In science news this week: The Largest Land Sale in California; 240 Cubic Miles Of Magma Was Just Discovered Beneath California’s Supervolcano; The Birds Come Back to the Bay; New proposal for expanded killer whale critical habitat reflects latest science; Warm It Up: Balancing The Needs Of Sturgeon, Salmon, And Humans; and more…
The Largest Land Sale in California “In a regional conservation era defined by linkages and corridors, N3 connects huge swaths of protected lands. The largest property currently for sale in the state, it runs east-west from Corral Hollow near Tracy to the East Bay Regional Park District’s Del Valle reservoir. It runs north-south past the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Calaveras and San Antonio reservoirs, and the EBRPD’s Sunol and Ohlone Regional Wilderness. … ” Read more from Bay Nature here: The Largest Land Sale in California
240 Cubic Miles Of Magma Was Just Discovered Beneath California’s Supervolcano “One of the largest supervolcanoes in the world sits underneath California, lying dormant for the past 100,000 years. Now, researchers have gotten a clearer glimpse into what lies below the Long Valley supervolcano, uncovering 240 cubic miles of magma sitting beneath California. … ” Read more from Forbes here: 240 Cubic Miles Of Magma Was Just Discovered Beneath California’s Supervolcano
The Birds Come Back to the Bay “Like me, you may have seen recent headlines sounding the alarm that birds are vanishing from North America. From the abstract of the September 2019 report in the journal Science, an “integration of range-wide population trajectories and size estimates indicates a net loss … : Read more from Bay Nature here: “ The Birds Come Back to the Bay
New proposal for expanded killer whale critical habitat reflects latest science “Research over the past decade has confirmed that endangered Southern Resident killer whales are truly a West Coast species, feeding on salmon as far south as California. Now NOAA Fisheries is proposing to expand their critical habitat based on information about their coastal range and habitat use. … ” Read more from the NOAA here: New proposal for expanded killer whale critical habitat reflects latest science
Plant Diversity a Casualty of High-Severity Wildfires: “Sierra Nevada forests are losing plant diversity due to high-severity fires, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. These fires are turning patches of forest into shrub fields — indefinitely, in some cases. For the study, published in the journal Ecosphere, scientists analyzed plant diversity across a spectrum of fire severity — from low to moderate to high. They found the sweet spot for plant diversity exists where tree stands burned with low-to-moderate severity, as mixed conifer forests did in this region for millennia before the imposition of fire suppression policies in the early 20th century. … ” Read more from UC Davis here: Plant Diversity a Casualty of High-Severity Wildfires
Journal ‘Nature’ retracts ocean-warming study: “The journal Nature retracted a study published last year that found oceans were warming at an alarming rate due to climate change. The prestigious scientific journal issued the formal notice this week for the paper published Oct. 31, 2018, by researchers at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. … ” Read more from Phys Org here: Journal ‘Nature’ retracts ocean-warming study
2019 Arctic sea ice extent ties for second-lowest summer minimum on record “In 2019, the area of the Arctic Ocean where the summer sea ice cover was at least 15 percent tied with 2007 and 2016 as the second-smallest on record. … ” Read more from Climate.gov here: 2019 Arctic sea ice extent ties for second-lowest summer minimum on record
Warm It Up: Balancing The Needs Of Sturgeon, Salmon, And Humans “The historic Sacramento River once flowed unobstructed from rocky Sierra Nevada headwaters to expansive Delta wetlands, providing a diversity of interconnected aquatic habitats. Fish species evolved to take advantage of this diversity, with some migrating long distances to mountainous cold-water streams and others sticking to warmer downstream reaches. … ” Read more from FishBio here: Warm It Up: Balancing The Needs Of Sturgeon, Salmon, And Humans
California city hit by series of weird weather events, including tornado and hail “Weird weather struck Davis, California, over the weekend. The area experienced a tornado touchdown, pounding hail and record low morning temperatures. … ” Read more from CNN here: California city hit by series of weird weather events, including tornado and hail
Mosquitoes more likely to lay eggs in closely spaced habitats “Patches of standing water that are close together are more likely to be used by mosquitoes to lay eggs in than patches that are farther apart. … ” Read more from Science Daily here: Mosquitoes more likely to lay eggs in closely spaced habitats
Aerosols from coniferous forests no longer cool the climate as much “Emissions of greenhouse gases have a warming effect on the climate, whereas small airborne particles in the atmosphere, aerosols, act as a cooling mechanism. That is the received wisdom in any case. However, new research can now show that the tiniest aerosols are increasing at the expense of the normal sized and slightly larger aerosols — and it is only the latter that have a cooling effect. … ” Read more from Science Daily here:Aerosols from coniferous forests no longer cool the climate as much
Forever Chemicals: What’s going on “PFAS chemicals, nicknamed “forever chemicals” can be found in many places and can persist for a long time. What does science tell us about its effects on humans? A university in Australia conducted a large review to answer this question. … ” Read more from EnviroBites here: Forever Chemicals: What’s going on
Global Warming Causing Profound Changes to the World’s Oceans, Scientists Warn “Climate change is profoundly altering the world’s oceans and frozen regions, threatening ecosystems and putting millions of people and their livelihoods at risk, according to a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Scientists warned that nations must drastically and urgently reduce their greenhouse gas emissions if they hope to avoid the worst impacts by the end of the century. … ” Read more from Yale e360 here:Global Warming Causing Profound Changes to the World’s Oceans, Scientists Warn
Things to know about palm oil and Indonesia’s raging forest fires “Forest fires raging across Indonesia have sent air quality levels across Southeast Asia plummeting as they belch out emissions that aggravate global warming. … ” Read more from Science Daily here: Things to know about palm oil and Indonesia’s raging forest fires
Drought-hit Australian towns prepare for ‘unimaginable’ water crisis “The little town of Guyra in eastern Australia lies next to a freshwater lagoon just half a day’s drive from Sydney, but its drinking water is due to run dry in 400 days’ time. … “ Read more from Reuters here: Drought-hit Australian towns prepare for ‘unimaginable’ water crisis
Members of disbanded EPA air quality panel form independent group “Former members of an air quality scientific advisory committee that was disbanded by the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday they were forming an independent panel to continue their work. … ” Read more from Reuters here: Members of disbanded EPA air quality panel form independent group
Poll: Energy-saving habits vary in popularity “Turn off the lights when they aren’t needed? Check. Lower the thermostat a few degrees in winter? Maybe. Go full-time vegetarian? Probably not.” Read more from Phys Org here: Poll: Energy-saving habits vary in popularity
About the Global Climate Dashboard “The Global Climate Dashboard provides one-stop access to information, maps, and graphs of key indicators of our global climate. Interactive graphs provide a system-wide view of the state of natural patterns like El Niño and the Arctic Oscillation and those linked to human-caused climate change, such as sea level rise and greenhouse gases. … ” Read more from Climate.gov here: About the Global Climate Dashboard
Lisa’s XKCD Comic Pick of the Week …
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About Science News and Reports: This weekly feature, posted every Thursday, is a collection of the latest scientific research and reports with a focus on relevant issues to the Delta and to California water, although other issues such as climate change are sometimes included. Do you have an item to be included here? Submissions of relevant research and other materials is welcome. Email Maven
