'Best case' goals for climate warming which could still result in massive wildfire risk

A seemingly small difference in global warming levels could greatly impact wildfires worldwide, researchers have found

GIST (GWANGJU INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)

Research News

 

IMAGE: IN A NEW STUDY, SCIENTISTS HAVE FOUND THAT BY PROJECTING TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS, AN ADDITIONAL HALF-DEGREE OF WARMING COULD DRASTICALLY INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD AND SIGNIFICANCE OF... view more 

CREDIT: PEXELS

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 2.0°C and, ideally, to 1.5°C, over preindustrial levels. However, even before that treaty was signed, scientists had already warned that those "best case" targets were unlikely to be achievable. Consequently, many fire weather studies are built with models that simulate much higher levels of climate warming.

Recently, researchers from South Korea, Japan, and the United States have found that by projecting the fire weather conditions under two mildly varying warming levels -- one in which the global climate warms by 1.5°C and the other by 2°C -- even just a half-degree of warming could significantly increase the likelihood and significance of wildfires!

"When it comes to the conditions that make wildfires more likely, a little bit of warming goes a long way," explained lead author Rackhun Son, Ph.D. candidate at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Korea, "but, of course, this is troubling, because it is quite unlikely that we will only be experiencing a little bit of warming."

"Although it is reasonable to look at fire weather under more extreme circumstances, there is little sense in making goals without a good understanding of what might happen if you were to reach those goals," said co-author Seung-Hee Kim of Chapman University, "so, we asked 'what would happen if we did reach these goals? Would the fire weather conditions not become as severe?'"

That answer is complex, but this study's key finding is that just a half a degree of additional warming would likely create a notably greater danger of fire on the most widely inhabited continents, with dangers particularly concentrated in the Amazon rainforest and African savanna, and around the Mediterranean. "We also provided evidence that places like Australia and Indonesia are likely to reach peak levels of fire susceptibility even before we reach that lower threshold," said co-author Simon Wang of Utah State University.

The study does provide a silver lining of hope to this cloud of danger. Commenting on the implications of their findings, Dr. Wang comments, "If we were somehow able to suppress this extra half a degree of warming, we could reduce climate-driven extreme fire activities in many places, potentially saving many lives and billions of dollars."

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Their research has been published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Reference

Title of original paper: Changes in fire weather climatology under 1.5°C and 2.0°C warming
Journal: Environmental Research Letters
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abe675

About Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)
Website: http://www.gist.ac.kr/

About the author

Jinho Yoon is Associate Professor of Earth Sciences and Environmental Engineering at GIST. His group focuses on understanding and predicting weather-climate extremes under climate change. Prof. Yoon's group is also analyzing aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions to understand the distribution and characteristics of clouds. Before coming to GIST, he was a scientist (level 3) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In 2004, Prof. Yoon received a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from Iowa State University.

Ghosts of past pesticide use can haunt organic farms for decades

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Research News

 

Although the use of pesticides in agriculture is increasing, some farms have transitioned to organic practices and avoid applying them. But it's uncertain whether chemicals applied to land decades ago can continue to influence the soil's health after switching to organic management. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have identified pesticide residues at 100 Swiss farms, including all the organic fields studied, with beneficial soil microbes' abundance negatively impacted by their occurrence.

Fungicides, herbicides and insecticides protect crops by repelling or destroying organisms that harm the plants. In contrast, organic agriculture management strategies avoid adding synthetic substances, instead relying on a presumably healthy existing soil ecosystem. However, some organic farms are operating on land treated with pesticides in the past. Yet, it's unclear whether pesticides have a long-lasting presence in organically managed fields and what the reverberations are to soil life, specifically microbes and beneficial soil fungi, years after their application. So, Judith Riedo, Thomas Bucheli, Florian Walder, Marcel van der Heijden and colleagues wanted to examine pesticide levels and their impact on soil health on farms managed with conventional versus organic practices, as well as on farms converted to organic methods.

The researchers measured surface soil characteristics and the concentrations of 46 regularly used pesticides and their breakdown products in samples taken from 100 fields that were managed with either conventional or organic practices. Surprisingly, the researchers found pesticide residues at all of the sites, including organic farms converted more than 20 years prior. Multiple herbicides and one fungicide remained in the surface soil after the conversion to organic practices; though the total number of synthetic chemicals and their concentrations decreased significantly the longer the fields were in organic management. According to the researchers, some of the pesticides alternatively could have contaminated the organic fields by traveling through the air, water or soil from nearby conventional fields. In addition, the team observed lower microbial abundance and decreased levels of a beneficial microbe when fields had higher numbers of pesticides in the fields, suggesting that the presence of these substances can decrease soil health. The researchers say future work should examine the synergistic effects of pesticide residues and other environmental stressors on soil health.

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The authors acknowledge funding from Agroscope, Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the National Research Program 'Sustainable use of soil as a resource'.

The paper is freely available as an ACS AuthorChoice article here.

For more of the latest research news, register for our upcoming meeting, ACS Spring 2021. Journalists and public information officers are encouraged to apply for complimentary press registration by emailing us at newsroom@acs.org.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS' mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The Society is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a specialist in scientific information solutions (including SciFinder® and STN®), its CAS division powers global research, discovery and innovation. ACS' main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.  

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More than 80 percent of all infant deaths in Zambian cohort experienced delays in receiving care

Identifying the circumstances surrounding these deaths is critical to reduce infant mortality rates

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Research News

 

(Boston)--Children in Zambia under age 5 die at a rate that is between nearly six to more than 10 times higher than those in the U.S; it is estimated at 40-75 per 1000, compared to 6.98 per 1000. Identifying why these children are dying is the mission of Rotem Lapidot, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM).

"Significantly, over 80 percent of all community infant deaths involved some form of delay. While it is impossible to know what would have occurred in the absence of such delays, the majority of infant deaths in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, are from causes for which effective treatments currently exist," explained Lapidot, the corresponding author on the study that appeared online in the journal Pediatrics. A significant number of infants die in the community and are referred to as "brought in dead" (BID). There are limited data around the problem of infant community deaths and identifying the circumstances surrounding them is critical to reduce infant mortality rates.

In an effort to try and better identify common patterns of health seeking behaviors that contributed to these deaths, researchers from BUSM and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), analyzed free-text narratives from verbal autopsies from 230 families of BID infants younger than 6 months of age. They found almost 83 percent of infants had one or more delays in care--the most common delay being the family's decision to seek care (54.8 percent), even as severe symptoms were frequently described. Almost 28 percent of infants died in route to a healthcare facility. Delays in receiving adequate care, including infants dying while waiting in line at a clinic or during referral from a clinic to a hospital, occurred in almost 25 percent of infants. While a third of infants had been previously evaluated by a clinician in the days prior to their death.

According to the researchers, delays in care were the rule rather than the exception in this population of infants. "In many cases infants are dying because they do not receive existing treatments at all or receive them only after the illness has become unsalvageable. If our goal is to reduce child mortality, these findings have profound implications," adds Lapidot, who also is a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Boston Medical Center.

The researchers said it is important to emphasize that delays in seeking care are likely complex, multifactorial, and do not necessarily imply negligence by the child's caregivers. Logistical barriers they believe may be insurmountable, particularly in deeply impoverished, under-resourced communities, such as typified among the urban poor in Lusaka. "However, our current analysis suggests that there are relatively simple interventions that are low-tech and could be achieved at low cost to avoid such delays and save many infants lives," said Lapidot.

"By analyzing open-ended narratives from the verbal autopsies, we were able to explore the context surrounding infant deaths beyond what is written on a death certificate. We could gain a deeper understanding of the circumstances and social factors that led to the infant death, in the caregivers' own words. This type of data is often not reported in the scientific literature, but these voices and stories of infant death in underserved communities should be elevated and urgently listened to," added former BUSPH research fellow Anna Larson, MPH.

The data used in this study was collected as part of the larger Zambia Pertussis RSV Infant Mortality Estimation (ZPRIME) study. "In global health, we are often very focused on introducing new interventions, drugs, vaccines or technologies as strategies to reduce childhood mortality. What this study reminds us is that sometimes very simple interventions have the potential to save lives," said principal investigator of that study Christopher Gill, MD, associate professor of global health at BUSPH.

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Other authors on this study included BUSPH's William MacLeod, ScD; Christopher Gill, MD; Anna Larson Williams; Andrew Enslen, from the University of California, San Diego and Ronke Olowojesku from the University of Georgia.

Funding for this study was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Seagrass loss around the UK may be much higher than previously thought

FRONTIERS

Research News

 

The loss of seagrass in the waters around the UK is much higher than previously estimated. A new study published in Frontiers in Plant Science concludes that, with high certainty, at least 44% of the UK's seagrasses have been lost since 1936, of which 39% has been since the 1980s. This study is one of the first of its kind to bring together seagrass data from diverse sources and give a systematic estimate of the current and historic extent of seagrass, as well as seagrass loss in the UK.

The study was a collaboration between researchers at University College London, Kings College London, and Swansea University.

Seagrasses as climate change superheroes Nature-based solutions are essential to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, and seagrasses are highly suitable candidates for the job. While they cover only 0.1% of the ocean floor worldwide, seagrasses are one of the largest global carbon sinks, storing carbon in marine soils many times faster than terrestrial forests. Healthy seagrasses also support marine biodiversity, including commercially important (such as bass) and charismatic species (such as seahorses), and provide ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, increasing shoreline stability, and supporting coastal livelihoods. But different human activities, such as industrial, agricultural, and coastal development, have led to worldwide declines.

Previous studies had estimated that the worldwide loss of seagrasses is at least 29%, but the current status of many seagrass meadows is unknown. A better knowledge of where losses have occurred would allow us to protect current seagrass meadows and re-plant and restore degraded or lost ones. Dr Alix Green, lead author of the study, says: "Raising the profile of this undervalued ecosystem will undoubtedly support its protection and rejuvenation."

Estimating the extent of seagrass meadows The purpose of the study was to estimate the current aerial extent of seagrass for the UK and to estimate the recent and historic percentage loss of seagrass.

The two species of seagrass indigenous to the UK are Zostera marina and Zostera noltii, both protected under several EU Directives and the UK's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The researchers collected several datasets from different sources to research the current aerial extent of seagrasses. Any data collected since 1998 were categorized as 'contemporary', and data older than 1998 as 'historical'. The researchers used three methods to assess seagrass loss with high, medium, and low certainty.

Dr Green says: "Our paper establishes the best estimate of current seagrass extent in the UK, confirming at least 8,493 hectares, and documents a loss of at least 39% of aerial cover in the last 30 years. Historically, we show that this loss could be as much as 92%, and that these meadows could have stored 11.4 Mt of carbon and supported approximately 400 million fish." Worryingly, these estimates are likely under-representative of the true loss.

Protecting what is left, restoring what is lost These results show the urgency of protecting current seagrass meadows and restoring degraded or lost ones. They also show that not all seagrass meadows in the UK have suffered equally, while some seagrass sites show signs of recovery. The observation that seagrasses can recover from environmental degradation is encouraging and should motivate conservation initiatives. Co-author Dr Peter Jones, University College London, adds: "The next decade is a crucial window of opportunity to address the inter-related crises of biodiversity loss and climate change - the restoration of seagrass meadows would be an important contribution to this. This will involve restrictions such as reduced boat anchor damage, restricting damaging fishing methods and reducing coastal pollution, including through marine protected areas."

Dr Richard Unsworth, co-author and lecturer at Swansea University and director of the marine conservation charity Project Seagrass said: "Our systematic documentation of the loss of seagrass needs to be seen as a positive moment to start the rejuvenation of our coastal seas. Now is the time to create financial mechanisms that reduce the flow of nutrients into our coastal seas, and offsetting mechanisms to allow a pathway of carbon finance into the conservation and restoration of these systems. By reversing this loss, we can improve our fisheries, reduce coastal erosion and fight climate change."

Dr Green concluded: "The catastrophic losses documented in this research are alarming but offer a snapshot of the potential of this habitat if efforts are made to protect and restore seagrass meadows across the UK. We hope that this work will spur continued, systematic mapping and monitoring of seagrass meadows across the UK and encourage restoration and rehabilitation projects. These meadows have the potential to support our bountiful fisheries and help us win the fight against climate change and environmental degradation. The UK is lucky to have such a resource in our waters, and we should fight to protect it!"

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Gender assumptions harm progress on climate adaption and resilience


ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES

NEWS RELEASE 3-MAR-2021

Research News



IMAGE: PURSUING GENDER EQUALITY IN CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY AND PRACTICE IS CRITICAL. view more

CREDIT: JACQUI LAU.

Scientists say outdated assumptions around gender continue to hinder effective and fair policymaking and action for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Lead author of a new study, Dr Jacqueline Lau from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (Coral CoE at JCU) and WorldFish, said gender--alongside other identities like race, class and age--has a powerful influence on people's experience of, and resilience to, climate change.

She said the four most common and interlinked assumptions found are: women are innately caring and connected to the environment; women are a homogenous and vulnerable group; gender equality is a women's issue and; gender equality is a numbers game.

"Although there is a global mandate to work towards gender equality in climate change mitigation and adaptation, efforts are hindered by a set of assumptions about gender, long critiqued in development studies," Dr Lau said.

The study draws on post-2014 gender and climate change literature, to give an overview of how the gender assumptions manifest across recent work in adaptation, mitigation and broader climate change policy, practice and research.

The review of the literature takes a closer look at how these assumptions narrowly diagnose the causes of gender inequality.

"As a result, we see too many strategies that have unintended--and even counterproductive--consequences," said Dr Pip Cohen, from WorldFish.

"For instance, strategies that target women only may overburden them, cause a backlash, or obscure the vulnerabilities of other groups."

The study offers lessons for a more informed pursuit of gender equality in climate change research, policy and practice.

The authors said progressing gender equality means breaking down stereotypes and prejudices about gender--creating environments to enable all people to exercise their agency to cope, change and adapt.

Dr Lau said she was surprised to find so many examples of gender assumptions in climate change practice. She explained that a first step in disrupting these assumptions is to lay them bare and explain why development research has found them to be problematic.

"The social and cultural expectations about what it is to be a woman or a man in any given society will shape people's wellbeing," Dr Lau said.

She said alongside efforts to dismantle broader barriers to gender equality, better and more coordinated efforts are needed from practitioners and researchers to disrupt and counteract unhelpful assumptions.

"Pursuing gender equality in climate change policy and practice is critical, and decades of experience in development offer lessons for how to do it well," Dr Lau said.

"Ultimately, we want to see equitable opportunities for all people to realise their full potential. Where no one is left behind."

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PAPER

Lau J, Kleiber D, Lawless S, Cohen P. (2021). 'Gender equality in climate policy and practice hindered by assumptions'. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-00999-7

Air pollution fell sharply during lockdown

Traffic significantly underestimated as cause of nitrogen oxide pollution in cities

UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK

Research News


IMAGE: THE INNSBRUCK ATMOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY IS LOCATED ON THE ROOF OF THE BRUNO SANDER HOUSE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK IN THE CENTER OF THE TYROLEAN CAPITAL. view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK

The far-reaching mobility restrictions at the beginning of the Corona pandemic in March 2020 created a unique situation for atmospheric sciences: "During the 2020 lockdown, we were able to directly investigate the actual effects of drastic traffic restrictions on the distribution of air pollutants and on the emission of climate gases," says Innsbruck atmospheric scientist Thomas Karl. With his team, he has now published a detailed analysis of air quality during the first lockdown in the city of Innsbruck, Austria, in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. "We find significantly greater decreases of air pollutants than of carbon dioxide, for example," the researcher says, summarizing the results. In the past year, some studies showed contradicting results because the influence of weather was often not factored in, on the one hand, or a detailed comparison with emission data was not possible, on the other hand. Based on a unique measurement strategy in combination with detailed source emission data, the Innsbruck researchers can now provide a reliable analysis. Their results confirm assumptions inferred from earlier work: "The decrease in nitrogen oxides and other pollutants due to reduced traffic is stronger than often assumed," emphasizes Thomas Karl. "We find that the proportion of nitrogen oxides emitted from traffic is higher than often assumed, while the proportion from domestic, commercial and public energy consumption is lower." The European energy transition, with the switch to cleaner combustion in the residential and industrial sectors, is having a positive effect on air quality and has been underestimated in some cases. Atmospheric researcher Thomas Karl summarizes "We project that in many European inner cities, comparable to Innsbruck, more than 90 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions are caused by traffic".

Emission models need to be adjusted

In urban regions across Europe, the air quality thresholds for nitrogen oxides and other pollutants are regularly exceeded. It is not always easy to determine which polluters are responsible for how much emission. Until recently, the key method for quantifying emissions has relied on exhaust emission tests on test stands that were then extrapolated in a model. However, the actual amount of air pollutants emitted by a vehicle or a heating appliance in everyday use can depend on many factors. The diesel scandal has made it clear how inconclusive measurements on the test stand can be, when interpreting their impact on the environment. Assessment of air management by environmental and health authorities heavily depends on atmospheric models that rely on accurate emission data. Until now, it was very difficult to assess actual air pollutants emitted in a specific region and constraining their emissions. The team led by Thomas Karl from the Department of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences at the University of Innsbruck closes this gap with the so-called eddy covariance method, which measures air composition and wind flow in detail and thus allows conclusions to be drawn about the air pollutant emission strengths. With the Innsbruck Atmospheric Observatory (IAO) set up at the University of Innsbruck, the air over Innsbruck is now being continuously studied.


The current study was financed by the Austrian Science Fund FWF.

 

Climate change 'winners' may owe financial compensation to polluters

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Research News

Climate change is generally portrayed as an environmental and societal threat with entirely negative consequences. However, some sectors of the global economy may actually end up benefiting.

New economic and philosophical research argues that policymakers must consider both the beneficial effects of climate change to "climate winners" as well as its costs in order to appropriately incentivize actions that are best for society and for the environment.

The study by researchers from Princeton University, University College Cork, and HEC Montréal appears to be the first to develop a systematic, ethical framework for addressing climate winners -- as well as those harmed -- using financial transfers.

Their approach, called "Polluter Pays, Then Receives," requires polluters to first compensate those most harmed by climate change. Subsequently, polluters would be eligible to receive compensation from those who are passively benefiting from climate change.

Published in Economics & Philosophy, the article emphasizes that, through climate change, greenhouse gas emitters affect a variety of individuals and groups both positively and negatively at different regional or sectoral scales, sometimes at the expense of other groups -- what economists call "externalities."

"With a global issue like climate change, it's difficult for people to make decisions that account for the harm or benefit their actions cause, because those effects aren't directly or proportionally felt by that actor," said study co-author Kian Mintz-Woo, a former postdoctoral research associate at the Princeton University Center for Human Values and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. "Our research argues that payments are one way to help correct incentives: Harms should be redressed, and then beneficial actions should be rewarded."

Mintz-Woo recently joined the department of Philosophy and the Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork.

While globally the negative consequences of climate change are expected to far outweigh the benefits, some groups or places may experience net benefits. For example, countries at far northern latitudes or specific industries may see improved agricultural conditions, additional tourism, or lower energy costs.

"Not systematically considering or accounting for beneficial climate effects makes it easier for climate impact skeptics to think that climate change discussions are oversimplified or alarmist," said study co-author Justin Leroux, professor of applied economics at HEC Montréal and CIRANO research fellow. "Another motivation of our study was to address the unfairness that arises when some benefit from climate change while others are suffering harm. It's a question of solidarity -- both sharing benefits that weren't truly earned and compensating losses that weren't the fault of those harmed."

The authors say this compensation approach could be experimented with at a regional or national level before being introduced globally. They explore how it might be implemented in a federal nation using the example of Canada. A national carbon tax could be used to collect funds from greenhouse gas emitters. Those revenues would first and foremost be used to compensate victims. In addition, a corporate tax would be levied on the sectors of the economy that gain passively from climate change, like tourism, which could benefit from more tourists taking advantage of longer summers in Arctic regions. Revenue from the additional corporate tax would be shared with the greenhouse gas emitters. Introducing a policy to reward emitters may sound surprising, but the authors emphasize that those emitters would first need to pay for their harms before receiving any benefit payments.

"Payments from passive winners to polluters could either help the polluters more fully compensate the groups that have been harmed by their actions or help fund the polluters' own climate adaptation responses," Mintz-Woo said.

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"What do climate change winners owe, and to whom?" was published online Feb. 23. The article is available open access, thanks to support from the Princeton University Library Open Access Fund Program. The research is co-authored by Kian Mintz-Woo (University College Cork and Princeton University) and Justin Leroux (HEC Montréal and CIRANO).  

NASA scientists complete 1st global survey of freshwater fluctuation

NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Research News

 

IMAGE: LAKE MEAD, ALONG THE COLORADO RIVER. view more 

CREDIT: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

To investigate humans' impact on freshwater resources, scientists have now conducted the first global accounting of fluctuating water levels in Earth's lakes and reservoirs - including ones previously too small to measure from space.

The research, published March 3 in the journal Nature, relied on NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2), launched in September 2018.

ICESat-2 sends 10,000 laser light pulses every second down to Earth. When reflected back to the satellite, those pulses deliver high-precision surface height measurements every 28 inches (70 centimeters) along the satellite's orbit. With these trillions of data points, scientists can distinguish more features of Earth's surface, like small lakes and ponds, and track them over time.

Scientists used these height measurements to study 227,386 water bodies over 22 months and discovered that, from season to season, the water level in Earth's lakes and ponds fluctuates on average by about 8.6 inches (0.22 m). At the same time, the water level of human-managed reservoirs fluctuate on average by nearly quadruple that amount - about 34 inches (0.86 m).

While natural lakes and ponds outnumber human-managed reservoirs by more than 24 to 1 in their study, scientists calculated that reservoirs made up 57% of the total global variability of water storage.

"Understanding that variability and finding patterns in water management really shows how much we are altering the global hydrological cycle," said Sarah Cooley, a remote sensing hydrologist at Stanford University in California, who led the research. "The impact of humans on water storage is much higher than we were anticipating."

In natural lakes and ponds, water levels typically vary with the seasons, filling up during rainy periods and draining when it's hot and dry. In reservoirs, however, managers influence that variation - often storing more water during rainy seasons and diverting it when it's dry, which can exaggerate the natural seasonal variation, Cooley said.

Cooley and her colleagues found regional patterns as well - reservoirs vary the most in the Middle East, southern Africa, and the western United States, while the natural variation in lakes and ponds is more pronounced in tropical areas.

The results set the stage for future investigations into how the relationship between human activity and climate alters the availability of freshwater. As growing populations place more demands on freshwater, and climate change alters the way water moves through the hydrological cycle, studies like this can illuminate how water is being managed, Cooley said.

"This kind of dataset will be so valuable for seeing how human management of water is changing in the future, and what areas are experiencing the greatest change, or experiencing threats to their water storage," Cooley said. "This study provides us with a really valuable baseline of how humans are modulating the water cycle at the global scale."

The researchers' methods relied on a second satellite mission, as well - Landsat, the decades-long mission jointly overseen by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The team used Landsat-derived, two-dimensional maps of bodies of water and their sizes, providing them with a comprehensive database of the world's lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. Then, ICESat-2 added the third dimension - height of the water level, with an uncertainty of roughly 4 inches (10 cm). When those measurements are averaged over thousands of lakes and reservoirs, the uncertainty drops even more.

Although ICESat-2's mission focuses on the frozen water of Earth's cryosphere, creating data products of non-frozen water heights was also part of the original plan, according to Tom Neumann, ICESat-2 project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Now, with the satellite in orbit, scientists are detecting more smaller lakes and reservoirs than previously anticipated - in this study they detected ponds half the size of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

"We're now able to measure all of these lakes and reservoirs with the same 'ruler,' over and over again," Neumann said. "It's a great example of another science application that these height measurements enable. It's incredibly exciting to see what questions people are able to investigate with these datasets."

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For more information on ICESat-2, visit http://www.nasa.gov/icesat-2

New map reveals details British dinosaurs on small tropical islands

Ryan Morrison For Mailonline

© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo

A new map showing the location of a series of small tropical islands 200 million years ago in the area that is now Bristol sheds new light on how British dinosaurs lived.

University of Bristol researchers examined hundreds of pieces of data including historic literature describing the region as being like the Florida Everglades.

The data was carefully compiled and digitised so it could be used to generate a 3D map of the once Caribbean-style environment that is now the west of England.

The islands were home to small dinosaurs, lizard-like animals and some of the first mammals to live on the land, according to lead author Jack Lovegrove.

The findings also helped scientists know more about how a small dinosaur known as Thecodontosaurus - or the Bristol dinosaur - lived 200 million years ago. 

© Provided by Daily Mail A new map showing the location of series of small tropical islands 200 million years ago in the area that is now Bristol sheds new light on how British dinosaurs lived

© Provided by Daily Mail The findings have provided greater insight into the type of surroundings inhabited by the Thecodontosaurus, a small dinosaur the size of a medium-sized dog with a long tail also known as the Bristol dinosaur.

THECODONTOSAURUSOR 'THE BRISTOL DINOSAUR'


The Bristol dinosaur, or Thecodontosaurus, was first discovered in 1834.

The name means 'ancient socket-toothed reptile'.

It lived in what was the Bristol archipelago 210 million years ago.

This is an area of small islands now covered by Bristol and Somerset.

It is a small sized dinosaur, about the size of a Labrador, about 2.5 metres long and with a long tail.

It had powerful back legs with smaller front legs and walked on all fours.

It could reach up with its front legs and use its claws to grab hold of the stems of prehistoric trees for food.

Small sharp teeth with tiny sharp bumps on one side were like knives that could tear through juicy leaves.

The study used data from geological measurements all round Bristol through the last 200 years - from quarries, road sections, cliffs, and boreholes.

They then pulled in other data from literature and historical records to generate the 3D topographic model of the area.

This shows the landscape of a region - that is now Bristol and Somerset - as it existed before a great sea, the Rhaetian Ocean, flooded most of the land at the end of the Triassic period, the team explained.

One of the pieces of literature uncovered by the Bristol team described the area as a 'landscape of limestone islands' with storms powerful enough to 'scatter pebbles, roll fragments of marl as well as breaking bones and teeth.'

'No one has ever gathered all this data before,' said Lovegrove.

'It was often thought that these small dinosaurs and lizard-like animals lived in a desert landscape, but this provides the first standardised evidence supporting the theory that they lived alongside each other on flooded tropical islands,' he said.

At the end of the Triassic period the UK was close to the Equator and enjoyed a warm Mediterranean climate, with very high sea levels compared to today.

The Atlantic Ocean began to open up between Europe and North America causing land level to fall, leaving Bristol Channel area seas 100 metres higher than today.

High areas, such as the Mendip Hills, a ridge across the Clifton Downs in Bristol, and the hills of South Wales poked through the water, forming an archipelago of 20 to 30 islands.

The islands were made from limestone which became fissured and cracked with rainfall, forming cave systems.

'The process was more complicated than simply drawing the ancient coastlines around the present-day 100-meter contour line because as sea levels rose, there was all kinds of small-scale faulting,' said Lovegrove.

'The coastlines dropped in many places as sea levels rose,' he added.

© Provided by Daily Mail The team created a 3D topographical map that allowed them to better understand how sea levels rose and fell over millions of year to create the British isles

THE BRISTOL ARCHIPELAGO


The Bristol archipelago was a series of small tropical islands in an area that is now modern Bristol and Somerset.

Each island was home to unique species of dinosaur, lizard and even very early mammals.

At the end of the Triassic period the UK was close to the Equator and enjoyed a warm Mediterranean climate, with very high sea levels compared to today.

The Atlantic Ocean began to open up between Europe and North America causing land level to fall, leaving Bristol Channel area seas 100 metres higher than today.

This created the archipelago that existed 200 million years ago.

The findings have provided greater insight into the type of surroundings inhabited by the Thecodontosaurus, which was the size of a medium-sized dog with a long tail.

Co-author Professor Michael Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at the University of Bristol, said he was keen to resolve the ancient landscape.

'The Thecodontosaurus lived on several of these islands including the one that cut across the Clifton Downs, and we wanted to understand the world it occupied and why the dinosaurs on different islands show some differences,' he said.

'Perhaps they couldn't swim too well.'

'We also wanted to see whether these early island-dwellers showed any of the effects of island life,' said co-author Dr David Whiteside.

On islands today, middle-sized animals are often much smaller than their continent or large-island equivalence because there are fewer resources.

That some phenomenon was found in the fossil records of the Bristol archipelago

'Also, we found evidence that the small islands were occupied by small numbers of species, whereas larger islands, such as the Mendip Island, could support many more,' explained Whiteside.

The study, carried out with the British Geological Survey, demonstrates the level of detail that can be drawn from geological information using modern analytical tools.

The new map even shows how the Mendip Island was flooded step-by-step, with sea level rising a few meters every million years, until it became nearly completely flooded 100 million years later, in the Cretaceous.

Co-author Dr Andy Newell, of the British Geological Survey, said models of the Earth's crust help scientists understand much about the modern British isles.

For example it can point in the direction of water and some mineral resources.

'In the UK we have this rich resource of historical data from mining and other development, and we now have the computational tools to make complex, but accurate, models,' said Newell.

How This Ancient, Defleshed Human Skull Ended Up in Such a Strange Spot

George Dvorsky 

Archaeologists may have finally figured out how a 5,300-year-old skull ended up on the ledge of a deep vertical cave shaft in northern Italy.

© Image: Belcastro et al, 2021, PLOS ONE The skull as it was found inside the cave shaft.

The skull, with no jaw, was discovered in 2015 during exploratory work at a natural gypsum cave in northern Italy. It was found near the top of a vertical shaft, approximately 40 feet (12 meters) below a complex of meandering caves and 85 feet (26 meters) below ground level.

That a skull should be found in such a strange and isolated spot came as a complete surprise, to say the least. No other human remains were found in the immediate vicinity, nor any archaeological evidence. The location of the upturned skull—a natural cavity within the shaft—can only be accessed with special climbing equipment, and not a spot that ancient peoples could have easily reached.

© Image: Belcastro et al, 2021, PLOS ONE The location of the skull, as it was found inside an Italian cave.

In 2017, archaeologists returned to the cave, known as Marcel Loubens, to document and retrieve the skull. New research published today in PLOS One provides a detailed analysis of the fossil, along with a possible explanation for how it ended up in such an unlikely spot. The paper was led by archaeologist Maria Giovanna Belcastro of the University of Bologna in Italy.


As the authors speculate, the skull was likely transported to the shelf by a series of natural geological processes, including the opening of sinkholes, mudslides, and rushing water. The 5,300-year-old fossil, it would seem, traveled through this cave system on its own accord.

For the study, the researchers were “focused on investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of this individual, since the cranium shows signs of some lesions that appear to be the results of [post-death] manipulation probably carried out to remove soft tissues.”

Indeed, the skull, known as the Marcel Loubens cranium, or MLC for short, has some scratches and cut marks on it that are consistent with the removal of flesh, which was likely done as part of a death ritual, according to the authors. Sounds bizarre, but the defleshing of deceased individuals was a relatively common prehistoric practice (even among Neanderthals), both in this part of the world and elsewhere.

Ancient Bolivians Used Basic Chemistry To Strip Flesh From Human Bones

As anthropologist Alessia Zielo from the University of Padua explained in a 2018 paper, there were some very good reasons for the practice:

In the cultures of the past, the head was meant as the seat of the soul, which contained the life force, and which possessed extraordinary qualities. It was also the profound symbol of a power closely linked to the concepts of life, death and fertility. Also, after death, the manipulation of the skulls showed that the physical remains of the deceased continued to play an important role in the community life to which [they] belonged.

That the skull was found in a cave, however, is not a surprise. The use of these Italian caves as “natural cavities,” in the words of the researchers, was common during the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE, as evidenced by prior archaeological discoveries. Deceased individuals were brought inside these caves and laid to rest, which is likely the situation here. Indeed, radiocarbon dating of the cranium dated it to between 3630 and 3380 BCE, placing it within this timeframe, known as Italy’s Eneolithic period, also known as the Copper Age.

For context, Ötzi the Iceman—that famous natural mummy found embedded in ice—lived at some point between 3400 and 3100 BCE. Ötzi died in the Ötztal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy, and approximately 215 miles (345 km) north of Marcel Loubens cave.

The skull, with several teeth still attached, was found in remarkably good shape, allowing for a detailed analysis. Belcastro and her colleagues used microscopes and a CT scanner to study the fossil, in addition to analyzing a detailed 3D replica.

© Image: Belcastro et al, 2021, PLOS ONE Multiple view of the cranium.

Detailed measurements of the skull were cross-referenced with a forensics database, suggesting it belonged to a female who died between the ages of 24 and 35. The lesions likely happened after death, as no signs of healing were detected. Some ochre was also detected, which might have something to do with the funerary ritual.

Other evidence suggests this woman wasn’t particularly healthy. She suffered from chronic anaemia, like an iron or vitamin B deficiency. She likely endured prolonged metabolic stress as a child, and she seems to have had an endocrine disorder, as a dental analysis revealed. Indeed, the shift to neolithic lifestyles wasn’t all fun and games; new diets (based on agriculture), new living conditions, and denser living arrangements resulted in diminished health and increased exposure to unhygienic conditions, pathogens, and parasites, according to the paper.

The lesions on the skull don’t appear to have been caused by animal behaviors, such as biting, gnawing, or scratching. What’s more, the detection of “irregularly thick calcite crusts” on the MLC fossil suggests the skull began to move shortly after the woman was laid to rest, and by natural processes.

By conducting a geological review of the cave system, and by studying the skull, the scientists have devised a plausible explanation for the skull’s strange location.

Here’s the explanation: Shortly after the woman was laid to rest, her skull came loose and rolled away. Water and mud began to rush through the cave, transporting the cranium further down through the slope of a sinkhole and into a deeper cave. Ongoing sinkhole activity sculpted the cave into its current form, landing the skull onto its strange resting spot.

Marcel Loubens cave, it should be pointed out, is situated within a depression in the region known locally as “Dolina dell’Inferno,” which literally translates to “Hell’s Sinkhole.” That sinkhole activity and ongoing geological processes transported the skull to such an odd spot seems wholly reasonable.

We’ll likely never know the exact story of how this cranium ended up inside that deep cave shaft, but this study offers some remarkable findings based on a single skull found completely outside an archaeological context. Archaeologists, as this paper shows, are very adept at working with very little. In a way, it’s kind of what they do.