Republicans Said China Wouldn’t Follow Through on its Climate Pledges. Looks Like They Were Wrong.

The world’s top emitter is pledging to cap coal use starting in 2020.

Coal-fired plants on the banks of China’s Yangtze River downstream from Chongqing. Arnold Drapkin/ZUMA

Almost as soon as President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping announced their landmark climate deal last week, there was a torrent of criticism that the pact let China off the hook. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) complained that “the agreement requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years.” The argument goes like this: The US committed to deeper, faster cuts than it had before—reducing carbon emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. But under the deal, the Chinese are allowed to spew greenhouse gases unabated, only committing to stop increasing those emissions “around 2030.”

Indeed, exactly how China will begin to “peak” its emissions around 2030 without a legally binding agreement is still an open question. Historically, there’s been widespread suspicion about China’s intentions on the issue—the country has, after all, been a thorn in the side of international climate negotiations for years. And even the White House appeared to raise an eyebrow at the staggering scale of the cleaner energy sources China would need to install to reach its goals: the non-fossil fuel equivalent of the “total current electricity generation capacity in the United States” over the next 16 years, the White House said.

But this week, China’s leadership has begun to answer that question. According to reports in state-controlled media, China’s State Council—essentially its cabinet—unveiled a new cap on annual coal use Wednesday. Under the new targets, China will limit coal consumption to 4.2 billion tons in 2020. That’s an increase from 3.75 billion tons last year. But relative to the country’s overall energy consumption mix, it’s a reduction; last year, coal accounted for around 67 percent of China’s energy consumption. Under the new plan, that figure would fall to 62 percent in 2020. The Xinhua report also says that the share of non-fossil fuels will rise to 15 percent by 2020 (from 9.8 percent in 2013)—a significant advance towards the goal of reaching 20 percent by 2030 outlined in the US-China deal.

While the cap represents a big step politically—coming from the State Council—the new promises are consistent with current trends in China. Many provinces have recently introduced air quality policies that seek to reverse the rapid growth in coal use, according to a Greenpeace report released in April. Twelve of China’s 34 provinces, accounting for 44 percent of the country’s coal consumption, have already pledged to implement coal control measures, according to the report.

Twelve Chinese provinces have already pledged to implement coal control measures. Click to view a larger version. Greenpeace.

This week’s announcement is likely to cement China’s plans at the very highest levels of government—and it sends a signal to the international community that the country means business. The South China Morning Post reports that the new targets announced this week are likely to make their way into China’s official “five year plan”—a kind of economic development master plan that will be formalized next year and will dictate top-down strategy for 2016-2020.

While the climate benefits are obvious, and global in scope, the drivers behind the high profile announcement are far more domestic. The newspaper quotes Lin Boqiang, director of Xiamen University’s China Centre for China Energy Economics Research, as saying the early announcement can be linked to China’s desperation to do something about its air quality: “The smog crisis has forced China’s government to change its views on the country’s energy structure in the past several years. That’s why they want to release this blueprint now.”

Environmentalists have cautiously welcomed the plan but are pushing for more. “We think it’s definitely a positive sign, in line with what they’ve said they’re going to do,” Alvin Lin, an energy expert with Natural Resources Defense Council, told the New York Times . “We’d like to see it a bit lower than that, if you’re trying to meet the air pollution and air quality targets that they have set, and if you consider all the other environmental and health impacts of coal and the greenhouse-gas emissions of coal.”

from Climate Desk http://ift.tt/1tF5BHv

The world’s top emitter is pledging to cap coal use starting in 2020.

Coal-fired plants on the banks of China’s Yangtze River downstream from Chongqing. Arnold Drapkin/ZUMA

Almost as soon as President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping announced their landmark climate deal last week, there was a torrent of criticism that the pact let China off the hook. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) complained that “the agreement requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years.” The argument goes like this: The US committed to deeper, faster cuts than it had before—reducing carbon emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. But under the deal, the Chinese are allowed to spew greenhouse gases unabated, only committing to stop increasing those emissions “around 2030.”

Indeed, exactly how China will begin to “peak” its emissions around 2030 without a legally binding agreement is still an open question. Historically, there’s been widespread suspicion about China’s intentions on the issue—the country has, after all, been a thorn in the side of international climate negotiations for years. And even the White House appeared to raise an eyebrow at the staggering scale of the cleaner energy sources China would need to install to reach its goals: the non-fossil fuel equivalent of the “total current electricity generation capacity in the United States” over the next 16 years, the White House said.

But this week, China’s leadership has begun to answer that question. According to reports in state-controlled media, China’s State Council—essentially its cabinet—unveiled a new cap on annual coal use Wednesday. Under the new targets, China will limit coal consumption to 4.2 billion tons in 2020. That’s an increase from 3.75 billion tons last year. But relative to the country’s overall energy consumption mix, it’s a reduction; last year, coal accounted for around 67 percent of China’s energy consumption. Under the new plan, that figure would fall to 62 percent in 2020. The Xinhua report also says that the share of non-fossil fuels will rise to 15 percent by 2020 (from 9.8 percent in 2013)—a significant advance towards the goal of reaching 20 percent by 2030 outlined in the US-China deal.

While the cap represents a big step politically—coming from the State Council—the new promises are consistent with current trends in China. Many provinces have recently introduced air quality policies that seek to reverse the rapid growth in coal use, according to a Greenpeace report released in April. Twelve of China’s 34 provinces, accounting for 44 percent of the country’s coal consumption, have already pledged to implement coal control measures, according to the report.

Twelve Chinese provinces have already pledged to implement coal control measures. Click to view a larger version. Greenpeace.

This week’s announcement is likely to cement China’s plans at the very highest levels of government—and it sends a signal to the international community that the country means business. The South China Morning Post reports that the new targets announced this week are likely to make their way into China’s official “five year plan”—a kind of economic development master plan that will be formalized next year and will dictate top-down strategy for 2016-2020.

While the climate benefits are obvious, and global in scope, the drivers behind the high profile announcement are far more domestic. The newspaper quotes Lin Boqiang, director of Xiamen University’s China Centre for China Energy Economics Research, as saying the early announcement can be linked to China’s desperation to do something about its air quality: “The smog crisis has forced China’s government to change its views on the country’s energy structure in the past several years. That’s why they want to release this blueprint now.”

Environmentalists have cautiously welcomed the plan but are pushing for more. “We think it’s definitely a positive sign, in line with what they’ve said they’re going to do,” Alvin Lin, an energy expert with Natural Resources Defense Council, told the New York Times . “We’d like to see it a bit lower than that, if you’re trying to meet the air pollution and air quality targets that they have set, and if you consider all the other environmental and health impacts of coal and the greenhouse-gas emissions of coal.”

from Climate Desk http://ift.tt/1tF5BHv

Mysterious killer of millions of sea stars identified

Scientists think that they have finally figured out what has been causing the deaths of millions of sea stars along the west coast of North America. The disease outbreak, which is known as sea-star wasting disease, started during the summer of 2013, and it has now decimated sea star populations all the way from Baja California in Mexico up to the southern coast of Alaska. The disease is most likely caused by a virus, the scientists say after they painstakingly gathered multiple lines of evidence from both laboratory and field studies. Their new findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on November 17, 2014.

The first hint that a virus may be responsible for sea-star wasting disease came from observations made at aquariums along the Pacific Coast. At facilities where sea stars were held in sand-filtered seawater, the sea stars succumbed to the disease. However, at facilities where sea stars were held in seawater that was disinfected with ultraviolet light, the sea stars remained disease free. Hence, some type of water-borne pathogen was likely infecting the sea stars.

A healthy sunflower sea star (Pycnopodium helianthoides). Image Credit: Kevin Lafferty, U.S. Geological Survey.

To test their hypothesis that sea-star wasting disease is caused by a virus, scientists took tissue samples from sick sea stars, ground them up, and passed them through a filter that would trap bacteria but allow viruses to pass through. Next, they used heat to kill off any viruses in some samples while allowing other samples to retain their viral loads. These samples were then injected into health sea stars. After about 10 to 17 days, sea stars that had received the non-heat treated samples started showing signs of the disease. In contrast, those that had received the heat treated samples remained disease free.

Samples of viruses collected from the sea stars during the course of the experiment showed that a particular type of virus, known as a densovirus, had increased in number as the disease progressed. Field studies also confirmed that high densovirus loads were more likely to be found in sick sea stars than in healthy sea stars. All of these findings strongly suggest that the sea-star wasting disease is caused by the densovirus.

Ian Hewson, lead author of the study, is a microbiology professor at Cornell University. He commented on the new findings in a press release:

There are 10 million viruses in a drop of seawater, so discovering the virus associated with a marine disease can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Not only is this an important discovery of a virus involved in a mass mortality of marine invertebrates, but this is also the first virus described in a sea star.

Interestingly, the scientists examined some museum specimens of sea stars and detected the presence of the densovirus in animals that were collected as far back as the year 1942. So the big question now is why haven’t similar outbreaks occurred before today?

Ian Hewson holding a sea star. Image Credit: Cornell University.

It’s possible that the virus has underwent some genetic changes that have made it more infectious, the scientists say. Additionally, it is possible that changes in the environment have made sea stars more susceptible to densovirus infections. Clearly, more research will be needed to fully understand this particular disease.

Sea stars are a keystone species, which means that they have an outsized influence on other organisms in the marine ecosystem. The loss of keystone species is often associated with dramatic decreases in biodiversity. For example, sea stars prey on mussels, and when sea stars are absent in coastal habitats, mussel populations can explode and crowd out other species. Long-term monitoring of coastal sites hit hard by sea-star wasting disease will be important to determine if there will be any cascading negative effects on the ecosystem.

The new research was a collaborative effort of 25 scientists from the United States and Canada. It was funded by Cornell University’s David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, the National Science Foundation, and Washington Sea Grant.

Bottom line: Scientists say that a densovirus is the likely culprit behind sea-star wasting disease. The disease has killed millions of sea stars along the west coast of North America since 2013. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on November 17, 2014.

Managing biodiversity in parks a growing concern

2014 State of the Birds report: Mixed marks for U.S. birds

Sea turtles nesting in record numbers

Bat-killing fungus continues to spread west through the US

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1wdCy4x

Scientists think that they have finally figured out what has been causing the deaths of millions of sea stars along the west coast of North America. The disease outbreak, which is known as sea-star wasting disease, started during the summer of 2013, and it has now decimated sea star populations all the way from Baja California in Mexico up to the southern coast of Alaska. The disease is most likely caused by a virus, the scientists say after they painstakingly gathered multiple lines of evidence from both laboratory and field studies. Their new findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on November 17, 2014.

The first hint that a virus may be responsible for sea-star wasting disease came from observations made at aquariums along the Pacific Coast. At facilities where sea stars were held in sand-filtered seawater, the sea stars succumbed to the disease. However, at facilities where sea stars were held in seawater that was disinfected with ultraviolet light, the sea stars remained disease free. Hence, some type of water-borne pathogen was likely infecting the sea stars.

A healthy sunflower sea star (Pycnopodium helianthoides). Image Credit: Kevin Lafferty, U.S. Geological Survey.

To test their hypothesis that sea-star wasting disease is caused by a virus, scientists took tissue samples from sick sea stars, ground them up, and passed them through a filter that would trap bacteria but allow viruses to pass through. Next, they used heat to kill off any viruses in some samples while allowing other samples to retain their viral loads. These samples were then injected into health sea stars. After about 10 to 17 days, sea stars that had received the non-heat treated samples started showing signs of the disease. In contrast, those that had received the heat treated samples remained disease free.

Samples of viruses collected from the sea stars during the course of the experiment showed that a particular type of virus, known as a densovirus, had increased in number as the disease progressed. Field studies also confirmed that high densovirus loads were more likely to be found in sick sea stars than in healthy sea stars. All of these findings strongly suggest that the sea-star wasting disease is caused by the densovirus.

Ian Hewson, lead author of the study, is a microbiology professor at Cornell University. He commented on the new findings in a press release:

There are 10 million viruses in a drop of seawater, so discovering the virus associated with a marine disease can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Not only is this an important discovery of a virus involved in a mass mortality of marine invertebrates, but this is also the first virus described in a sea star.

Interestingly, the scientists examined some museum specimens of sea stars and detected the presence of the densovirus in animals that were collected as far back as the year 1942. So the big question now is why haven’t similar outbreaks occurred before today?

Ian Hewson holding a sea star. Image Credit: Cornell University.

It’s possible that the virus has underwent some genetic changes that have made it more infectious, the scientists say. Additionally, it is possible that changes in the environment have made sea stars more susceptible to densovirus infections. Clearly, more research will be needed to fully understand this particular disease.

Sea stars are a keystone species, which means that they have an outsized influence on other organisms in the marine ecosystem. The loss of keystone species is often associated with dramatic decreases in biodiversity. For example, sea stars prey on mussels, and when sea stars are absent in coastal habitats, mussel populations can explode and crowd out other species. Long-term monitoring of coastal sites hit hard by sea-star wasting disease will be important to determine if there will be any cascading negative effects on the ecosystem.

The new research was a collaborative effort of 25 scientists from the United States and Canada. It was funded by Cornell University’s David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, the National Science Foundation, and Washington Sea Grant.

Bottom line: Scientists say that a densovirus is the likely culprit behind sea-star wasting disease. The disease has killed millions of sea stars along the west coast of North America since 2013. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on November 17, 2014.

Managing biodiversity in parks a growing concern

2014 State of the Birds report: Mixed marks for U.S. birds

Sea turtles nesting in record numbers

Bat-killing fungus continues to spread west through the US

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1wdCy4x

Everything you need to know: December solstice 2014

Sunlight on Earth, on the day of the winter solstice. The north polar region of Earth is in 24-hour darkness, while the south polar region is in 24-hour daylight. Gif via Wikimedia Commons.

Looking for this? NASA quells rumor: Days of darkness in December

Late dawn. Early sunset. Short day. Long night. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the year. Meanwhile, on the day of the December solstice, the Southern Hemisphere has its longest day and shortest night.

No matter where you live on Earth’s globe, a solstice is your signal to celebrate. For us on the northern part of Earth, the shortest day comes at the solstice. After the winter solstice, the days get longer, and the nights shorter. It’s a seasonal shift that nearly everyone notices. Follow the links below to learn more about the 2014 December solstice.

When is the solstice where I live?

What is a solstice?

Where should I look to see signs of the solstice in nature?

Why doesn’t the earliest sunset come on the shortest day?

Day and night sides of Earth on the December 2014 solstice

Day and night sides of Earth at the instant of the December 2014 solstice (2014 December 21 at 23:03 Universal Time). Note that the north polar region of Earth must endure 24 hours of night, while the south polar region gets to bask in 24 hours of daylight. Image credit: Earth and Moon Viewer

When is the solstice where I live? The solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth. In 2014, the December solstice comes on December 21 at 5:03 p.m. CST. That’s 23:03 Universal Time. It’s when the sun on our sky’s dome reaches its farthest southward point for the year. At this solstice, the Northern Hemisphere has its shortest day and longest night of the year.

To find the time in your location, you have to translate to your time zone. Click here to translate Universal Time to your local time.

Just remember: you’re translating from 23:03 UT on December 21. So for most of the world’s eastern hemisphere – Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand – the December solstice actually comes on December 22. For example, if you live in Perth, Australia, you need to add 8 hours to Universal Time to find out that the solstice happens on December 22, at 7:03 a.m. AWST (Australian Western Standard Time).

Earth has seasons because our world is tilted on its axis with respect to our orbit around the sun. Image via NASA.

What is a solstice? The earliest people on Earth knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments such as Stonehenge in England – or, for example, at Machu Picchu in Peru – to follow the sun’s yearly progress.

But we today see the solstice differently. We can picture it from the vantage point of space. Today, we know that the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis, and its motion in orbit around the sun.

Because Earth doesn’t orbit upright, but is instead tilted on its axis by 23-and-a-half degrees, Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly. The tilt of the Earth – not our distance from the sun – is what causes winter and summer. At the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is leaning most away from the sun for the year.

At the December solstice, Earth is positioned in its orbit so that the sun stays below the north pole horizon. As seen from 23-and-a-half degrees south of the equator, at the imaginary line encircling the globe known as the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun shines directly overhead at noon. This is as far south as the sun ever gets. All locations south of the equator have day lengths greater than 12 hours at the December solstice. Meanwhile, all locations north of the equator have day lengths less than 12 hours.

Around the time of the winter solstice, watch for late dawns, early sunsets, and the low arc of the sun across the sky each day. Notice your noontime shadow, the longest of the year. Photo via Serge Arsenie on Flickr.

Meanwhile, at the summer solstice, noontime shadows are short. Photo via the Slam Summer Beach Volleyball festival in Australia.

Where should I look to see signs of the solstice in nature? Everywhere.

For all of Earth’s creatures, nothing is so fundamental as the length of daylight. After all, the sun is the ultimate source of all light and warmth on Earth.

If you live in the northern hemisphere, you can notice the late dawns and early sunsets, and the low arc of the sun across the sky each day. You might notice how low the sun appears in the sky at local noon. And be sure to look at your noontime shadow. Around the time of the December solstice, it’s your longest noontime shadow of the year.

In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s opposite. Dawn comes early, and dusk comes late. The sun is high. It’s your shortest noontime shadow of the year.

EarthSky Facebook friend John Michael Mizzi saw this sunset from the island of Gozo (Malta), south of Italy. The earliest sunsets come a couple of weeks before the winter solstice.

Why doesn’t the earliest sunset come on the shortest day? The December solstice marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and longest day in the southern hemisphere. But the earliest sunset – or earliest sunrise if you’re south of the equator – happens before the solstice. Many people notice this, and ask about it.

The key to understanding the earliest sunset is not to focus on the time of sunset or sunrise. The key is to focus on what is called true solar noon – the time of day that the sun reaches its highest point, in its journey across your sky.

In early December, true solar noon comes nearly 10 minutes earlier by the clock than it does at the solstice around December 21. With true noon coming later on the solstice, so will the sunrise and sunset times.

It’s this discrepancy between clock time and sun time that causes the earliest sunset and the earliest sunrise to precede the December solstice.

The discrepancy occurs primarily because of the tilt of the Earth’s axis. A secondary but another contributing factor to this discrepancy between clock noon and sun noon comes from the Earth’s elliptical – oblong – orbit around the sun. The Earth’s orbit is not a perfect circle, and when we’re closest to the sun, our world moves fastest in orbit. Our closest point to the sun – or perihelion – comes in early January. So we are moving fastest in orbit around now, slightly faster than our average speed of 18 miles per second.

Solstice Pyrotechnics II by groovehouse on Flickr.

The precise date of the earliest sunset depends on your latitude. At mid northern latitudes, it comes in early December each year. At northern temperate latitudes farther north – such as in Canada and Alaska – the year’s earliest sunset comes around mid-December. Close to the Arctic Circle, the earliest sunset and the December solstice occur on or near the same day.

By the way, the latest sunrise doesn’t come on the solstice either. From mid-northern latitudes, the latest sunrise comes in early January.

The exact dates vary, but the sequence is always the same: earliest sunset in early December, shortest day on the solstice around December 21, latest sunrise in early January.

And so the cycle continues.

Bottom line: In 2014, the December solstice comes on December 21 at 5:03 p.m. CST. That’s December 21 at 23:03 UT. Happy solstice, everyone!

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1bVFTFr

Sunlight on Earth, on the day of the winter solstice. The north polar region of Earth is in 24-hour darkness, while the south polar region is in 24-hour daylight. Gif via Wikimedia Commons.

Looking for this? NASA quells rumor: Days of darkness in December

Late dawn. Early sunset. Short day. Long night. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the year. Meanwhile, on the day of the December solstice, the Southern Hemisphere has its longest day and shortest night.

No matter where you live on Earth’s globe, a solstice is your signal to celebrate. For us on the northern part of Earth, the shortest day comes at the solstice. After the winter solstice, the days get longer, and the nights shorter. It’s a seasonal shift that nearly everyone notices. Follow the links below to learn more about the 2014 December solstice.

When is the solstice where I live?

What is a solstice?

Where should I look to see signs of the solstice in nature?

Why doesn’t the earliest sunset come on the shortest day?

Day and night sides of Earth on the December 2014 solstice

Day and night sides of Earth at the instant of the December 2014 solstice (2014 December 21 at 23:03 Universal Time). Note that the north polar region of Earth must endure 24 hours of night, while the south polar region gets to bask in 24 hours of daylight. Image credit: Earth and Moon Viewer

When is the solstice where I live? The solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth. In 2014, the December solstice comes on December 21 at 5:03 p.m. CST. That’s 23:03 Universal Time. It’s when the sun on our sky’s dome reaches its farthest southward point for the year. At this solstice, the Northern Hemisphere has its shortest day and longest night of the year.

To find the time in your location, you have to translate to your time zone. Click here to translate Universal Time to your local time.

Just remember: you’re translating from 23:03 UT on December 21. So for most of the world’s eastern hemisphere – Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand – the December solstice actually comes on December 22. For example, if you live in Perth, Australia, you need to add 8 hours to Universal Time to find out that the solstice happens on December 22, at 7:03 a.m. AWST (Australian Western Standard Time).

Earth has seasons because our world is tilted on its axis with respect to our orbit around the sun. Image via NASA.

What is a solstice? The earliest people on Earth knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments such as Stonehenge in England – or, for example, at Machu Picchu in Peru – to follow the sun’s yearly progress.

But we today see the solstice differently. We can picture it from the vantage point of space. Today, we know that the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis, and its motion in orbit around the sun.

Because Earth doesn’t orbit upright, but is instead tilted on its axis by 23-and-a-half degrees, Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly. The tilt of the Earth – not our distance from the sun – is what causes winter and summer. At the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is leaning most away from the sun for the year.

At the December solstice, Earth is positioned in its orbit so that the sun stays below the north pole horizon. As seen from 23-and-a-half degrees south of the equator, at the imaginary line encircling the globe known as the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun shines directly overhead at noon. This is as far south as the sun ever gets. All locations south of the equator have day lengths greater than 12 hours at the December solstice. Meanwhile, all locations north of the equator have day lengths less than 12 hours.

Around the time of the winter solstice, watch for late dawns, early sunsets, and the low arc of the sun across the sky each day. Notice your noontime shadow, the longest of the year. Photo via Serge Arsenie on Flickr.

Meanwhile, at the summer solstice, noontime shadows are short. Photo via the Slam Summer Beach Volleyball festival in Australia.

Where should I look to see signs of the solstice in nature? Everywhere.

For all of Earth’s creatures, nothing is so fundamental as the length of daylight. After all, the sun is the ultimate source of all light and warmth on Earth.

If you live in the northern hemisphere, you can notice the late dawns and early sunsets, and the low arc of the sun across the sky each day. You might notice how low the sun appears in the sky at local noon. And be sure to look at your noontime shadow. Around the time of the December solstice, it’s your longest noontime shadow of the year.

In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s opposite. Dawn comes early, and dusk comes late. The sun is high. It’s your shortest noontime shadow of the year.

EarthSky Facebook friend John Michael Mizzi saw this sunset from the island of Gozo (Malta), south of Italy. The earliest sunsets come a couple of weeks before the winter solstice.

Why doesn’t the earliest sunset come on the shortest day? The December solstice marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and longest day in the southern hemisphere. But the earliest sunset – or earliest sunrise if you’re south of the equator – happens before the solstice. Many people notice this, and ask about it.

The key to understanding the earliest sunset is not to focus on the time of sunset or sunrise. The key is to focus on what is called true solar noon – the time of day that the sun reaches its highest point, in its journey across your sky.

In early December, true solar noon comes nearly 10 minutes earlier by the clock than it does at the solstice around December 21. With true noon coming later on the solstice, so will the sunrise and sunset times.

It’s this discrepancy between clock time and sun time that causes the earliest sunset and the earliest sunrise to precede the December solstice.

The discrepancy occurs primarily because of the tilt of the Earth’s axis. A secondary but another contributing factor to this discrepancy between clock noon and sun noon comes from the Earth’s elliptical – oblong – orbit around the sun. The Earth’s orbit is not a perfect circle, and when we’re closest to the sun, our world moves fastest in orbit. Our closest point to the sun – or perihelion – comes in early January. So we are moving fastest in orbit around now, slightly faster than our average speed of 18 miles per second.

Solstice Pyrotechnics II by groovehouse on Flickr.

The precise date of the earliest sunset depends on your latitude. At mid northern latitudes, it comes in early December each year. At northern temperate latitudes farther north – such as in Canada and Alaska – the year’s earliest sunset comes around mid-December. Close to the Arctic Circle, the earliest sunset and the December solstice occur on or near the same day.

By the way, the latest sunrise doesn’t come on the solstice either. From mid-northern latitudes, the latest sunrise comes in early January.

The exact dates vary, but the sequence is always the same: earliest sunset in early December, shortest day on the solstice around December 21, latest sunrise in early January.

And so the cycle continues.

Bottom line: In 2014, the December solstice comes on December 21 at 5:03 p.m. CST. That’s December 21 at 23:03 UT. Happy solstice, everyone!

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1bVFTFr

Structure of Histidine

The Alonso group has yet again (see these posts) determined the gas-phase structure of an important, biologically significant molecule using a combination of exquisite microwave spectroscopy and quantum computations. This time they examine the structure of histidine.¹

They optimized four conformations of histidine, as its neutral tautomer, at MP2/6-311++G(d,p). These are schematically drawn in Figure 1. Conformer 1a is the lowest in free energy, likely due to the two internal hydrogen bonds. Its structure is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. The four conformers of histidine. The relative free energy (MP2/6-311++G(d,p)) in kcal mol^-1 are also indicated.

Figure 2. MP2/6-311++G(d,p) optimized geometry of 1a.

The initial experimental rotation constants were only able to eliminate 1b from consideration. So they then determined the quadrupole coupling constants for the ¹⁴N nuclei. These values strongly implicated 1a as the only structure in the gas phase. The agreement between the experimental values and the computed values at MP2/6-311++G(d,p) was a concern, so they rotated the amine group to try to match the experimental values. This lead to a change in the NHCC dihedral value of -16° to -23° Reoptimization of the structure at MP2/cc-pVTZ led to a dihedral of -21° and overall excellent agreement between the experimental spectral parameters and the computed values.

It is somewhat disappointing the supporting materials does not include the structures of the other three isomers, nor the optimized geometry at MP2/cc-pVTZ.

References

1) Bermúdez, C.; Mata, S.; Cabezas, C.; Alonso, J. L. "Tautomerism in Neutral Histidine," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 11015-11018, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201405347.

InChIs

Histidine: InChI=1S/C6H9N3O2/c7-5(6(10)11)1-4-2-8-3-9-4/h2-3,5H,1,7H2,(H,8,9)(H,10,11)/t5-/m0/s1

InChIKey=HNDVDQJCIGZPNO-YFKPBYRVSA-N

from Computational Organic Chemistry http://ift.tt/1yCv6iG

The Alonso group has yet again (see these posts) determined the gas-phase structure of an important, biologically significant molecule using a combination of exquisite microwave spectroscopy and quantum computations. This time they examine the structure of histidine.¹

They optimized four conformations of histidine, as its neutral tautomer, at MP2/6-311++G(d,p). These are schematically drawn in Figure 1. Conformer 1a is the lowest in free energy, likely due to the two internal hydrogen bonds. Its structure is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. The four conformers of histidine. The relative free energy (MP2/6-311++G(d,p)) in kcal mol^-1 are also indicated.

Figure 2. MP2/6-311++G(d,p) optimized geometry of 1a.

The initial experimental rotation constants were only able to eliminate 1b from consideration. So they then determined the quadrupole coupling constants for the ¹⁴N nuclei. These values strongly implicated 1a as the only structure in the gas phase. The agreement between the experimental values and the computed values at MP2/6-311++G(d,p) was a concern, so they rotated the amine group to try to match the experimental values. This lead to a change in the NHCC dihedral value of -16° to -23° Reoptimization of the structure at MP2/cc-pVTZ led to a dihedral of -21° and overall excellent agreement between the experimental spectral parameters and the computed values.

It is somewhat disappointing the supporting materials does not include the structures of the other three isomers, nor the optimized geometry at MP2/cc-pVTZ.

References

1) Bermúdez, C.; Mata, S.; Cabezas, C.; Alonso, J. L. "Tautomerism in Neutral Histidine," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 11015-11018, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201405347.

InChIs

Histidine: InChI=1S/C6H9N3O2/c7-5(6(10)11)1-4-2-8-3-9-4/h2-3,5H,1,7H2,(H,8,9)(H,10,11)/t5-/m0/s1

InChIKey=HNDVDQJCIGZPNO-YFKPBYRVSA-N

from Computational Organic Chemistry http://ift.tt/1yCv6iG

Wisdom is back!

The 63-year-old albatross Wisdom (l) and mate at Midway Atoll. Posted on Facebook December 1, 2014 by USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System

Wisdom is back! She’s on the left in the photo above. The world’s oldest known albatross – at least 63 years old – has been seen with her mate for the first time this mating season within feet of their usual nesting site. The USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System posted this photo of Wisdom of its Facebook page today (December 1, 2014). They wrote:

Right now, Midway Atoll is crowded with hundreds of thousands of albatross pairs staking out their nest sites.

This year, Wisdom’s highly visible band number Z333 was seen by deputy refuge ranger Bret Wolfe, who used a telephoto lens from 30 feet away to take this photo.

More about the Laysan albatross here.

See a gallery of last year’s chick here.

Follow this year’s events here: Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/11JseUE

The 63-year-old albatross Wisdom (l) and mate at Midway Atoll. Posted on Facebook December 1, 2014 by USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System

Wisdom is back! She’s on the left in the photo above. The world’s oldest known albatross – at least 63 years old – has been seen with her mate for the first time this mating season within feet of their usual nesting site. The USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System posted this photo of Wisdom of its Facebook page today (December 1, 2014). They wrote:

Right now, Midway Atoll is crowded with hundreds of thousands of albatross pairs staking out their nest sites.

This year, Wisdom’s highly visible band number Z333 was seen by deputy refuge ranger Bret Wolfe, who used a telephoto lens from 30 feet away to take this photo.

More about the Laysan albatross here.

See a gallery of last year’s chick here.

Follow this year’s events here: Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/11JseUE

Days of darkness this December? Of course not.

Question: Will Earth experience six (or three) days of darkness in December, 2014?

Answer: No.

We at EarthSky have received many questions already about the so-called days of darkness supposedly announced by NASA and supposedly coming up in December, 2014. This rumor has spread like wildfire, as did the same rumor in 2011, which called for days of darkness caused by the erstwhile Comet Elenin. 2014’s version of the rumor apparently first began with this article from Hutzlers.com. The article states:

NASA has confirmed that the Earth will experience 6 days of almost complete darkness and will happen from the dates Tuesday the 16 – Monday the 22 in December. The world will remain, during these three days, without sunlight due to a solar storm, which will cause dust and space debris to become plentiful and thus, block 90% sunlight.

Oh, brother. Just reading that quote gives us a combination of heartburn plus giggles. Why? Let’s ignore for the moment that space scientists can’t yet predict when a solar storm will occur, although, in the hours leading up to one, they sometimes suggest a probability that one might occur. That aside, there’s never been an event where a solar storm created enough “dust and debris,” whatever that means, to darken Earth … at least not in living memory. Could such a thing even be predicted, sort of like Superman’s dad Jor-El predicted the explosion of planet Krypton (which also had never happened before)? Let’s remember for a moment that Superman was fiction, but, even given that, many other imaginary scientists on that imaginary planet Krypton were arguing that the explosion wasn’t really imminent. Likewise, here on our real Earth, a prediction of days of darkness caused by solar storms would be such outlandish science that scientists would argue about it up until the time it happened … or didn’t happen. NASA wouldn’t just suddenly “predict it,” in other words.

Before we go on, the inquiring reader may want to read what Hutzlers.com says about itself:

Huzlers.com is a combination of real shocking news and satirical entertainment to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.

Well, they got that part right.

Needless to say, the NASA Earth Observatory website totally disavowed the hoax. Here’s a screen shot from its Facebook page October 30, 2014:

This beautiful image of the night side of Earth is a composite of data gathered by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. Is Earth totally dark when it’s night for you? No. Earth is always half illuminated by sunlight. Notice the crescent of illumination on one edge in this photo. If you were on the other side of Earth when the images used in this composite were acquired, you’d see Earth shining brightly in reflected sunlight, aka daylight. Image via NASA/NOAA.

Is all of this a replay of the December, 2012 winter solstice hysteria?

We don’t know what it is about the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, but it seems to inspire all kinds of pseudo-scientific claims and apocalyptic fantasies. The days-of-darkness theme appears to be a revival of sorts of the bogus galactic alignment prophesy, which did not take place – as expected – on the 2012 winter solstice.

Snopes.com, which has already investigated and debunked the supposed December, 2014 NASA Blackout Warning, recalled a 2012 prediction whereby:

The Earth will shift from the current third dimension to zero dimension, then shift to the fourth dimension. During this transition, the entire Universe will face a big change, and we will see a entire brand new world. The 3 days blackout is predicted to happen on Dec 23, 24, 25….

Okay then … moving on …

As Comet Elenin passed near the sun in 2011, it was supposed to block the sun and cause three days of darkness. Of course, it didn’t. That would have been far more difficult than, say, a mosquito blocking your car headlight. Image via NASA

Remember Nibiru, the fictitious planet, which was predicted to bombard the inner solar system and collide with our planet Earth in 2012?

When acute telescopic observers wondered why this huge planet wasn’t visible in the night sky by 2010, Nibiru proponents answered the challenge by claiming the discovery of Comet Elenin in December 2010 provided proof of Nibiru’s existence.

Moreover, prognosticators went on to say that Comet Elenin itself was to bring three days of darkness – which, of course, never came to pass. Meanwhile, Comet Elenin eventually disintegrated.

So will you experience three to six days of darkness in December, 2014? No … unless you live north of the Arctic Circle, which has continuous darkness in winter every December.

Bottom line: NASA did not predict – and December, 2014 will not have – three to six days of darkness.

Comet Elenin: Still not a spaceship or doomsday comet

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/10t2WJx

Question: Will Earth experience six (or three) days of darkness in December, 2014?

Answer: No.

We at EarthSky have received many questions already about the so-called days of darkness supposedly announced by NASA and supposedly coming up in December, 2014. This rumor has spread like wildfire, as did the same rumor in 2011, which called for days of darkness caused by the erstwhile Comet Elenin. 2014’s version of the rumor apparently first began with this article from Hutzlers.com. The article states:

NASA has confirmed that the Earth will experience 6 days of almost complete darkness and will happen from the dates Tuesday the 16 – Monday the 22 in December. The world will remain, during these three days, without sunlight due to a solar storm, which will cause dust and space debris to become plentiful and thus, block 90% sunlight.

Oh, brother. Just reading that quote gives us a combination of heartburn plus giggles. Why? Let’s ignore for the moment that space scientists can’t yet predict when a solar storm will occur, although, in the hours leading up to one, they sometimes suggest a probability that one might occur. That aside, there’s never been an event where a solar storm created enough “dust and debris,” whatever that means, to darken Earth … at least not in living memory. Could such a thing even be predicted, sort of like Superman’s dad Jor-El predicted the explosion of planet Krypton (which also had never happened before)? Let’s remember for a moment that Superman was fiction, but, even given that, many other imaginary scientists on that imaginary planet Krypton were arguing that the explosion wasn’t really imminent. Likewise, here on our real Earth, a prediction of days of darkness caused by solar storms would be such outlandish science that scientists would argue about it up until the time it happened … or didn’t happen. NASA wouldn’t just suddenly “predict it,” in other words.

Before we go on, the inquiring reader may want to read what Hutzlers.com says about itself:

Huzlers.com is a combination of real shocking news and satirical entertainment to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.

Well, they got that part right.

Needless to say, the NASA Earth Observatory website totally disavowed the hoax. Here’s a screen shot from its Facebook page October 30, 2014:

This beautiful image of the night side of Earth is a composite of data gathered by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. Is Earth totally dark when it’s night for you? No. Earth is always half illuminated by sunlight. Notice the crescent of illumination on one edge in this photo. If you were on the other side of Earth when the images used in this composite were acquired, you’d see Earth shining brightly in reflected sunlight, aka daylight. Image via NASA/NOAA.

Is all of this a replay of the December, 2012 winter solstice hysteria?

We don’t know what it is about the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, but it seems to inspire all kinds of pseudo-scientific claims and apocalyptic fantasies. The days-of-darkness theme appears to be a revival of sorts of the bogus galactic alignment prophesy, which did not take place – as expected – on the 2012 winter solstice.

Snopes.com, which has already investigated and debunked the supposed December, 2014 NASA Blackout Warning, recalled a 2012 prediction whereby:

The Earth will shift from the current third dimension to zero dimension, then shift to the fourth dimension. During this transition, the entire Universe will face a big change, and we will see a entire brand new world. The 3 days blackout is predicted to happen on Dec 23, 24, 25….

Okay then … moving on …

As Comet Elenin passed near the sun in 2011, it was supposed to block the sun and cause three days of darkness. Of course, it didn’t. That would have been far more difficult than, say, a mosquito blocking your car headlight. Image via NASA

Remember Nibiru, the fictitious planet, which was predicted to bombard the inner solar system and collide with our planet Earth in 2012?

When acute telescopic observers wondered why this huge planet wasn’t visible in the night sky by 2010, Nibiru proponents answered the challenge by claiming the discovery of Comet Elenin in December 2010 provided proof of Nibiru’s existence.

Moreover, prognosticators went on to say that Comet Elenin itself was to bring three days of darkness – which, of course, never came to pass. Meanwhile, Comet Elenin eventually disintegrated.

So will you experience three to six days of darkness in December, 2014? No … unless you live north of the Arctic Circle, which has continuous darkness in winter every December.

Bottom line: NASA did not predict – and December, 2014 will not have – three to six days of darkness.

Comet Elenin: Still not a spaceship or doomsday comet

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/10t2WJx

Super-Earth transit detected from the ground

Earth and super-Earth. Artist’s concept contrasts our Earth with the strange super-Earth known as 55 Cancri e. Image via York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

There are nearly 2,000 exoplanets – worlds beyond our solar system – known so far, but information about them doesn’t come easily. That’s why a team of astronomers is excited about its ground-based detection – for the first time, ever – of the shallow dip in starlight that occurs when the super-Earth 55 Cancri e passes in front of its star, as seen from Earth. These astronomers said on December 1, 2014 that the technique they used to see this super-Earth transit should let other astronomers use ground-based telescopes to characterize the many small planets expected to be detected in the next few years by NASA’s TESS mission and ESA’s PLATO mission, scheduled for launch in 2017 and 2024, respectively. The Astrophysical Journal Letters published the astronomers’ findings.

The term super-Earth doesn’t imply anything about habitability. It refers only to a world’s mass. A super-Earth has a mass greater than our Earth’s, but smaller than our solar system’s smaller gas giants Uranus and Neptune (15 and 17 Earth masses).

Exoplanet transits are a tried and true method both for detecting planets beyond our solar system, and also learning more about them, but this method has led to a bias towards finding big planets around small stars.

Super-Earth like 55 Cancri e, which is innermost in a system of five known planets orbiting a sunlike star, have been tough to detect from the ground using the transit method. It’s Earth’s roiling atmosphere that makes this sort of observation extremely difficult. That’s why 55 Cancri e’s previous transits have been observed via space-borne telescopes.

Until now, the transits of only one other super-Earth, GJ 1214b circling a red dwarf, had been observed with ground-based telescopes.

Planets that transit as viewed from Earth, and planets that don’t transit as viewed from Earth. Read more about the technique of exoplanet transits from Las Cumbres Observatory.

The astronomers who made the ground-based detection of 55 Cancri e’s transit said this new result:

…raises the prospects of characterizing dozens of super-Earths likely to be revealed by upcoming surveys.

The team includes lead author Ernst de Mooij of Queen’s University Belfast, Ray Jayawardhana of York University in Toronto, Mercedes Lopez-Morales of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Raine Karjalainen and Marie Hrudkova of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes in Spain. They used the 2.5-meter Nordic Optical Telescope on the island of La Palma, Spain to make the detection.

The star 55 Cancri is only 40 light-years away. It’s visible to the unaided eye as a faint star in the direction of our constellation Cancer the Crab. The transit of the super-Earth 55 Cancri e leads to a change in this star’s light that is exceedingly small. The planet dims the star by 1/2000th (or 0.05%) for almost two hours. Team member Ray Jayawardhana said:

It’s remarkable what we can do by pushing the limits of existing telescopes and instruments, despite the complications posed by the Earth’s own turbulent atmosphere.

Observations like these are paving the way as we strive towards searching for signs of life on alien planets from afar. Remote sensing across tens of light-years isn’t easy, but it can be done with the right technique and a bit of ingenuity.

By the way, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has already surprising details about the planet planet 55 Cancri e, which was discovered in 2004. The astronomers described this world in their press release as:

… supersized and superheated … about twice as big and eight times as massive as the Earth. With a period of [approximately 18 hours, it is the innermost of five planets in the system. Because of its proximity to the host star, the planet’s dayside temperature reaches over 1,700° Celsius – hot enough to melt metal – with conditions quite inhospitable to life.

The Spitzer results also suggest that about a fifth of the planet’s mass must be made of light elements and compounds, including water.

However, in the intense heat of 55 Cancri e’s very close sun, those light materials would exist in a supercritical state – between that of a liquid and a gas – and might sizzle out of the planet’s surface.

Bottom line: An international team of astronomers has made the first ground-based detection of the transit of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e in front of its star. They say other astronomers will be able to use their technique to characterize other super-Earths expected to be found in upcoming space surveys.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1vAUWmt

Earth and super-Earth. Artist’s concept contrasts our Earth with the strange super-Earth known as 55 Cancri e. Image via York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

There are nearly 2,000 exoplanets – worlds beyond our solar system – known so far, but information about them doesn’t come easily. That’s why a team of astronomers is excited about its ground-based detection – for the first time, ever – of the shallow dip in starlight that occurs when the super-Earth 55 Cancri e passes in front of its star, as seen from Earth. These astronomers said on December 1, 2014 that the technique they used to see this super-Earth transit should let other astronomers use ground-based telescopes to characterize the many small planets expected to be detected in the next few years by NASA’s TESS mission and ESA’s PLATO mission, scheduled for launch in 2017 and 2024, respectively. The Astrophysical Journal Letters published the astronomers’ findings.

The term super-Earth doesn’t imply anything about habitability. It refers only to a world’s mass. A super-Earth has a mass greater than our Earth’s, but smaller than our solar system’s smaller gas giants Uranus and Neptune (15 and 17 Earth masses).

Exoplanet transits are a tried and true method both for detecting planets beyond our solar system, and also learning more about them, but this method has led to a bias towards finding big planets around small stars.

Super-Earth like 55 Cancri e, which is innermost in a system of five known planets orbiting a sunlike star, have been tough to detect from the ground using the transit method. It’s Earth’s roiling atmosphere that makes this sort of observation extremely difficult. That’s why 55 Cancri e’s previous transits have been observed via space-borne telescopes.

Until now, the transits of only one other super-Earth, GJ 1214b circling a red dwarf, had been observed with ground-based telescopes.

Planets that transit as viewed from Earth, and planets that don’t transit as viewed from Earth. Read more about the technique of exoplanet transits from Las Cumbres Observatory.

The astronomers who made the ground-based detection of 55 Cancri e’s transit said this new result:

…raises the prospects of characterizing dozens of super-Earths likely to be revealed by upcoming surveys.

The team includes lead author Ernst de Mooij of Queen’s University Belfast, Ray Jayawardhana of York University in Toronto, Mercedes Lopez-Morales of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Raine Karjalainen and Marie Hrudkova of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes in Spain. They used the 2.5-meter Nordic Optical Telescope on the island of La Palma, Spain to make the detection.

The star 55 Cancri is only 40 light-years away. It’s visible to the unaided eye as a faint star in the direction of our constellation Cancer the Crab. The transit of the super-Earth 55 Cancri e leads to a change in this star’s light that is exceedingly small. The planet dims the star by 1/2000th (or 0.05%) for almost two hours. Team member Ray Jayawardhana said:

It’s remarkable what we can do by pushing the limits of existing telescopes and instruments, despite the complications posed by the Earth’s own turbulent atmosphere.

Observations like these are paving the way as we strive towards searching for signs of life on alien planets from afar. Remote sensing across tens of light-years isn’t easy, but it can be done with the right technique and a bit of ingenuity.

By the way, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has already surprising details about the planet planet 55 Cancri e, which was discovered in 2004. The astronomers described this world in their press release as:

… supersized and superheated … about twice as big and eight times as massive as the Earth. With a period of [approximately 18 hours, it is the innermost of five planets in the system. Because of its proximity to the host star, the planet’s dayside temperature reaches over 1,700° Celsius – hot enough to melt metal – with conditions quite inhospitable to life.

The Spitzer results also suggest that about a fifth of the planet’s mass must be made of light elements and compounds, including water.

However, in the intense heat of 55 Cancri e’s very close sun, those light materials would exist in a supercritical state – between that of a liquid and a gas – and might sizzle out of the planet’s surface.

Bottom line: An international team of astronomers has made the first ground-based detection of the transit of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e in front of its star. They say other astronomers will be able to use their technique to characterize other super-Earths expected to be found in upcoming space surveys.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1vAUWmt