December 2009 on EARTH Magazine

Energy Notes: August 2008-2009

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 17:03:15 -0400

Credit: The American Geosciences Institute

U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (millions of barrels per day)

Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American Petroleum Institute’s Monthly Statistical Report. For more information visit www.api.org.

Mineral Resource of the Month: Diamond

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 16:31:47 -0400

Donald W. Olson, mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, has compiled the following information on diamond, the world’s most popular gemstone, as well as one of the most useful industrial materials.

Ninety-two percent of the world's diamonds are cut and polished in India. Credit: Diamond: ©iStockphoto.com/Clint Spencer; Bottom: Andere Andre

Diamond is an extremely stable form of carbon: It is a material with superior physical properties due to the very strong covalent bonding between the carbon atoms. Diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any known natural or synthesized material. In diamond, the carbon atoms are arranged in a rigid cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice — it is this lattice that blocks impurities, thus giving diamond its colorless appearance.

Down to Earth With: Buzz Aldrin

Wed, 23 May 2018 12:37:04 -0400

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong made history when they landed and walked on the moon. The voyage left a lasting impression on Aldrin, who, at the age of 79, is one of the most vocal supporters of human space exploration.

Benchmarks: December 1, 1959: Antarctic Treaty Signed

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 11:23:01 -0400

A victory for peace and science

In 1911, Roald Amundsen was the first person to mark the South Pole. Credit: Steve nicklas/noS, nGS (noAA).

Science trumps all in Antarctica. For the past 50 years, Antarctica has remained a military-free, globally shared continent, dedicated to peace and scientific advancement, thanks to the Antarctica Treaty.

Crystal Ball EARTH: Energy: A fool's look into the future

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

Are hydrogen fuels, natural gas or biofuels the way of the future? BP, p.l.c.

Honda Civic built to run on natural gas, as shown at the 2009 Auto Show in Washington, D.C. IFCAR

Jon White, a doctoral student at Purdue University in Indiana, conducts a field test on a Sandia experimental wind turbine in Bushland, Texas. Mark Rumsey, Sandia, Department of Energy

In the 1985 classic “Back to the Future,” Doc Brown, the mad scientist played by Christopher Lloyd, queries his time-traveling visitor, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), in 1955 about the future of America with the simple question of who was president. The answer of Ronald Reagan appeared astounding and ridiculous, as his name was on a movie poster at the time.

Crystal Ball EARTH: Energy: Oil and gas around the world

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

BP's Jack Ryan drillship off the coast of Angola drilled more than 3,500 meters below the sea to find oil and gas. BP. p.l.c.

BP's Jim Cunningham rig, offshore Angola. BP, p.l.c.

Energy is a combined product of natural resources, human ingenuity and economy; it is also an engine for economic and social development. This is truer now than ever before because the global economy is more integrated and populations are growing, and with that, competition, challenges and prospects are also rising.

Crystal Ball EARTH: Natural Hazards: Reducing society's risks

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

Many of the world's largest cities, such as Caracas, Venezuela, are hotspots of extreme poverty and most vulnerable to catastrophes following natural hazards. Abby Baca, RMS

U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones and her son, Niels Hauksson, watch the Station Fire near their home in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif. Egill Hauksson

The Station Fire in California burned dangerously close to communications towers and the Mount Wilson Observatory. Todd Hoefen, USGS

More than 65,000 people were left temporarily homeless by the magnitude-6.3 earthquake that struck L'Aquila, Italy, in April. Walter Mooney, USGS

The L'Aquila earthquake crumpled both medieval and modern infrastructure. Walter Mooney, USGS

The global financial disaster of 2009 has many parallels with catastrophic natural hazards. It struck pretty much without warning, its impact was greatly exacerbated by an incredibly complex system of cascading consequences, and finally, mechanisms supposedly in place to mitigate the worse impacts (regulations, in the case of the financial system) failed. There was awareness that such a meltdown could theoretically occur, but it was considered such a low-probability event that it was evidently not worth planning for.

Before Lucy: Older hominid Ardi challenges thinking about human evolution

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

An artist's reconstruction of _Ardipithecus ramidus_. Illustration 2009, J.H. Matternes

Reconstruction of the 'Ardi' skeleton. Illustration 2009, H.J. Matternes

Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis fossil, has long been the poster child for early human evolution. But now she’ll have to share the spotlight with an even older hominid. After spending the last 15 years studying an ancient hominid species about the size of a chimpanzee, scientists revealed details about the 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus in a press conference today. Despite the similarity in size, Ardipithecus didn’t look or act like a chimpanzee, which the researchers say suggests that the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans was not chimpanzee-like either. As a result, they said, scientists may need to rethink some long-standing ideas about the origins of the human family tree.

Blogging on EARTH: "Climategate" scientist tells his side

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

SAN FRANCISCO: In November, hackers broke into the e-mail server of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit and stole thousands of e-mails dating back to 1996 written by and to climate scientists. The e-mails, which were then leaked to the public, contained the typical stuff of science (and of e-mails, for that matter): amid discussions of data and theory, there was debate, confusion, flippancy, dark humor and questioning.

Blogging on EARTH: A proposed twist on carbon trades at AGU

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

SAN FRANCISCO: In the ongoing climate negotiations, one issue that keeps coming up is that developing countries should be held to the same standards as the developed world.

But that’s not quite fair, say Steven Davis and Ken Caldeira (both at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, Calif.): Much of the carbon dioxide emitted by those developing countries goes into producing goods that are exported to the developed world — which means the developing world ends up paying for others’ consumerism. In other words, we’re outsourcing our carbon dioxide emissions.

Cash for Clunkers' footprint

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that a little-known chemical was playing a big role in the Cash for Clunkers program. The federal government required dealerships to pour sodium silicate, or liquid glass, into the engines of the traded-in clunkers. The solution destroys the engine, ensuring that the old cars and trucks never end up back on the road. The Journal noted that chemical companies couldn’t keep up with the sodium silicate orders that were pouring in. The demand was so high that liquid glass became the “best-selling product of the year,” Robert Mueller, owner of a chemical company in Illinois, told the newspaper.

Crystal Ball EARTH: Minerals management: The changing commodities scene

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

The demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars may be good news for producers of the lightweight metal aluminum. Megan Sever

Many people would like to forget 2008. The subprime mortgage crisis came to a head and sent the world’s financial markets into a free fall. The situation didn’t improve much in 2009 as unemployment soared and consumers held on tightly to their dwindling dollars.

Crystal Ball EARTH: Space: NASA keeps watch on a changing planet

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

NASA's Glory satellite will launch by the end of 2010. NASA

The TIM instrument will measure total solar irradiation. NASA

Launched in January 2003, NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) is examining changes in ice and land masses on Earth. ICESat will be replaced by its successor, ICESat-II, in 2014. NASA

A NASA P-3B aircraft makes its final approach into Thule Air Base in Greenland. NASA

Aquarius, scheduled to launch in 2010 aboard Argentina's SAC-D spacecraft, will measure changes in ocean salinity. NASA

The GRIP campaign will help researchers get highly accurate measurements of rapid intensification or other changes in a hurricane. NASA

The unmanned Global Hawk aircraft will fly over hurricanes while onboard instruments take continuous measurements. NASA

In 2009, we saw a number of changes on Earth. The average global ocean surface temperature last summer was the warmest on record. Thin seasonal ice has recently replaced thick older ice as the dominant type of ice in the Arctic. And scientists saw that despite a quiet sun with few sunspots, Earth can continue to be bombarded with a high level of solar energy.

Geomedia: Twitter gives heads-up to users and officials about earthquakes

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Twitter stirs up a wide range of reactions — it’s hailed as a vital social networking service by some, despised as the ultimate waste of time by others. But the popular online message board does possess one characteristic that is universally undeniable: speed.

Mars' ice is pure, not dirty

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Blogging on EARTH

Finding signs of water on Mars feels nearly old hat by now. We know Mars had a lot more water in its past, has polar ice deposits and even has a kind of water cycle, driven by the formation of water-ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere. Scientists have also found signs of "dirty ice" — a 50-50 mix of ice and soil — revealed to be lurking beneath the upper layers of Martian soil by the impacts of meteorites. So when the Phoenix lander recently discovered pure water ice in the subsurface, that was exciting — but it was still thought to be an anomaly.

Mini-T. rex fossil found in China

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

_Raptorex _closely resembled its descendent _T. rex_, but weighed as little as one-hundredth as much. Based on a fossil skeleton discovered in Inner Mongolia, China. Illustration: Todd Marshall

Long-legged predator _Raptorex _was entombed in the sediment of an ancient lake margin in northern China 125 million years ago. Photo by Mike Hettwer

The Tyrannosaurus rex — arguably the most famous dinosaur of all time — was also one of the most efficient predators to ever walk on Earth. With its powerful jaws, large eyes, strong hind limbs and even tiny arms, the T. rex was uniquely designed to swiftly run down and dispatch prey. But on Wednesday, scientists announced that those characteristic T. rex features were not as unique as once thought: A new fossil find shows that 60 million years earlier, a T. rex doppelganger — albeit much smaller — was using a very similar set of features to terrorize prey in China.

Moon much wetter than thought

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

The moon isn’t quite the bone-dry place scientists once thought; instead, its surface is covered in water, according to a landmark finding announced by scientists at NASA today. Teams from three different NASA missions — the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) mission that launched with the Indian Chandrayaan-1 satellite currently in orbit around the moon, the Deep Impact mission and the Cassini mission — pooled their data to confirm a finding that M3 principal investigator Carle Pieters said was “completely conclusive.”

Not the oldest hominid

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

At 4.4 million years old, Ardipithecus ramidus is not the oldest known hominid. In 2002, scientists announced they had discovered a hominid skull from the Sahel region of Chad. Named Sahelanthropus tchadensis, the species dates to about 7 million years ago. And a few years earlier, scientists had announced the discovery of several hominid fossils, including a thigh bone, in Kenya that dated to about 6 million years ago. They named the species Orrorin tugenensis.

Scientists find watery super-Earth

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Newly discovered super-Earth GJ 1214b orbits a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth in this artist's conception. David A. Aguilar, CfA

The search for Earth-like planets has never looked better. Scientists say they have discovered a water-rich planet that is only 2.7 times larger than Earth. Although positioned just outside the habitable zone for life, the planet gives scientists their best hope yet that other Earth-like planets exist in our universe.

Sunlight mobilizes mercury in wetlands

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

John Reinfelder and Lora Smith measure elemental mercury gas volatilizing from the Great Bay Estuary in New Jersey. Courtesy of John Reinfelder

Elemental mercury — whether produced naturally by volcanoes or forest fires, or released from industrial sources such as power plants — is easily volatilized into the atmosphere; from there, it can settle in aquatic settings and enter the food chain. Now, a new study adds a twist by following the path of mercury from wetlands back into the atmosphere — and finds that more mercury is volatilized than previously thought.

The vital statistics

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Ardipithecus ramidus was a hominid that lived in Ethiopia’s Afar region 4.4 million years ago. After spending more than a decade studying the species, scientists can now provide a sketch of what the hominid looked like:

Thirsty Cities: Water management in a changing environment

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

The lush green backyard of a Beaufort, S.C., manor. Water is not usually a big concern in the southeastern United States. Nate Burgess, AGI

A member of SWAT (Save Water Atlanta Team) conducts a water meter investigation. City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management

A 1930s advertisement on a streetcar in Denver, Colo. Water has been a concern in Denver since the town was founded. Denver Water

A Denver Water employee conducts an irrigation audit. Denver Water

Filled recharge basin in Tucson in January 2009. Lisa Song

A dry recharge basin in Tucson, Ariz., in March 2009. Tucson collects water in these basins for future use. Lisa Song

On a clear day in November 2007, the governor of Georgia held an unusual public vigil. Before the doors of his state capitol, Gov. Sonny Perdue bowed his head, took his wife’s hand and prayed for rain.

Xeriscaping: Not just rocks and cactus

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Minimum-water landscaping, or xeriscaping, doesn't necessarily mean planting just cacti. Denver Water

“The word ‘xeriscape’ brings to mind a lot of pebbles with cacti,” says Janet Ward, public relations manager for the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management. “That’s not what xeriscaping is, but that’s what people think it is.” Xeriscaping is simply minimum-water landscaping. It can involve everything from stones and cacti, to sedums, drought-tolerant plants and native bushes. Indeed, a glimpse into yards in Denver, Colo., often reveals fiery blanketflowers, magenta poppy mallows and sky-blue forget-me-nots.