While many are focusing on atmospheric solutions to reduce greenhouse gases, some researchers are setting their sights on the ground -- deep underground. Li Li, an assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering at Penn State, is investigating geologic carbon sequestration (storing carbon dioxide deep beneath the surface of the Earth) as a way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. (more)
Engineering our way out of global climate warming may not be as easy as simply reducing the incoming solar energy, according to a team of University of Bristol and Penn State climate scientists. Designing the approach to control both sea level rise and rates of surface air temperature changes requires a balancing act to accommodate the diverging needs of different locations. "Basic physics and past observations suggest that reducing the net influx of solar energy will cool the Earth," said Peter J. Irvine, graduate student, University of Bristol, UK, and participant in the Worldwide Universities Network Research Mobility Programme to Penn State. "However, surface air temperatures would respond much more quickly and sea levels will respond much more slowly." (more)
Why has the U.S. government failed to join in climate change agreements adopted by much of the rest of the world? In honor of Earth Day, the School of International Affairs will present an event focused on this question featuring a film screening and discussion moderated by renowned Penn State researcher Professor Donald A. Brown at 7 p.m. on April 20, in 118 Lewis Katz Building, University Park campus. (more)
When people think about sources of greenhouse gas emissions, they don't usually think of cows. But it turns out that the belches of livestock animals contain substantial amounts of methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas that has about 25 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. "The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that cattle belching and manure management contribute about 28 percent of all anthropogenic methane emissions in the United States," Alexander Hristov, Penn State professor of dairy nutrition, explained. "However, in the big picture of global greenhouse gas emissions, cows are a relatively small player." (more)
"It's still there," said Anne Thompson, a Penn State professor of meteorology and director of the Center for Environmental Chemistry and Geochemistry. "Despite government intervention and industry cooperation, the size of the hole has not diminished since it was discovered," she says, "but it hasn't grown either and that's key." (more)
Recent discoveries about tropical coral reefs are expected to be invaluable in efforts to restore the corals, which are succumbing to bleaching and other diseases at an unprecedented rate as ocean temperatures rise worldwide. The research gives new insights into how the scientists can help to preserve or restore the coral reefs that protect coastlines, foster tourism and nurture many species of fish. Published on June 23 in the journal PLoS One, the research was accomplished by an international team whose leaders include Iliana Baums, assistant professor of biology at Penn State. (more)
Iliana Baums, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State, dons scuba gear for work. She studies coral reef ecosystems, the "forests of the oceans," diverse habitats that are vital to many species of ocean life. Warming ocean temperatures disrupt that ecosystem and cause episodes of coral bleaching, which, over time, can kill coral and the life supported by it. Watch a video as Baums explains her research conducted under the sea. (more)
The massive ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica are
shrinking, according to Penn State geophysicist Sridhar Anandakrishnan, but understanding how quickly will require a better grasp of glacier dynamics. Anandakrishnan has traveled to Antarctica 17 times in the past 25 years to study glacial ice streams, frozen rivers of ice that flow from the center of an ice sheet and out to sea. These streams can be up to 100 miles in length, a mile deep and 50 miles wide, and most of the melting ice flows through them. (more)
Scientists have discovered that the drastic decline in Arctic musk ox populations that began roughly 12,000 years ago was due to a warming climate rather than to human hunting. The research is the first study to use ancient musk ox DNA collected from across the animal's former geographic range to test for human impacts on musk ox populations. The research will be published in the early on-line edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sometime during the week ending Friday, March 12. (more)
A rare, ancient polar bear fossil discovered in Norway in 2004 is yielding a treasure trove of essential information about the age and evolutionary origins of the species. A paper published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by researchers at Penn State, the University at Buffalo, the University of Oslo and other institutions is filling in key pieces of the evolutionary history of polar bears and brown bears, including their response to past climate changes. (more)
