International regulations have reduced aerosol pollutants released from ships. Now, researchers want to use ship tracks to better understand the ambiguous effects that cleaner air has on climate.
shipping
Posted inNews
Arctic Shipping Routes Are Feeling the Heat
Climate science and the global shipping industry collide in an ice-poor Arctic.
Posted inFeatures
The Benefits of Better Ocean Weather Forecasting
Improvements in our ability to forecast oceanic conditions weeks to months in advance will help communities, industries, and other groups prepare amid a changing climate.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Seaports Expected to Grow by up to Fourfold by 2050
New research finds adaptation of ports to sea level rise cheap compared to new construction needed to keep up with growing maritime trade.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
New Analysis Helps Manage Risks to Shipping in the Great Lakes
Modeling of mysteriously fluctuating water levels in the Great Lakes has helped to optimize the prices of shipping insurance contracts along with investments in dredging navigation channels.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Quantifying Aerosol Effects on Climate Using Ship Track Clouds
A new methodology for measuring how human emissions influence cloud properties and radiative forcing developed by reconstructing cloud fields in maritime shipping lanes.
Posted inNews
Algorithm Spots Climate-Altering Ship Tracks in Satellite Data
Tens of thousands of ship tracks—cloud structures created when ships’ exhaust plumes interact with the atmosphere—are pinpointed automatically, furthering study of these climate-altering features.
Posted inNews
Illegal Seafood Supply Chains Can Now Be Tracked by Satellite
Researchers pinpoint more than 10,000 likely transfers of catches between fishing vessels and cargo ships at sea. Knowing where these transfers occur can help officials crack down on illegal activity.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Brown Carbon from Increased Shipping Could Harm Arctic Ice
Emission from a ship’s engine gives clues to how much light-absorbing molecules may build up on and above snow and sea ice. Such emissions are likely to increase as more ships venture into the Arctic.
Posted inNews
Build Four New U.S. Polar Icebreakers, Report Urges
All of the ships should be “science ready,” whereas one should be “fully science capable,” according to new recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.