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Environment Research web site
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 Headlines -  Environment - Atmosphere

Last Update: 24-05-13

Results: 1-10 of 31  Page(s) 1 of 4  Next >> 

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Over half of the world's population lives in urban areas and that proportion is rising. This has severe consequences for the quality of the air we are exposed to thanks to increased transportation and industry within built-up areas. Rising levels of pollution prompted the European Commission in recent years to fund a number of projects into air quality across the EU at the city, regional and country level.
23-05-13


The state of the Himalayan glaciers may not be as bleak as previously thought © Shutterstock
The world is becoming increasing concerned about the threat of an upcoming water shortage, leading to its very own crisis. However, it now appears as if previous fears regarding the Himalayan glacier may have been unduly warranted, according to a new international study. The results are an outcome of the HIGHNOON ('HighNoon: adaption to changing water resources availability in northern India with Himalayan glacier retreat and changing monsoon pattern') project, which received EUR 3.3 million under the Environment Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
04-06-12


The researchers aimed high-power pulses of laser light into a thunderstorm, which generated electrically-conductive plasma filaments © J. Kasparian / T�ramobile/Lasim
Severe weather conditions, like thunder and lightning storms, are constant reminders to us of the powerful and sometimes unpredictable forces of nature. A team of French and German scientists are helping to shed light on these weather elements. For the first time, they have actively triggered electrical activity in a thunderstorm. The findings are published in the journal Optics Express.
06-05-08


Cattle can increase methane gas in soil. © Matt+
As harmless as cattle may seem, they are regarded as a threat to the climate. Through their digestion they produce the green house gas methane, which they expel continuously. Scientists from the Institute of Soil Ecology of the GSF – National Research Centre for Environment and Health in Neuherberg, Germany and Czech colleagues at the Budwies Academy of Sciences have shown that cattle can boost the production of methane gas in soil, particularly during the winter. A German and Czech team claims that when cattle are kept on winter pasture, rather than being confined exclusively to the cowshed, the production of methane in soil increases.
25-10-07


The future motorbike will be greener and cleaner. © Matt+
The protection of the environment is high on the agendas of industries and consumers alike. Joining the fight to save the planet are engineers from the Polymer Processing Research Centre at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, who have teamed up with European, American and Japanese motorcycle manufacturers to develop greener motorcycle fuel tanks that will be able to meet the high standards of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
13-09-07


The European Forest Institute study comes as good news for the fire-prone regions of southern Europe. © Matt+
Forest fires are capable of releasing large quantities of CO2, which has been identified as one of the gases responsible for global warming, into the atmosphere. By the careful and controlled use of fire, known as “prescribed burning”, the likelihood of wild fires in forests can be reduced, along with the uncontrolled release of CO2.
15-06-07


A bird�s eye view of the Polarstern. © Matt+
At the end of May, 130 scientists from 11 countries set sail from Bremerhaven aboard the RV Polarstern on an expedition that takes place during the International Polar Year. The flagship of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), is initially heading to northern Norway and then on to Spitsbergen for its 22nd Arctic expedition. One of the main priorities of the voyage is the European project HERMES (Hotspot Ecosystem Research on the Margins of European Seas), in which the ecosystems of the deep ocean will be studied. Good use will be made of the JAGO manned underwater craft, belonging to the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences and IFM GEOMAR from Kiel, and the remote-controlled underwater craft QUEST from the University of Bremen.
12-06-07


Research shows Antarctica�s Southern Ocean is CO2 saturated. © Andrew Mandemaker
One of our planet’s most important absorbers of carbon dioxide is failing to take up as much of the greenhouse gas as had been expected, according to an article published by European researchers this week in the journal Science. A decline in the ability of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean to act as a carbon ‘sink’ could mean higher levels of atmospheric CO2 in future than previously predicted. Carbon sinks are important because they soak up excess CO2 from the atmosphere, helping temper the effects elevated greenhouse gas levels have on the environment. The four-year study was carried out by scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry.
06-06-07


Despite their intensity, Australian wildfires aren�t the sole culprit behind elevated CO levels. © Matt+
Thanks to a European research project of literally global proportions, scientists have been able to determine that much of the carbon monoxide residing in the atmosphere above Australia is produced by wildfires in South America. Australia’s wildfires are notorious; however, scientists suspected other factors were at play above the biomass-poor regions of central Australia. Biomass incineration, i.e. wildfires, is the largest cause of carbon monoxide in the lower reaches of the atmosphere. Researchers using the Dutch-German satellite instrument SCIAMACHY aboard Europe’s environmental satellite Envisat were able to determine that local fires couldn’t be responsible for the CO levels observed by Dr Annemieke Gloudemans of the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), and her colleagues.
22-05-07


Future climate models must incorporate human behaviour, experts say © Matt+
Models for climate change have previously operated as if humans do not exist, but now there has been a radical rethink. The latest thinking in global environmental change research, requires not only continued development of sophisticated climate models and an understanding of the processes behind them, but also the integration of these models with human behaviour. According to Kevin Noone, executive director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGPB) the impacts outlined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 2 Report “Climate Change 2007:Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability”, will need new interdisciplinary evaluation tools, taking into account policy options, economic preferences and decision making. These new tools should combine active predictive descriptions of human behaviour and choice with the kinds of models used to predict future changes in climate.
24-04-07



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