About Adam Redling

Adam Redling is a contributing writer for the Environmental Monitor. He covers the latest news, studies and products in the field of environmental research.

Articles By Adam Redling

Researchers aboard the EPA's R/V Lake Guardian sample plankton as part of the Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program (Credit: Michael Milligan)

Lakes

Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program sets sights on Lake Ontario

Researchers gathering data on Lake Ontario are trying to understand how certain pollutants accumulate within the Great Lakes food chain.

  • Posted September 17, 2013
Emissions from coal-burning power plant (Credit: U.S. Department of Energy)

Earth

Atmospheric greenhouse gasses and aerosols have similar rainfall effects

A new study from the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s International Pacific Research Center and Scripps Institution of Oceanography has shown that although greenhouse gases and aerosols have different properties, their influence on rainfall patterns are similar, according to a release from the university. For the most part, greenhouse...

  • Posted September 10, 2013
Burn severity map of Arizona fire (Credit: USGS, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Earth

Landsat Satellite images gives insight into growing wildfire severity

Researchers from the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey have collaborated to examine how and why the severity and duration of wildfires has increased over time, according to a release from NASA. Using Landsat, the longest running Earth-monitoring satellite program, researchers have been analyzing data to measure the...

  • Posted September 9, 2013
Mont Blanc, the highest point in the Alps (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Earth

NASA study shows Europe’s 1800s soot sped glacial retreat

New research led by NASA scientists has shown that soot from 19th-century industrializing Europe caused the retreat of mountain glaciers in the European Alps, a release from NASA stated. The widespread use of coal in Europe in the decades following the 1850s caused significant amounts of black carbon and...

  • Posted September 9, 2013
Antarctic krill (Credit: British Antarctic Survey)

Oceans

Antarctic krill could decline as ocean temps rise

A new study from the British Antarctic Survey and Plymouth Marine Laboratory shows that climate change could facilitate the decline of Antarctic krill, according to a release from the British Antarctic Survey. Krill play an essential role in the food chain of the Southern Ocean. They are the primary...

  • Posted September 3, 2013
Workers clean a beach after the Deepwater Horizon spill (Credit: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)

Oceans

Effects of Deepwater Horizon spill reach farther than originally thought

A new study led by researchers from the University of South Florida suggests that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill could be causing more damage along the Florida coast than originally predicted, the Tampa Bay Times reported. After the spill, research showed no signs of oil around Tampa Bay’s...

  • Posted August 28, 2013
Arctic ice (Credit: Pink floyd88 a, via Wikimedia Commons)

Earth

Study details potential ecological changes cause by Arctic ice loss

A new paper co-written by a University of Montana researcher warns about the potential effects that Arctic ice loss could have on the region’s plant and animal life, according to a release from the university. The paper contends that ice loss will isolate animals like the Arctic fox and...

  • Posted August 27, 2013
West Virginia’s Mud River (Credit: Tim Kiser, via Wikimedia Commons)

Rivers

Study finds mountaintop mining pollution’s chemical fingerprint

A new study led by researchers from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment has helped researchers link mountaintop mining pollution back to its source by analyzing the pollutants’ chemical makeup, a release from the university stated. Researchers collected water samples from West Virginia’s Upper Mud River and its tributaries...

  • Posted August 27, 2013
A University of Nevada, Reno researcher, center, scoops invasive fish from the Lake Tahoe (Credit: Mike Wolterbeek)

Lakes

Researchers collaborating on Lake Tahoe Basin preservation studies

Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno have collaborated to help study the Lake Tahoe Basin in efforts to help understand some of the problems that plague the region, according to a release from the university. Most notably, scientists have focused their attention on Lake Tahoe’s nearshore, where ultraviolet...

  • Posted August 26, 2013
Plastic pollution collected from a trawl on Lake Ontario (Credit: Asta Mail/Pangaea Explorations)

Lakes

Research cruise documents Great Lakes plastic pollution

A SUNY Fredonia researcher's work on the Great Lakes shows plastic pollution isn't just an ocean problem.

  • Posted August 26, 2013
Coral reef (Credit: Terry Hughes, Wikimedia Commons)

Oceans

Models show baby coral larvae drift across entire oceans

Researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Miami have led a new study focused on discovering the ways that ocean currents help determine baby corals’ distribution throughout the ocean, according to a release from the University of Bristol. By using computer models, researchers determined that free-floating,...

  • Posted August 23, 2013
A crew works on the ocen mooring where the temperature sensors were deployed (Credit: Oregon State University)

Oceans

Temperature monitoring details ocean mixing at root of Pacific ‘cold tongue’

An Oregon State University study of the equatorial Pacific cold tongue could help predict shifting climate patterns.

  • Posted August 19, 2013
Technology News

Technology

OpenSignal app taps stock smartphone temperature sensors for forecasts

A London-based app developer named OpenSignal has found a way to use smartphone technology to crowdsource weather information, the American Geophysical Union has reported. OpenSignal created an app of the same name that uses the existing temperature sensors embedded in smartphones to forecast air temperatures. Using a network of...

  • Posted August 17, 2013
Polar bear in Canada’s Wapusk National Park (Credit: Ansgar Walk, Wikimedia Commons)

Earth

Study finds toxic chemicals in polar bear brains

A new study led by researchers from Canada’s Carleton University and Denmark’s Aarhus University has shown that polar bears have significant levels of cancer-causing toxic chemicals present in their brains, Nature World News has reported. Researchers studied polar bears in Scoresby Sound, East Greenland. The data showed that the...

  • Posted August 16, 2013
Coast of Lake Superior (Credit: Richie Diesterheft, Wikimedia Commons)

Oceans

U.S. estuary study shows climate change, water level vulnerability

A new study led by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Extension has shown that some coastal areas of the U.S could be in jeopardy in the event of future climate change, according to a release from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Researchers studied 28 Natural Estuarine Research Reserves throughout the...

  • Posted August 16, 2013
Diagram of conversion of mercury into methylmercury (Credit: ORNL)

News

More mercury forms converted to methylmercury than thought

A new study authored by researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has shown that more forms of mercury can be converted to methylmercury, a deadly compound, than previously known, according to a news release from the laboratory. Earlier this year, researchers discovered two genes that help water-bound microbes convert...

  • Posted August 15, 2013
Dust storm in South Australia (Credit: J Kemp, CSIRO)

Earth

Australian soil carbon lost to erosion and dust storms calculated

A international study led by researchers from CSIRO has calculated the impact that wind erosion and dust storms have had on the carbon content of Australian soil, according to a release from CSIRO. Researchers used computer modeling to calculate that 1.6 million tons of soil carbon is lost per...

  • Posted August 13, 2013
Image: Green and yellow sea sponges in Antarctic waters (Steve Rupp, National Science Foundation)

Oceans

Antarctic ice loss lets the sunlight in, altering ecosytems

A new study led by a team of Australian biologists suggests that melting sea ice could spark a transformation in Antarctica’s underwater ecosystems, NBC News reported. Climate change is causing ice sheets in Antarctica to melt earlier in the summer. As these ice sheets melt, the sea floor in...

  • Posted August 11, 2013
The giant rock barnacle is one species that is migrating in response to elevated ocean temperatures

Oceans

Ocean species following climate-induced migration toward poles

An international team of scientists led by researchers at CSIRO’s Climate Adaptation Flagship and the University of Queensland has found that warming oceans are affecting the mating patterns and habitats of marine life, according to a release from CSIRO. Marine species have begun to migrate towards cooler, polar regions...

  • Posted August 10, 2013
Greenland Ice Sheet (Credit: Christine Zenino, Wikimedia Commons)

Earth

Future climate change likely 10 times faster than past changes

A new study led by scientists at Stanford University suggests that the rate of climate change during the next century could occur 10 times faster than at any other time in the past 65 million years, a release from the university stated. Researchers reviewed data from two-dozen climate models...

  • Posted August 10, 2013