Earth Wise

Teeth and particularly narwhal tusks are getting some unusual press recently when one of them was the weapon of choice to fend off the London Bridge attacker, which was a good choice according to Harvard dental researcher Dr. Martin Nweeia.  Turns out that narwhal tusks have some pretty amazing physical features.  They exhibit both extreme strength and flexibility at the same time.  The narwhal is known as the unicorn of the sea, a pale-colored, medium-sized whale found in Arctic coastal waters and rivers.  In males, the more prominent tooth grows into a sword like, spiral tusk up to 8.8 feet long.

Changes in the shape of teeth over time can tell us about climate change. Adaptations in horse teeth 55 million years ago from North America were observed and caused by changes in climate, favoring different food sources.  The horses changed their diets from fruit to more favorable grasses and their teeth changed in response. For this same reason, the teeth of elephants adapting in different environments of Asia and Africa have different tooth forms.  Both eat plants but Asian elephants, with more ridges on their teeth, eat larger amounts of grasses while African elephants, with wider spread ridges, eat more leaves. 

Teeth have been used to link land mass theories like the Bering Land Strait Theory, hypothesizing that North America and Asia were once one land mass. The teeth shape and form of people on both sides of the Bering Land Bridge shared a common “mongoloid dentition” with unique features. And so, can the narwhal tusk tell us something about a changing Arctic?  Scientists have discovered that the narwhal tusk is a giant sensory organ that is able to continually monitor its environment and has the ability to detect ice formation, and melt, both capabilities helpful for surviving in a changing Arctic.

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–Earth Wise acknowledges script contribution from Dr. Martin Nweeia of Harvard University.

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Fossil teeth reveal new facts about a mass extinction 260 million years ago

From the Horse’s Mouth: Teeth Reveal Evolution

Photo, posted April 3, 2019, courtesy of James St. John via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Global sea level rose by about 6 inches during the 20th century.  It is currently rising more than twice as fast and accelerating.  The rate of rise was 2.5 times faster from 2006 to 2016 than it was for nearly all of the 20th century.

Sea level rise occurs when glaciers and ice sheets lose mass.  Much of that meltwater comes from Greenland and Antarctica.  But levels also rise because, as water warms, it expands.  Added to that are the effects of human activities such as groundwater depletion and a geological phenomenon called isostatic adjustment that is going on in parts of the East Coast where the land is actually sinking.

In Atlantic Canada, sea level rise is outpacing the global average and has already led to boardwalks swamped by swelling tides, drowned forests, submerged wharfs, and threatened historic shoreline buildings.

Recent research suggests that globally, land now occupied by 300 million people could be affected by floods at least once a year by 2050 unless carbon emissions are significantly reduced, and coastal defenses strengthened.  (This new figure is more than three times higher than earlier estimates).

Researchers at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia are studying nature-based strategies for mitigating the effects of the rising seas.  These include conserving or restoring coastal ecosystems like dunes, wetlands, and reefs which could provide protection at a lower cost than building seawalls and other man-made obstacles.  Wetlands, for example, can reduce the force of waves and act as obstacles to storm surges, while also trapping sediment and stemming erosion.  Wetlands also serve as important carbon stores, but it is estimated that roughly half of the world’s coastal wetlands have been lost over the past 100 years to human activity and extreme weather events.

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The Looming Threat of Rising Sea Levels – And What We Can Do About it

Photo, posted February 14, 2015, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Public concern about plastic pollution has been rising.  More and more of us are choosing reusable grocery bags, metal straws, and reusable water bottles.  We shake our heads at images of immense plastic garbage patches in the ocean. We see reports of birds with 15% of their body weight in plastic.

While all of this is going on, companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, and

Saudi Aramco are ramping up production of plastic – which is mostly made from

oil, gas, and their byproducts.  They are

doing this as a hedge against the growing possibility that the global response

to climate change will reduce demand for their fuels.  Plastics are part of the category called

petrochemicals, which currently account for 14% of oil use.  Petrochemicals are expected to drive half of

oil demand growth over the next 30 years.

The World Economic Forum predicts plastic production will double in

the next 20 years.  The fracking boom in

the United States has turned this country into a big growth area for plastic

production.  Natural gas prices are low

which is hurting profits at fracking operations.  But fracking also unearths ethane, which is a

feedstock for plastic production.  So

plastic is becoming a kind of subsidy for fracking.

The American petroleum industry’s hub has historically been the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana as well as a stretch along the lower Mississippi River.  There is a slew of new projects there.  The industry is also seeking to create a new plastics corridor in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, where fracking wells are rich in ethane.

Society in general may be increasingly concerned about the impact of

things like carbon emissions and plastic pollution, but the fossil fuel

industry continues to focus entirely on growth and profits.

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The Plastics Pipeline: A Surge of New Production Is on the Way

Photo, posted January 10, 2015 , courtesy of Daniel Orth via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Bering Sea is the area of the far northern Pacific Ocean that separates Alaska from Russia.  Sea ice in the Bering Sea shrank to its lowest levels in recorded history in 2018, an event with profound effects on northwest Alaska residents who depend on marine resources for food, cash, and culture.

The loss of ice is indicative of very rapid change in the entire northern Bering Sea ecosystem with ramifications for everyone in the region.  A new peer-reviewed study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society examined the details and consequences of the drastic changes in the Bering Sea.

The study found that the maximum daily Bering Sea ice was the lowest

on record, and the widespread impacts of that fact include unprecedented

weather effects, marine wildlife die-offs, and sightings of animals outside of

their normal range.  Ecological changes

included the first documented mass strandings of ice-associated seals, a

redistribution of thermally sensitive fish, and a multispecies die-off of

seabirds due to starvation.

Persistent and anomalous warm winter weather contributed to poor ice

conditions that resulted in a fatal accident on an ice road and retreating and

fractured sea ice led to ice-laden flooding that caused power outages and

infrastructure damage.  In addition, there

have been more than 50 reports of unusual events related to weather and marine

wildlife.

The record-low sea ice is a consequence of the warming climate resulting in a warmer ocean, later arrival of sea ice, and more frequent storms than in the pre-industrial era.  These conditions are continuing to increase in occurrence.

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Record low level of Bering Sea ice causes profound, widespread impacts

Photo, posted April 7, 2014, courtesy of Allen Smith via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Inuit Calendar is based on six seasons defined by weather, ice, animal migration, daylight hours and the night sky.  All these variables are in flux according to Harvard Narwhal Biologist Dr. Martin Nweeia.  Last August in the high Canadian Arctic, at 72 degrees north latitude, temperatures were at an astounding 70 degrees during the day. In 2018, the same region at the same time of year, experienced one of the coldest August months in 15 years.  

Disappearing sea ice in Hudson Bay affects migration patterns of ice-dependent species like narwhal and beluga whales and now allows more shipping traffic which produces more marine noise pollution and the risk of an oil spill. As a natural resource, the Arctic has significant deposits of iron ore, gold, diamonds, phosphate, and bauxite, so cargo shipments are increasing yearly.  

The disappearance of caribou herds and

altered migrations of other animals have also blurred the seasonal

changes. Caribou numbers have decreased by more than half in the last two

decades.  Narwhal populations are remaining steady but are

experiencing migration shifts resulting in their appearance at new locations

and their absence from traditional areas.  Even the timing of the

migration has changed, shifting two weeks later from normal late summer – early

fall patterns.  

The night sky, which has long had identifiable reference points for Inuit observers, is also changing causing speculation about changes in the magnetic field and a polar shift or flipping of the poles. The earth’s magnetic north has been shifting toward Siberia at an alarming 30 miles each year since 2015.  Every million years, it is estimated that the poles flip three times.  No one knows if or when it will happen again. That’s a calendar with some unexpected dates. 

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–Earth Wise acknowledges script contribution from Dr. Martin Nweeia of Harvard University.

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Migratory Tundra Caribou and Wild Reindeer

Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why

Photo, posted June 27, 2014, courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

We’ve been hearing more and more about plastic contamination (microplastics) in the ocean.  It is pulled from the nostrils of sea turtles, found in Antarctic waters, and tracked in increasing quantities in sedimentary layers dating back to the 1940s.  A new study by researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggests that there could be a million times more pieces of plastic in the ocean than previously estimated.

Oceanographers found that some of the tiniest countable microplastic

particles in seawater occur at much higher concentrations than previously

measured.  Apparently, the traditional

way of counting marine microplastics most likely misses the smallest particles,

and therefore underestimates the number of particles by a factor of anywhere

from 10,000 to a million.

The new measurements estimate that the oceans may be contaminated by 8

million pieces of so-called mini-microplastics per cubic meter of water.  Earlier studies that only looked at larger

pieces of plastic found only 10 pieces per cubic meter. 

Microplastic studies typically trawl or pull a fine net behind a ship

to collect samples.  But the meshes

previously used could only capture plastics as small as 333 microns.  The new study found plastic particles as

small as 10 microns, which is less than the width of a human hair.

Plastics keep breaking down into smaller and smaller particles, but they are so chemically strong that their chemical bonds don’t break down. They remain bits of plastic.  Scientists are concerned that these particles can get small enough to enter the human bloodstream.  The potential effects on human health are not well known and not extensively studied.

The problem of plastics just keeps getting bigger.

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Microplastics a million times more abundant in the ocean than previously thought

Photo courtesy of UC San Diego.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Many of us are very concerned about the environment and want to try to do the right things as we go about our daily lives.  New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that we tend to overestimate just how much we are actually doing.

A study of over 4,000 people in United States, England, India, and

Sweden revealed that most people are convinced that they act more

environmentally friendly than the average person.  Their actions might include buying

eco-labelled products, saving household energy, recycling, driving a hybrid or

electric car, and reducing purchases of plastic bags.  Participants in the survey rated themselves

as more environmentally active than other people, including both unknown people

as well as their own friends.

The results are in keeping with a general tendency people have to

overestimate their own abilities. 

Studies over the years have shown that most people consider themselves,

for example, to be more honest, more creative, and better drivers than

others.  This sort of over-optimism

apparently also applies to environmentally friendly behaviors.

The data from the survey revealed that the participants were more

likely to overestimate their engagement in activities they perform often and

draw the faulty conclusion that the things they do often, they in fact do more

often than others.

A consequence of thinking that you are more environmentally friendly

than other people is that it can reduce the motivation to act environmentally

friendly in the future.  In fact, when we

think we are more environmentally friendly than others, we actually end up

becoming less environmentally friendly.

Logically speaking, the majority of people cannot be more

environmentally friendly than the average person.  We are not living in Lake Wobegone where all

children are above average.

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The majority consider themselves more environmentally friendly than others

Photo, posted March 6, 2014, courtesy of Karlis Dambrans via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Researchers are considering a wide range of approaches to mitigate the effects of global climate change.  Among these are various strategies of geoengineering, which must be viewed with enormous caution, given the high likelihood of unintended consequences from almost anything we might do.

Researchers at the International Institute for Applied Systems

Analysis have investigated potential strategies for cooling the planet in the

absence of Arctic sea ice.

The Arctic region is heating up faster than any other place on earth

and its sea ice is rapidly disappearing. 

Estimates are that summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean will be largely

gone within a generation.  Arctic ice and

snow reflect the sun’s energy into space, which helps to keep the planet

cool.  What happens if that ice is gone?

The researchers explored the fact that the Arctic Ocean ice actually insulates

the Arctic atmosphere from the warmer water under the ice.  Without the ice layer, the surface water

would actually increase air temperatures by 20 degrees C during the

winter.  That in turn would increase the

heat irradiated into space and thereby cool down the planet.

The Arctic sea ice is in part maintained because the upper regions of the Arctic Ocean have lower salinity than the Atlantic Ocean.  This stops Atlantic water from flowing above the cold Arctic waters.  So, if we were to somehow deliberately increase the salinity of the Arctic Ocean surface water, warmer, less salty Atlantic Ocean water would flow in, increase the temperature of the Arctic atmosphere, and release heat trapped in the ocean into space.

It all sounds pretty crazy, but the researchers say that given the

seriousness of climate change, all options should be considered when dealing

with it.

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Could we cool the Earth with an ice-free Arctic?

Photo, posted August 19, 2016, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Renewable sources are playing a growing role in meeting our energy needs, but one place where they have continued to fall short is in industrial processes that require extreme heat.  These include the cement, steel, and glass industries, among others.  These industries account for a significant amount of CO2 emissions because the most effective way to reach the necessary temperatures continues to be combustion of fossil fuels.  The cement industry alone accounts for 7% of global emissions and the need for cement continues to grow.

A previously stealthy startup company backed by Bill Gates and fellow

billionaire Soon-Shiong has made a breakthrough in the area of using solar

energy to achieve high temperatures.  The

company, called Heliogen, has created a solar oven that is capable of

generating heat above 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, which is enough for high-temperature

industrial processes.

The Heliogen technology uses concentrated solar power to generate

heat.  Concentrated solar power uses

arrays of mirrors to reflect sunlight and focus it to a single point.  That technology is not new;  there are systems that use it to produce

electricity and, to some extent, heat for industry.  But it could not achieve high enough

temperatures for producing cement or steel.

The new system uses computer vision software, automatic edge detection

and other sophisticated technologies to focus the sun’s rays far more finely

than ever before and thereby generate far higher temperatures at the focal

point.

Heliogen is now focused on demonstrating how the technology can be

used in a large-scale application, such as cement-making.  The selling points to industry are that not only

will there be no emissions generated, but that the fuel needed to obtain their

extreme heat will be free.

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Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough

Photo courtesy of Heliogen.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A new study of bird migration shows the migration patterns are shifting as a result of climate change.   Researchers at Colorado State University, the University of Massachusetts, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, looked at the impacts of climate change on a continental scale.

The team looked at the nocturnal migratory behaviors of hundreds of

species representing billions of birds using radar and other data.  They found that spring migrants are likely to

pass certain stops earlier now than they would have 20 years ago.  Temperature and migration timing are closely

aligned and the greatest changes in migration timing are occurring in regions

warming most rapidly.  During the fall,

shifts in migration were less apparent.

Migratory birds play an important role in ecosystems.  They consume insects, disperse seeds, and

perform various other significant functions. Birds serve as critical metrics of

the health of ecosystems.

Bird migration is a global phenomenon that can provide unique visibility into changes in the climate.  The ability to look at it on a global scale has only recently become practical as a result of big data technology and cloud computing.  The team was able to crunch the numbers for the study in 48 hours, a task that previously would have taken over a year of continuous computing.

The findings have implications for understanding future patterns of

bird migration because birds depend on food and other resources as they

travel.  As the climate changes, the

timing of blooming vegetation or the emergence of insects may end up out of

sync with the passage of migratory birds. 

This could have negative consequences for the health of migratory birds.

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Bird migration timing skewed by climate, new research finds

Photo, posted November 5, 2019, courtesy of Jerry Kirkhart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.