06-07-2022-1035 - Meet the world’s largest plant: a seagrass clone stretching 180 km in Australia ; SCIENCE Earth’s Interior Is Cooling Faster Than Previously Estimated! Here’s Why It Matters ; NLAB

Meet the world’s largest plant: a seagrass clone stretching 180 km in Australia

In partnership with  The Conversation

Wednesday, June 1st 2022, 1:50 pm - What makes this seagrass plant unique from others, other than its enormous size, is that it has twice as many chromosomes as its relatives.

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/meet-the-worlds-largest-plant-a-single-seagrass-clone

Western researchers first to map effects of England’s ‘little ice age’ 

Interactive GIS database chronicles 500-year-old extreme climate events 

https://news.westernu.ca/2022/04/researchers-map-englands-little-ice-age/

Winter is coming: Researchers uncover the surprising cause of the little ice age

Cold era, lasting from early 15th to mid-19th centuries, triggered by unusually warm conditions

Date:

December 15, 2021

Source:

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Summary:

New research provides a novel answer to one of the persistent questions in historical climatology, environmental history and the earth sciences: what caused the Little Ice Age? The answer, we now know, is a paradox: warming.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211215142052.htm

Now, the Vikings of Greenland were not suspected of a bucolic lifestyle, though they did grow some barley for bread and beer. But they reached the island during a particularly mild period. A previous study based on insect life in Greenland – flies, specifically – supports the theory that when the Vikings came around the year 985, the weather was pretty wonderful by the standards of Arctic Circle environs.

The balmy weather, which was also probably marked by clouds of mosquitoes, was not to last. After around 500 years of warm weather, the Little Ice Age descended.

Why? Again, there are arguments but there were apparently a host of causes as the universe is a complicated place: from orbital and solar cycles to heightened volcanism, and even possibly the patterns of human fortunes. Some even tie the plague into the mix: as people died in droves, the forests in the north could recover; when populations increased in the northern hemisphere, they deforested their habitat. Tree cover affects the planet’s reflectivity. (Others reverse the sick chicken and its diseased egg, and blame the plague on the climate change.)

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2022-04-14/ty-article/sorry-vikings-you-didnt-flee-greenland-because-of-little-ice-age/00000180-5b94-dc4e-a5a9-7ff631ad0000

Rising Sea-Levels May Have Forced Vikings to Leave Greenland, Shows Study

By Ashmita Gupta17 January, 2022TWC India

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/science/news/2022-01-17-rising-sea-levels-may-have-forced-vikings-to-leave-greenland

How snowy and cold will it be this winter in central Indiana?


by: Brian Wilkes - Chief Meteorologist

Posted: Nov 22, 2021 / 10:00 PM EST

Updated: Nov 23, 2021 / 10:32 AM EST

https://fox59.com/weather/indianapolis-winter-weather-outlook/

https://www.axios.com/2022/05/20/extreme-weather-wildfires-denver-snowstorm-east-heat

Outside/In[box]: Would Ice Age humans still think of ice as 'cold'?

New Hampshire Public Radio | By Outside/In, Taylor Quimby

Published January 7, 2022 at 6:03 AM EST

https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2022-01-07/outside-inbox-would-ice-age-humans-still-think-of-ice-as-cold

NEWS

09 August 2021

IPCC climate report: Earth is warmer than it’s been in 125,000 years

Landmark assessment says that greenhouse gases are unequivocally driving extreme weather — but that nations can still prevent the worst impacts.

Jeff Tollefson

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02179-1

The Atlantic’s vital currents could collapse. Scientists are racing to understand the dangers.

So far, the efforts to observe the currents directly show they're weirder and more unpredictable than expected.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/14/1041321/climate-change-ocean-atlantic-circulation/

Pacific Ocean, Not Ice Sheet, Shifted West Coast Storms South

New study: Ocean temperature patterns drive the West’s wintertime storm tracks

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

https://cires.colorado.edu/news/pacific-ocean-not-ice-sheet-shifted-west-coast-storms-south

NASA’s Webb Telescope To Study Two “Super-Earths” Situated 50 Lightyears Away

By IANS7 days agoTWC India

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/space/news/2022-06-01-nasa-webb-telescope-to-study-two-super-earths

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/space/article/Houston-couple-races-to-find-fallen-space-rocks-17207750.php

SCIENCE

Earth’s Interior Is Cooling Faster Than Previously Estimated! Here’s Why It Matters

By Mrigakshi Dixit

19 January, 2022

TWC India

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/science/news/2022-01-19-earth-interior-is-cooling-faster-than-previously-estimated

Is the ‘Aphelion Phenomenon’ Causing More Sickness on Earth?

A viral Facebook post gets some basic facts about the Earth's orbit wrong.

Dan Evon

Published 23 February 2022

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/aphelion-phenomenon-more-sickness/

EARTH

A bold plan to save the planet turns carbon dioxide into stone

This might help people hold global warming to 1.5° Celsius and limit extreme weather events

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/carbon-dioxide-turned-into-stone-save-earth-climate-change

Gargantuan explosions rock the sun, launching a "cannibal" cloud of gas toward earth

Not to worry! This is completely normal, and the "cannibal" could trigger beautiful northern lights.

By Tom Yulsman  |  Published: Monday, April 4, 2022

RELATED TOPICS: SOLAR FLARES | SPACE WEATHER | THE SUN

https://astronomy.com/news/2022/04/gargantuan-explosions-rock-the-sun-launching-a-cannibal-cloud-of-gas-toward-earth

US military confirms an interstellar meteor collided with Earth

BY CNN

APRIL 14, 2022

Share

 https://whdh.com/news/us-military-confirms-an-interstellar-meteor-collided-with-earth-2/

What Could Be Earth's Oldest Rock Was Found on the Moon 48 Years Ago

By Ron BrackettJanuary 25, 2019

https://weather.com/news/news/2019-01-25-earth-oldest-rock-found-on-moon

This huge black diamond just sold for $4.3 million. No one knows where it came from.

Geologists still can't say for sure whether the enormous stone called the Enigma crystallized in Earth’s mantle or fell from outer space.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-science-of-the-mysterious-black-diamond-sold-at-auction

City-sized asteroids smacked ancient Earth 10 times more often than thought

By Tereza Pultarova published 15 July 21

Tiny bubbles in rocks suggest that ancient Earth was frequently battered by giant asteroids.

https://www.space.com/ancient-earth-hit-by-city-size-asteroids-often

Ground Shaking Explosions Likely This Weekend in New Jersey

BY WEATHERBOY TEAM METEOROLOGIST - NOVEMBER 19, 2021

https://weatherboy.com/ground-shaking-explosions-likely-this-weekend-in-new-jersey/




Scientists Say: Anthropocene

This is the time during which humans have radically altered Earth’s land, oceans and atmosphere

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/scientists-say-anthropocene

'Snowball Earth' Likely Wiped Massive Layer From Earth's Crust, Study Says

By Pam WrightJanuary 02, 2019

https://weather.com/science/nature/news/2019-01-02-great-unconformity-gap-layers-earth-ice-glaciers

This lava planet has 'rocky' weather and winds many times the speed of sound

Ryan Prior

By Ryan Prior, CNN

Updated 12:18 PM ET, Fri November 6, 2020

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/06/world/lava-exoplanet-scn-trnd/index.html

SCIENCE

Shanghai Tower Sized Asteroid Approaches Earth After 19 Years

By TWC India Edit Team23 August, 2019TWC India

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/science/news/2019-08-23-shanghai-tower-sized-asteroid-approaches-earth-after-19-years

Climate crisis has shifted the Earth’s axis, study shows

This article is more than 1 year old

Massive melting of glaciers has tilted the planet’s rotation, showing the impact of human activities

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/23/climate-crisis-has-shifted-the-earths-axis-study-shows

Days on Earth Are Getting Longer Under the Influence of the Moon, Study Says

By Pam WrightJune 09, 2018

https://weather.com/science/space/news/2018-06-09-earth-days-longer-moon

Asteroid That Wiped Out Dinosaurs Plunged Earth Into Catastrophic, Years-Long 'Winter', Study Says

By Ada CarrNovember 02, 2017

https://weather.com/science/news/2017-11-01-chicxulub-crater-nuclear-winter-gas-emissions-mass-extinction

Earth's Magnetosphere

 

Magnetosphere moving in response to a coronal mass ejection. 

Earth is surrounded by a system of magnetic fields, called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere shields our home planet from harmful solar and cosmic particle radiation, but it can change shape in response to incoming space weather from the Sun.

Credits: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

High Resolution Imagery

Earth’s internal magnetism creates a region around the planet known as the magnetosphere. While several planets in our solar system have magnetospheres, Earth has the strongest one of all the rocky planets: Our magnetosphere is a vast, comet-shaped bubble, and it has played a crucial role in our planet's habitability. 

https://www.nasa.gov/magnetosphere

Continent-Sized Lava 'Blobs' Sit Deep Inside Earth, Study Finds

By Sean BreslinJuly 06, 2016

https://weather.com/science/news/lava-lamp-blobs-inside-earth-study

What is a 'frost quake'? Explaining the weather phenomenon

What to know about the "frost quake" phenomenon amid brutal temperatures.

ByMelissa Griffin

January 30, 2019, 1:07 PM

https://abcnews.go.com/US/frost-quake-explaining-weather-phenomenon/story?id=60723810

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-05-10/meteorite-hunting-difference-between-space-rocks-and-earth-rocks/12219210

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mystery-of-earths-missing-nitrogen-solved/

https://www.nasa.gov/aurora

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210801-mexicos-three-billion-year-old-underwater-lifeforms

Snowball Earth: The times our planet was covered in ice

Ancient rocks suggest that ice entirely covered our planet on at least two occasions. This theory may help explain the rise of complex life that followed.

By Laura Poppick  |  Published: Friday, April 5, 2019

https://astronomy.com/news/2019/04/the-story-of-snowball-earth

https://eos.org/features/three-times-tectonics-changed-the-climate

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/solar-storms-worse-damage-if-you-live-near-certain-rocks-geology

Texas’ grid operator told a power plant to delay repairs ahead of a May heat wave. It was among six that crashed.

Climate change and other factors are shortening the window when aging Texas power plants can make repairs to run at full strength in hot summer months.

BY MITCHELL FERMAN MAY 17, 2022

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/17/texas-power-plant-failure-repairs-ercot/

POLLUTION
A 20-Fold Radiation Spike Has Been Recorded Near Chernobyl's Nuclear Power Plant After Russian Forces Seized It
By IANS

26 February, 2022

TWC India

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/pollution/news/2022-02-26-a-20-fold-radiation-spike-has-been-recorded-near-chernobyl

IEW
23 May 2022
Ukrainian nuclear historian chronicles six disasters
From explosions to meltdowns, history provides key context in the search for alternative energy sources amid decarbonization.
Atoms for war
Nuclear power is a child of war, birthed in the world’s first artificial self-sustaining nuclear reaction inside a stack of graphite and uranium bricks in Chicago, Illinois, in December 1942. That was a key early milestone in the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, and brought an end to the Second World War — and instigated the deadly competition between the United States and the Soviet Union as they built up their nuclear arsenals.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01390-y

Chernobyl nuclear fears as forest near Exclusion Zone in FLAMES – emergency triggered

CHERNOBYL nuclear fears have surged after a forest near the Exclusion Zone erupted in flames as emergency services battled to extinguish the huge blaze

By PAUL WITHERS

08:24, Wed, May 18, 2022 | UPDATED: 12:08, Wed, May 18, 2022

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1612039/Chernobyl-nuclear-warning-forest-fire-Exclusion-Zone-emergency-Ukraine-latest

Environmental Impacts of War: Ukraine’s Radioactive Trees, Ammonia-Laden Air, Starving Animals, and More

By TWC India Edit Team30 March, 2022TWC India

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/news/2022-03-30-environmental-impacts-of-war-in-ukraine

Chernobyl: On 36th anniversary of disaster, Russia’s seizure of nuclear plant
Published April 26, 2022
Updated 11:37AM
News
Associated Press
Fox News USA NAC
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/chernobyl-anniversary-disaster-russia-ukraine



WEATHER NEWS
Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day: How the Catastrophe Has Turned Norway's Present-Day Reindeer Radioactive

By TWC India Edit Team
26 April, 2022
TWC India



1/20

Reindeer roaming around the landscape affected by the Chernobyl fallout, feeding on grasses, lichen and mushrooms that may have absorbed radiation. (Amos Chapple / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)


https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/news/2022-04-26-norways-radioactive-reindeer-are-a-result-of-the-35-year-old-chernobyl

CAPITAL WEATHER GANG
Winters are getting milder in Washington, but none is warmer than one 90 years ago
The winter of 1931-32 was the warmest on record for much of the Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley, Great Lakes and Northeast.


By Kevin Myatt
Updated February 14, 2022 at 3:52 p.m. EST|Published February 14, 2022 at 3:42 p.m. EST
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/02/14/warmest-winter-1931-midatlantic/

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT

More than 40 percent of Americans live in counties hit by climate disasters in 2021

As climate-fueled extreme weather intensified last year, more than 80 percent of Americans experienced a heat wave. The impacts of fires and severe storms also spread.

By Sarah Kaplan and Andrew Ba Tran 

Updated January 5, 2022 at 9:11 p.m. EST|Published January 5, 2022 at 1:05 p.m. EST

Meanwhile, melting polar ice caps have raised global sea levels an average of eight or nine inches since 1880, heightening the risk of coastal floods. The heat absorbed by the oceans lends fuel to hurricanes, enabling mere tropical depressions to rapidly intensify into devastating Category 4 and 5 storms. Not a single structure was left undamaged after Hurricane Ida made landfall near Grand Isle, La., in September. Surging waves ripped apart houses and obliterated levees; howling winds left the barrier island community buried under three feet of sand.

Even though climate change will make frigid weather less likely, some scientists have suggested that warming in the Arctic can lead to fluctuations in the polar vortex, allowing tongues of cold air to lash out into lower latitudes. Other studies indicate that warmer winter temperatures provided fuel for the late-season thunderstorms that gave rise to December’s twisters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/01/05/climate-disasters-2021-fires/

In this photo, which Kokh titled "House of bears," polar bears survey the perimeter of their adopted home. (Image credit: Photo courtesy of Dmitry Kokh)

(opens in new tab)

https://www.livescience.com/polar-bears-abandoned-building-arctic

UK weather forecast: Rare snow grains to fall in bitter Polar blast 'Shows how cold it is'
BRITAIN is set to be pummelled by yet more winter weather as biting polar air from Scandinavia makes its way down the UK, bringing snow, hail and ice across the country.


https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/1589283/UK-weather-forecast-latest-met-office-warnings-snow-ice-update-april-temperature

Cyclone watch issued for Northern Territory as low pressure system gains strength

https://www.9news.com.au/national/weather-update-cyclone-watch-issued-for-northern-territory-as-dangerous-rain-hits-queensland-prompting-more-warnings/99889959-793b-449e-82cf-e7472303ab29

Scientists Propose Pumping Trillions of Tons of Snow onto Antarctic Ice to Stop Melting
By Jan Wesner Childs

July 19, 2019

https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2019-07-18-save-arctic-ice-with-snow