Research Spotlights Archives - Page 111 of 200

A woman draws water from a well in northern India, where unsustainable aquifers are vulnerable to drought conditions.

A Closer Look at the Sustainability of Our Groundwater Aquifers

by L. Strelich 19 October 20186 February 2023

Researchers use a new approach to assessing the world’s largest aquifers in hopes of improving groundwater management during drought periods.

Cache Lake in Ontario, Canada, surrounded by northern hardwood forest.

Research Spotlights

Hydrology Dictates Fate of Carbon from Northern Hardwood Forests

by Aaron Sidder 12 October 201821 March 2022

As spring snowmelt and fall rains inundate northern hardwood forests with moisture, soil bacteria get moving and increase carbon exports to the atmosphere and into nearby water bodies.

Aerial photo of an oil palm plantation planted right up to a river’s bank, with no habitat buffer.

Research Spotlights

Conserving Riverside Habitat Could Bolster Bottom Lines

by Aaron Sidder 2 October 20182 November 2021

Palm oil is in demand, and its agricultural footprint is expanding in the tropics. New research suggests that habitat buffers could improve conservation and prevent erosion that cuts into economic returns.

Satellites emit signals that can get weakly disrupted in unexpected regions of the ionosphere, research shows.

Research Spotlights

Equatorial Ionospheric Scintillation During Daytime

by E. Underwood 27 September 2018

Scintillation—flickers and distortions in radio waves passing through the ionosphere—can happen during daytime and at much lower dip latitudes than previously thought.

Satellite image showing how dissolved organic matter influences ocean color.

Research Spotlights

Yellow Detritus in the Oceans May Help Reduce Warming

by Aaron Sidder 25 September 20181 February 2023

Dissolved organic matter in the oceans absorbs light near the water’s surface, leading to cooler waters that may help mitigate regional climate warming.

Researchers measure wind speeds to understand turbulence in nighttime inversions of the stable boundary layer.

Research Spotlights

Wind Speed Governs Turbulence in Atmospheric Inversions

by Terri Cook 21 September 201811 August 2022

Measurements made during a field campaign in Idaho indicate that the speed of winds 2 meters above Earth’s surface determines the type of turbulence present in nighttime inversions.

Satellite image of Point Barrow, Alaska. A 40-year record of carbon dioxide concentrations in Alaska offers insight into how the carbon cycle responds to temperature.

Research Spotlights

Autumn Warming No Longer Accelerating Carbon Loss in the North

by Terri Cook 21 September 201824 February 2023

An analysis of Point Barrow’s 40-year record points to the importance of calculating the carbon cycle’s response to temperature during the northern latitudes’ non-growing season.

Researchers examine sudden stratospheric warming events and their effect on the Earth’s ionosphere.

Research Spotlights

Dramatic Stratospheric Warmings Carved a Hole in the Ionosphere

by E. Underwood 11 September 201812 October 2022

A new study of sudden temperature spikes in Earth’s stratosphere could improve space weather forecasting.

The Suisun Marsh, the largest tidal marsh in the San Francisco Estuary (California).

Research Spotlights

Budgeting Ozone-Depleting Emissions from Coastal Tidal Marshes

by Aaron Sidder 6 September 201824 February 2023

Brackish wetlands and their salt-tolerant vegetation are significant methyl halide emitters. The natural emissions add chlorine and bromine to the stratosphere, which break down ozone.