the Great Red Spot, for example—a task made more difficult when the object itself is moving. While many telescopes have studied Jupiter and its storms, Webb's large mirror and powerful instruments will provide new insights.

"We know that the immediate atmosphere above the Great Red Spot is colder than other areas of Jupiter, but at higher altitudes, in the mesosphere, the atmosphere appears to be warmer. We will use Webb to investigate this phenomenon," de Pater said.

NASA's Galileo spacecraft catches Io in the midst of a volcanic eruption. Credit: NASA/JPL/DLR

Webb will also examine the atmosphere of the polar region, where NASA's Juno spacecraft discovered clusters of cyclones. Webb's spectroscopic data will provide much more detail than has been possible in past observations, measuring winds, cloud particles, gas composition, and temperature.

Future solar system observations of the giant planets with Webb will benefit from the lessons learned in these early observations of the Jovian system. The team is tasked with developing methods for working with Webb observations of solar system planets, which can be used later by other scientists.

Rings

All four of the gas giant planets of the solar system have rings, with Saturn's being the most prominent. Jupiter's ring system is composed of three parts: a flat main ring; a halo inside the main ring, shaped like a double-convex lens; and the gossamer ring, exterior to the main ring. Jupiter's ring system is exceptionally faint because the particles that make up the rings are so small and sparse that they do not reflect much light. Next to the brightness of the planet they practically disappear, presenting a challenge for astronomers.

"We are really pushing the capabilities of some of Webb's instruments to the limit to get a unique new set of observations," said co-investigator Michael Wong of the University of California, Berkeley. The team will test observing strategies to deal with Jupiter's scattered light, and build models for use by other astronomers, including those studying exoplanets orbiting bright stars.

The team will look to make new discoveries in the rings as well. De Pater noted that there may be undiscovered "ephemeral moonlets" in the dynamic ring system, and potential ripples in the ring from comet impacts, like those observed and traced back to the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994.

The moon Io orbits Jupiter in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Jupiter and Io appear deceptively close in this image, when in fact the moon is orbiting 217,000 miles from the gas giant planet. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Ganymede

Several features of icy Ganymede make it fascinating for astronomers. Aside from being the largest moon in the solar system, and larger even than the planet Mercury, it is the only moon known to have its own magnetic field. The team will investigate the very outer parts of Ganymede's atmosphere, its exosphere, to better understand the moon's interaction with particles in Jupiter's magnetic field.

There is also evidence that Ganymede may have a liquid saltwater ocean beneath its thick surface ice, which Webb will investigate with detailed spectroscopic study of surface salts and other compounds. The team's experience studying Ganymede's surface may be useful in the future study of other icy solar system moons suspected of having subsurface oceans, including Saturn's moon Enceladus and fellow Jovian satellite Europa.

Io

In dramatic contrast to Ganymede is the other moon the team will study, Io, the most volcanically active world in the solar system. The dynamic surface is covered with hundreds of huge volcanoes that would dwarf those on Earth, as well as lakes of molten lava and smooth floodplains of solidified lava. Astronomers plan to use Webb to learn more about the effects of Io's volcanos on its atmosphere.

"There is still much we don't know about Io's atmospheric temperature structure, because we haven't had the data to distinguish the temperature at different altitudes," said de Pater. "On Earth we take for granted that as you hike up a mountain, the air gets cooler—would it be the same on Io? Right now we don't know, but Webb may help us to find out."

NASA's Galileo spacecraft captured an image of Jupiter's ring system, including the diffuse outer gossamer ring. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University

Another mystery Webb will investigate on Io is the existence of "stealth volcanoes," which emit plumes of gas without the light-reflecting dust that can be detected by spacecraft like NASA's Voyager and Galileo missions, and so have thus far gone undetected. Webb's high spatial resolution will be able to isolate individual volcanoes that previously would have appeared as one large hotspot, allowing astronomers to gather detailed data on Io's geology.

Webb will also provide unprecedented data on the temperature of Io's hotspots, and determine if they are closer to volcanism on Earth today, or if they have a much higher temperature, similar to the environment on Earth in the early years after its formation. Previous observations by the Galileo mission and ground observatories have hinted at these high temperatures; Webb will follow up on that research and provide new evidence that may settle the question.

Team Effort

Webb's detailed observations will not supplant those of other observatories, but rather coordinate with them, Wong explained. "Webb's spectroscopic observations will cover just a small area of the planet, so global views from ground-based observatories can show how the detailed Webb data fit in with what's happening on a larger scale, similar to how Hubble and the Gemini Observatory provide context for Juno's narrow, close-up observations."

In turn, Webb's study of Jupiter's storms and atmosphere will complement Juno data, including radio signals from lightning, which Webb does not detect. "No one observatory or spacecraft can do it all," Wong said, "so we are very excited about combining data from multiple observatories to tell us much more than we could learn from only a single source."

This research is being conducted as part of a Webb Early Release Science (ERS) program. This program provides time to selected projects early in the observatory's mission, allowing researchers to quickly learn how best to use Webb's capabilities, while also yielding robust science.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be the world's premier space science observatory when it launches in 2021. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.


Explore further NASA Juno takes first images of jovian moon Ganymede's north pole 

Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Rhode Island boy digs up massive 2 1/2-pound mollusk

In this Tuesday, July, 28, 2020, photo provided by the University of Rhode Island, Cooper Monaco holds the large quahog he found Monday while clamming with his grandfather in Westerly, R.I. The quahog is more than five inches across and weighing more than two pounds, and is among the largest ever harvested in the state. The mollusk was donated to the University of Rhode Island's Marine Science Research Facility. (Todd McLeish/University of Rhode Island via AP)

An 11-year-old Rhode Island boy clamming with his grandfather found a giant quahog that is thought to be one of the largest ever harvested in state waters.

Cooper Monaco, of Wakefield, found the massive mollusk Monday in the Weekapaug section of Westerly, and donated it to the University of Rhode Island's Marine Science Research Facility in Narragansett, the university said in a statement Thursday.

The clam is 5.75 inches (14.5 centimeters) across and weighs nearly 2 1/2 pounds (1.3 kilograms). The state Department of Environmental Management does not keep quahog records, but a typical quahog grows to about 4 inches (10 centimeters) across, the university said.

"I was down on my hands and knees in the water looking for clams, and I touched this huge rock thing," Cooper said in the statement. "I always pull out rocks and throw them to the side and look under them. And then I felt the edge of it and I thought, 'holy moly, this is a clam.' So I pulled it out. It was amazing."

He knew it was unsually large, so told his mother not to cook it.

Ed Baker, the manager of the URI Marine Science Research Facility, plans to put the quahog on display.

Clam found to be over 500 years old

Monitoring whales from space
by British Antarctic Survey

Brazilian polar vessel, NPo “Almirante Maximiano” on the West Antarctic Peninsula conducting visual surveys alongside a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the foreground. Credit: Luciano Dalla Rosa/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
Scientists have found that studying high-resolution images of whales from space is a feasible way to estimate their populations. A team, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), compared satellite images to data collected from traditional ship-based surveys. Reported this week in the journal Scientific Reports, this study is a big step towards developing a cost-effective method to study whales in remote and inaccessible places, that will help scientists to monitor population changes and understand their behavior.


The results show that satellite-estimated whale densities were about a third of the densities estimated by ship. This is positive news, because it means that although satellites have poorer detection rates than ships, they still detect enough whales to make the method useful, for example for monitoring changes in whale abundance, particularly in remote regions where more expensive, traditional surveys are difficult.

The study took place in the Antarctic Peninsula, the primary summer feeding ground for many baleen whale species. Satellite images of the Gerlache Strait region spanning ~1000 km2 were collected over two days, and compared to the Brazilian Antarctic Program's annual ship-based whale survey, taking place at a similar time.

Satellite imagery provides a viable means of gathering high volumes of whale observation data with potential for estimating whale densities at unmatched spatial and temporal scales.

Lead author, Connor Bamford, a higher-predator ecologist at BAS and University of Southampton, says:

Researchers from UC Santa Cruz deploying a motion-sensing and dive recording tag on a humpback whale off the western Antarctic Peninsula. Research conducted under NMFS Permit 23095, ACA Permit 2015-014, and IACUC Friea1706. Credit: British Antarctic Survey

"While this is a new method and we have a lot of work still to do, we hope this will pave the way for further developments that will provide a low budget means of collecting data on whales in the future. It will supplement existing efforts in remote regions, and provide information to safeguard whale populations and their remote feeding grounds."

Senior author, whale ecologist Dr. Jennifer Jackson at BAS, says:

"This new technology could be a game-changer in helping us to study whales remotely. Our study shows that satellite surveys can be a feasible method for monitoring changes in whale abundance. This approach may be especially useful in remote areas that are hard to access with ships and planes, and where densities of whales may be high, such as the Southern Ocean."

New methods offer exciting opportunities, but also need robust testing before they become operational. One issue is the ability to account for whales that are underwater. In this study researchers were able to utilize suction-cup tracking data collected by a US National Science Foundation whale tagging program that provides detailed information on dive duration and behavior of humpback whales in the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula. This accounts for those whales that were likely to be missed as a result of being underwater, beyond the depth where satellite detection is possible. Further work is now underway using machine learning tools to assist with identifying whales on satellite imagery.

Watching whales from space

More information: C. C. G. Bamford et al. A comparison of baleen whale density estimates derived from overlapping satellite imagery and a shipborne survey, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-69887-y

Journal information: Scientific Reports

Provided by British Antarctic Survey

Drug resistant parasites cost European livestock industry millions each year

by European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)

Credit: European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)

An international research study has estimated that drug-resistant parasitic worms cost the European livestock industry more than €38 million per year in production losses and veterinary costs.

Parasites can cause major welfare and productivity problems in cattle, sheep and goats worldwide, affecting growth, fertility and milk production. Worryingly, drug resistance is increasing against the veterinary medicines widely used to treat and prevent infection. This means that current farming methods may not be sustainable in the longer term.

Now a major new study has estimated that parasitic worms cost the European livestock industry more than €1.8 billion per year, with drug-resistance costing at least €38 million per year in production losses and treatment costs. The study can support the identification of livestock sectors and regions where the largest losses occur and inform control programs and research policies at national and European level.

Agricultural economic data was combined with the latest data on the levels of disease and drug-resistance in 18 European countries. Data were not available for all European countries and only one class of veterinary medicine was included in the analyses. There are five classes of veterinary medicine available to treat parasitic worms in livestock, and drug resistance is widespread against at least three of these classes. This means that the costs are likely to be higher than the conservative estimates reported in the study.

The study was led by Dr. Johannes Charlier of the Belgian scientific consultancy Kreavet, as part of a European Cooperation in Science & Technology COST Action, COMBAR (Combatting Anthelmintic Resistance in Ruminants). It involved a total of 23 organizations who brought together regional expertise and the latest data on the economic impacts of parasitic disease in the European livestock industry

Controlling parasitic worms with genetic selection

More information: J. Charlier et al. Initial assessment of the economic burden of major parasitic helminth infections to the ruminant livestock industry in Europe, Preventive Veterinary Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2020.105103

Provided by European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST