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Drilling on the Edge

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By CHRISTIAN ELLIOTT , Science.  Excerpt: The helicopter hovered overhead, whipping up snow. ...One trip down, 17 more to go,  thought [Peter] Neff, a polar glaciologist  at the University of Minnesota (UM) Twin Cities. ...Neff and his team would have just 10 days to drill ice cores on Canisteo, a peninsula on the west coast of Antarctica—and a blizzard was already looming. ...Scientists usually target sites deep in the continent’s interior, where the weather is calmer and they can spend years collecting kilometers-long ice cores that record hundreds of thousands of years of climate history. Neff needed just a couple hundred years of history, and he only needed to drill 150 meters deep to get it. But his chosen location was exceptionally remote and stormy. He was there because of ...the  Pine Island  and  Thwaites glaciers , which jut into the Amundsen Sea as frozen shelves tens of kilometers wide. These glaciers act as corks in the bottle of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which ...stor
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Deadly marine ‘cold spells’ could become more frequent with climate change, scientists warn

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By WARREN CORNWALL , Science.  Excerpt: In March 2021, a grisly scene materialized on the beaches of South Africa. Giant bat-winged manta rays sprawled belly up on rocks. Hulking bull sharks lay dead in the sand. Puffer fish littered shorelines like deflated footballs. Such fish kills are usually triggered by hot water, low oxygen, or toxic algae blooms. But this time it was a surprising culprit. In the middle of the southern summer, these fish died of cold—a phenomenon that may be linked to climate change, according to  a new paper . At a time when global warming is driving ocean temperatures to record-setting highs and  marine heat waves are striking around the globe , it might seem paradoxical that climate change could be linked to the underwater equivalent of a cold snap. But researchers now say that in some parts of the world, incidents like the 2021 cold spell appear to be getting more common as currents change, with potentially lethal consequences for marine life....  See articl
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Northern Permafrost Region Emits More Greenhouse Gases Than It Captures

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By Saima May Sidik , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Permafrost underlies a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere. A comprehensive analysis shows that the area may have shifted from a sink to a source of greenhouse gases, bringing a longtime prediction to fruition. Permafrost underlies about  14 million square kilometers  of land in and around the Arctic. The top 3 meters contain an estimated 1 trillion metric tons of carbon and 55 billion metric tons of nitrogen. Historically, the northern permafrost region has been a sink for carbon, as frozen soils inhibit microbial decomposition. But rising temperatures contribute to thawing permafrost and enhance the biogeochemical activities that  exacerbate climate change  by releasing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O). ... Ramage et al.   synthesized greenhouse gas measurements of the northern permafrost region between 2000 and 2020 to provide a carbon balance for the region, as well as the first compr
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Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Industry Are Triple Current Estimates

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By Nathaniel Scharping , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: The U.S. oil and gas industry is responsible for emitting 3 times more methane than current government estimates, according to a new study. Those emissions cost $9.3 billion annually because of their effects on global warming and air quality, the authors estimated. The study,  published in  Nature , used aerial surveys to track methane emissions from oil and gas fields, pipelines, processing facilities, and more in six fossil fuel–producing regions of the United States. It adds to a  growing body of evidence  indicating that methane emissions are  far higher than previously thought .. See article at https://eos.org/articles/methane-emissions-from-the-oil-and-gas-industry-are-triple-current-estimates . Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, often calculated to be 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (though  some studies  say it could be even more powerful), and is responsible for around a  third of human-caused global warming  to date. Cur
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Why Heat Pumps Are the Future, and How Your Home Could Use One

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By Hilary Howard , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Heat pumps, which both warm and cool buildings and are powered by electricity, have been touted as the answer to curbing greenhouse gas emissions produced by homes, businesses and office buildings, which are responsible for about  one-third of the emissions  in New York State. ...A heat pump moves heat. ...During warm weather, a pump works just like an air-conditioner by rerouting indoor heat outdoors. When it’s cold outside, the process is reversed: Heat from the chilly outdoor air is extracted and delivered indoors with the help of refrigerants and a compressor. ...The devices are highly efficient, which should help limit the growing burden on the grid, said Rohit T. Aggarwala, the [New York] city’s climate chief. ...In New York City, Con Ed customers have completed more than 30,000 installations since 2020. And across the state,  nearly 23,000 heat pump projects  were installed in 2022, a threefold increase from the year before.... Se
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The EV Battery of Your Dreams Is Coming

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By Christopher Mims , The Wall Street Journal.  Excerpt: In the next five years, significant upgrades to the batteries in electric vehicles should finally hit the market. In the works for decades, these changes are likely to mean that by 2030, gas vehicles will cost more than their electric equivalents; some EVs will charge as quickly as filling up at a gas station ; and super long-range EVs will make the phrase “range anxiety” seem quaint. ...a new kind of battery which will hold more than 20% more energy than the previous type, and charging speed and range will also improve by up to 30%, says a BMW spokesman. ...In theory, a [solid] lithium metal anode can hold 10 times as many lithium ions as a graphite one [ that’s in today’s lithium-ion batteries ]. All other things being equal, this means the energy density of a battery using lithium metal in place of graphite could be up to 50% higher. ... engineers aim to deliver to automakers a battery that can add 100 miles of range in just
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Explosive levels of methane have been detected near a Berkeley landfill-turned-park

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https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-04-11/explosive-levels-of-methane-detected-at-cesar-chavez-park-berkeley By Tony Briscoe , Los Angeles Times.  Excerpt: Brimming with wildlife and offering panoramic views of San Francisco Bay, César Chávez Park welcomes visitors who might never suspect this stretch of shoreline was built atop a municipal landfill. But beneath the sprawling grasslands and charming hiking trails, decomposing waste continues to generate methane gas. That’s why the city of Berkeley operates an underground system that collects this flammable gas and torches it at a large mechanical flare near the center of the park. In recent years, environmental regulators have grown increasingly concerned that this equipment has fallen into disrepair and released landfill gases. The  Bay Area Air Quality Management District  has fined Berkeley after finding explosive levels of methane leaking from at least two cracked gas collection wells in the park. Both have since been re
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