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Earth & Space

showing 141-145 of 189 breaks

Ice sheet melting: it’s not just about sea level rise

You've probably heard that climate change is melting the polar ice caps - but what does this actually mean? It refers to the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets, which are large systems of interconnected glaciers, kilometres thick. They are formed by snow falling on land,... click to read more

  • Kaitlin Naughten | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK
Views 5577
Reading time 4 min
published on Sep 13, 2019
All guts, no glory: ingested microplastics in marine mammals

Microplastics (pieces less than 5 mm in size) have now been discovered in a wide range of aquatic habitats, from deep-sea sediments to seemingly pristine tropical beaches. Their small size and omnipresence mean that microplastics can be eaten by animals at the base of the... click to read more

  • Sarah Nelms | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Views 5044
Reading time 4 min
published on Sep 11, 2019
Mapping industrial and agricultural ammonia hotspots

Because of its role in the formation of particulate matter, atmospheric ammonia is a key driver of air quality, with major impacts on human health and life expectancy. Excess ammonia also affects the entire biosphere through acidification and eutrophication of ecosystems and impacts indirectly climate.... click to read more

  • Martin Van Damme | Postdoctoral Research fellow at Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Service de Chimie Quantique et Photophysique, Bruxelles, Belgium
  • Lieven Clarisse | Research Associate at Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Service de Chimie Quantique et Photophysique, Bruxelles, Belgium
Views 2692
Reading time 3 min
published on Sep 4, 2019
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
Views 3849
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
Views 4383
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Jul 22, 2019