Earth & Space Weather

Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought

Desert Gypsy's picture

Submitted by Desert Gypsy on

Qz.com-7/14/13, Todd Wooly

Outlawing a type of insecticides is not a panacea. AP Photo/Ben Margot

Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years. Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition. But in a first-of-its-kind study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have identified a witch’s brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. The findings break new ground on why large numbers of bees are dying though they do not identify the specific cause of CCD, where an entire beehive dies at once.

Arctic Cyclone Mulches Sea Ice

OdiStar's picture

Submitted by OdiStar on

Huffington Post - Bob Weber - 25 July 2013

 

Arctic Cyclone 2012Canadian Press

Arctic scientists are watching in awe this week as a raging summer cyclone tears up what could become a record amount of rotting northern sea ice.

"We're really watching this year with a lot of fascination," said Matthew Asplin, an Arctic climatologist at the University of Manitoba.

Arctic cyclones are driven by low-pressure systems in which winds of up to 100 km/h blow counter-clockwise in spiral more than 1,000 kilometres across. They occur in both winter and summer, but are usually stronger in winter.

Cyclones are not unusual in the Arctic, but seem to be changing in recent years, said David Barber, one of Canada's top sea-ice experts.

"These cyclones are not getting more frequent, but they are getting deeper — which means stronger," he said.

An ancient underwater forest in the Gulf of Mexico

Desert Gypsy's picture

Submitted by Desert Gypsy on

Earthsky.org- 7/25/13, Deanna Conners

Image via Ben Raines/AL.com

There are large stumps, roots and logs from an ancient bald cypress forest about 60 feet (18 meters) below the surface of the water, near coastal Alabama. Image via Ben Raines/AL.com

Scientists are exploring a submerged forest of bald cypress trees off the coast of Alabama in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina is thought to have uncovered it. Earlier in 2013, they announced that the forest is much older than originally thought. An early speculation was that the submerged trees were between 8,000 and 12,000 years old. The newer estimate dates the submerged trees from about 50,000 to 80,000 years ago. The submerged forest provides evidence that coastal Alabama has risen between 60 and 120 feet (18 to 36 meters) in the last 50,000 years. Scientists are now hoping to sample the ancient forest to understand what climate conditions were like along the Gulf coast during that time in Earth’s history.

Mammatus Clouds: An Intriguing Enigma

Desert Gypsy's picture

Submitted by Desert Gypsy on

Spaceweather.com, 7/24/13

MAMMATUS OVER MICHIGAN: July 22, 2013, Laura Tappy.

Named for their resemblance to a cow's underbelly, mammatus clouds sometimes appear at the end of severe thunderstorms when the thundercloud is breaking up. Researchers have called them an "intriguing enigma," because no one knows exactly how and why they form. The clouds are fairly common but often go unnoticed because potential observers have been chased indoors by the rain. If you are one of them, go back outside when the downpour stops; you could witness a beautiful mystery in the sky.

Read More

 

Star of the week: Vega is the Harp Star

Desert Gypsy's picture

Submitted by Desert Gypsy on

Earthsky.org, 7/24/13

Observers in the Northern Hemisphere can see the star Vega come into view in the northeast in mid-evening in May. Look for this star in the very early evening in June – high overhead on autumn evenings – in the northwestern quadrant of the sky on December evenings

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Earth & Space Weather