Articles By Andrew Pasquale

Tundra landscape near Nome, Alaska. (Credit: Charles Koven)

Earth

Alaskan Tundra Active Layer In Danger Of Microbial Degradation

Permafrost health and its eventual degradation is a persistent concern for many scientists. Permafrost can be defined as soil deep below the surface that remains frozen for at least two years. In contrast, the active layer is soil above the permafrost that thaws each year during the growing season....

  • Posted March 21, 2016
Global distributions of carbon dioxide enrichment experiments. (Credit: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis)

Earth

Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Driving Global Vegetation Greening

When scientists saw greener vegetation in satellite images of drylands around the world, they began searching for a cause. Some proposed the extra color could be due to increased precipitation, but the two were not always found together. In a meta-analysis including 45 studies from eight countries, researchers posited...

  • Posted March 14, 2016
Researchres measure more than 200,000 trees every five years. (Credit: Sean Mattson / Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

Earth

Secondary Forests Have Huge Carbon Sequestration Potential

When conservation priorities for tropical forests are set, old-growth forests that show no sign of human disturbance often come out ahead of secondary forests. In a new study, an international team of researchers measured 168,000 trees in 1,468 plots across 45 sites throughout the Neotropics to document recovery rates...

  • Posted February 23, 2016
Cracks in the Arctic permafrost. (Credit: Brocken Inaglory, via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0)

Earth

Degrading Permafrost Linked To Summertime Precipitation

Permafrost is soil deep below ground that stays frozen year-round, and a team of researchers working in eastern Russia recently published an article that shows how its degradation is affecting summertime precipitation. When solar energy reaches the Earth’s surface, it can do one of two things: raise the temperature...

  • Posted February 9, 2016
Cycas nitida juvenile plant showing the close proximity to tidal waters in western Samar Island. (Credit: Marler TE, et al)

Earth

Typhoon Haiyan Disrupts Nutrient Cycling In Philippine Trees

When Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in November of 2013, a team of researchers went out the next month to examine how one coastal tree, Cycas nitida, was affected by the storm. For many plants, leaves are regularly shed and grown anew. When a leaf is no longer useful,...

  • Posted February 8, 2016
Two years after the Anaktuvuk River tundra fire. (Credit: Benjamin Jones / U.S. Geological Survey)

Rivers

Landscape Changes After Alaska’s Anaktuvuk River Fire

USGS geographer Benjamin Jones used LiDAR to measure subsidence after the Anaktuvuk River Fire in Alaska, the largest tundra fire ever.

  • Posted January 15, 2016
Researchers explored the East Antarctic to study the ages of rocks deposited by glaciers. (Still frame from a video by Selwynox)

Earth

East Antarctic Glacier Experienced Rapid Thinning During Holocene

Much of the East Antarctic ice sheet is grounded below sea level. When such an ice mass moves over a drop-off, it becomes vulnerable to a process called marine ice sheet instability (MISI). MISI occurs when the grounding line (where the ice makes contact with the ground) retreats. As...

  • Posted December 17, 2015

Oceans

Antarctic Ice Sheet Adds Less To Sea Rise Than Thought

In response to a rapidly warming climate, an Antarctic ice sheet called the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) is at risk of adding to global sea level rise, and a new study predicts the potential extent of its contribution. The ASE is predicted to add up to 30 centimeters by...

  • Posted December 15, 2015
The Pu'u 'O'o volcano on Kilauea, Hawaii. (Credit: USGS)

Earth

Volcanic Eruptions Linked To Global Temperature Fluctuations

When scientists talk about millennial-scale climate change, they have to deal with a lot of uncertainty because there is still so much to be learned about the mechanisms that act on such long timescales. However, one Durham University team has suggested that large volcanic eruptions may play a role...

  • Posted December 14, 2015
SERVIR-Mekong is NASA's new environmental monitoring project. (Courtesy of Environmental Technology)

Rivers

NASA, USAID Launch Climate-Preparedness Program In Thailand

On Aug. 31, 2015, NASA and USAID (United States Agency for International Development) launched SERVIR-Mekong, the fourth regional hub in their SERVIR Global program. SERVIR-Mekong will serve five countries in Southeast Asia: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar (formerly Burma) by providing them with real-time satellite data to assess...

  • Posted November 3, 2015
An aerial view of Chesapeake and Delaware bays from the Landsat satellite (Credit: USGS, vis Wikimedia Commons)

Oceans

Chesapeake Bay Surface Water Temperatures Rising Faster Than Air Temperatures

The Chesapeake Bay is a highly productive estuary formed by the confluence of freshwater from multiple rivers with saltwater from the Atlantic coast. According to a recent study, parts of the Bay have seen water surface temperatures (WST) rising faster than the surrounding air temperatures, indicating that a heat...

  • Posted October 30, 2015
Yellow-banded poison dart frog. (Credit: Adrian Pingstone)

Earth

Amazon Biodiversity Hit Hardest In Next Century

Although Arctic regions are currently bearing the brunt of global warming, a new study predicts that the next century will bring the greatest biodiversity losses to the Amazon. Of the 2,954 species examined by scientists at the University of Washington, Amazonian species will have to move farther and faster...

  • Posted October 28, 2015
Professor Feng Sheng Hu led a study of carbon cycling and forest fires in the boreal forests of the Yukon Flats in Alaska. (Credit: L. Brian Stauffer)

Earth

Boreal Wildfires A Net Source Of Atmospheric Carbon

A study by scientists at the University of Illinois has shown that boreal wildfires, like those in Alaska’s Yukon Flats, have turned these ecosystems into net sources of atmospheric carbon, according to a release. The team examined charcoal found in sediment cores from 14 lakes to uncover how the...

  • Posted October 26, 2015
Scientists found genes in coastal wetlands that transform mercury into the neurotoxin methylmercury. (Courtesy of Grace Schwartz / Smithsonian Environmental Research Center)

Wetlands

Methylmercury Production Genes Found In Anaerobic Environments Worldwide

Mercury gets released into the environment by a number of processes including the burning of coal and the production of steel and cement. Once in a wet, oxygen-free environment with the right compliment of microbes, methylmercury is produced. A recent study has mapped the geographic and taxonomic distribution of...

  • Posted October 23, 2015
A helicopter takes researchers up to the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand. (Credit: Benjamin Lehmann)

Earth

New Study Clarifies Dynamics Of Glacial Erosion

A recent study supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation examined New Zealand’s Franz Josef glacier to try to peg down the exponent of the glacial erosion rate law. Researchers found the rate of erosion is proportional to the square of ice-sliding velocity, and so the relationship is nonlinear....

  • Posted October 22, 2015
Greenland ice sheet (Credit: Joshua Brown/ University of Vermont)

Lakes

Researchers Discover Drainage Pathway For Greenland Subglacial Lake

Researchers at the University of Exeter have recently proposed a subglacial drainage pathway for a lake beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet. The lake in question is likely fed by meltwater from the surface that flows through supraglacial streams and collects in lakes on the surface. Many of the lakes...

  • Posted October 20, 2015
Oceans & Coasts News

Oceans

Global Analysis Suggests Marine Food Chain Risks Collapse

Two researchers from the University of Adelaide recently completed a meta-analysis of 632 peer-reviewed studies that established, in the authors’ words, “a conceptualization of biological change derived from quantitative analysis.” This study built on its predecessors by examining how multiple stressors impact multiple species while ensuring that interspecific interactions...

  • Posted October 19, 2015
Damon Dowdy of Below Ag Service demonstrates how the new soil moisture sensors will operate. (Credit: Southeast Missouri State University)

Earth

Southeast Missouri State Installs Soil Sensors For Students, Farmers

A soil sensor system installed at Southeast Missouri State University will provide data for students to study while helping farmers too.

  • Posted October 13, 2015
A USGS hydrographer measures flow in Short Creek after the flood event. (Credit: Jake Benson / USGS)

Rivers

USGS Hydrologists Respond to Utah’s Hildale Flood

Hydrologist Cory Angeroth oversees Utah’s streamgage network and was involved in the U.S. Geological Survey’s response to a flash flood in Hildale, Utah.

  • Posted October 12, 2015
Researchers updated the global tree count estimate. (Courtesy of Yale)

Earth

New Estimate Of Global Tree Populations

A study has updated the globally estimated tree count from 400.25 billion to approximately 3.04 trillion. With an estimated human population of 7.2 billion, that increases the tree-to-person ratio from 61:1 to 422:1. Before the study, scientists only had information about the area and canopy cover of forests. Researchers...

  • Posted September 30, 2015