Two new pit vipers discovered from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PENSOFT PUBLISHERS

 

IMAGE: GLACIER PIT VIPER (GLOYDIUS SWILD SP. NOV.) view more 

CREDIT: SHI ET AL.

Two new species of venomous snakes were just added to Asia’s fauna – the Nujiang pit viper (Gloydius lipipengi) from Zayu, Tibet, and the Glacier pit viper (G. swild) found west of the Nujiang River and Heishui, Sichuan, east of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Bangor University published the discovery in the open-access journal ZooKeys as part of a new molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Asian pit vipers.

The Nujiang pit viper has a greyish brown back with irregular black ring-shaped crossbands, wide, greyish-brown stripes behind the eyes, and relativity short fangs, while the Glacier pit viper is blueish-grey, with zigzag stripes on its back, and has relatively narrow stripes behind its eyes.

Interestingly, the Glacier pit viper was found under the Dagu Holy-glacier National Park: the glacier lake lies 2000 meters higher than the habitat of the snakes, at more than 4,880 m above sea level. This discovery suggests that the glaciers might be a key factor to the isolation and speciation of alpine pit vipers in southwest China.

The researchers also share the stories behind the snakes’ scientific names: with the new species from Tibet, Gloydius lipipengi, the name is dedicated to the senior author’s (Jingsong Shi) Master’s supervisor, Professor Pi-Peng Li from the Institute of Herpetology at Shenyang Normal University, just in time for Li’s sixtieth birthday. Prof. Li has devoted himself to the study of the herpetological diversity of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and it was under his guidance that Jingsong Shi became an Asian pit viper enthusiast and professional herpetological researcher. 

Gloydius swild, the new species from Heishui, Sichuan, is in turn named after the SWILD Group, which studies the fauna and biodiversity of southewst China. They discovered and collected the snake during an expedition to the Dagu Holy-glacier.

On top of their discoveries, the researchers were also astonished by the sceneries they encountered during their field work. During their expeditions, they experienced striking views of “sacred, crystal-like” glacier lakes embraced by mountains, as well as colourful broadleaf-conifer forests and morning mists falling over the village. 

“During our expedition, we met a lot of hospitable Tibetan inhabitants and enjoyed their kindness and treats, which made the expedition more unforgettable,” they add.

CAPTION

Nujiang pit viper (Gloydius lipipengi sp. nov)

CREDIT

Shi et al.

Research article:

Shi J-S, Liu J-C, Giri R, Owens JB, Santra V, Kuttalam S, Selvan M, Guo K-J, Malhotra A (2021) Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the genus Gloydius (Squamata, Viperidae, Crotalinae), with description of two new alpine species from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. ZooKeys 1061: 87-108. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.70420

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JOURNAL

ZooKeys

DOI

10.3897/zookeys.1061.70420 

ARTICLE TITLE

Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the genus Gloydius (Squamata, Viperidae, Crotalinae), with description of two new alpine species from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Oct-2021

CAPTION

The glacier lake on the top of the mountain near the type locality of Glacier pit viper.

CAPTION

Misty morning near the habitat of Glacier pit viper

CREDIT

Shi et al.

COUNTERINTUITIVE

Threatened rattlesnakes’ inbreeding

makes species more resistant to bad

mutations

Scientists complete first genomic analysis of Eastern massasaugas

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The first look at a threatened rattlesnake species’ recent genetic history suggests that inbreeding necessitated by limited habitat may not be as detrimental as theory would predict it to be.

In fact, scientists speculate that Eastern massasauga rattlesnakes may have pre-adapted to living in small, isolated populations – where the most dangerous genetic mutations that arose could be easily exposed and purged.

Researchers sequenced the genomes of 90 Eastern massasauga rattlesnakes, which were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2016 because of loss and fragmentation of their wetland habitat. For comparison, the researchers also sequenced 10 genomes of a close relative, the Western massasauga rattlesnake, a common species with no limitations on breeding opportunities and large populations.

The Ohio State University team found that the most potentially damaging gene mutations were less abundant in the Eastern than the Western species. This finding suggests the breeding limitations of small, isolated populations might be accompanied by an evolutionary advantage of being able to elbow out genetic variants that get in the way of survival, said H. Lisle Gibbs, professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology at Ohio State and senior author of the study.

“This is something that has been reported very recently in other endangered species, but it’s the first time it’s been shown in a reptile,” Gibbs said. “We always worry about genetics and the loss of variation and what it means to be in a small population in which there’s lots of inbreeding. At least in this species, maybe it’s not such a big deal.

“From a conservation perspective, perhaps we can downplay genetics and say ecology – such as habitat restoration – is more important.”

Gibbs completed the study with Alexander Ochoa, a former postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State who is now a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Central Florida. The research is published in the journal Molecular Ecology.

Eastern massasauga rattlesnakes live in isolated spaces in midwestern and eastern North America, and evolutionary theory posits that the inevitable inbreeding in such populations threatens species with extinction as genetic mutations accumulate. The smallest populations might reach 30 snakes, but Ohio’s Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area is home to one of the most genetically diverse and largest populations in the country, numbering in the thousands.

Gibbs has studied Eastern massasaugas for over two decades and, as director of the Ohio Biodiversity Conservation Partnership, advises the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on management of the species.

“Through years and years of study, we know that most populations are isolated, like little natural zoos scattered throughout the landscape,” Gibbs said. “Due to habitat degradation, we’ve known they show little variation – but we’ve never actually looked at variation in genes that code for things that matter to a rattlesnake.”

Only recently has it been possible to apply the research techniques perfected with the human genome to work with this species. Gibbs and Ochoa zeroed in on identifying mutations in genes that may affect survival and reproduction to gauge how hazardous inbreeding might be to Eastern massasaugas.

Though a higher overall number of potentially deleterious mutations were found in the common Western massasaugas, that didn’t translate to more threats to their survival because most troublesome gene copies were offset by protective copies. That can happen only in heterozygotes, which have two different copies, or alleles, of a particular gene – one inherited from each parent. Because of generations of inbreeding, Eastern massasaugas are much more likely to have two copies of the same allele.

“That’s why inbreeding has impacts – because that’s when you get two bad alleles showing up together, with no good allele to compensate, so there is a negative effect,” Gibbs said. “There’s more inbreeding, so overall you get more mostly bad mutations together, but the really bad ones, because they’re exposed, are also eliminated at a much greater rate.”

Through another analytical technique comparing the narrowing of the Eastern and Western massasauga genetic makeup over several hundred years, Gibbs and Ochoa confirmed the impact human activity has had on the Eastern massasauga’s swampy habitat. Unlike the Eastern species, Western massasaugas live in grassy and woodland regions of the south-central United States that are less densely populated by humans.

“We looked at what has happened in these snakes and their population sizes over the last 300 years, which is when humans have been tromping all over North America, impacting the landscape,” Gibbs said. “The impacts in terms of reducing population sizes are greater in Eastern than in Western massasaugas over this period.”

The findings could influence management decisions. A common conservation practice would involve introducing snakes from a more genetically diverse population into a highly isolated group to counter the effects of inbreeding. But it turns out the Eastern massasauga might benefit more from preservation of its habitat while the genetics takes care of itself.

“This counterintuitive result makes us rethink what living in a small population is, and whether genetic problems are as important as we think they are,” Gibbs said. “This is certainly not to say living in a small population isn’t bad – it just may be that the genetic effects are not as bad as we thought.”

This work was supported by the State Wildlife Grants Program administered jointly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Division of Wildlife, with funds provided by the Ohio Biodiversity Conservation Partnership between Ohio State and the Ohio Division of Wildlife, as well as the National Science Foundation.

#

Contact: H. Lisle Gibbs, Gibbs.128@osu.edu

Written by Emily Caldwell, Caldwell.151@osu.edu

 

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JOURNAL

Molecular Ecology

DOI

10.1111/mec.16147 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Genomic signatures of inbreeding and mutation load in a threatened rattlesnake

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Aug-2021

Common chemicals in electronics and baby products harm brain development

Peer-Reviewed Publication

GREEN SCIENCE POLICY INSTITUT

Chemicals increasingly used as flame retardants and plasticizers pose a larger risk to children’s brain development than previously thought, according to a commentary published today in Environmental Health Perspectives. The research team reviewed dozens of human, animal, and cell-based studies and concluded that exposure to even low levels of the chemicals—called organophosphate esters—may harm IQ, attention, and memory in children in ways not yet looked at by regulators.

The neurotoxicity of organophosphate esters used as nerve agents and pesticides is widely recognized, but the neurotoxicity of those used as flame retardants and plasticizers has been assumed to be low. As a result, they are widely used as replacements for some phased-out or banned halogenated flame retardants in electronics, car seats and other baby products, furniture, and building materials. However, the authors’ analysis revealed that these chemicals are also neurotoxic, but through different mechanisms of action.

“The use of organophosphate esters in everything from TVs to car seats has proliferated under the false assumption that they’re safe,” said Heather Patisaul, lead author and neuroendocrinologist at North Carolina State University. “Unfortunately, these chemicals appear to be just as harmful as the chemicals they’re intended to replace but act by a different mechanism.”

Organophosphate esters continuously migrate out of products into air and dust. Contaminated dust gets on our hands and is then inadvertently ingested when we eat. That’s why these chemicals have been detected in virtually everyone tested. Children are particularly exposed from hand-to-mouth behavior. Babies and young children consequently have much higher concentrations of these chemicals in their bodies during the most vulnerable windows of brain development.

“Organophosphate esters threaten the brain development of a whole generation,” said co-author and retired NIEHS Director Linda Birnbaum. “If we don’t stem their use now, the consequences will be grave and irreversible.”

The authors call for a stop to unnecessary uses of all organophosphate esters. This includes their use as flame retardants to meet ineffective flammability standards in consumer products, vehicles, and building materials.

For uses where organophosphate esters are deemed essential, the authors recommend governments and industry conduct alternatives assessments and make investments in innovative solutions without harmful chemicals.

“Organophosphate esters in many products serve no essential function while posing a serious risk, especially to our children,” said Carol Kwiatkowski, co-author and Science and Policy Senior Associate at the Green Science Policy Institute. “It’s urgent that product manufacturers critically reevaluate the uses of organophosphate ester flame retardants and plasticizers—many may be doing more harm than good.”

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JOURNAL

Environmental Health Perspectives

DOI

10.1289/EHP9285 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Beyond Cholinesterase Inhibition: Developmental Neurotoxicity of Organophosphate Ester Flame Retardants and Plasticizers

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2021

Disclaimer: AAAS 

EWG scientists create new framework for using demographic data to evaluate cumulative cancer risk from tap water contamination

The EPA must include tap water quality in environmental justice screening tool

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A peer-reviewed Environmental Working Group study shows how water quality data, community water system maps and demographic data such as race and ethnicity can help identify where cumulative cancer risks from polluted tap water plague communities already threatened by other environmental injustices.

The study, just published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, bolsters EWG’s August request that the Environmental Protection Agency adopt drinking water as a metric in its environmental justice mapping tools, to create more equitable water quality policies and actions.

“EWG’s analysis provides a framework for how policymakers can make safe drinking water part of the equation when analyzing the effects of new and existing public health policies,” said Uloma Uche, Ph.D., EWG environmental health science fellow and one of the study’s authors.

EWG’s framework is designed to demonstrate to the EPA, the agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and other decisionmakers that it is both feasible and important to consider drinking water quality data when identifying communities with significant, urgent environmental quality issues.

The framework fills a gap in the capacity of the EPA’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool to identify communities facing multiple environmental injustices. The tool, known as EJSCREEN, aggregates and evaluates 11 environmental indicators – such as the presence of lead paint, proximity to Superfund sites and existence of nearby wastewater discharges – but not drinking water quality.

EWG researchers applied the new framework to evaluate the cancer risk posed by toxic cocktails of tap water contaminants in California and Texas, where more than one in five U.S. residents lives. They combined data from three sources: the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the boundaries of the service areas for more than 7,000 community tap water systems and the results of federally mandated tests conducted by those systems.

EWG scientists calculated the cumulative effects, over a lifetime of exposure, of 30 carcinogenic tap water contaminants found across over 7,000 tap water systems in the two states. They found communities that skewed more Hispanic and/or Black, according to the American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for 2019, had a statistically significant increase in risk from cancer due to exposure to tap water contamination, compared to communities with lower ratios of these populations.

The contaminants included 21 that are federally regulated, such as arsenic, nitrate, radium and disinfection byproducts, and nine that are not, including hexavalent chromium and 1,4-dioxane. 

The new study builds on earlier EWG peer-reviewed research, published in 2019 in the journal Heliyon, finding that cumulative exposure to mixtures of toxic chemicals commonly found in U.S. tap water could result in more than 100,000 cancer cases.

The EPA’s public health goal for tap water contamination – the level of a chemical contaminant in drinking water that does not pose a significant risk to health – is a one-in-one-million lifetime risk of cancer. 

The agency has not amended its list of regulated water contaminants since 2000, and it rarely revisits the maximum levels it sets for regulated contaminants, even when the latest science shows a clear risk to public health from cancer or other serious illnesses at amounts far lower than legal limits.

“Drinking water rarely, if ever, contains only one contaminant, yet federal regulators assess the public health risks of tap water pollutants one at a time,” said EWG Science Analyst Sydney Evans, who worked on both studies.

“With our newest research, EWG continues to shine a light on the need for policymakers to evaluate the actual threat posed by the combinations of carcinogens so many people have no choice but to drink,” she said.

U.S. drinking water infrastructure is long overdue for large investments that could significantly reduce contamination and better protect public health. Some water quality issues can be addressed with in-home water filters, but no filter can remove all contaminants. The most effective filters are unaffordable for many people facing the worst contamination.

“Everyone should have access to affordable, safe drinking water in the U.S., regardless of where they live,” Evans said. “Safe water has become a privilege when it should be a right.”

EWG’s study didn’t evaluate the levels of or risks from carcinogenic contaminants in private wells, which are not tracked by any government entity.

###

The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action. Visit www.ewg.org for more information.

 

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JOURNAL

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Community-Level Analysis of Drinking Water Data Highlights the Importance of Drinking Water Metrics for the State, Federal Environmental Health Justice Priorities in the United States

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Oct-2021

COI STATEMENT

We declare no conflict of interest.

Quaise Inc. begins testing of potentially disruptive geothermal drilling technology

Paper on work is presented at 2021 Geothermal Rising conference

Reports and Proceedings

SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS

 

IMAGE: CHRIS MEUTH OF QUAISE INC. (LEFT) STANDS NEXT TO A TEST FIXTURE BEING USED IN CURRENT EXPERIMENTS AT OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY TO DEVELOP A NOVEL DRILLING TECHNIQUE. view more 

CREDIT: MATT HOUDE, QUAISE INC.

SAN DIEGO, CA—Geothermal energy—the heat beneath our feet—could become a crucial player in the energy transition away from fossil fuels, but only if we can drill down far enough to unleash its full potential. Matt Houde of Quaise Inc. made that point October 5 at the 2021 Geothermal Rising conference, then went on to describe the first test campaign to bring a potentially disruptive MIT drilling technology into the world at large where it could solve the problem.

The test campaign, begun this month, involves researchers from industry, MIT, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The campaign is based at ORNL and supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

The team is already well along in preparations for future phases of the campaign. For example, a second test fixture for Phase II is being built in Houston by Quaise Inc. engineers. It should be ready soon for shipping to ORNL.

Houde’s coauthors of the paper he presented are Quaise CEO Carlos Araque, Paul Woskov of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), Jimmy Lee of the PSFC, Ken Oglesby of Impact Technologies LLC, Tim Bigelow of ORNL, and Geoff Garrison and Matt Uddenberg, both of AltaRock Energy Inc.

“I think the ultimate potential of geothermal is to truly be a replacement for fossil fuels,” said Araque at the 8th Geothermal Congress for Latin America & the Caribbean (GEOLAC 2021) last month. “Solar and wind will play a role, but displacing fossil fuels is going to take a lot more [than those two]. I think geothermal and some nuclear technologies are the only way to get there.”

The Energy Down Deep

The mother lode of geothermal energy is some 2 to 12 miles beneath the Earth’s surface where the rock is so hot (temperatures are over 374 degrees C, or 704 degrees F) that if water could be pumped to the area it would become supercritical, a steam-like phase that most people aren’t familiar with. (Familiar phases are liquid water, ice, and the vapor that makes clouds.) Supercritical water, in turn, can carry some 5-10 times more energy than regular hot water, making it an extremely efficient energy source if it could be pumped above ground to turbines that could convert it into electricity.

“The overwhelming majority of [super hot rock] resources are stored in deep continental crust, accessible to 80 percent of the world’s major population centers at depths ranging from 10-20 km,” the authors write in their Geothermal Rising paper.

Today we can’t access those resources except in Iceland and other areas where they are relatively close to the surface. The number one problem: we can’t drill down far enough. The drills used by the oil and gas industries can’t withstand the formidable temperatures and pressures that are found miles down.

Millimeter Wave Drilling

Quaise is working to replace the conventional drill bits that mechanically break up the rock with millimeter wave energy (cousins to the microwaves many of us cook with). Those millimeter waves (MMWs) literally melt then vaporize the rock to create ever deeper holes.

The general technique was developed by Woskov at MIT, who “over the last ten years demonstrated in the lab much of the core physics and science involved,” Houde said. Woskov, who recently completed testing that confirmed those data, also showed that he could use MMWs to drill a hole in basalt with a 1:1 aspect ratio (two inches deep by two inches in diameter).

Houde emphasized that the general technology, such as the gyrotron machine that produces the millimeter wave energy, is not new. “We’re leveraging some 70 years of research toward nuclear fusion as an energy source,” he said. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel because fusion has pushed this technology to the point where it can serve our purposes. We simply have to optimize it for deep drilling.”

The Quaise technique also takes advantage of conventional drilling technologies such as those developed by the oil and gas industries. The company will still use these to drill down through surface layers to bedrock, which was what they were optimized for.

Scaling Up

The new testing campaign at ORNL will use a gyrotron that is 10 times more powerful than the one Woskov used at MIT. The goal of the current testing phase is to drill a hole with a 10:1 aspect ratio. Further, the more powerful gyrotron will allow the team to simulate the full drilling process. Specifically, it will allow them to vaporize the rock (Woskov’s gyrotron was only powerful enough to melt the basalt). “This will be the first time anyone has done this,” Houde said.

Overall, the tests will result in a wealth of new data “that will enable us to fully model the MMW drilling process,” the team wrote in their Geothermal Rising paper.

The team is already moving forward with plans and equipment for additional phases of the test campaign. For example, the engineers are building a second test fixture for the next phase at ORNL when they will aim for a drilling aspect ratio of 100:1. “Next, we’ll go to the field for a 1000:1 demonstration. We are developing a prototype MMW drilling rig for that purpose,” Houde said. “It’s a matter of proving out the MMW process at deeper and deeper depths.”

A video about Quaise can be seen here.

—Elizabeth Thomson is a correspondent for Quaise Inc.

Acknowledgment: “The information, data, or work presented herein was funded in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-AR0001051. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.” 

CAPTION

Quaise Inc. engineers in Houston with a second test fixture for Phase II of the testing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop a novel drilling technique.

CREDIT

Matt Houde, Quaise Inc.

Wildfires and microgravity: NSF-funded research team will use the ISS to better understand fire spread

Grant and Award Announcement

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION U.S. NATIONAL LABORATORY

 

IMAGE: FIRE RESEARCHER JAMES URBAN IN HIS LABORATORY AT WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. view more 

CREDIT: WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

A tiny, enclosed flame onboard the International Space Station (ISS) could someday help researchers better predict the spread of massive, deadly wildfires. A new study funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and sponsored by the ISS U.S. National Laboratory aims to use the microgravity conditions of space to better understand how flames spread on Earth.

Principal investigator James Urban, assistant professor of fire protection engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and his team will leverage the ISS National Lab for an experiment that could help parse some of the prime forces behind wildfire spread. Successful results could contribute to more effective fire management and response measures, potentially saving lives and homes from destruction. This investigation was awarded through a joint solicitation from NSF and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS), manager of the ISS National Lab, for research in the field of transport phenomena.

Urban’s study will involve complementary ground-based and microgravity experiments that will precisely measure how a flame spreads along the surface of a combustible object inside a miniature wind tunnel, under a dynamic rate of airflow. The “nonsteady” airflow approximates variable behavior in the flames that drive flame spread, allowing Urban’s team to model “intermittent” flame behaviors that can better predict how fire spreads in nature.

“Right now, our ability to develop a physical wildfire model and use such a model to predict what an active wildfire will do in a useful timescale is very limited,” Urban said. “By understanding how flames behave on a smaller scale, we can gain insight and apply that to wildfire behavior.”

Performing the experiment in microgravity will allow the team to eliminate the effects of gravity-driven buoyancy and convection, which along with wind can affect how a flame behaves. On Earth, buoyancy drives convection, causing warmer, lighter air to rise above the cooler, heavier air around it and causing dynamic flame behaviors like flickering, puffing, and dancing. By comparing flame behavior in space with ground-based results, Urban and his team can better investigate how nonsteady flame behavior driven by buoyancy and external or “forced” airflow could drive flame spread on Earth.

Urban’s research could contribute to a future “theory of wildfires” that could help researchers model the conditions that cause a wildfire to grow and spread. Such knowledge could lead to better predictions of the speed and direction in which fires will spread and how best to mitigate them, providing further protection for at-risk communities and critical infrastructure.

“The ultimate goal is to reduce the loss of lives, structures, and the danger posed to responders,” Urban said. “If we have a deeper understanding of the physical processes driving wildfires, we can recreate hypothetical wildfire situations and design communities to be more resilient against them. We can better predict under what conditions we can do safe, controlled burns. And when we do have extreme fires, we can better predict how the fire is going to behave and allocate resources appropriately.”

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Modeling our climate future; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to lead ocean current research

New NOAA-funded project investigating role of western boundary current variability in climate change

Grant and Award Announcement

WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

 

IMAGE: SWIRLING PARCELS OF WATER, CALLED OCEAN EDDIES, SPIN OFF FROM THE WARM GULF STREAM, THE POWERFUL NORTHWARD-FLOWING CURRENT THAT HUGS THE U.S. EAST COAST BEFORE VEERING EAST ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. THIS VISUALIZATION WAS GENERATED BY A NUMERICAL MODEL THAT SIMULATES OCEAN CIRCULATION. WHOI RESEARCHERS ARE STUDYING WESTERN BOUNDARY OCEAN CURRENTS, LIKE THE GULF STREAM, AND HOW THEIR BEHAVIOR CAN BE ASSOCIATED WITH CLIMATE. IMAGE view more 

CREDIT: CREDIT: NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION © NASA, GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Woods Hole, Mass. (October 6, 2021) -- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) senior scientist of physical oceanography, Dr. Young-Oh Kwon, and WHOI adjunct scientist, Dr. Claude Frankignoul, have received a new research grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections (MAPP) Program, funding their research project focusing on western boundary ocean currents and their correspondence with the atmosphere in relation to modern day climate.

Western boundary currents (WBCs), such as the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension in the North Pacific Ocean and the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic Ocean, are the regions of largest ocean variability and intense air-sea interaction. This WBC variability generates strong ocean-to-atmosphere heat transfer, resulting in warming that can impact large-scale atmospheric circulation and heat transport toward the poles in both the ocean and atmosphere.

The project suggests that this WBC behavior and its associated air-sea interaction play fundamental roles in regulating our climate, as well as have a significant impact on extreme weather, coastal ecosystem, and sea-level. However, their representation in climate models needs to be improved. This study looks to investigate the nature and impacts of the WBC variability in state-of-the-art climate models based on a set of model diagnostics. Kwon and his team will develop the diagnostics for this study based on various observational datasets. Then, they will be used to determine the differences between observations and the climate model simulations (or model biases) at standard and higher resolutions.

According to Kwon, the findings would lead to a system of quantifying the oceanic and atmospheric variability in the WBCs resulting from air-sea interactions, and improved understanding of the links between the model biases in simulating WBCs and the simulated large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulations.

“The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was very clear: climate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying, hence the research to improve our physical understanding of the climate system and model biases are needed more than ever,” said Kwon.

“Our overall goals are to advance scientific understanding, monitoring, and prediction of climate and its impacts, enable effective decisions, especially since the improvement in the climate model processes related to the WBC variability and associated air-sea interaction has significant implications for the prediction of our climate and its impacts,” Kwon added.

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About Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate an understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. WHOI’s pioneering discoveries stem from an ideal combination of science and engineering—one that has made it one of the most trusted and technically advanced leaders in basic and applied ocean research and exploration anywhere. WHOI is known for its multidisciplinary approach, superior ship operations, and unparalleled deep-sea robotics capabilities. We play a leading role in ocean observation and operate the most extensive suite of data-gathering platforms in the world. Top scientists, engineers, and students collaborate on more than 800 concurrent projects worldwide—both above and below the waves—pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibility. For more information, please visit www.whoi.edu

Study: New Pacific Ocean circulation findings may hold key to better predicting impact of El Niño and La Niña

Peer-Reviewed Publication

YORK UNIVERSITY

TORONTO, Oct. 4, 2021 — For years scientists have been trying to understand variations in El Niño and La Niña to accurately predict year-to-year disruptions to weather patterns. New findings from York University scientists at the Lassonde School of Engineering suggest that a conveyer-like motion of heat across the equator in the Pacific Ocean — called the “Cross Equatorial Cell” (CEC) — may influence what a specific El Niño or La Niña looks like.

“What this CEC is doing, essentially, is sloshing water and heat back and forth between just north of the equator and just south of the equator,” said Neil Tandon, assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at the Lassonde School of Engineering and co-author of the study. “In this study, we looked at what is physically causing this motion in the ocean. Understanding this is crucial, because a small change in the location of ocean heat in turn shifts the locations of the atmospheric jet streams, which sets off a chain reaction, disturbing weather around the globe.”

El Niño and La Niña are both known to have global impacts on weather, from severe flooding to droughts and wildfires — impacting economies in every country. El Niño is a warming of the ocean in the tropical Pacific over a year, while La Niña is a cooling in this region. But not all El Niños and La Niñas are the same: some are stronger than others, and they can arise in different locations in the Pacific Ocean. 

Tandon says the movement of heat by the CEC may help explain this range of behaviour and improve our ability to predict year-to-year changes in weather patterns. Such improvements would benefit countries around the globe across a broad range of sectors, including agriculture, transportation, emergency response services, hydroelectric utilities and the insurance industry.

“When scientists see that there's going to be a strong El Niño or a strong La Niña, everybody pays attention because no country is unaffected by that, “said Tandon.  “If we can make any incremental step in improving our prediction of the impact of El Niño or La Niña, that has benefits for everybody in terms of being able to prepare for consequences such as severe flooding or droughts.”

Tandon and lead author, Devanarayana Rao, a Master’s student in Tandon’s lab, examined the CEC using multiple data sets. In the study, the team analyzed relationships between physical quantities to illustrate what this circulation looks like and why this circulation exists. Their analysis found that the CEC arises from the following sequence of events:

• Year-to-year changes in winds generate changes in the density of ocean water north and south of the equator in the Pacific.
• These density changes generate changes in pressure north and south of the equator.
• These pressure changes in turn generate a flow of water across the equator in the upper ocean.
• This flow in the upper ocean generates waves that extend to the deep ocean, where they drive flow in the opposite direction across the equator.

“This research is a part of ongoing efforts to improve our understanding of the climate system and to develop real-world solutions to the ongoing climate crisis,” said Rao. “In general, most [previous] studies focused on deep ocean circulation in the Atlantic Ocean, which is projected to have a ‘slowing down’ in the next 100 years. But, here, in the Pacific, the year-to-year variability of the deep ocean is much stronger than in the Atlantic, which can potentially influence the global weather patterns, the deep oceanic carbon reserve, and marine habitat.”

“I think an important next step in this research would be to start looking at the models that we use to predict El Niño and La Niña and specifically focus on what are those models doing as far as the CEC,” said Tandon. “If they're doing something very different from what is actually observed then what are the consequences? If we correct what the model is doing, does that lead to a better prediction?”

The study is published today in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.

York University is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. York’s fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario’s Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. York’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

About Lassonde School of Engineering

Located in the heart of the multicultural Greater Toronto Area, the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University is home to engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs, representing a diverse community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners. With 11 undergraduate programs, seven graduate programs and a host of certificates and accessible study options, Lassonde is shaping the next generation of creators who will tackle the world’s biggest challenges and devise creative solutions through interdisciplinary learning opportunities. Lassonde’s creators think in big systems rather than small silos, design with people in mind and embrace ambiguity.

 

Media contact: Anjum Nayyar, York University Media Relations, cell 437-242-1547, anayyar@yorku.ca

 

 

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JOURNAL

Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans

DOI

10.1029/2021JC017509 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Mechanism of Interannual Cross-Equatorial Overturning Anomalies in the Pacific Ocean

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Oct-2021

New Jersey’s tidal marshes in danger of disappearing, study shows

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

New Brunswick, N.J. (October 6, 2021) – New Jersey’s tidal marshes aren’t keeping up with sea level rise and may disappear completely by the next century, according to a study led by Rutgers researchers.

The findings, which include potential solutions for preserving the marshlands, appear in the journal Anthropocene Coasts. The research team’s study follows its 2020 report on the same issue for the Science Advisory Board of New Jersey’s State Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP.)

“Faced with sea level rise, a marsh has two options -- it can either increase its elevation at a rate equal to that of sea level rise or it can migrate inland,” said lead author Judith Weis, a professor emerita of biological sciences at Rutgers-Newark. “Otherwise, it will be submerged and drown.”

Tidal marshes –where the oceans meet the land and become vulnerable to sea level rise -- are vital habitats for many aquatic organisms, such as fishes, crabs and shrimp, as well as birds and mammals and provide a buffer against storm surges, winds and flooding. They also absorb pollutants such as toxic metal; nitrogen, which reduces algal blooms and carbon dioxide and contributes to climate change. 

The research team reviewed previous studies of coastal marsh systems in New Jersey, focusing on the Meadowlands, Raritan Bay, Barnegat Bay and Delaware Bay. For each marsh system, they examined horizontal changes – changes in marsh area over time – and vertical changes in elevation.

For the Meadowlands, the researchers couldn’t determine losses to sea level because due to the extent of human development on the marshes. For the Raritan Bay, they found no published data and little evidence that marsh area is being lost.

But they found that Barnegat Bay has lost a large amount of area to erosion, and Delaware Bay has similarly had considerable erosion from the edges, although those losses have been compensated for by inland migration of the marshes into coastal areas. The march migration, however, is causing “ghost forests,” where many trees have died due to sea water intrusion. Such migration isn’t possible in more developed parts of the state, where roads and buildings immediately inland of the marshes act as barriers.

The researchers found that most marshes throughout the state are not increasing their elevation as rapidly as the sea level is rising, which was 5-6 mm/year as of 2019 when the last data were collected. The rate of sea level rise in the mid-Atlantic is higher than the worldwide average for various geophysical reasons.

The only marshes elevating substantially faster than the rate of sea level rise were two marshes in the Meadowlands dominated by the common reed Phragmites australis, an invasive plant that reduces plant diversity in tidal marshes.

The team looked at four strategies to mitigate the loss of New Jersey’s marshes. First, they would encourage municipalities to buy and demolish houses that prevent marshes from migrating inland. Such a “managed retreat” program would be expensive and likely face political and social opposition.

Under the second strategy, marshland managers would remove fewer invasive reeds, which are currently killed using toxic herbicides and replaced with native cordgrass when funding is available. Although the reeds slightly reduce biodiversity, they have some benefits, such as absorbing pollutants, nitrogen and carbon dioxide more effectively than native marsh grasses. The reeds, which are denser and taller than native grasses, also are a better buffer against flooding and enable marshes to elevate faster. When they die, they create more dead plant material that doesn’t decay as rapidly as other marsh plants, which traps more sediments that enable the marsh to elevate more rapidly.

“Some reeds should be left on the marsh surface to give the marsh a better chance of keeping up with sea level rise,” said Weis. “This will be controversial and likely opposed by many marsh managers, which will require a revolutionary change in marsh management.”

The third strategy would involve adding new sediments on top of marshes that are not elevating as fast as they need to. One such method called “thin layer deposition” involves spraying sediment from creeks up onto the marsh surface. This experimental method is being tried at sites in South Jersey and shows promising results. A symptom of a marsh “in trouble” is retaining water on the marsh surface at low tide. This “ponding” can kill grasses adapted to being under water only periodically. Digging narrow channels, called “runnels,” from ponded areas to nearby tidal creeks can help drain the water.

The fourth strategy, called “living shorelines,” would involve experimental techniques to slow erosion at the edge of a marsh. Harder materials, preferably oyster or mussel reefs but sometimes concrete blocks, can be placed in front of the marsh edge to shield waves that erode the marsh edge. These techniques are being tested in several locations in the Delaware Bay and are yielding valuable information on suitable locations and materials.

The study’s authors include Weis, Elizabeth Watson of Drexel University, Elizabeth Ravit of Rutgers’ Center for Environmental Sustainability, Charles Harman of Wood Environmental and Metthea Yepsen of the NJDEP. 

###

Broadcast interviews: Rutgers University has broadcast-quality TV and radio studios available for remote live or taped interviews with Rutgers experts. For more information, contact Emily Everson Layden at ee261@echo.rutgers.edu. 

ABOUT RUTGERS—NEW BRUNSWICK
Rutgers University–New Brunswick is where Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, began more than 250 years ago. Ranked among the world’s top 60 universities, Rutgers’s flagship is a leading public research institution and a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. It has an internationally acclaimed faculty, 12 degree-granting schools and the Big Ten Conference’s most diverse student body.

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JOURNAL

Anthropocene Coasts

DOI

10.1139/anc-2020-0020 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

The status and future of tidal marshes in New Jersey faced with sea level rise

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2021

City leaders invited to discover how real-time monitoring of urban greenhouse gases can help tackle climate change

Meeting Announcement

OPTICA

City and regional government leaders and policymakers are being invited to discover how real-time monitoring of urban greenhouse gases (GHGs) can help them in their efforts to tackle climate change.

The Cities are the Key to the Climate Solution Summit, organised by the Global Environmental Measurement and Monitoring (GEMM) Initiative, will showcase a pilot urban air quality monitoring project in Glasgow as the city hosts the COP26 climate change conference in November.

The project is establishing a dense network of 25 sensors monitoring levels of GHGs and particulate matter across Glasgow in real-time.

Data from the network of sensors, coupled with ‘inverse modelling’, can help to identify sources of GHG emissions, providing city leaders and policymakers with information to help them decide on climate change policies and observe their impact almost immediately.

Currently, most data on GHG emissions is calculated based on consumption of fossil fuels and is only available months or years later, whereas sensor networks offer the opportunity for direct, real-time atmospheric observations.

The GEMM Initiative-supported project is a collaboration between the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow City Council, Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley), Optica (formerly OSA), the American Geophysical Union, the Met Office and the National Physical Laboratory.

The Cities are the Key to the Climate Solution summit will showcase these new technologies and methodologies for the monitoring of GHG emissions and air pollutants in real-time, consider the economic and legal perspectives of adopting this approach and will feature a roundtable discussion on the opportunities and challenges cities face in meeting GHGs and air pollution reduction goals.

The hybrid summit – online and in-person – will take place on 3 November in Strathclyde’s Technology & Innovation Centre and feature speakers including: Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, David Miller, Director of International Diplomacy at C40 Cities, Professor Donna Strickland, 2018 Nobel Laureate in Physics, and Professor Guy Brasseur of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology.

Optica and AGU – international scientific societies partnering under the GEMM Initiative – are working with policymakers worldwide on new technology and scientific developments for local impact. 

“We want to make city leaders aware of this technology, the opportunities it brings and encourage them to set up their own sensor network projects,” said Tom Baer, co-lead and Director of Stanford Photonics Research Center at Stanford University, USA.

“Recent deployments of low-cost, high-density sensors across several cities around the world are demonstrating the utility of mapping GHG and air pollution levels in real time.”

University of Strathclyde Professor Allister Ferguson, co-lead of the project, said: “Cities account for more than 70% of all GHG emissions and therefore have a key role to play in taking measures to tackle climate change. Indeed, many cities around the world are already committing to action and have set net-zero targets, including Glasgow.

“Analyses of COVID-19 emissions reductions during government stay-at-home orders have shown that determining the emission contributions from various source sectors with detailed mapping and timing across the full daily cycle are possible and can provide invaluable information on governmental policies affecting GHG emission levels.”

The Glasgow pilot project uses GHG sensors developed by Professor Ron Cohen at UC Berkeley which cost a fraction of the price of traditional monitoring stations.

Professor Cohen has been operating a large network of sensors in the San Francisco Bay area for eight years as part of the BEACO2N project. During the ‘shelter-in-place’ orders imposed in California as a result of COVID-19 he was able to see how the decrease in vehicular traffic had on CO2 emissions in the area.

He said: “When the COVID ‘shelter-in-place’ order began in California, almost immediately there was a tremendous reduction in CO2 emissions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Regional carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 25%, almost all of it due to a nearly 50% drop in road traffic.

“It really allowed us to test our ideas of how much of the CO2 is from industry and how much is from cars. This is what it would look like for CO2 if we electrified the vehicle fleet.

“The implication is that emissions on the roads could be changed quickly and dramatically by policy, and we have a tool to follow that relatively quickly. This is the way to know we are on track to meet our goals.”

For more information and to register for the Cities are the Key to the Climate Solution summit visit: https://www.strath.ac.uk/workwithus/globalenvironmentalmeasurementmonitoring/citiesarekeytotheclimatesolution/

ENDS

About Optica

Optica (formerly OSA) is dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in optics and photonics worldwide. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica’s renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.

 

Further information

Stuart Forsyth

Corporate Communications Manager

University of Strathclyde

Stuart.m.forsyth@strath.ac.uk

0141 548 4373