Garumbatitian: A new giant dinosaur in the Lower Cretacic of the Iberian Peninsula

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FACULTY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LISBON

 

IMAGE: GENERAL VIEW OF THE SANT ANTONI DE LA VESPA DEPOSIT DURING THE EXTRACTION OF ONE OF THE GARUMBATITAN SPECIMENS. view more 

CREDIT: GBE-UNED

New study describes a new sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Iberian Peninsula 122 million years ago. This new species of dinosaur, Garumbatitan morellensis, was described from remains discovered in Morella (Castelló, Spain) and made it possible to expand the diversity of dinosaurs known in one of the best fossil records from the Early Cretaceous in Europe.

The sedimentary deposits that emerge in the region of Els Ports de Morella (Spain) contain an abundant record of dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous, around 122 million years old. In particular, some of the first dinosaur remains found in Spain were discovered in the Morella region. In recent years, numerous fossils of Mesozoic vertebrates have been found in the vicinity of this location, some of which are extremely relevant, including an important collection of ornithopod dinosaurs, including Morelladon beltrani, and sauropod dinosaurs.

This discovery, by a team of Portuguese and Spanish paleontologists, is described in a paper now published in the prestigious Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. The new dinosaur species, which has been called Garumbatitan morellensis, belongs to the sauropod group, which is made up of quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and tails that could reach colossal dimensions.

The remains of this new dinosaur were found and excavated in the sediments that emerge in the Morella locality in 2005 and 2008 in the Sant Antoni de la Vespa fossil-site. In this deposit, one of the largest concentrations of sauropod dinosaur remains from the European Lower Cretaceous was recognized, and in which elements of at least four individuals were identified, three of which belonged to this new species. Sant Antoni de la Vespa thus constitutes one of the key locations for the study of dinosaur faunas in Spain during this period.

“One of the individuals we found stands out for its large size, with vertebrae more than one meter wide, and a femur that could reach two meters in length. We found two almost complete and articulated feet in this deposit, which is particularly rare in the geological record”, says Pedro Mocho, leader of this study, paleontologist of Instituto Dom Luiz, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Portugal).

The article now published presents a detailed description of the fossil remains found in Sant Antoni de la Vespa, identifying a set of anatomical characteristics different from other sauropod dinosaurs. Garumbatitan is characterized by the unique morphology of the femur (the upper bone of the leg) and the elements that form the foot. The femur presents a morphology similar to the femora of more modern sauropods from the Late Cretaceous. This study also analyzes the kinship relationships of Garumbatitan morellensis and other sauropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula. Garumbatitan is one of the most primitive members of a group of sauropods called Somphospondyli, which corresponds to one of the most diverse and abundant groups during the Cretaceous and which became extinct at the end of the Mesozoic.

Finally, this study highlights the enormous complexity of the evolutionary history of sauropods from the European Cretaceous, in particular, from the Iberian Peninsula, with species related to lineages present in Asia and North America, as well as some groups related to forms from the African continent. These results suggest the existence of periods of faunal dispersal between these continents. The future restoration of all fossil materials found in this deposit will add important information to understand the initial evolution of this group of sauropods that dominated dinosaur faunas during the last million years of the Mesozoic era.

“Our study highlights the enormous complexity of the evolutionary history of sauropods from the European Cretaceous – in particular, from the Iberian Peninsula, with species related to lineages present in Asia and North America, as well as some groups related to forms from the African continent. Our results suggest the existence of periods of faunal dispersal between these continents”, explains Pedro Mocho. “The future restoration of all fossil materials found in this deposit will add important information to understand the initial evolution of this group of sauropods that dominated dinosaur faunas during the last million years of the Mesozoic era”, adds Francisco Ortega, co-author of this study, Grupo de Biología Evolutiva of the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED, Spain).

The name of the new species, Garumbatitan morellensis, contains a double reference. On the one hand, Garumbatitan means “the giant of Garumba”, as this specimen was found at the base of Mola de la Garumba, one of the highest reliefs in the Els Ports region. On the other hand, the specific name morellensis refers to the location where the deposit is located, Morella. The fossil remains of Garumbatitan morellensis form part of one of the largest collections of fossil vertebrates from the Iberian Mesozoic deposited at the Temps Museum of Dinosaurs in Morella and which forms part of the Valencian Community Museum Network.

Led by the Portuguese paleontologist Pedro Mocho, this study forms part of the projects developed by the UNED Evolutionary Biology Group in the Morella region. In addition to the different members of these two groups, are also part of the research team researchers from the Institut Català de Paleontologia, Grup Guix de Vila-real, Museo de Ciencias Naturales de València, the Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain) and from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (USA).

General view of the Sant Antoni de la Vespa deposit during the extraction of one of the Garumbatitan specimens.

Reconstruction of the life appearance of Garumbatitan morellensis.

Kinship relationships of Garumbatitan morellensis with some of the most relevant sauropods and bone remains of Garumbatitan morellensis.

GBE-UNED

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JOURNAL

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

DOI

10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad124 

ARTICLE TITLE

New sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Morella (Spain) provides new insights on the evolutionary history of Iberian somphospondylan titanosauriforms

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Sep-2023

 

Biological particles play crucial role in Arctic cloud ice formation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: TUNDRA NEAR THE NY-ÅLESUND VILLAGE IN THE SUMMER OF 2019 WITH THE ZEPPELIN OBSERVATORY IN THE BACKGROUND (LEFT HAND SIDE, ENGULFED IN CLOUDS). THE TUNDRA IS POTENTIALLY A MAJOR SOURCE OF BIOAEROSOLS IN THE ARCTIC. PHOTO: GABRIEL FREITAS view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: GABRIEL FREITAS

An international team of scientists from Sweden, Norway, Japan, and Switzerland, has presented research findings that reveal a crucial role of biological particles, including pollen, spores, and bacteria, in the formation of ice within Arctic clouds. These findings, published today in Nature Communications, have far-reaching implications for climate science and our understanding of the rapidly changing Arctic climate.

The research, whose outcomes have unveiled the connection between biological particles and the formation of ice in Arctic clouds, was conducted over multiple years at the Zeppelin Observatory, situated on the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, in the High Arctic. Gabriel Freitas, lead author and PhD student at Stockholm University, detailed their innovative approach: "We have individually identified and counted these biological particles using a sensitive optical technique reliant on light scattering and UV-induced fluorescence. This precision is essential as we navigate through the challenge of detecting these particles in minuscule concentrations, akin to finding a needle in a haystack."

Sugar alcohols as indicators of fungal spores
The study delved into the seasonal dynamics of biological particles, establishing correlations with variables such as snow cover, temperature, and meteorological parameters. Furthermore, the presence of biological particles was confirmed through various methodologies, including electron microscopy and the detection of specific substances, such as the sugar alcohol compounds arabitol and mannitol.

Karl Espen Yttri, senior scientist at the Climate and Environmental Research Institute NILU and a co-author of the study, underscored that: "While arabitol and mannitol are present in various microorganisms, their presence in air are related to fungal spores, and might originate both from local sources or from long range atmospheric transport”.

Microbes contribute to ice nucleation at Zeppelin Observatory
The quantification of ice nucleating particles and understanding their properties proved to be a cumbersome challenge. Researchers employed two distinct methods, involving the collection of particles on filters over a week, followed by rigorous laboratory analysis.

Yutaka Tobo, Associate Professor at the National Institute of Polar Research in Japan and co-author of the study, described their strategy: "Our method can quantify the ice nucleating ability of aerosol particles immersed in water droplets at temperatures ranging from 0°C down to about -30°C, thereby revealing the concentration of ambient ice nucleating particles active in Arctic low-level clouds."

Franz Conen, Research Fellow at the University of Basel, Switzerland, added, "By subjecting the filters to additional heating at 95°C, we could identify the proteinaceous component of ice nucleating particles, shedding light on their potential biological origin. Our findings unequivocally establish the prevalence of biological particles contributing to ice nucleation at Zeppelin Observatory."

Paul Zieger, Associate Professor at Stockholm University and co-author, emphasized the important implication of these findings for climate science: "This research offers critical insights into the origin and properties of biological and ice nucleating particles in the Arctic that could enable climate model developers to improve the representation of aerosol-cloud interactions in models and reduce uncertainties related to anthropogenic radiative forcing estimates."

Increases in open ocean areas and snow-free tundra, both sources of biological particles in the Arctic, are expected in the coming decades. Therefore, gaining a deeper understanding of the relationship between these particles and clouds may provide valuable insights into the ongoing and future transformations occurring in the Arctic.
 

Read article in Nature Communications Regionally sourced bioaerosols drive high-temperature ice nucleating particles in the Arctic

Press contact:
Stockholm University: Stella Papadopoulou: stella.papadopoulou@aces.su.se
NILU: Christine F Solbakken CFS@nilu.no

Corresponding author: Paul Zieger paul.zieger@aces.su.se

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-41696-7 

ARTICLE TITLE

Regionally sourced bioaerosols drive high-temperature ice nucleating particles in the Arctic

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Sep-2023

 

Research, advocacy, education urged to address chronic disease through Food Is Medicine programs

American Heart Association Presidential Advisory calls for building on existing research and implementing cross-sector approaches to Food Is Medicine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

DALLAS, September 28, 2023 — Creating a stronger body of research on the efficacy and value of clinical Food Is Medicine programs is critical to improving the treatment and prevention of many serious chronic health conditions, according to a new American Heart Association Presidential Advisory published today in the Association’s flagship scientific journal Circulation. Given the significant role that food and nutrition play in supporting health, the American Heart Association, a global force for healthier lives for all, recommends approaches to close gaps in research and build a robust evidence base for increasing adoption of clinical Food Is Medicine programs in the U.S.

An estimated 90% of the $4.3 trillion annual cost of health care in the U.S. is spent on medical care for chronic diseases. Unhealthy food intake is a major risk factor for many of these diseases. Healthy food is not accessible or affordable for many people in the U.S., making it difficult to apply clinical food-based interventions that treat and prevent disease. Recent research demonstrates that health care systems may be able to help patients access healthy foods, resulting in improved health, reduced need for health care and better cost-effectiveness.

Food Is Medicine (FIM) may be defined as providing healthy food resources to treat, manage and prevent specific chronic conditions in coordination with the health care sector. FIM programs can be prescribed by a health care professional, health care organization or health insurance plan, and can include interventions such as medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries and produce prescriptions. FIM represents a paradigm shift focused on incorporating food and nutrition programs into health care systems.

“To unlock the potential of Food Is Medicine and make it a regular and reimbursable component of health care, we need an ambitious and coordinated research approach,” said Kevin G. Volpp, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA, American Heart Association volunteer, chair of the Presidential Advisory writing group, director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the University of Pennsylvania and research lead of the Association’s Food Is Medicine Initiative. “By addressing research gaps and integrating research efforts in collaboration with stakeholders nationwide, we will fuel cross-sector efforts that ensure Food Is Medicine programs improve health costs effectively and are feasible in practice.”

FIM programs are not new; however, the study of these interventions in health care has been limited by factors including small sample sizes, non-randomized comparisons and broad differences in data collection and measurement. The advisory proposes a coordinated research approach to compare how well nutrition-based interventions treat and prevent disease compared to standard medical care. This approach is the foundation of the Food Is Medicine Initiative announced at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in September 2022. Earlier this month, the Association announced the Initiative’s first Request for Proposals for groundbreaking research projects. RFP applications are open through Nov. 6. A webinar will be held Oct. 4 to answer questions from researchers considering submitting proposals.

“Food Is Medicine holds the promise to improve health outcomes for millions of patients living with or at risk for cardiovascular disease and other serious chronic health conditions,” said Mitchell S.V. Elkind, M.D., M.S., FAHA, FAAN, chief clinical science officer of the American Heart Association, past volunteer president of the Association, a member of the Presidential Advisory writing committee and a tenured professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University. “Too many patients lack access to healthy foods, and they may have limited ability to prepare those foods into healthy meals, but Food Is Medicine programs can help change that.”

The advisory outlines key principles to guide research on Food Is Medicine, aligned with the highest standards of clinical research, and emphasizes equity and lived experiences of people in communities across the U.S. The advisory also proposes concurrent efforts to strengthen public policy, ensure quality, standardize professional education, educate the public and prioritize FIM programs at all levels of government.

Food Is Medicine is particularly important within the broader context of the Association’s efforts to improve health equity by enhancing food systems and related policies that support improvements in health.

The advisory concludes with a call to action on the steps needed for multi-sector partnerships to develop evidence on efficacy and value that will inform decisions by health insurers to cover FIM as a medical benefit.

The advisory was prepared by a volunteer writing group on behalf of the Association. American Heart Association Presidential Advisories promote greater awareness about cardiovascular diseases and stroke issues and help facilitate informed health care decisions. Presidential Advisories outline what is currently known about a topic and what areas need additional research. While these advisories inform the development of guidelines, they do not make treatment recommendations. American Heart Association guidelines provide the Association’s official clinical practice recommendations.

Additional members of the volunteer writing committee are Seth A. Berkowitz, M.D., M.P.H., co-vice chair; Shreela V. Sharma, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., co-vice chair; Cheryl A.M. Anderson, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S., FAHA; LaPrincess C. Brewer, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA; Christopher D. Gardner, Ph.D., FAHA; Julie E. Gervis, Ph.D.; Robert A. Harrington, M.D., FAHA; Mario Herrero, Ph.D., M.Sc.; Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc., FAHA; Mark McLellan, M.D., Ph.D; Jen Muse, R.D.; Christine A. Roberto, Ph.D.; and Justin P.V. Zachariah, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA. Authors’ disclosures are listed in the manuscript.

Additional Resources:

• VIDEO: Clips with Dr. Volpp offering insight into the FIM program (closed captioning and transcripts provided) are available on the right column of this release link.
• After Sept. 28 at 4 a.m. CT / 5 a.m. ET, view the manuscript online.
• American Heart Association Food is Medicine initiative
• American Heart Association Scientific Statements and Advisories:
  • American Heart Association’s 2024 Impact Goal (2021): Every Person Deserves the Opportunity for a Full, Healthy Life
  • Science Advisory (2019): Innovation to Create a Healthy and Sustainable Food System
  • Scientific Statement (2021): Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health
  • Scientific Statement (2020): Rapid Diet Assessment Screening Tools for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction Across Healthcare Settings
• Follow AHA/ASA news on X (formerly known as Twitter) @HeartNews  

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities. Through collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public’s health and share lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based organization has been a leading source of health information for nearly a century. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, X or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.

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JOURNAL

Circulation

DOI

10.1161/CIR.0000000000001182 

ARTICLE TITLE

Food Is Medicine: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association

 

New free-to-read collection shares research into academic freedom and censorship

Business Announcement

SAGE

Sage has launched a new collection of free-to-read research highlighting the effects of academic censorship on democracy, social-emotional learning, higher education, and more. Categories in the collection include: 

• academic freedom 
• banned content 
• cultures in the classroom 
• intellectual freedom 
• social emotion learning 

 

Sage’s guaranteed independence means that we are free to focus on our mission and values for the long term, including supporting intellectual freedom. The Banned Books and Academic Freedom microsite is part of Sage’s larger commitment to supporting academic freedom: 

• Publishing Index on Censorship, a nonprofit that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide. They publish work by censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech.

• A co-sponsor of the Downs Intellectual Freedom Award, Sage celebrated the 2022 winners, the New College of Florida faculty, librarians, student reporters of The Catalyst, and the Defend New College and Save New College student and alumni organizations. The group took a stand against a Florida mandate to overhaul the school toward a “more traditional liberal arts institution.”  
• Putting together a “Banned Books Week Webinar: Navigating Threats to Academic Freedom: Experiences and Needs,” which will feature researchers and higher-ed faculty highlighting the threats to academic freedom and discussing the necessary support needed.   
• Affirming a joint commitment to the landmark 1953 Freedom to Read statement, on June 25th, Sage joined ALA and others as a signatory.    

 

Ancient plant wax reveals how global warming affects methane in Arctic lakes

Warming led to an intensified methane cycle, lasting thousands of years, study finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: A SECTION OF SEDIMENT CORE MATERIAL FROM WAX LIPS LAKE IN NORTHERN GREENLAND. view more 

CREDIT: JAMIE MCFARLIN

• 
  
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• New study makes novel use of plant biomarkers preserved in sediment to reconstruct methane cycling over the past 10,000 years
• Plant waxes hold an isotopic signature of ancient methane
• As planet warmed due to slow changes in Earth’s orbit, lakes produced increased amounts of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas
• Researcher: ‘Living on a warming planet, we can look to these signs from the past to predict our future’

EVANSTON, Ill. — By studying fossils from ancient aquatic plants, Northwestern University and University of Wyoming (UW) researchers are gaining a better understanding of how methane produced in Arctic lakes might affect — and be affected by — climate change.

In a new study, the researchers examined the waxy coatings of leaves preserved as organic molecules within sediment from the early-to-middle Holocene, a period of intense warming that occurred due to slow changes in Earth’s orbit 11,700 to 4,200 years ago. These wax biomarkers — which were once a part of common aquatic brown mosses — were preserved in sediment buried beneath four lakes in Greenland.

By studying these biomarkers, the researchers discovered that past warming during the middle Holocene caused lakes across a wide range of Greenland’s climates to generate methane. Because methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, any changes in methane production with warming are important to understand.

Currently, researchers have incomplete knowledge of how much methane is produced in Arctic lakes and how ongoing warming will affect methane production. The new study suggests that warming potentially could lead to a previously under-appreciated flux in methane emissions from lakes.

The study will be published on Friday (Sept. 29) in the journal Science Advances.

“Last time Greenland lakes experienced major warming, we were coming out of the last ice age, and it took some time for the conditions to develop for lake methane cycling to increase,” said Jamie McFarlin, who led the study. “But once it developed, the lakes in our study maintained an intensified methane cycle for thousands of years until the onset of the naturally driven late Holocene cooling. This supports a climate dependence on lake methane cycling in some Arctic lakes.”

“These data show increased periods of methane cycling during past warm periods,” added Magdalena Osburn, the study’s senior author. “Living on a warming planet, we can look to these signs from the past to help predict our future. We suspect this process is going to become more and more important in the future of these lakes.”

When the research began, McFarlin was a Ph.D. student at Northwestern; now she is an assistant professor at UW. Osburn is an associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Osburn co-advised McFarlin with Yarrow Axford, William Deering Professor in Geological Sciences at Weinberg College and the paper’s second author.

Lakes act as significant natural sources of methane, but exactly how much methane production will change with ongoing warming within Arctic lakes is not fully quantified. And because Arctic and boreal landscapes are the fastest warming regions on Earth, it is imperative for researchers to better understand the dynamics between warming temperatures and methane production in these lakes.

To explore these dynamics, the researchers produced new data at two lakes (Wax Lips Lake and Trifna Sø) and reviewed published data from two additional lakes on Greenland (Lake N3 and Pluto Lake). They compared the hydrogen isotopic composition of aquatic plant waxes within the sediment to biomarkers from terrestrial plants and other sources. The isotopic composition of biomarkers from aquatic plants revealed a signature from methane during the early-middle Holocene at most sites.

Because these plants absorb methane, they might mitigate some of the methane produced in lakes before it is emitted into the atmosphere.

“In the lakes in our study, some methane was taken up by aquatic mosses living in the lakes — likely through a symbiotic association with a type of bacteria that eats methane,” McFarlin said. “We do not know yet how much methane was produced versus consumed in these lakes during the time period of our study, so the overall effect on the atmosphere remains unclear. The uptake of methane into plants is likely restricted to very specific types of aquatic mosses, however, so not all lakes or even all Arctic lakes will have these same dynamics.”

“The Arctic has huge areas covered in lakes,” Axford said. “Not every lake has mosses that will record methane dynamics, but our study also highlights that those vast swaths of Arctic lakes are vulnerable to climate-driven changes in methane cycling, whether mosses are on site to witness those changes or not. This is yet another way that rapid warming in the Arctic could affect global climate.” 

The study, “Aquatic plant wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes in Greenland lakes record shifts in methane cycling during past Holocene warming,” was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Polar Program awards, an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Northwestern’s Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy and a Geological Society of America Graduate Research Award.

A 2014 field photo from Wax Lips Lake on northwest Greenland with the Greenland Ice Sheet in the background and three of the study authors (Jamie McFarlin, Everett Lasher, Yarrow Axford)

CREDIT

Alex P. Taylor

JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adh9704 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Aquatic plant wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes in Greenland lakes record shifts in methane cycling during past Holocene warming

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Sep-2023

 

Scientists figured out what causes Earth’s strongest lightning

When a storm's charging zone sits close to the Earth's surface, the resulting “superbolts” can be 1,000 times stronger than regular lightning.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION

 

IMAGE: 

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF ALL SUPERBOLTS FROM 2010-2018, WITH RED POINTS INDICATING THE STRONGEST LIGHTNING STROKES. THE THREE REGIONS IN POLYGONS HAVE THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF SUPER-CHARGED LIGHTNING MAKING THEM SUPERBOLT HOTSPOTS. SUPERBOLT STRIKES TEND TO CLUSTER IN REGOINS WHERE STORMS' ELECTRICAL CHARGING ZONES ARE CLOSEST TO THE EARTH'S SURFACE, ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY IN THE JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: ATMOSPHERES.

view more 

CREDIT: EFRAIM ET AL (2023), ADAPTED FROM HOLZWORTH ET AL. (2019)

American Geophysical Union
28 September 2023
AGU Release No. 23-37
For Immediate Release

This press release and accompanying multimedia are available online at:
https://news.agu.org/press-release/scientists-figured-out-what-causes-earths-strongest-lightning

Scientists figured out what causes Earth’s strongest lightning
When a storm's charging zone sits close to the Earth's surface, the resulting “superbolts” can be 1,000 times stronger than regular lightning.

AGU press contact:
Liza Lester, +1 (202) 777-7494, news@agu.org (UTC-4 hours)

Contact information for the researchers:
Avichay Efraim, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, avichay.efraim@mail.huji.ac.il (UTC+3 hours)

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WASHINGTON — Superbolts are more likely to strike the closer a storm cloud’s electrical charging zone is to the land or ocean’s surface, a new study finds. These conditions are responsible for superbolt “hotspots” above some oceans and tall mountains.

Superbolts make up less than 1% of total lightning, but when they do strike, they pack a powerful punch. While the average lightning strike contains around 300 million volts, superbolts are 1,000 times stronger and can cause major damage to infrastructure and ships, the authors say.

“Superbolts, even though they’re only a very, very tiny percentage of all lightning, they’re a magnificent phenomenon,” said Avichay Efraim, a physicist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lead author of this study.

A 2019 report found that superbolts tend to cluster over the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Altiplano in Peru and Bolivia, which is one of the tallest plateaus on Earth. "We wanted to know what makes these powerful superbolts more likely to form in some places as opposed to others," Efraim said.

The new study provides the first explanation for the formation and distribution of superbolts over land and sea worldwide. The research was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, AGU’s journal dedicated to advancing the understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and its interaction with other components of the Earth system.

Storm clouds often reach 12 to 18 kilometers (7.5 to 11 miles) in height, spanning a wide range of temperatures. But for lightning to form, a cloud must straddle the line where the air temperature reaches 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). Above the freezing line, in the upper reaches of the cloud, electrification takes place and generates the lightning’s “charging zone.” Efraim wondered whether changes in freezing line altitude, and subsequently charging zone height, could influence a storm’s ability to form superbolts.

Past studies have explored whether superbolt strength could be affected by sea spray, shipping lane emissions, ocean salinity or even desert dust, but those studies were limited to regional bodies of water and could explain at most only part of the regional distribution of superbolts. A global explanation of superbolt hotspots remained elusive.

To determine what causes superbolts to cluster over certain areas, Efraim and his co-authors needed to know the time, location and energy of select lightning strikes, which they obtained from a set of radio wave detectors. They used these lightning data to extract key properties from the storms’ environments, including land and water surface height, charging zone height, cloud top and base temperatures, and aerosol concentrations. They then looked for correlations between each of these factors and superbolt strength, gleaning insights into what causes stronger lightning — and what doesn’t.

The researchers found that contrary to previous studies, aerosols did not have a significant effect on superbolt strength. Instead, a smaller distance between the charging zone and land or water surface led to significantly more energized lightning. Storms close to the surface allow higher-energy bolts to form because, generally, a shorter distance means less electrical resistance and therefore a higher current. And a higher current means stronger lightning bolts.

The three regions that experience the most superbolts — the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Altiplano — all have one thing in common: short gaps between lightning charging zones and surfaces.

“The correlation we saw was very clear and significant, and it was very thrilling to see that it occurs in the three regions,” Efraim said. “This is a major breakthrough for us."

Knowing that a short distance between a surface and a cloud’s charging zone leads to more superbolts will help scientists determine how changes in climate could affect the occurrence of superbolt lightning in the future. Warmer temperatures could cause an increase in weaker lightning, but more moisture in the atmosphere could counteract that, Efraim said. There is no definitive answer yet.

Moving forward, the team plans on exploring other factors that could contribute to superbolt formation, such as the magnetic field or changes in the solar cycle.

“There is much more unknown, but what we’ve found out here is a big piece of the puzzle,” Efraim said. “And we’re not done yet. There’s much more to do.”

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Notes for Journalists:

This study is published with open access in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. View and download a pdf of the study here. Neither the paper nor this press release is under embargo.

Paper title:

“A possible cause for preference of super bolt lightning over the Mediterranean Sea and the Altiplano”

Authors:

• Avichay Efraim, (corresponding author) The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Daniel Rosenfeld, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Robert Holzworth, University of Washington, Seattle
• Joel A. Thornton, University of Washington, Seattle

Related research:

“Global distribution of superbolts,” Holzworth et al. (2019), JGR: Atmospheres

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Visit the AGU Newsroom to read about the latest science from AGU’s 23 journals, get updates about our organization, register for complimentary press access to AGU journals, and find topical experts. Visit eos.org to read Research Spotlights and Editors’ Highlights.

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AGU (www.agu.org/) is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres

DOI

10.1029/2022JD038254 

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Sep-2023