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June 04, 2020 , , , , , , , ,

Older, carbon-rich tropical forests continue to be lost at a frightening rate, according to satellite data.

Tree loss in Bolivia increased hugely in 2019 because of fires that spread out of control
In 2019, an area of primary forest the size of a football pitch was lost every six seconds, the University of Maryland study of trees more than 5 metres says.
Brazil accounted for a third of it, its worst loss in 13 years apart from huge spikes in 2016 and 2017 from fires.
However, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo both managed to reduce tree loss.
Meanwhile, Australia saw a sixfold rise in total tree loss, following dramatic wildfires late in 2019.
As well as storing massive amounts of carbon, primary, tropical rain forests, where trees can be hundreds or even thousands of years old, are home to species such as orangutans and tigers.
Image copyright
Image captionThe study looks at all causes of trees loss, including fires and natural disturbances
The tropics lost 11.9 million hectares (46,000 square miles) of tree cover, the study found, 3.8 million in older, primary forest areas - the third highest loss of primary trees since 2000 and a slight increase on 2018.
"The level of forest loss that we saw in 2019 is unacceptable," Frances Seymour, from the World Resources Institute, said.
"And one of the reasons that it's unacceptable is that we actually already know how to turn it around.
"If governments put into place good policies and enforce the law, forest loss goes down.
"But if governments relax restrictions on burning, or [are] signalling that they intend to open up indigenous territories for commercial exploration, forest loss goes up."
A fire in Pará, Brazil, in August 2019
Speaking about the losses in Brazil, Mikaela Weisse, from Global Forest Watch, said: "We also noted several new hotspots of primary forest loss within indigenous territories, especially in the state of Pará that were linked to land grabbing and to mining.
"These incursions are particularly worrisome given that indigenous peoples have been some of the best conserves of forests in Brazil and around the world."
Indonesia, however, saw losses remain at historically low levels for the third year in a row, thanks, it seems, to strong government action.
Liz Goldman, from Global Forest Watch, said: "A number of policies in Indonesia have contributed to this positive story, including increased enforcement to prevent forest fires and land clearing and a forest moratorium to prevent new clearing for oil palm plantations and logging activities, which was first established in 2011 and made permanent just this past year."
Protesters in many countries were angry about fires in Brazil
And Columbia, which had seen tree losses surge since a peace agreement came into force in 2016, saw a 35% drop in primary forest loss compared with 2018.
But Bolivia saw losses 80% greater than any other year, after fires set for agricultural clearing spread out of control.
And nearly 12% of the Chiquitano dry forest, in eastern Bolivia, home to indigenous peoples, jaguars, giant armadillos and tapirs, was burned.
Source: By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent
Date: 2nd June, 2020
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April 07, 2020 , , , , , , , , ,

Mass tree planting in the UK could harm the environment if not planned properly, a report warns.

Badly-planned trees would increase greenhouse gas emissions, say the government’s advisers on the economic value of the natural environment.
The report comes from the Natural Capital Committee (NCC), which says planting trees into peat bogs would prove a serious mistake.
Peat locks up vast quantities of carbon - but trees dry out peat.
This can release more greenhouse gases than the trees absorb.
One NCC member, Prof Ian Bateman from the University of Exeter, said: “The mantra has to be ‘the right tree in the right place’.“
“We would be crazy to undertake the massive scale of planting being considered if we did not also consider the wider effects upon the environment including impacts on wildlife, benefits in terms of reducing flood risks and effects on water quality, improvements to recreation and so on.”

Will millions more trees really stop climate change?

Right trees in right places
The report adds that carpeting upland pastures with trees would reduce the UK’s ability to produce meat – which may lead to increasing imports from places that produce beef by felling rain forests.
It also makes a similar point on industry. There’s no point closing dirty UK factories, the authors say, if we’re then going to import goods from places with worse emissions.
The authors note that huge publicity has been given to the UK’s plans for planting 11 million trees to lock up carbon emissions, but they warn that conserving carbon in soils is equally or more important.
The report points out that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that in 2007 UK soils contained approximately 4,019 million tonnes of carbon (MtC), that’s 94.2% of the total stock of biological carbon - excluding fossil fuel carbon.
They say soil degradation through erosion, intensive farming and development creates losses estimated at between £0.9 –1.4bn per year for England and Wales alone.

Soils underpin everything

Prof Kathy Willis from Oxford University and an NCC member, told BBC News: “We love looking at trees – we get all these positive emotions, smells and sounds – but most of us don't look at soil that actually underpins everything.”
The NCC calls for much better monitoring of soils. And it says that farming on lowland peat such as the rich fields of East Anglia should be halted if soil there continues to be lost.
This recommendation may be strongly resisted by farmers, although some of them say they’re addressing the problem by using “cover crops” to bind the soil together while cash crops are being planted.
The Country Land and Business Association have been approached to comment.
The NCC notes previous reports projecting a reduction in the consumption of amount of red meat and dairy produce by at least 20% per person and reducing food waste by 20%.
This implies around a 10% reduction in cattle and sheep numbers by 2050, compared with 2017 levels.
The report outlines the scale of the challenge for measures taken to tackle climate change through land use policies in the UK.
It says: “These figures make it clear that – far from being an option for major offsetting of emissions from other sectors – the measures will not even mitigate the emissions of the agriculture, land use and peat lands sectors."
Source: By Roger Harrabin (BBC)
BBC environment analystDate: 7th April, 2020
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April 05, 2020 , , , ,




All the planets in our solar system have atmospheres. Most of these atmospheres are radically different from Earth’s, although they contain many of the same elements.



The solar system has two major types of planets: 

  • Terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) and 
  • Gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune).
 The atmospheres of the terrestrial planets are somewhat similar to Earth’s.

 Mercury’s atmosphere contains only a thin exosphere dominated by hydrogen, helium, and oxygen.

 Venus’ atmosphere is much thicker than Earth’s, preventing a clear view of the planet. Its atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide, and features swirling clouds of sulfuric acid. The atmosphere on Mars is also dominated by carbon dioxide, although unlike Venus, it is quite thin.

Gas giants are composed of gases. Their atmospheres are almost entirely hydrogen and helium. The presence of methane in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune give the planets their bright blue color.



In the lower atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, clouds of water, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide form clear bands. Fast winds separate light-colored bands, called zones, from dark-colored bands, called belts. Other weather phenomena, such as cyclones and lightning, create patterns in the zones and belts. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a centuries-old cyclone that is the largest storm in the solar system.



The moons of some planets have their own atmospheres. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has a thick atmosphere made mostly of nitrogen and methane. The way sunlight breaks up methane in Titan’s ionosphere helps give the moon an orange color.



Most celestial bodies, including all the asteroids in the asteroid belt and our own moon, do not have atmospheres. The lack of an atmosphere on the Moon means it does not experience weather. With no wind or water to erode them, many craters on the Moon have been there for hundreds and even thousands of years.



The way a celestial body’s atmosphere is structured and what it’s made of allow astrobiologists to speculate what kind of life the planet or moon may be able to support. Atmospheres, then, are important markers in space exploration.



A planet or moon’s atmosphere must contain specific chemicals to support life as we know it. These chemicals include hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. Although Venus, Mars, and Titan have similar atmospheric gases, there is nowhere in the solar system besides Earth with an atmosphere able to support life. Venus’ atmosphere is far too thick, Mars’ far too thin, and Titan’s far too cold.

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April 04, 2020 , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NASA analyzed the cloud top temperatures in the newly formed Tropical Cyclone Irondro using infrared light to determine where the strongest storms were located.


On April 2 at 5 a.m., EDT (0900 UTC) NASA’s Aqua satellite analyzed the storm using the MODIS instrument. MODIS showed the strongest storms contained coldest cloud top temperatures (yellow) as cold as or colder than minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 62.2 degrees Celsius). That strongest area of storms was surrounded by slightly less strong storms (red) with cloud top temperatures as cold as minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 56.6C) that extended in a band of thunderstorms to the south and southeast of the center. Credit: NASA/NRL

One of the ways NASA researches tropical cyclones is to use infrared data that provides temperature information. Cloud top temperatures identify where the strongest storms are located. The stronger the storms, the higher they extend into the troposphere, and the colder the cloud temperatures.

On April 2 at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC), NASA’s Aqua satellite analyzed the storm using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument imagery showed the strongest storms were west of the center of circulation. In that area, MODIS showed the coldest cloud top temperatures were as cold as or colder than minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 62.2 degrees Celsius). That strongest area of storms was surrounded by slightly less strong storms with cloud top temperatures as cold as minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 56.6 degrees Celsius) that extended in a band of thunderstorms to the south and southeast of the center. There was also a fragmented area of strong storms east of center. NASA research has shown that cloud top temperatures that cold indicate strong storms that have the capability to create heavy rain.
At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on April 2, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC noted that the center of Irondro was located near latitude 13.5 degrees south and longitude 69.9 degrees east with the center about 401 nautical miles south-southwest of Diego Garcia. Maximum sustained winds were near 35 knots (40 mph/65 kph).
The JTWC expects the storm will intensify to 75 knots (86 mph/139 kph) in a couple of days before turning east-southeast and becoming extra-tropical.
Typhoons/hurricanes are the most powerful weather events on Earth. NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasting.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center  

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