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Earth & Space

showing 1-5 of 46 breaks
Warm waters hide in the unlikeliest of places – under the Arctic sea ice

The Polar Regions are a central control and indicator of the Earth's climate. Ice and snow at the poles reflect solar radiation back into space, which helps to keep the Earth cool. However, in recent decades, air temperatures in the Arctic have been rising at... click to read more

  • Mary-Louise Timmermans | Professor at The Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, Connecticut, USA
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climate change
Arctic
oceans
sea ice
ocean warming
Views 280
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Jul 31, 2019
Carbonating the bottom of the ocean...and dissolving the seafloor with it

Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is absorbed by our oceans, and has an important impact on our oceanic ecosystems. When an ocean absorbs CO2 in large quantities its chemistry changes, and it becomes more acidic. However, the oceans have their very own antacid: a... click to read more

  • David Trossman | Research associate at Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, University of Texas-Austin, Austin, USA
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ocean acidification
seafloor
sediments
dissolving
Views 255
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Jul 22, 2019
A world without lake ice?

Seasonal lake ice cover is rapidly disappearing, and with it, ecosystem services that support human life and culture. Lake ice provides natural resources such as fresh water, food, transportation, and renewable energy. But it also supports emotional wellbeing by connecting remote communities through ice roads... click to read more

  • Sapna Sharma | Associate Professor at Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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  • Simon R. Watson | Research Associate at Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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  • Catherine O’Reilly | Associate Professor at Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA
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climate change
lake ice loss
extreme events
Views 547
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Jul 19, 2019
Gaseous heavy metals in the atmosphere of an ultra-hot exoplanet

KELT-9 is a hot blue star in the constellation Cygnus. It has a temperature of over 10,000 K and a mass that is over twice larger than the Sun. It is very luminous (though not visible with the naked eye) and as such belongs to... click to read more

  • Jens Hoeijmakers | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Département d'Astronomie, Geneva Observatory, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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exoplanet
atmosphere
exploration
Views 685
Reading time 4 min
published on May 14, 2019
The Pacific is drowning in plastic

Halfway between the coastal beaches of Southern California and the paradise islands of Hawaii lies the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) - a patch of plastic debris covering a vast area of the oceanic surface. Despite the name, it is not a compact garbage island... click to read more

  • Beata Kusmider | PhD student at Department of Molecular Biology, Section of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Geneva, Switzerland
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oceans
plastic pollution
microplastic
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Pacific Ocean
Views 1126
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Apr 15, 2019