Explosion on a white dwarf observed

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITÄT ERLANGEN-NÜRNBERG

When stars like our Sun use up all their fuel, they shrink to form white dwarfs. Sometimes such dead stars flare back to life in a super hot explosion and produce a fireball of X-ray radiation. A research team led by FAU has now been able to observe such an explosion of X-ray light for the very first time.

“It was to some extent a fortunate coincidence, really,” explains Ole König from the Astronomical Institute at FAU in the Dr. Karl Remeis observatory in Bamberg, who has published an article about this observation in the reputable journal Nature, together with Prof. Dr. Jörn Wilms and a research team from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, the University of Tübingen, the Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya in Barcelona und the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam. “These X-ray flashes last only a few hours and are almost impossible to predict, but the observational instrument must be pointed directly at the explosion at exactly the right time,” explains the astrophysicist.

The instrument in this case is the eROSITA X-ray telescope, which is currently located one and a half million kilometers from Earth and has been surveying the sky for soft X-rays since 2019. On July 7, 2020 it measured strong X-ray radiation in an area of the sky that had been completely inconspicuous four hours previously. When the X-ray telescope surveyed the same position in the sky four hours later, the radiation had disappeared. It follows that the X-ray flash that had previously completely overexposed the center of the detector must have lasted less than eight hours.

X-ray explosions such as this were predicted by theoretical research more than 30 years ago, but have never been observed directly until now. These fireballs of X-rays occur on the surface of stars that were originally comparable in size to the Sun before using up most of their fuel made of hydrogen and later helium deep inside their cores. These stellar corpses shrink until “white dwarfs” remain, which are similar to Earth in size but contain a mass that can be similar to that of our Sun. “One way to picture these proportions is to think of the Sun being the same size as an apple, which means Earth would be the same size as a pin head orbiting around the apple at a distance of 10 meters,” explains Jörn Wilms.

Stellar corpses resemble gemstones

On the other hand, if you were to shrink an apple to the size of a pin head, this tiny particle would retain the comparatively large weight of the apple. “A teaspoon of matter from the inside of a white dwarf easily has the same mass as a large truck,” Jörn Wilms continues. Since these burnt out stars are mainly made up of oxygen and carbon, we can compare them to gigantic diamonds that are the same size as Earth floating around in space. These objects in the form of precious gems are so hot they glow white. However, the radiation is so weak that it is difficult to detect from Earth.

Unless the white dwarf is accompanied by a star that is still burning, that is, and when the enormous gravitational pull of the white dwarf draws hydrogen from the shell of the accompanying star. “In time, this hydrogen can collect to form a layer only a few meters thick on the surface of the white dwarf,” explains FAU astrophysicist Jörn Wilms. In this layer, the huge gravitational pull generates enormous pressure that is so great that it causes the star to reignite. In a chain reaction, it soon comes to a huge explosion during which the layer of hydrogen is blown off. The X-ray radiation of an explosion like this is what hit the detectors of eROSITA on July 7, 2020 producing an overexposed image.

“Using the model calculations we originally drew up while supporting the development of the X-ray instrument, we were able to analyze the overexposed image in more detail during a complex process to gain a behind the scenes view of an explosion of a white dwarf, or nova,” explains Jörn Wilms. According to the results, the white dwarf has around the mass of our Sun and is therefore relatively large. The explosion generated a fireball with a temperature of around 327,000 degrees, making it around sixty times hotter than the Sun.

Since these novae run out of fuel quite quickly, they cool rapidly and the X-ray radiation becomes weaker until it eventually becomes visible light, which reached Earth half a day after the eROSITA detection and was observed by optical telescopes. „A seemingly bright star then appeared, which was actually the visible light from the explosion, and so bright that it could be seen on the night sky by the bare eye,“ explains Ole König. Seemingly “new stars” such as this one have been observed in the past and were named “nova stella”, or “new star” on account of their unexpected appearance. Since these novae are only visible after the X-ray flash, it is very difficult to predict such outbreaks and it is mainly down to chance when they hit the X-ray detectors. “We were really lucky,” says Ole König.

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-022-04635-y 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

X-ray detection of a nova in the fireball phase

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

11-May-2022

New research could provide earlier warning of tsunamis

Deep-learning models can be trained to assess the magnitude of mega earthquakes in real time

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DOE/LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY

A new method of detecting mega earthquakes, which picks up on the gravity waves they generate by using deep-learning models created at Los Alamos National Laboratory, can estimate earthquake magnitude in real time and provide earlier warning of tsunamis.  

“Our model unlocks real-time estimation of earthquake magnitude, using data routinely treated as noise, and can immediately be transformative for tsunami early warning,” said Bertrand Rouet-Leduc, a scientist in Los Alamos’ Geophysics group.

Rapid and reliable magnitude estimation for large earthquakes is crucial to mitigate the risk associated with strong shaking and tsunamis. Standard early warning systems based on seismic waves cannot rapidly estimate the size of large earthquakes; the systems rely on estimating earthquake magnitude directly from the shaking it produces. These systems cannot distinguish between magnitude 8 and magnitude 9 earthquakes, even though the latter is 30 times more energetic and destructive.

Important distinctions possible

In new research, published May 11 in Nature, a research team found that a long-theorized gravity wave associated with very large earthquakes can also be used for earthquake early warning. Unlike seismic-based early warning, gravity-based early warning does not saturate with magnitude, meaning that gravity-based earthquake early warning can immediately distinguish between magnitude 8 and 9 earthquakes.

Other current approaches rely on GPS to estimate earthquake magnitude. While this approach provides better estimations than seismic-based earthquake early warning, it is also subject to large uncertainties and latency.

PEGS approach more accurate for larger earthquakes

The recently discovered, speed-of-light Prompt Elasto-Gravity Signals approach raised hopes to overcome these limitations, but until now, had never been tested for earthquake early warning. As opposed to current methods, the PEGS approach to detection gets more accurate for larger earthquakes.

The research team showed that PEGS can be used in real time to track earthquake growth and magnitude immediately after it reaches a certain size. The team developed a deep-learning model that leverages the information carried by PEGS, which is recorded by regional broadband seismometers in Japan.

After training the deep-learning model on a database of synthetic waveforms augmented with empirical noise measured on the seismic network, the team was able to show the first example of instantaneous tracking of an earthquake source on real data.

This model, combined with real-time data, can alert communities much earlier if a subduction mega earthquake is large enough to create a tsunami that will breach the seawalls in place and endanger the coastal populations.

Paper: Instantaneous Tracking of Earthquake Growth with Elasto-Gravity Signals. Andrea Licciardi, Quentin Bletery, Bertrand Rouet-Leduc, Jean-Paul Ampuero and Kévin Juhel. Nature.

Funding: Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Los Alamos.

LA-UR-22-24209

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-022-04672-7 

ARTICLE TITLE

Instantaneous tracking of earthquake growth with elastogravity signals

Not all is rosy for the pink pigeon, study finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

 

IMAGE: PINK PIGEON OF MAURITIUS view more 

CREDIT: MAURITIAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION

The authors of a major study on the once critically endangered pink pigeon say boosting the species’ numbers is not enough to save it from extinction in the future.

Despite the population increase, the team’s analysis shows the pink pigeon has a high genetic load of bad mutations, which puts it at considerable risk of extinction in the wild within 100 years without continued conservation actions.

An international collaboration led by scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA), Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent and the Earlham Institute in the UK, working with organisations on the ground in Mauritius, investigated the genetic impacts of a population ‘bottleneck’ - a rapid collapse in numbers that affected the pink pigeon from Mauritius in the late 1980s, with only 12 birds surviving in the wild.

The team analysed the DNA of 175 birds sampled over nearly 20 years as subsequent conservation efforts took place.

With the help of biologists from the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and in partnership with the Government of Mauritius’ National Parks and Conservation Service, the free-living population of the species has increased to around 500 birds.

Consequently, the pink pigeon has been down-listed twice on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List from critically endangered to vulnerable.

However, to keep these populations viable, the researchers warn that ‘genetic rescue’ is needed to recover lost genetic variation caused by inbreeding and to reduce the effects of the harmful mutations. This can be achieved by releasing captive-bred birds from UK and EU zoos.

The study, published in Conservation Biology, used conservation genetic work at DICE, cutting-edge genomic techniques developed at UEA and the Earlham Institute, and computer modelling to closely examine the species’ DNA and assess the risk of future extinction, as well as forecasting what needs to be done to secure the pink pigeon’s viability. The authors say their findings could help other threatened species.

“By studying the genome of a recovered species that was once critically endangered, we can learn how to help other species to bounce back from a population collapse,” said UEA’s Prof Cock van Oosterhout, one of the lead authors.

“During the pigeon’s population bottleneck, the gene pool lost a lot of variation, and many bad mutations increased in frequency. This genetic load still poses a severe threat, even though the population has recovered in numbers.”

Prof van Oosterhout, of the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA, added: “The problem is that all individuals are somehow related to each other. They are the descendants of the few ancestors that managed to survive the bottleneck. Hence, it becomes virtually impossible to stop inbreeding, and this exposes these bad mutations. In turn, this can increase the mortality rate, and it could cause the population to collapse again.”

Prof Jim Groombridge, from the University of Kent, explained how the initial recovery of the pink pigeon population was achieved: “A captive population of pink pigeons in the Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary in Mauritius, jointly managed by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the National Parks and Conservation Service, was established in the 1970s.

“This was used to breed birds for release into the wild, which boosted population numbers. The team also restored habitat by controlling introduced species and provided supplementary food as part of a field programme of intensive conservation management, which further increased the free-living population.”

The study used sophisticated software called SLiM that can model an entire bird chromosome, including all its bad mutations. The researchers simulated the bottleneck and population recovery, and then they compared the predicted outcomes of different reintroduction programmes. The study was therefore able to predict the viability of the population in the future under different conservation management scenarios.

“We didn’t know how many bad mutations the population carried initially, before the bottleneck,” said Dr Hernan Morales from University of Copenhagen, in Denmark, who performed the SLiM modelling. “We first had to simulate the ancestral population to find out how many bad mutations could have evolved. We then checked this data with data on inbreeding depression data from zoo populations of the pink pigeon.”

Using pedigree and fitness data held at Jersey Zoo for over 1000 birds, the team estimated the genetic load, which showed that the pink pigeon carried a high genetic load of 15 lethal equivalents. This was then used to calibrate the computer models.

“The computer simulations clearly show that just boosting numbers isn’t enough,” added Dr Morales. “The population also needs ‘genetic rescue’ from more genetically diverse birds bred in European zoos. These birds are not as closely related, and they can help to reduce the level of inbreeding. However, there is a risk that we could introduce other bad mutations from the zoo population into the wild.”

Dr Camilla Ryan, who worked on the project at the Earlham Institute and UEA, said: “Our bioinformatics analysis indicated the importance of genetic diversity and the unique genetic rescue model to help other species from the brink of extinction. This research highlights the value of collaborations between NGOs, institutes and universities which draw together a range of expertise. This ensures that a holistic approach is taken to a species conservation which includes an understanding of its genetic health.”

Sam Speak, a PhD student at UEA and co-author of the paper, added: “We are now analysing the genome of the pink pigeon from zoo populations here in the UK, trying to locate these bad mutations. We can do this now using bioinformatics tools developed for studying human genetics and the genomes of other model bird species such as the chicken.

“By using conservation genomics, future reintroduction programmes can avoid releasing individuals with high genetic load. This would help reduce inbreeding and improve the long-term recovery of threatened species such as the pink pigeon.”

‘Genomic erosion in a demographically recovered bird species during conservation rescue’ is published in Conservation Biology on May 13.

CAPTION

Pink pigeon of Mauritius

CREDIT

Mauritian Wildlife Foundation

CAPTION

Pink pigeon of Mauritius

CREDIT

Mauritian Wildlife Foundation

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JOURNAL

Conservation Biology

DOI

10.1111/cobi.13918 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Genomic erosion in a demographically recovered bird species during conservation rescue

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

13-May-2022

Sea ice can control Antarctic ice sheet stability, new research finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

 

IMAGE: YOUNG (BLUE) AND LANDFAST (SMOOTH WHITE) SEA ICE OFFSHORE OF NEW BEDFORD INLET, EASTERN ANTARCTIC PENINSULA, AS IMAGED BY THE OPERATIONAL LAND IMAGER INSTRUMENT ONBOARD THE USGS/NASA LANDSAT 8 SATELLITE ON 5TH MARCH 2017. view more 

CREDIT: FRAZER CHRISTIE

Despite the rapid melting of ice in many parts of Antarctica during the second half of the 20th century, researchers have found that the floating ice shelves which skirt the eastern Antarctic Peninsula have undergone sustained advance over the past 20 years.

Ice shelves – floating sections of ice which are attached to land-based ice sheets – serve the vital purpose of buttressing against the uncontrolled release of inland ice to the ocean. During the late 20th century, high levels of warming in the eastern Antarctic Peninsula led to the catastrophic collapse of the Larsen A and B ice shelves in 1995 and 2002, respectively. These events drove the acceleration of ice towards the ocean, ultimately accelerating the Antarctic Peninsula’s contribution to sea level rise.

Currently, the jury is out on exactly how sea ice around Antarctica will evolve in response to climate change, and therefore influence sea level rise, with some models forecasting wholescale sea ice loss in the Southern Ocean, while others predict sea ice gain.

Now, an international team of researchers, from the Universities of Cambridge and Newcastle in the UK, and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, have used a combination of historical satellite measurements, along with ocean and atmosphere records, to get the most detailed understanding yet of how ice conditions are changing along the 1,400-kilometre-long eastern Antarctic Peninsula.

They found that 85% of the ice shelf perimeter in this part of Antarctica has advanced since the early 2000s, in contrast to the extensive retreat of the previous two decades. The advance is linked due to decade-scale changes in atmospheric circulation, which has led to more sea ice being carried to the coast by wind.

The results, reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggest that sea ice plays an important role in stabilising ice shelves, much like ice shelves themselves stabilise and buttress ice sheets.

“We’ve found that sea-ice change can either safeguard from, or set in motion, the calving of icebergs from large Antarctic ice shelves,” said Dr Frazer Christie from Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), the paper’s lead author. “Regardless of how the sea ice around Antarctica changes in a warming climate, our observations highlight the often-overlooked importance of sea-ice variability to the health of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.”

In 2019, Christie and his co-authors were part of a SPRI-led expedition to study ice conditions in the Weddell Sea offshore of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula, a notoriously difficult part of the Southern Ocean to reach given the thick and year-round presence of sea ice.

“During the expedition, we noted that parts of the ice-shelf coastline were at their most advanced position since satellite records began in the early 1960s,” said expedition chief scientist and study co-author Professor Julian Dowdeswell, also from SPRI.

Following the expedition, the team used satellite images going back 60 years, as well as state-of-the-art ocean and atmosphere models, to investigate in detail the spatial and temporal pattern of ice-shelf change.

So what caused the ice shelves to advance? In the absence of atmosphere and ocean warming over the past 20 years, the dominant control was found to be a change in regional wind patterns over the Weddell Sea, which served to push sea ice against the ice shelves.

Between 1985 and 2002, in contrast, wind conditions in the same area caused sea ice to move away from the coast. By removing the buttressing effect of the sea ice and exposing the ice shelves to damaging ocean waves, stress on the ice shelves increased, ultimately leading to calving of icebergs.

In almost all cases throughout the satellite era, calving from the eastern Antarctic Peninsula’s ice shelves only occurred during or shortly after the removal of sea ice in some form.

However, it’s possible that this period of ice advance may be ending. Since 2020, there has been a notable increase in the number of icebergs breaking away from the eastern Antarctic Peninsula. “It’s entirely possible we could be seeing a transition back to atmospheric patterns similar to those observed during the 1990s that encouraged sea-ice loss and, ultimately, more ice-shelf calving,” said co-author Dr Wolfgang Rack from the University of Canterbury.

The work was made possible thanks to the free, open-access availability of the historical satellite record by space agencies and partners including NASA and the joint European Commission—European Space Agency Copernicus Programme.

The research was supported in part by the Flotilla Foundation, Marine Archaeology Consultants Switzerland, and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

CAPTION

New research led by the University of Cambridge has found that the eastern Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet has grown in area over the last 20 years, due to changing wind and sea ice patterns. It is unknown exactly how sea ice around Antarctica will continue to evolve in response to climate change, or the effects this will have on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet.

CREDIT

Frazer Christie

CAPTION

Schematic diagrams showing the key atmospheric and sea ice processes controlling the (in)stability of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula’s ice shelves through time. Following a period of retreat during the 1980s and 1990s, the ice shelves underwent sustained advance during the last two decades.

CREDIT

Frazer Christie

CAPTION

Leads and floes in the Weddell Sea. Image shows a variety of sea ice types ranging from relatively young ‘Nilas’ (blues/greens; thickness ~10 cm) to multi-year floes (white; thickness ~1-2.5 or m or greater). Image acquired by the Operational Land Imager instrument onboard NASA/USGS Landsat 8 on 21st October 2018, and processed by Dr. Frazer Christie, Scott Polar Research Institute.

CREDIT

Dr Frazer Christie

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JOURNAL

Nature Geoscience

DOI

10.1038/s41561-022-00938-x 

ARTICLE TITLE

Antarctic ice-shelf advance driven by anomalous atmospheric and sea-ice circulation

CSU study finds disparities in natural gas leak prevalence in U.S. urban areas

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

A Colorado State University-led study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology reveals that in U.S. cities over a several-year period, natural gas pipeline leaks were more prevalent in neighborhoods with low-income or majority non-white populations than those with high income or predominately white populations.

The study was led by senior author Joseph von Fischer, a professor in the Department of Biology at CSU, and Zachary Weller, a former assistant professor in CSU’s Department of Statistics. The work, supported through a gift to Environmental Defense Fund, builds on a multi-year research project in which the CSU researchers and colleagues conducted detailed urban methane leak surveys using high-sensitivity analyzers inside Google Street View cars. While traversing different cities, the cars collected detailed observations of leaks from natural gas distribution pipelines that are typically found several feet below ground. The data were collected between 2014 and 2018 and are publicly available through interactive maps the team created.

For the environmental justice-focused study, the researchers compared 2017 household census data with their publicly available gas leak data from 13 metro areas across the country. Their multi-city analysis revealed greater leak densities in communities where the majority of the population is non-white relative to predominantly white neighborhoods. Leak densities also increased with decreasing median incomes. The strength of these relationships varies among individual cities.

“There are clear paths utility companies can take to address the issue,” von Fischer said. “For example, they could conduct similar analyses of leaks on their systems and factor in demographic info when making decisions about infrastructure management.”

Natural gas is mostly methane ­– a potentially explosive and very potent greenhouse gas responsible for over a quarter of current global warming. Methane gas leaks on local pipeline systems are carefully regulated for safety, but many leaks are allowed to continue unaddressed for years – during which time they continue to emit climate pollution and could become hazardous.

“Gas leaks are a solvable problem, and it’s clear they are being better managed in some areas and not others,” von Fischer said. “This analysis reveals a clear need to improve the equity of gas distribution systems in order to improve health and safety outcomes for all communities.”

New standards

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the federal agency that oversees these pipelines, is in the process of setting new standards that will require pipeline operators to use advanced leak detection technology to find and fix methane leaks in the pipelines. However, those standards have yet to be finalized and implemented.

“Gas pipeline leaks pose a safety risk and release harmful climate pollution, and it’s clear this problem can be worse for communities of color and low-income households,” said Erin Murphy, Senior Attorney with Environmental Defense Fund. “Stronger oversight of gas pipeline leaks is needed to combat the climate crisis, build healthier communities and advance environmental justice.”

The study’s co-authors include Seongwon Im, a Ph.D. candidate in statistics at CSU; Emily Stuchiner, a recent CSU biology Ph.D. graduate; and Virginia Palacios of Commission Shift in Laredo, Texas.

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JOURNAL

Environmental Science & Technology

DOI

10.1021/acs.est.2c00097 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Environmental Injustices of Leaks from Urban Natural Gas Distribution Systems: Patterns among and within 13 U.S. Metro Areas

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

11-May-2022

Disclaimer: AAAS and Eurek

Large-scale ocean sanctuaries could protect coral reefs from climate change

About 75% of all tropical reefs have experienced coral bleaching

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Earth’s oceans are home to some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, but warming temperatures are causing many marine animals, including coral, to die out. A new study into managing the effect climate change has on these organisms says that more international collaboration is needed to ensure the future of the more than 6,000 coral species.

“Coral reefs are an essential ecosystem on our planet,” said Andrea Grottoli, co-author of the study and a professor in earth sciences at the Ohio State University. “Coral reefs are really important for humans in that they provide protection to coastlines from erosion and storms, and they’re essential for certain services like tourism and other parts of the economy.” 

The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, advocates for the use of mesoscale sanctuaries, or areas that can stretch thousands of miles, often across national boundaries, to protect these ocean environments.

“Global warming is the No. 1 threat to coral reefs right now,“ Grottoli said. “So when we think about coral reef conservation, we can't limit ourselves to arbitrary geographic boundaries.”

Providing a “continuum of conservation” would benefit reefs immensely, Grottoli said. But because conservation policies differ between various governments and politicians, that can make it hard to protect the environment. 

Although coral reefs occupy less than 0.1% of the surface area in Earth’s oceans, about 30% of all marine species are in some way associated with them, Grottoli said. But due to the stress of rising sea temperatures, coral reefs all over the world have experienced higher rates of coral bleaching, or the visible paling of the coral surface. 

Under coral bleaching, the animal’s skeleton, once obscured, becomes visible, and effectively turns the creature a faded, ghostly white. Although bleached coral is not immediately dead, it can lead to mass mortality. Researchers say mass bleaching events are an indicator of an ecosystem’s declining health. 

Many people may be most familiar with coral via the Great Barrier Reef, a complex coral system so large that the living structure can be spotted from space. Located just off the coast of Australia, upwards of 2 million tourists visit the region each year. The attraction brings in an annual estimated economic value of about $36 billion.

Yet despite being the world’s most protected marine area, the GBR was recently hit by another mass bleaching event, the fourth time in only six years. 

While climate change has undoubtedly contributed to the increases in frequency and intensity of these events, warming seas are also changing the composition and architectural complexity of coral reefs. “Under this reality, the future of coral reefs may appear grim,” the paper said.

But there is some good news. Even as the global population of coral dwindles, the genetic diversity of coral species helps ensure that some corals may be able to adapt and recover. And while there is an urgent need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, the study also suggests that in the meantime, we need to take broad transdisciplinary approaches to creating both local and large-scale ocean sanctuaries.

Grottoli believes much of the heavy lifting of saving coral will happen through education. 

“People who understand coral reefs, and who understand the value of coral reefs, are much more likely to do something to help protect them,” she said. “If you don’t know anything about coral, and you’ve never seen one, how can you have any empathy or feel any connection to that ecosystem?” 

In her role as president of the International Coral Reef Society, Grottoli and her colleagues even put together a series of actions individuals can take at home to help scientists’ conservation efforts.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation. 

#

Contact: Andrea Grottoli, Grottoli.1@osu.edu

Written by: Tatyana Woodall, Woodall.52@osu.edu

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JOURNAL

Global Change Biology

DOI

10.1111/gcb.16192 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Coral-bleaching responses to climate change across biological scales

The 2030 Project to marshal faculty to solve climate crisis

Business Announcement

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Declaring this the “decisive decade” for climate action, Cornell launched The 2030 Project: A Climate Initiative, which will mobilize world-class faculty to develop and accelerate tangible solutions to the climate challenge. From transforming food and energy systems and reducing greenhouse emissions to advancing environmental justice and shaping policy, Cornell will use practical science to help save the planet before it’s too late.

The 2030 Project, which will marshal the expertise of hundreds of faculty members, debuted May 11 at the Cornell Future Forum in San Francisco – the first in-person event in California since the start of the pandemic.

“We really are an institution like no other,” said President Martha E. Pollack, addressing alumni and friends at the event. “We combine Ivy League scholarship with that land-grant mission. We combine the liberal arts with professions, our rural identity with our urban campuses; we have an incredible depth and breadth of world-leading expertise and a culture of collaboration. And of course, we have a foundational commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. And I think that this constellation of strengths has really enabled us to be uniquely agile in our response to the changes and challenges of our times.”

The 2030 project seeks to solve the climate crisis through faculty’s existing interdisciplinary collaborations, dissolving academic silos and fostering unlikely partnerships to tackle one of the gravest challenges humanity has ever faced.

“We know that the climate is changing,” said Benjamin Z. Houlton, the 

Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, who will serve as the co-chair of the new initiative. “It’s bad and it’s getting worse. We know why it’s happening. We can solve it. All those things are true at the same time.

“Climate is not some partisan future, some threat that’s lurking behind the scenes,” he said. “It’s trying to figure out – in places like California, where many of you have experienced drought, heat waves, wildfires and continuing whiplash events – how to solve atmospheric change.”

Houlton said the world needs a systemic, comprehensive, holistic set of scalable solutions that must be equitable and inclusive. There is a brief, rapidly closing window, he said, to solve what the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls a “code red” climate scenario.

Co-chairing the project with Houlton is David Lodge, the Frank S. DiSalvo Director of the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, who said the project will embrace all of Cornell’s expertise to move research, insight and discovery into large-scale impact and solutions.

Project leadership also includes Lynden Archer, the Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering, and Ray Jayawardhana, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. It will be managed by Ben Furnas ’06, the project’s executive director.

“This project is a manifestation of Cornell’s nimble, open enthusiasm to attract researchers and faculty and students all across the university to take action on climate,” Furnas said recently. “As an ambition, the 2030 Project will mobilize Cornell and connect to our community and the state and then scale our research to the world – which is certainly part of Cornell’s DNA as a land-grant institution.” 

For now, Houlton said, university expertise will drive collaborative research and teaching in four core areas: materials of the future, energy systems of the future, food and farm of the future, and society and policies of the future.

“We have the objective of making sure that every green electron that we generate actually gets used,” said Lindsay Anderson, associate professor of biological and environmental engineering (CALS), and the interim director of the Cornell Energy Systems Institute, speaking at the 2030 Project panel at the event. “Our energy – particularly our electric power system – is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. If we can decarbonize our energy system, we will have a big impact on climate change.”

This 2030 Project brings together Cornell’s in-house strengths, she said.

“If we’re going to tackle these large problems at the forefront, then we’re all going to need to work together. And not only my industry, but this collaborative culture that [Cornell has] is a unique opportunity,” said Anderson, who is also the Norman R. Scott Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow and the Kathy Dwyer Marble and Curt Marble Faculty Director for Energy at Cornell Atkinson.

Greeshma Gadikota, assistant professor and Croll Sesquicentennial Fellow in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where she directs the Sustainable Energy and Resource Recovery Group, spoke about using Earth Source Heat – a project now in the testing phase – as a way to keep campus warm in the winter, instead of using carbon-based methods.

“If we can try and decarbonize the university, we can be an example for the rest of the world on how to decarbonize institutions,” she said. “These solutions are not just for Cornell. These are also for the rest of the world.”

Geoff Coates, Tisch University Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (A&S), discussed plastics and finding new, advanced materials as a key to decarbonization.

Coates said that about 100 pounds of plastic, created from natural gas, is made annually for every person on Earth.

“We’re adding carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to make plastics and that’s unsustainable,” he said. “As we start to decarbonize transportation, energy, chemicals – especially plastics – that’s next on our list. We’re going to have to fix that.

“We’re not just polluting the atmosphere,” Coates said. “We’re polluting the Earth, the soil, water. About 40% of our plastics get landfilled.”

Coates’ lab is working on putting carbon dioxide into the plastic, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere.

“We’re trying to flip the script,” he said. “The chemical industry unfortunately has a 60-year start on us, but I’m trying to completely change the way we make plastics.”

A second panel, discussing “Computer Science for a Better World and Sustainable Future” featured Carla Gomes, the Ronald C. and Antonia V. Nielsen Professor of Computing and Information Science, in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science; Alex Flecker, professor in ecology and evolutionary biology (CALS); and Dan Fink, senior research associate, Lab of Ornithology. The panel was moderated by Kavita Bala, dean of Cornell Bowers CIS.

Computational sustainability, Gomes said, may be the foundation for helping other scientific fields achieve environmental action. Flecker discussed how artificial intelligence enabled strategic hydropower planning across the Amazon basin; and Fink demonstrated how AI adjusts for gaps in citizen science data and how it can promote sustainability.

“This is the decisive decade. We used to think that we could just cut emissions or capture carbon. We are past the point of thinking in terms of either/or cases,” Houlton said. “We need to think about silver buckshot, not silver bullets.”

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