As the climate shifts, a border moves

Mount Similaun glacier, where the border between Italy and Austria drifts with the ice. Image via Delfino Sisto Legnani/ Italian Limes.

This article – written by Elza Bouhassira – is republished with permission from GlacierHub.

Rifugio Guide del Cervino, a small mountain restaurant, opened in 1984 at a location high in the Italian Alps; now it might be in Switzerland. The restaurant has become the subject of a dispute between the two states due to a legal agreement which allows Italy’s northern border to move with the natural, morphological boundaries of glaciers’ frontiers, which largely follow the watersheds on either side of the ridges. The moving border has shifted over the last fifteen years since its creation as glaciers retreat and the restaurant may now be in Swiss territory. If decided to be in Switzerland, the restaurant would be subject to Swiss law, taxes, and potentially even customs; Swiss inspectors would need to approve every box of pasta and package of coffee brought up to the restaurant by cable car from Italy.

Rifugio Guide Del Cervino. Image via Franco56/ Wikimedia Commons.

Borders can follow artificial paths, like those on maps forming perfectly straight lines, independent of the physical and cultural landscapes they may be mincing. Others are fixed by natural boundaries like the Niagara River separating the US and Canada.

However, not all natural boundaries are as stable as they might appear. Italy, Austria, and Switzerland’s shared borders depend on the limits of the glaciers and they have been melting at increased rates due to climate change. This has caused the border to shift noticeably in recent years. The border lies primarily at high altitudes, among tall mountain peaks where it crosses white snowfields and icy blue glaciers.

Installation on the Similaun glacier. Image via Sisto Legnani/ Italian Limes.

The moving border is an unprecedented legal concept. It was established through an agreement between Italy and Austria in 2006 and another between Italy and Switzerland in 2009. France did not sign such an agreement because of post World War II territorial gains on the Italian side of the watershed it did not want to risk losing.

The moving border’s flexibility is a highly unusual case in a world where many borders serve to mark defined lines of inclusion and exclusion. International lawyer and Roma Tre University human rights professor Alice Riccardi told GlacierHub:

Borders today move following the policies of exclusion from/inclusion in pursued by States. For instance, when it comes to migration, EU South external borders happen to be already in Africa, where migrants are prevented from embarking towards Europe.

Since 2008, the Istituto Geografico Militare (IGM), which has defined and maintained Italy’s state borders since 1865, has conducted high-altitude survey expeditions every two years to search for shifts in the border and subsequently to update official maps. The collaborative team that conducts the survey is composed of an equal number of experts from IGM and representatives from cartographic institutes of neighboring states.

The concept of the moving border captured the attention of Marco Ferrari, an architect, and Dr. Elisa Pasqual, a visual designer. In 2014, they launched a research project and interactive installation called Italian Limes focused on the moving border. The word limes comes from Latin and was used by the Romans to describe a nebulous, unfixed fringe zone on the edge of their territorial control. The Romans viewed limes as ebbing and flowing as the Roman army advanced and retreated similar to how today the border moves as the ice drifts.

The project, featured in the 2014 Venice Biennale, explores the limits of natural borders when they are tested by long-term ecological processes and reveals how climate change has begun to wear on Western ideas of territory and borders. Ferrari told GlacierHub:

The project makes the speed of climate change visible because we are used to thinking of borders, glaciers, and mountains as things that stay fixed.

Climate change changes our conception of territory in a way that is not just material, it’s not just a disruption of infrastructure, but also of the geographical imagery of the planet itself. So the very idea of the border is put into crisis by climate change in this sense, it almost contradicts the possibility of being able to trace a border.

One of the high-precision GPS measurement tools used by the project at Grafferner Glacier. Image via Delfino Sisto Legnani/ Italian Limes.

The Italian Limes project takes measurements at the 1.5-kilometer (.9 mile) long Grafferner Glacier near Mount Similaun in the Ötztal Alps at the border of Italy and Austria. GPS measurement units were installed at the site to track changes to the glacier and watershed which broadcast their data to a machine, which prints a real-time representation of the moving border. Ferrari explained to GlacierHub:

By looking at the history of the border we came across this specific moment in time of the mobile border that was initially presented to us as an anecdote, as a funny curiosity, a weird glitch in the normal diplomatic management of the relationship between countries. Because of how it was presented to us, we almost didn’t focus on it, but on second thought we saw that this was the nexus that could allow us to talk about all the things we wanted to talk about; it could allow us to reveal the contradiction in this idea of a natural border–how even the mountains, even the watershed, even glaciers aren’t something that is forever, the fact that they are chosen to be borders is a clear political act and when these things move the contradiction gets exposed.

The installation showing a live representation of the border at ZKM, Karlsruhe. Image via Delfino Sisto Legnani/ Italian Limes.

The project grew to the point that Ferrari and Pasqual teamed up with architect and editor Andrea Bagnato to create A Moving Border: Alpine Cartographies of Climate Change, a 2019 book which builds on Italian Limes to map out the effects of climate change on geopolitical understandings of the border. Bagnato told GlacierHub:

I saw the project at the Venice Biennale 2014, it was a fantastic installation, and that’s when I proposed to Marco and Elisa to turn it into a book because I thought that after the work they had done physically going up on the glacier and producing these devices to visualize the movements of the glacier, there were a lot of issues to explore in more detail, historical and political issues. The book was a way to do that..

The book provides a kind of historical perspective of the border and also of climate change. Although we don’t address them directly in the book, I think it opens up to a lot of different geopolitical scenarios. Of course there are many situations in the world where borders pass on glaciers like in Chile/Argentina, India/Pakistan, and so on, where the geopolitics are far more heated than in Italy or Austria.

The Alps in the Trentino province of Italy. Image via Nawarona/ Flickr.

Ultimately, the effects of climate change will introduce stresses that borders cannot keep under control. The new, quick changes to the moving border are only one such instance. The U.S. state of Louisiana is rapidly losing ground to the waters on its coast. India and Bangladesh were involved in a dispute over who controlled an uninhabited sandbar that vanished beneath the rising seas. The province of Kashmir has long been a point of contention between Pakistan and India. If its glaciers melt and regional freshwater supply is put under great stress, conflict for control of the province could escalate significantly.

In an interview with Vice, Ferrari said:

Even the biggest and most stable things, like glaciers, mountains—these huge objects, they can change in a few years. We live on a planet that changes, and we try to make rules, to give meaning, but this meaning is completely artificial because nature, basically, doesn’t give a s**t.

Bottom line: Italy’s northern border with Switzerland is what’s known as a moving border, This is, it depends on the natural, morphological boundaries of glaciers’ frontiers. But in recent years, glaciers have been melting at increased rates due to climate change, causing much more dramatic – and controversial – border shifts.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3dsNsvf

Mount Similaun glacier, where the border between Italy and Austria drifts with the ice. Image via Delfino Sisto Legnani/ Italian Limes.

This article – written by Elza Bouhassira – is republished with permission from GlacierHub.

Rifugio Guide del Cervino, a small mountain restaurant, opened in 1984 at a location high in the Italian Alps; now it might be in Switzerland. The restaurant has become the subject of a dispute between the two states due to a legal agreement which allows Italy’s northern border to move with the natural, morphological boundaries of glaciers’ frontiers, which largely follow the watersheds on either side of the ridges. The moving border has shifted over the last fifteen years since its creation as glaciers retreat and the restaurant may now be in Swiss territory. If decided to be in Switzerland, the restaurant would be subject to Swiss law, taxes, and potentially even customs; Swiss inspectors would need to approve every box of pasta and package of coffee brought up to the restaurant by cable car from Italy.

Rifugio Guide Del Cervino. Image via Franco56/ Wikimedia Commons.

Borders can follow artificial paths, like those on maps forming perfectly straight lines, independent of the physical and cultural landscapes they may be mincing. Others are fixed by natural boundaries like the Niagara River separating the US and Canada.

However, not all natural boundaries are as stable as they might appear. Italy, Austria, and Switzerland’s shared borders depend on the limits of the glaciers and they have been melting at increased rates due to climate change. This has caused the border to shift noticeably in recent years. The border lies primarily at high altitudes, among tall mountain peaks where it crosses white snowfields and icy blue glaciers.

Installation on the Similaun glacier. Image via Sisto Legnani/ Italian Limes.

The moving border is an unprecedented legal concept. It was established through an agreement between Italy and Austria in 2006 and another between Italy and Switzerland in 2009. France did not sign such an agreement because of post World War II territorial gains on the Italian side of the watershed it did not want to risk losing.

The moving border’s flexibility is a highly unusual case in a world where many borders serve to mark defined lines of inclusion and exclusion. International lawyer and Roma Tre University human rights professor Alice Riccardi told GlacierHub:

Borders today move following the policies of exclusion from/inclusion in pursued by States. For instance, when it comes to migration, EU South external borders happen to be already in Africa, where migrants are prevented from embarking towards Europe.

Since 2008, the Istituto Geografico Militare (IGM), which has defined and maintained Italy’s state borders since 1865, has conducted high-altitude survey expeditions every two years to search for shifts in the border and subsequently to update official maps. The collaborative team that conducts the survey is composed of an equal number of experts from IGM and representatives from cartographic institutes of neighboring states.

The concept of the moving border captured the attention of Marco Ferrari, an architect, and Dr. Elisa Pasqual, a visual designer. In 2014, they launched a research project and interactive installation called Italian Limes focused on the moving border. The word limes comes from Latin and was used by the Romans to describe a nebulous, unfixed fringe zone on the edge of their territorial control. The Romans viewed limes as ebbing and flowing as the Roman army advanced and retreated similar to how today the border moves as the ice drifts.

The project, featured in the 2014 Venice Biennale, explores the limits of natural borders when they are tested by long-term ecological processes and reveals how climate change has begun to wear on Western ideas of territory and borders. Ferrari told GlacierHub:

The project makes the speed of climate change visible because we are used to thinking of borders, glaciers, and mountains as things that stay fixed.

Climate change changes our conception of territory in a way that is not just material, it’s not just a disruption of infrastructure, but also of the geographical imagery of the planet itself. So the very idea of the border is put into crisis by climate change in this sense, it almost contradicts the possibility of being able to trace a border.

One of the high-precision GPS measurement tools used by the project at Grafferner Glacier. Image via Delfino Sisto Legnani/ Italian Limes.

The Italian Limes project takes measurements at the 1.5-kilometer (.9 mile) long Grafferner Glacier near Mount Similaun in the Ötztal Alps at the border of Italy and Austria. GPS measurement units were installed at the site to track changes to the glacier and watershed which broadcast their data to a machine, which prints a real-time representation of the moving border. Ferrari explained to GlacierHub:

By looking at the history of the border we came across this specific moment in time of the mobile border that was initially presented to us as an anecdote, as a funny curiosity, a weird glitch in the normal diplomatic management of the relationship between countries. Because of how it was presented to us, we almost didn’t focus on it, but on second thought we saw that this was the nexus that could allow us to talk about all the things we wanted to talk about; it could allow us to reveal the contradiction in this idea of a natural border–how even the mountains, even the watershed, even glaciers aren’t something that is forever, the fact that they are chosen to be borders is a clear political act and when these things move the contradiction gets exposed.

The installation showing a live representation of the border at ZKM, Karlsruhe. Image via Delfino Sisto Legnani/ Italian Limes.

The project grew to the point that Ferrari and Pasqual teamed up with architect and editor Andrea Bagnato to create A Moving Border: Alpine Cartographies of Climate Change, a 2019 book which builds on Italian Limes to map out the effects of climate change on geopolitical understandings of the border. Bagnato told GlacierHub:

I saw the project at the Venice Biennale 2014, it was a fantastic installation, and that’s when I proposed to Marco and Elisa to turn it into a book because I thought that after the work they had done physically going up on the glacier and producing these devices to visualize the movements of the glacier, there were a lot of issues to explore in more detail, historical and political issues. The book was a way to do that..

The book provides a kind of historical perspective of the border and also of climate change. Although we don’t address them directly in the book, I think it opens up to a lot of different geopolitical scenarios. Of course there are many situations in the world where borders pass on glaciers like in Chile/Argentina, India/Pakistan, and so on, where the geopolitics are far more heated than in Italy or Austria.

The Alps in the Trentino province of Italy. Image via Nawarona/ Flickr.

Ultimately, the effects of climate change will introduce stresses that borders cannot keep under control. The new, quick changes to the moving border are only one such instance. The U.S. state of Louisiana is rapidly losing ground to the waters on its coast. India and Bangladesh were involved in a dispute over who controlled an uninhabited sandbar that vanished beneath the rising seas. The province of Kashmir has long been a point of contention between Pakistan and India. If its glaciers melt and regional freshwater supply is put under great stress, conflict for control of the province could escalate significantly.

In an interview with Vice, Ferrari said:

Even the biggest and most stable things, like glaciers, mountains—these huge objects, they can change in a few years. We live on a planet that changes, and we try to make rules, to give meaning, but this meaning is completely artificial because nature, basically, doesn’t give a s**t.

Bottom line: Italy’s northern border with Switzerland is what’s known as a moving border, This is, it depends on the natural, morphological boundaries of glaciers’ frontiers. But in recent years, glaciers have been melting at increased rates due to climate change, causing much more dramatic – and controversial – border shifts.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3dsNsvf

Sunset over the canyons of NYC

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | New York City, looking west toward Times Square from 6th Ave and 43rd Street. Around 7:30 p.m. on May 4, 2020. Lawrence Scott wrote: “Often looking west down the canyons of skyscrapers one can see fantastic colors and formations. Sunsets in NYC can be really spectacular. Now with the empty Covid-19 streets, it adds a another dynamic.” Thank you, Lawrence, and stay safe!

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/35IvBhl

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | New York City, looking west toward Times Square from 6th Ave and 43rd Street. Around 7:30 p.m. on May 4, 2020. Lawrence Scott wrote: “Often looking west down the canyons of skyscrapers one can see fantastic colors and formations. Sunsets in NYC can be really spectacular. Now with the empty Covid-19 streets, it adds a another dynamic.” Thank you, Lawrence, and stay safe!

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/35IvBhl

The mysterious yellow skies of WASP-79b

Artist’s concept of WASP-79b, a hot Jupiter-like exoplanet 780 light-years from Earth. New research shows the planet has a yellow sky instead of blue as expected. Image via NASA/ ESA/ L. Hustak (STScI)/ Hubblesite.

Earth is beautiful, and we might sometimes take it for granted that we can look up and see a deep blue sky. But what about other planets? A planet’s particular sky depends, of course, on its unique atmosphere. For example, we here on Earth have a blue sky because the blue component of our sun’s light is scattered in all directions by air molecules in Earth’s atmosphere. Mars, on the other hand, has a more pinkish sky due to ever-present dust lofted from Mars surface by winds. Now, scientists have announced results of a study of a distant exoplanet, orbiting a star hotter and brighter than our sun. This planet – called WASP-79b – doesn’t have a blue or pink sky, but instead a yellow one!

The finding was made by researchers combining data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the ground-based Magellan telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.

The intriguing results were first published December 10, 2019, in The Astrophysical Journal and later published in the January 2020 issue of the journal.

WASP-79b is a large gas giant planet of the type known as a hot Jupiter, which orbits very close to its star and completes an orbit in only 3 1/2 days. Its star, WASP-79, is about 780 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus the River.

Scientists had expected that the planet would experience Rayleigh scattering, where certain colors of light are dispersed by very fine dust particles in the upper atmosphere. This is what makes Earth’s skies blue, since shorter (bluer) wavelengths of sunlight are dispersed.

Schematic of an exoplanet atmosphere in relation to the visible light that passes through it. Top: cloudless, distended atmospheres (top) scatter mostly blue light through Rayleigh scattering, while longer wavelengths like red light pass through. Bottom: cloudy atmospheres equally prevent all wavelengths of visible light from passing through. Middle: if the atmosphere is less extended and cloudless, all visible light passes through about equally. Image via National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/ JHUAPL.

But that is not what the researchers found. The lack of Rayleigh scattering is unexpected and “weird” according to the scientists involved. It may be evidence for currently unknown atmospheric process on the planet. As a result, the planet’s skies are probably yellow in color. The researchers also found that the planet’s atmosphere is a humid and sizzling 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,648 degrees Celsius). Hot! There might be molten iron rain coming down from its scattered manganese sulfide or silicate clouds.

WASP-79b is definitely a world very unlike Earth and not a place you would want to go to for a vacation. As lead study author Kristin Showalter Sotzen of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) said in a statement:

This is a strong indication of an unknown atmospheric process that we’re just not accounting for in our physical models. I’ve shown the WASP-79b spectrum to a number of colleagues, and their consensus is ‘that’s weird.’

Because this is the first time we’ve see this, we’re really not sure what the cause is. We need to keep an eye out for other planets like this because it could be indicative of unknown atmospheric processes that we don’t currently understand. Because we only have one planet as an example we don’t know if it’s an atmospheric phenomenon linked to the evolution of the planet.

Comparison of the sizes of WASP-79b, Jupiter and Earth. Image via WASP Planets.

So how did the researchers determine the color of WASP-79b’s sky?

They did it by using a spectrograph on the Magellan telescopes. Spectrographs analyze the different wavelengths of light, and by doing so, in this case, can find clues as to the chemical composition of the exoplanet’s atmosphere. It was anticipated that the atmosphere of WASP-79b would have Rayleigh scattering like in Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in a blue sky. But – surprise – they found the opposite instead. There was less absorption and scattering in the atmosphere, meaning that the planet probably has a yellow sky instead of blue. The findings by the Magellan telescopes were also confirmed by TESS.

WASP-79 is now one of the largest stars known to have a planet, which makes this study even more interesting. So far, most exoplanets have been discovered orbiting red dwarfs, the most common stars in the galaxy, or around stars similar to our sun.

WASP-79b is huge, about 1.7 times the radius of Jupiter. Its deep, extended atmosphere, due to it being so hot, makes it an ideal exoplanet for study by the telescopes used in this study. It’s also interesting in other ways as well.

WASP-79 as compared in size to the sun. It is one of the largest stars known to have an exoplanet. Image via WASP Planets.

Previous studies of the planet by Hubble showed that it has water vapor in its atmosphere. This isn’t really too surprising in itself, despite the heat, but the finding may also help scientists better understand just what is going on in WASP-79b’s exotic atmosphere.

The newest unusual results will keep scientists busy, and should help shed light on how hot Jupiters and other giant planets form and evolve. In another press release from JHUAPL, Sotzen said:

We’re really not sure what’s going on here. But if similar features are found on other such worlds, it’s going to provoke questions about current theories on atmospheric processes and evolution. We’re trying to look at a lot of different hot Jupiters because they’re easier to analyze. What we learn from them will help us make predictions about the atmospheres of other exoplanets, like whether they have clouds or not.

Kristin Showalter Sotzen at JHUAPL, lead author of the new study. Image via STARGATE.

Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at JHUAPL, also said:

In our own solar system, we don’t know how much solid material contributed to the formation of the giant planets, how quickly they formed and by what processes, and even more importantly how they migrated after forming. As we obtain new results about exoplanets like WASP-79b, we’re collecting critical information about the formation of giant planets around other stars to better understand fundamental processes of planet formation and evolution.

The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope – tentatively scheduled to launch in 2021 – will be able to take an even better look at WASP-79b and analyze its chemical composition in more detail. This might help solve the mysteries of this intriguing, yellow-hued world.

Bottom line: Using three different telescopes, scientists have found that a huge, hot exoplanet has yellow skies instead of blue.

Source: Transmission Spectroscopy of WASP-79b from 0.6 to 5.0 um

Via Hubblesite

Via JHUAPL

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/35EROfU

Artist’s concept of WASP-79b, a hot Jupiter-like exoplanet 780 light-years from Earth. New research shows the planet has a yellow sky instead of blue as expected. Image via NASA/ ESA/ L. Hustak (STScI)/ Hubblesite.

Earth is beautiful, and we might sometimes take it for granted that we can look up and see a deep blue sky. But what about other planets? A planet’s particular sky depends, of course, on its unique atmosphere. For example, we here on Earth have a blue sky because the blue component of our sun’s light is scattered in all directions by air molecules in Earth’s atmosphere. Mars, on the other hand, has a more pinkish sky due to ever-present dust lofted from Mars surface by winds. Now, scientists have announced results of a study of a distant exoplanet, orbiting a star hotter and brighter than our sun. This planet – called WASP-79b – doesn’t have a blue or pink sky, but instead a yellow one!

The finding was made by researchers combining data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the ground-based Magellan telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.

The intriguing results were first published December 10, 2019, in The Astrophysical Journal and later published in the January 2020 issue of the journal.

WASP-79b is a large gas giant planet of the type known as a hot Jupiter, which orbits very close to its star and completes an orbit in only 3 1/2 days. Its star, WASP-79, is about 780 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus the River.

Scientists had expected that the planet would experience Rayleigh scattering, where certain colors of light are dispersed by very fine dust particles in the upper atmosphere. This is what makes Earth’s skies blue, since shorter (bluer) wavelengths of sunlight are dispersed.

Schematic of an exoplanet atmosphere in relation to the visible light that passes through it. Top: cloudless, distended atmospheres (top) scatter mostly blue light through Rayleigh scattering, while longer wavelengths like red light pass through. Bottom: cloudy atmospheres equally prevent all wavelengths of visible light from passing through. Middle: if the atmosphere is less extended and cloudless, all visible light passes through about equally. Image via National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/ JHUAPL.

But that is not what the researchers found. The lack of Rayleigh scattering is unexpected and “weird” according to the scientists involved. It may be evidence for currently unknown atmospheric process on the planet. As a result, the planet’s skies are probably yellow in color. The researchers also found that the planet’s atmosphere is a humid and sizzling 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,648 degrees Celsius). Hot! There might be molten iron rain coming down from its scattered manganese sulfide or silicate clouds.

WASP-79b is definitely a world very unlike Earth and not a place you would want to go to for a vacation. As lead study author Kristin Showalter Sotzen of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) said in a statement:

This is a strong indication of an unknown atmospheric process that we’re just not accounting for in our physical models. I’ve shown the WASP-79b spectrum to a number of colleagues, and their consensus is ‘that’s weird.’

Because this is the first time we’ve see this, we’re really not sure what the cause is. We need to keep an eye out for other planets like this because it could be indicative of unknown atmospheric processes that we don’t currently understand. Because we only have one planet as an example we don’t know if it’s an atmospheric phenomenon linked to the evolution of the planet.

Comparison of the sizes of WASP-79b, Jupiter and Earth. Image via WASP Planets.

So how did the researchers determine the color of WASP-79b’s sky?

They did it by using a spectrograph on the Magellan telescopes. Spectrographs analyze the different wavelengths of light, and by doing so, in this case, can find clues as to the chemical composition of the exoplanet’s atmosphere. It was anticipated that the atmosphere of WASP-79b would have Rayleigh scattering like in Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in a blue sky. But – surprise – they found the opposite instead. There was less absorption and scattering in the atmosphere, meaning that the planet probably has a yellow sky instead of blue. The findings by the Magellan telescopes were also confirmed by TESS.

WASP-79 is now one of the largest stars known to have a planet, which makes this study even more interesting. So far, most exoplanets have been discovered orbiting red dwarfs, the most common stars in the galaxy, or around stars similar to our sun.

WASP-79b is huge, about 1.7 times the radius of Jupiter. Its deep, extended atmosphere, due to it being so hot, makes it an ideal exoplanet for study by the telescopes used in this study. It’s also interesting in other ways as well.

WASP-79 as compared in size to the sun. It is one of the largest stars known to have an exoplanet. Image via WASP Planets.

Previous studies of the planet by Hubble showed that it has water vapor in its atmosphere. This isn’t really too surprising in itself, despite the heat, but the finding may also help scientists better understand just what is going on in WASP-79b’s exotic atmosphere.

The newest unusual results will keep scientists busy, and should help shed light on how hot Jupiters and other giant planets form and evolve. In another press release from JHUAPL, Sotzen said:

We’re really not sure what’s going on here. But if similar features are found on other such worlds, it’s going to provoke questions about current theories on atmospheric processes and evolution. We’re trying to look at a lot of different hot Jupiters because they’re easier to analyze. What we learn from them will help us make predictions about the atmospheres of other exoplanets, like whether they have clouds or not.

Kristin Showalter Sotzen at JHUAPL, lead author of the new study. Image via STARGATE.

Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at JHUAPL, also said:

In our own solar system, we don’t know how much solid material contributed to the formation of the giant planets, how quickly they formed and by what processes, and even more importantly how they migrated after forming. As we obtain new results about exoplanets like WASP-79b, we’re collecting critical information about the formation of giant planets around other stars to better understand fundamental processes of planet formation and evolution.

The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope – tentatively scheduled to launch in 2021 – will be able to take an even better look at WASP-79b and analyze its chemical composition in more detail. This might help solve the mysteries of this intriguing, yellow-hued world.

Bottom line: Using three different telescopes, scientists have found that a huge, hot exoplanet has yellow skies instead of blue.

Source: Transmission Spectroscopy of WASP-79b from 0.6 to 5.0 um

Via Hubblesite

Via JHUAPL

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/35EROfU

Virgo? Here’s your constellation

Classical illustration of the constellation Virgo the Maiden, via constellationsofwords.com.

The constellation Virgo the Maiden fully returns to sky at nightfall – with her feet planted on the eastern horizon – by late April and early May. Virgo appears in the evening sky on late May, June and July evenings, too. Then by late August or September, Virgo begins her descent into the glow of evening twilight.

How to find the constellation Virgo. It’s easy to see why early stargazers named this pattern of stars for the goddess of the harvest.

Virgo ranks as the largest constellation of the zodiac and the second-largest constellation overall (after Hydra). Yet Virgo’s long and rambling group of stars doesn’t lend itself to a well-defined pattern. It’s very difficult for most people to make out the winged maiden holding an ear of wheat in her left hand.

You can always follow the curve in the handle of the Big Dipper to the bright orange star Arcturus, then extend that line to Spica, Virgo's brightest star.

Fortunately, Virgo’s first-magnitude star, sparkling blue-white Spica, makes this constellation fairly easy to locate in the night sky. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, and are familiar with the Big Dipper asterism, you can star-hop to this gem of a star from the handle of the Big Dipper. Moreover, since the Big Dipper is quite high in the sky on May and June evenings, even people at tropical and subtropical regions in the Southern Hemisphere can use the Big Dipper at this time of year to locate Spica, Virgo’s brightest star.

View larger. | The constellation Virgo. Image via Wikipedia.

The mnemonic goes like this: arc to Arcturus and spike Spica. In other words, follow the arc in the handle of the Big Dipper until you see an orange star. That is Arcturus in the constellation Boötes. Then continue that line to Spica.

So if the easy-to-recognize Big Dipper is visible in your sky, use it to star-hop to Spica, Virgo’s brightest star. You can be sure you’ve found Spica if you notice a lopsided square pattern nearby. That little pattern is another constellation, Corvus the Crow.

Spica climbs highest for the night – as seen from both the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres – at roughly local midnight (1 a.m. daylight saving time) in middle April. Because the stars return to the same place in the sky about two hours earlier with each passing month, look for Spica to be highest up at mid-May around 10 p.m. (11 p.m. daylight saving time), and at mid-June at about 8 p.m. (9 p.m. daylight saving time). These times refer to your local time.

We are surrounded by stars. Because Earth orbits in a flat plane around the sun, we see the sun against the same stars again and again throughout the year. Those constellations, which have been special to people throughout the ages, are the constellations of the Zodiac. Image via Professor Marcia Rieke.

Sun in front of Virgo on your birthday? The sun passes in front of the constellation Virgo each year from about September 16 to October 30. Because Virgo is such a large constellation, the sun stays in front of Virgo for longer than one month.

Dates of sun’s entry into each constellation of the zodiac

The dates of the sun’s passage through Virgo may conflict with what you read on the horoscope page, which probably says from about August 23 to September 22. Keep in mind that astrologers are referring to the sign – not the constellation – Virgo. Yes, there is a difference between a constellation and a sign!

A constellation of the zodiac refers to certain section of the starry sky. On the other hand, a sign of the zodiac refers to the seasonal position of the sun, irrespective of what constellation backdrops the sun at a given season.

For instance, the March equinox marks the first point of (the sign) Aries, the June solstice marks the first point of (the sign) Cancer, the September equinox marks the first point of (the sign) Libra, and the December solstice marks the first point of (the sign) Capricorn.

By definition, the first point of (the sign) Libra always coincides with the sun’s position on the September equinox. This is in spite of the fact that the sun shines in front of the constellation Virgo on the September equinox nowadays. The sun resides in the sign Libra for one month, starting on or near September 23, yet the sun also shines in front of the constellation Virgo during this period of time.

Constellations are less abstract than signs, so astronomers and stargazers who directly observe the night sky find it easier to refer to constellations. It’s not incorrect to list the star Spica’s position as Libra 23^o 50’ but that bit of information won’t help many people to locate Spica, the constellation Virgo’s brightest star.

The Virgo galaxy cluster, via Wikimedia Commons.

The famous Sombrero Galaxy (M104) is thought by some to belong to the Virgo cluster. Image via mini82.

Virgo galaxy cluster. In mythology, Virgo represents fruitfulness and fertility, but this wondrous constellation has also proven its fruitfulness in ways undreamed of by the ancients. This constellation is the home of the great Virgo galaxy cluster, a conglomeration made up of thousands of galaxies. A few of these galaxies are actually visible as faint smudges of light through a small telescope. That in itself is pretty amazing, given that the Virgo cluster of galaxies lies some 65 million light-years distant.

Perhaps the most famous galaxy residing within Virgo’s borders is the Sombrero galaxy (M104). There seems to be disagreement, though, on whether this galaxy is a member of the Virgo galaxy cluster.

The Return of Persephone by Frederic Leighton. Image via Wikipedia.

Virgo in ancient mythology. The constellation Virgo is often said to personify Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the harvest goddess. According to the famous Greek myth, eternal spring once reigned upon the Earth, until that fateful day when the god of the underworld abducted Persephone, the radiant maiden of spring.

Her mother Demeter was so overcome with grief over the loss of her only child that she abandoned her role as the goddess of fruitfulness and fertility. In some parts of the globe, the winter cold turned the once-verdant Earth in to a frigid wasteland, while elsewhere the summer heat scorched the Earth and gave rise to pestilence and disease. The Earth would not bear fruit again until Demeter was reunited with her daughter.

Humanity would have died altogether had not Zeus, the king of the gods, intervened. Zeus insisted that the god of the underworld return Persephone back to Demeter, but also proclaimed that Persephone abstain from food until her return. Alas, the god of the underworld purposely gave Persephone a pomegranate, knowing she would suck on a pomegranate seed on her way home.

Persephone was given back to her mother, but Persephone – because of the pomegranate – has to return to the underworld for four months every year. To this day, spring returns to the Northern Hemisphere when Persephone is reunited with Demeter, but the winter season reigns when Persephone dwells in the underworld.

That’s why, according to myth, it’s spring when the constellation Virgo is above the horizon at early evening but why it’s winter when she’s not. From the perspective of the Northern Hemisphere, Virgo is absent from early evening sky in late autumn, winter and early spring. Virgo’s return to sky at nightfall coincides with the verdant season of spring.

Virgo the winged harvest goddess. Image via Hubble Source.

Bottom line: The constellation Virgo the Maiden fully returns to sky at nightfall – with her feet planted on the eastern horizon – by late April or early May. This post has information about how to find the constellation Virgo, its brightest star, interesting things to see within its boundaries, and its mythology.

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Classical illustration of the constellation Virgo the Maiden, via constellationsofwords.com.

The constellation Virgo the Maiden fully returns to sky at nightfall – with her feet planted on the eastern horizon – by late April and early May. Virgo appears in the evening sky on late May, June and July evenings, too. Then by late August or September, Virgo begins her descent into the glow of evening twilight.

How to find the constellation Virgo. It’s easy to see why early stargazers named this pattern of stars for the goddess of the harvest.

Virgo ranks as the largest constellation of the zodiac and the second-largest constellation overall (after Hydra). Yet Virgo’s long and rambling group of stars doesn’t lend itself to a well-defined pattern. It’s very difficult for most people to make out the winged maiden holding an ear of wheat in her left hand.

You can always follow the curve in the handle of the Big Dipper to the bright orange star Arcturus, then extend that line to Spica, Virgo's brightest star.

Fortunately, Virgo’s first-magnitude star, sparkling blue-white Spica, makes this constellation fairly easy to locate in the night sky. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, and are familiar with the Big Dipper asterism, you can star-hop to this gem of a star from the handle of the Big Dipper. Moreover, since the Big Dipper is quite high in the sky on May and June evenings, even people at tropical and subtropical regions in the Southern Hemisphere can use the Big Dipper at this time of year to locate Spica, Virgo’s brightest star.

View larger. | The constellation Virgo. Image via Wikipedia.

The mnemonic goes like this: arc to Arcturus and spike Spica. In other words, follow the arc in the handle of the Big Dipper until you see an orange star. That is Arcturus in the constellation Boötes. Then continue that line to Spica.

So if the easy-to-recognize Big Dipper is visible in your sky, use it to star-hop to Spica, Virgo’s brightest star. You can be sure you’ve found Spica if you notice a lopsided square pattern nearby. That little pattern is another constellation, Corvus the Crow.

Spica climbs highest for the night – as seen from both the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres – at roughly local midnight (1 a.m. daylight saving time) in middle April. Because the stars return to the same place in the sky about two hours earlier with each passing month, look for Spica to be highest up at mid-May around 10 p.m. (11 p.m. daylight saving time), and at mid-June at about 8 p.m. (9 p.m. daylight saving time). These times refer to your local time.

We are surrounded by stars. Because Earth orbits in a flat plane around the sun, we see the sun against the same stars again and again throughout the year. Those constellations, which have been special to people throughout the ages, are the constellations of the Zodiac. Image via Professor Marcia Rieke.

Sun in front of Virgo on your birthday? The sun passes in front of the constellation Virgo each year from about September 16 to October 30. Because Virgo is such a large constellation, the sun stays in front of Virgo for longer than one month.

Dates of sun’s entry into each constellation of the zodiac

The dates of the sun’s passage through Virgo may conflict with what you read on the horoscope page, which probably says from about August 23 to September 22. Keep in mind that astrologers are referring to the sign – not the constellation – Virgo. Yes, there is a difference between a constellation and a sign!

A constellation of the zodiac refers to certain section of the starry sky. On the other hand, a sign of the zodiac refers to the seasonal position of the sun, irrespective of what constellation backdrops the sun at a given season.

For instance, the March equinox marks the first point of (the sign) Aries, the June solstice marks the first point of (the sign) Cancer, the September equinox marks the first point of (the sign) Libra, and the December solstice marks the first point of (the sign) Capricorn.

By definition, the first point of (the sign) Libra always coincides with the sun’s position on the September equinox. This is in spite of the fact that the sun shines in front of the constellation Virgo on the September equinox nowadays. The sun resides in the sign Libra for one month, starting on or near September 23, yet the sun also shines in front of the constellation Virgo during this period of time.

Constellations are less abstract than signs, so astronomers and stargazers who directly observe the night sky find it easier to refer to constellations. It’s not incorrect to list the star Spica’s position as Libra 23^o 50’ but that bit of information won’t help many people to locate Spica, the constellation Virgo’s brightest star.

The Virgo galaxy cluster, via Wikimedia Commons.

The famous Sombrero Galaxy (M104) is thought by some to belong to the Virgo cluster. Image via mini82.

Virgo galaxy cluster. In mythology, Virgo represents fruitfulness and fertility, but this wondrous constellation has also proven its fruitfulness in ways undreamed of by the ancients. This constellation is the home of the great Virgo galaxy cluster, a conglomeration made up of thousands of galaxies. A few of these galaxies are actually visible as faint smudges of light through a small telescope. That in itself is pretty amazing, given that the Virgo cluster of galaxies lies some 65 million light-years distant.

Perhaps the most famous galaxy residing within Virgo’s borders is the Sombrero galaxy (M104). There seems to be disagreement, though, on whether this galaxy is a member of the Virgo galaxy cluster.

The Return of Persephone by Frederic Leighton. Image via Wikipedia.

Virgo in ancient mythology. The constellation Virgo is often said to personify Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the harvest goddess. According to the famous Greek myth, eternal spring once reigned upon the Earth, until that fateful day when the god of the underworld abducted Persephone, the radiant maiden of spring.

Her mother Demeter was so overcome with grief over the loss of her only child that she abandoned her role as the goddess of fruitfulness and fertility. In some parts of the globe, the winter cold turned the once-verdant Earth in to a frigid wasteland, while elsewhere the summer heat scorched the Earth and gave rise to pestilence and disease. The Earth would not bear fruit again until Demeter was reunited with her daughter.

Humanity would have died altogether had not Zeus, the king of the gods, intervened. Zeus insisted that the god of the underworld return Persephone back to Demeter, but also proclaimed that Persephone abstain from food until her return. Alas, the god of the underworld purposely gave Persephone a pomegranate, knowing she would suck on a pomegranate seed on her way home.

Persephone was given back to her mother, but Persephone – because of the pomegranate – has to return to the underworld for four months every year. To this day, spring returns to the Northern Hemisphere when Persephone is reunited with Demeter, but the winter season reigns when Persephone dwells in the underworld.

That’s why, according to myth, it’s spring when the constellation Virgo is above the horizon at early evening but why it’s winter when she’s not. From the perspective of the Northern Hemisphere, Virgo is absent from early evening sky in late autumn, winter and early spring. Virgo’s return to sky at nightfall coincides with the verdant season of spring.

Virgo the winged harvest goddess. Image via Hubble Source.

Bottom line: The constellation Virgo the Maiden fully returns to sky at nightfall – with her feet planted on the eastern horizon – by late April or early May. This post has information about how to find the constellation Virgo, its brightest star, interesting things to see within its boundaries, and its mythology.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3dvgPgB

Happy Buddha Purnima

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Composite image via Swami Krishnananda in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.

Our friend Swami Krishnananda captured an image of last night’s moon (May 6, 2020) – and created this composite – and wrote:

I was able to shoot the supermoon with clear skies. We will be celebrating Buddha Purnima i.e. Lord Buddha’s birthday. So I felt it would be nice to greet all the EarthSky community and wish them all a Happy Buddha Purnima by superimposing the face of Lord Buddha on the supermoon.

Thank you, Swami Krishnananda!

According to the May 7, 2020 HindustanTimes:

The birth anniversary of Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, is celebrated as Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti with much fervour across the world. It falls on a full moon day in the month of Vaisakh (April/May) according to the Hindu calendar. This year Buddha Purnima will be celebrated on May 7. In Theravada Buddhism, it is also observed as the day when Buddha, born as Prince Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563-483 BCE) attained Nirvana (salvation) under the Mahabodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, Bihar, as well as his death anniversary. The Vesak full moon day is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar. Several Buddhists go to the pagodas to pour water at the foot of the sacred tree in remembrance of the Buddha’s Enlightenment.

Buddha Purnima is a major festival celebrated with great pomp and fervor in countries like Sri Lanka (where it is called Vesak), India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, China, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Singapore and Indonesia, though celebrations vary from country to country.

Read more from HindustanTimes … Buddha Purnima 2020: Here’s everything you need to know about Gautam Buddha’s birth anniversary

Bottom line: A composite photo and some information about the May 7, 2020 Buddha Purnima.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3fsagwO

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Composite image via Swami Krishnananda in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.

Our friend Swami Krishnananda captured an image of last night’s moon (May 6, 2020) – and created this composite – and wrote:

I was able to shoot the supermoon with clear skies. We will be celebrating Buddha Purnima i.e. Lord Buddha’s birthday. So I felt it would be nice to greet all the EarthSky community and wish them all a Happy Buddha Purnima by superimposing the face of Lord Buddha on the supermoon.

Thank you, Swami Krishnananda!

According to the May 7, 2020 HindustanTimes:

The birth anniversary of Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, is celebrated as Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti with much fervour across the world. It falls on a full moon day in the month of Vaisakh (April/May) according to the Hindu calendar. This year Buddha Purnima will be celebrated on May 7. In Theravada Buddhism, it is also observed as the day when Buddha, born as Prince Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563-483 BCE) attained Nirvana (salvation) under the Mahabodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, Bihar, as well as his death anniversary. The Vesak full moon day is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar. Several Buddhists go to the pagodas to pour water at the foot of the sacred tree in remembrance of the Buddha’s Enlightenment.

Buddha Purnima is a major festival celebrated with great pomp and fervor in countries like Sri Lanka (where it is called Vesak), India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, China, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Singapore and Indonesia, though celebrations vary from country to country.

Read more from HindustanTimes … Buddha Purnima 2020: Here’s everything you need to know about Gautam Buddha’s birth anniversary

Bottom line: A composite photo and some information about the May 7, 2020 Buddha Purnima.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3fsagwO

What are zoonotic diseases and what can we do about them?

Photograph of a Lohmann Brown hen via Konstantin Nikiforov. Backyard chickens have been linked to outbreaks of salmonellosis in people.

As the world grapples with the current coronavirus pandemic driven by a virus named SARS-CoV-2, many scientists and public health experts are emphasizing that more work needs to be done to prevent the emergence of zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases that leap from animals to humans can wreck havoc on society, as the current pandemic amply demonstrates. Please read on for a quick overview of how zoonotic diseases are defined and the strategies being used to combat them.

A zoonotic disease is an infectious disease that is transmissible under normal conditions from animals to humans, according to Harvard Health. The pathogens responsible for causing zoonotic diseases include viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Zoonotic diseases are very common throughout the world. The World Health Organization reports that around 75% of new infectious diseases detected in humans over the past few decades originated in animals.

One of the first steps to effectively combat zoonotic diseases involves identifying which ones are the most problematic in certain regions. At a workshop held in Washington, D.C., during December 5–7, 2017, U.S. experts were asked to use a prioritization tool to rank 56 zoonotic diseases according to factors such as their potential to cause epidemics and pandemics, disease severity, and prevalence. The top 8 zoonotic diseases of concern in the U.S. were identified as (1) zoonotic influenza viruses, (2) salmonellosis, (3) West Nile virus, (4) plague, (5) emerging coronaviruses, (6) rabies virus, (7) brucellosis, and (8) Lyme disease. Many people are familiar with these diseases because such illnesses are problematic in other countries too. By 2018, over 20 countries had likewise prioritized their top zoonotic diseases of concern by using a similar approach, according to the workshop report.

People can be exposed to the pathogens responsible for zoonotic diseases in a variety of settings. For example, exposures can occur through food and water contamination (e.g., the bacteria Escherichia coli better known as just E. coli), farming (e.g., bird flu and swine flu viruses), direct contact with wildlife (e.g., rabies virus and coronaviruses), insect vectors (e.g., the bacteria that cause Lyme disease), and pets (Salmonella bacteria). Direct contact with wildlife is the presumed transmission pathway for the coronavirus that caused the first cases of COVID-19 in humans, an outbreak which has now progressed to a global pandemic.

Generally speaking, public health officials use prevention, education, surveillance, and outbreak control measures to fight zoonotic diseases. The goal of prevention efforts is to disrupt the transmission pathways to humans. In the case of rabies, that involves widespread vaccination of dogs and cats that can carry the rabies virus and infect humans they come into contact with. With other zoonotic diseases, the most effective strategies will depend on the pathogen, the animals that host the pathogen, and the human behaviors that put them at risk of exposure. Closures of wildlife markets where coronaviruses reside will be important in preventing future coronavirus outbreaks.

Infographic of factors that are increasing the emergence of zoonotic diseases. Image via UNEP.

In an April 5, 2020 essay, Inger Andersen, head of the United Nation’s Environment Program (UNEP), reflected on important ways to prevent zoonotic diseases. She wrote:

The “wild” must be kept “wild.” It is time to restore our forests, stop deforestation, invest in the management of protected areas, and propel markets for deforestation-free products. Where the legal wildlife trade chain exists, we need to do a far better job of improving hygiene conditions. And of course, there is the urgent need to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, the fourth most common crime committed worldwide.

She and others are also urging countries to green their economies as they take steps to recover from the current pandemic. This could help to mitigate the climate changes that are pushing dangerous mosquito-borne zoonotic diseases like dengue and Zika into new regions around the world.

Bottom line: Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that are naturally transmitted between animals and humans. These diseases are very common. General strategies for preventing zoonotic diseases include reducing deforestation, ending the illegal wildlife trade, and improving hygiene in settings were interactions with animals are commonplace.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3c7zWNj

Photograph of a Lohmann Brown hen via Konstantin Nikiforov. Backyard chickens have been linked to outbreaks of salmonellosis in people.

As the world grapples with the current coronavirus pandemic driven by a virus named SARS-CoV-2, many scientists and public health experts are emphasizing that more work needs to be done to prevent the emergence of zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases that leap from animals to humans can wreck havoc on society, as the current pandemic amply demonstrates. Please read on for a quick overview of how zoonotic diseases are defined and the strategies being used to combat them.

A zoonotic disease is an infectious disease that is transmissible under normal conditions from animals to humans, according to Harvard Health. The pathogens responsible for causing zoonotic diseases include viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Zoonotic diseases are very common throughout the world. The World Health Organization reports that around 75% of new infectious diseases detected in humans over the past few decades originated in animals.

One of the first steps to effectively combat zoonotic diseases involves identifying which ones are the most problematic in certain regions. At a workshop held in Washington, D.C., during December 5–7, 2017, U.S. experts were asked to use a prioritization tool to rank 56 zoonotic diseases according to factors such as their potential to cause epidemics and pandemics, disease severity, and prevalence. The top 8 zoonotic diseases of concern in the U.S. were identified as (1) zoonotic influenza viruses, (2) salmonellosis, (3) West Nile virus, (4) plague, (5) emerging coronaviruses, (6) rabies virus, (7) brucellosis, and (8) Lyme disease. Many people are familiar with these diseases because such illnesses are problematic in other countries too. By 2018, over 20 countries had likewise prioritized their top zoonotic diseases of concern by using a similar approach, according to the workshop report.

People can be exposed to the pathogens responsible for zoonotic diseases in a variety of settings. For example, exposures can occur through food and water contamination (e.g., the bacteria Escherichia coli better known as just E. coli), farming (e.g., bird flu and swine flu viruses), direct contact with wildlife (e.g., rabies virus and coronaviruses), insect vectors (e.g., the bacteria that cause Lyme disease), and pets (Salmonella bacteria). Direct contact with wildlife is the presumed transmission pathway for the coronavirus that caused the first cases of COVID-19 in humans, an outbreak which has now progressed to a global pandemic.

Generally speaking, public health officials use prevention, education, surveillance, and outbreak control measures to fight zoonotic diseases. The goal of prevention efforts is to disrupt the transmission pathways to humans. In the case of rabies, that involves widespread vaccination of dogs and cats that can carry the rabies virus and infect humans they come into contact with. With other zoonotic diseases, the most effective strategies will depend on the pathogen, the animals that host the pathogen, and the human behaviors that put them at risk of exposure. Closures of wildlife markets where coronaviruses reside will be important in preventing future coronavirus outbreaks.

Infographic of factors that are increasing the emergence of zoonotic diseases. Image via UNEP.

In an April 5, 2020 essay, Inger Andersen, head of the United Nation’s Environment Program (UNEP), reflected on important ways to prevent zoonotic diseases. She wrote:

The “wild” must be kept “wild.” It is time to restore our forests, stop deforestation, invest in the management of protected areas, and propel markets for deforestation-free products. Where the legal wildlife trade chain exists, we need to do a far better job of improving hygiene conditions. And of course, there is the urgent need to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, the fourth most common crime committed worldwide.

She and others are also urging countries to green their economies as they take steps to recover from the current pandemic. This could help to mitigate the climate changes that are pushing dangerous mosquito-borne zoonotic diseases like dengue and Zika into new regions around the world.

Bottom line: Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that are naturally transmitted between animals and humans. These diseases are very common. General strategies for preventing zoonotic diseases include reducing deforestation, ending the illegal wildlife trade, and improving hygiene in settings were interactions with animals are commonplace.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3c7zWNj

Earth’s biggest iceberg breaks off smaller berg

Iceberg A-68A on April 9, 2020. Image via NASA Earth Observatory.

By Kathryn Hansen/ NASA Earth Observatory

Antarctic iceberg A-68A, which broke from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in 2017, has been floating solo in recent years. Not anymore. The colossal iceberg finally fractured in late April 2020, spawning a new companion named A-68C.

The break was not exactly surprising. A few weeks ago, we published the image above showing Iceberg A-68A on April 9, 2020. The iceberg on that day was still intact, but it had drifted north into dangerously warm waters. Christopher Readinger of the U.S. National Ice Center (USNIC) noted at the time:

I’m surprised at how well it’s sticking together. It’s been in warmer water for a few months now and it’s not exactly a very thick berg, so I expect it will break up sometime soon, but it’s showing no signs of that yet.

Less than two weeks later, that’s exactly what happened. Satellite images on April 22 showed that a new iceberg had broken off from A-68A. The pair is now drifting at the edge of the Weddell Sea and South Atlantic Ocean, near the South Orkney Islands, as shown in the image below.

The icebergs on May 3, 2020. This image was acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NASA-NOAA Suomi-NPP satellite. Image via NASA Earth Observatory.

Iceberg A-68C measures about 11 nautical miles long and 7 nautical miles wide (20 by 13 kilometers). That’s small compared to its parent berg A-68A, which now measures 82 by 26 nautical miles (152 by 48 kilometers), but it is large enough to be named and tracked by the U.S. National Ice Center.

Even after shedding the sizable piece of ice, A-68A is still the largest iceberg currently floating anywhere on Earth. It has calved only one other named berg, forming A-68B in July 2017 just after the initial calving event from the ice shelf.

Bottom line: Colossal iceberg A-68A from Antarctica’s Larsen-C Ice Shelf finally fractured in April, generating a new 51-square-nautical-mile iceberg.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2A1O38B

Iceberg A-68A on April 9, 2020. Image via NASA Earth Observatory.

By Kathryn Hansen/ NASA Earth Observatory

Antarctic iceberg A-68A, which broke from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in 2017, has been floating solo in recent years. Not anymore. The colossal iceberg finally fractured in late April 2020, spawning a new companion named A-68C.

The break was not exactly surprising. A few weeks ago, we published the image above showing Iceberg A-68A on April 9, 2020. The iceberg on that day was still intact, but it had drifted north into dangerously warm waters. Christopher Readinger of the U.S. National Ice Center (USNIC) noted at the time:

I’m surprised at how well it’s sticking together. It’s been in warmer water for a few months now and it’s not exactly a very thick berg, so I expect it will break up sometime soon, but it’s showing no signs of that yet.

Less than two weeks later, that’s exactly what happened. Satellite images on April 22 showed that a new iceberg had broken off from A-68A. The pair is now drifting at the edge of the Weddell Sea and South Atlantic Ocean, near the South Orkney Islands, as shown in the image below.

The icebergs on May 3, 2020. This image was acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NASA-NOAA Suomi-NPP satellite. Image via NASA Earth Observatory.

Iceberg A-68C measures about 11 nautical miles long and 7 nautical miles wide (20 by 13 kilometers). That’s small compared to its parent berg A-68A, which now measures 82 by 26 nautical miles (152 by 48 kilometers), but it is large enough to be named and tracked by the U.S. National Ice Center.

Even after shedding the sizable piece of ice, A-68A is still the largest iceberg currently floating anywhere on Earth. It has calved only one other named berg, forming A-68B in July 2017 just after the initial calving event from the ice shelf.

Bottom line: Colossal iceberg A-68A from Antarctica’s Larsen-C Ice Shelf finally fractured in April, generating a new 51-square-nautical-mile iceberg.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2A1O38B