#Researchers track nutrient transport in the Gulf of Mexico

“#Researchers track nutrient transport in the Gulf of Mexico” Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers from Florida State University are shedding light on nutrient levels in the Gulf of Mexico with new findings published this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research—Oceans. The Gulf of Mexico receives considerable levels of nutrients from the rivers that empty…

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#New insights into the global silicon cycle

“#New insights into the global silicon cycle” Shrubland vegetation of the Sandplains in Southwest Australia. Credit: Félix de Tombeur An international team of researchers has learned more about the global silicon cycle by studying ancient soil samples in Australia. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their study of soil of…

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#Ocean carbon uptake widely underestimated

“#Ocean carbon uptake widely underestimated” Credit: CC0 Public Domain The world’s oceans soak up more carbon than most scientific models suggest, according to new research. Previous estimates of the movement of carbon (known as “flux”) between the atmosphere and oceans have not accounted for temperature differences at the water’s surface and a few metres below….

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#Wildfires produce minerals that freeze clouds

“#Wildfires produce minerals that freeze clouds” Why do some biomass fuels create ice nucleating particles when they combust while others do not? Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies made an unexpected discovery. Credit: Pixabay Certain particles in the atmosphere have the unique ability to change the properties of clouds by causing water droplets…

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#Australia likely to experience up to 35% more El Niños under new projections

“#Australia likely to experience up to 35% more El Niños under new projections” Credit: Tim J Keegan/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 The “butterfly effect” is used by climate scientists to refer to an infinitesimally random perturbation to an identical initial condition (for example, in surface temperatures) causing drastically different El Niño trajectories. El Niño is associated…

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#Great Barrier Reef ‘glue’ at risk from ocean acidification

“#Great Barrier Reef ‘glue’ at risk from ocean acidification” Associate Professor Jody Webster inspects a core sample on ocean investigation vessel Greatship Maya. Credit: University of Sydney The scaffolds that help hold together the world’s tropical reefs are at risk from acidification due to increased carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans, according to geoscientists at…

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