Science Daily Environmental Issues

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Most new farmland in tropics comes from slashing forests, research shows Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EDT A new study shows that more than 80 percent of the new farmland created in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 came from felling forests, which sends carbon into the atmosphere and drives global warming. But the research team also noted that big agribusiness has largely replaced small farmers in doing most of the tree cutting in Brazil and Indonesia, which may make it easier to rein in the trend.

Ozone depletion: Paving the way for identification of rogue CFC release Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EDT A new discovery could make it possible in future to identify the source of banned CFCs that are probably still being released into the atmosphere. They have also discovered the largest chlorine isotope enrichment ever found in nature.

Deepwater Horizon spill: New method successfully predicted how oil would spread Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EDT Prompted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a scientist has come up with a new way of predicting how contaminants like oil will spread. He was able to forecast several days in advance that oil from that spill would wash ashore in particular parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

Decrease in global carbon dioxide emissions; CO2 from China, India on the rise Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EDT Global carbon dioxide emissions decreased in 2009, the first decrease recorded this decade. However, in China and India the emissions increased by 9 and 6 percent.

Shifting ozone hole exposed South America to more ultraviolet light in 2009 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EDT The ozone layer, which protects humans, plants, and animals from potentially damaging ultraviolet (UV) light from the Sun, develops a hole above Antarctica in September that typically lasts until early December. However, in November 2009, that hole shifted its position, leaving the southern tip of South America exposed to UV light at levels much greater than normal.

Carnivore species shrank during global warming event Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT A new study indicates extinct carnivorous mammals shrank in size during a global warming event that occurred 55 million years ago. The study describes a new species that evolved to half the size of its ancestors during this period of global warming.

Using underground clues to determine past atmospheric heat Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT Before a global climate model can be used by scientists to predict future climate patterns, it must first successfully predict the climate of the past as known by historical records or as inferred by proxy data (for example, oxygen isotopes in ice cores and tree ring records). Because historical records are spatially and temporally scarce, many climate models rely on proxy data, which by definition introduce large amounts of error into model calibrations. Reducing these errors is of high importance to climate scientists.