Category: News

Brightening Clouds and Coral Larvae: Study Picks Best Great Barrier Reef Rescue Ideas

By on

April 15, 2020 By Graham Readfearn The Guardian
Brightening clouds with salt crystals and deploying slicks of coral larvae to try and limit the impacts of global heating on the Great Barrier Reef are among more than 40 concepts being backed by the Australian government in an ambitious $150m research and development program. A two-year feasibility study released by the government on Thursday has reduced about 160 potential ideas to a list of 43 that will be funded for further investigation under the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP).

Scientists Confirm Dramatic Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet

By on

April 15, 2020 By Nicola Davis The Guardian
There was a dramatic melting of Greenland’s ice sheet in the summer of 2019, researchers have confirmed, in a study that reveals the loss was largely down to a persistent zone of high pressure over the region. The ice sheet melted at a near record rate in 2019, and much faster than the average of previous decades.

Ice-tracking Space Laser Could Also Map Sea Floor and Monitor Health of Coral Reefs

By on

April 14, 2020 By Paul Voosen Science Magazine
Late in 2018, just after its arrival in orbit, NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite passed over an iconic site from the atomic age. By chance, its laser altimeter, used mostly to measure the changing height of polar ice, bounced light off the exposed rocks of Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean, home to 23 nuclear weapons tests. Then, mission scientists looked closer: To their surprise, the laser was also generating underwater reflections.

The Sargasso Sea Is Plenty Wide, and It’s Growing

By on

April 14, 2020 By Dan Nosowitz Atlas Obscura
Sargassum is the umbrella term for a group of marine algae species—within a larger group called seaweed—that’s fundamental to the health of an entire region of the Atlantic and the many species who either live there or pass through. Sometimes, though, it explodes in growth, creating a continent-sized bloom that thoroughly freaks out multiple countries. These blooms have long happened and are perfectly acceptable if they happen rarely. They have not been happening rarely.