Climate Change:
1. Whale Songs' Pitch May Change Due to Population, Climate Changes
Blue whale calls have been mysteriously dropping pitch for decades. A new study describes the same trend in fin whales and suggests the global pitch drop may be a side effect of singing less loudly.
https://eos.org/scientific-press/whale-songs-pitch-may-change-due-to-population-climate-changes
2. Bipartisan Legislation Would Put a Price on Carbon
A bill introduced in Congress yesterday could help cut U.S. carbon pollution by 40% in 10 years.
https://eos.org/articles/bipartisan-legislation-would-put-a-price-on-carbon
3. Tool to Capture Marine Biological Activity Gets Coastal Upgrade
Upwelling hinders an efficient method to estimate a key measure of biological productivity in coastal waters, but accounting for surface temperatures could boost accuracy.
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/tool-to-capture-marine-biological-activity-gets-coastal-upgrade
4. Extreme Heat Increasing in Both Summer and Winter
New research shows that there are more extremely hot days during the summer and more days that are considered extremely hot for the time of year, like abnormally warm days in the winter.
https://eos.org/scientific-press/extreme-heat-increasing-in-both-summer-and-winter
5. Autumn in the Arctic
With refreezing in the western Arctic Ocean shifting later into the autumn, field research on changing air-ocean-ice interactions suggests that the Arctic is shifting to a more seasonal system.
https://eos.org/editors-vox/autumn-in-the-arctic
6. What Specific Costs and Risks Do We Face from Climate Change?
A new U.S. government report finds that climate change is already increasing risks to health, the economy, and ecosystems across the United States. These risks are expected to grow in the coming decades.
https://eos.org/features/what-specific-costs-and-risks-do-we-face-from-climate-change
Hazards & Disasters:
1. Communities of Color Are More Vulnerable to Wildfires
Affluent white people are more likely to live in fire-prone areas, but race and socioeconomic vulnerability can put minority communities at greater risk, a new study finds.
https://eos.org/articles/communities-of-color-are-more-vulnerable-to-wildfires
2. Ancient Romans Polluted Their Lakes Just Like We Do Today
Sediments from a lake in Switzerland reveal that ancient Romans triggered dead zones caused by the runoff of nutrients. Sound familiar?
https://eos.org/articles/ancient-romans-polluted-their-lakes-just-like-we-do-today
Natural Resources:
1. Groups Gear Up to Fight Oil and Gas Development in Arctic Refuge
With Democrats controlling the House of Representatives beginning in January, advocates see an opportunity to try to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas development.
https://eos.org/articles/groups-gear-up-to-fight-oil-and-gas-development-in-arctic-refuge
Biogeosciences:
1. The ILAMB System for Benchmarking Land Surface Models
An evolving set of tools helps land surface model developers optimize the realism of their parameterizations for the next generation of weather and climate models.
https://eos.org/editor-highlights/the-ilamb-system-for-benchmarking-land-surface-models
Geology & Geophysics:
1. In a Submarine Trough, Permeable Rocks May Lead to Quakes
In Japan's submarine Nankai Trough, rock permeability is much higher when measured at larger scales, likely because of big fractures and faults that are not captured at small scales.
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/in-a-submarine-trough-permeable-rocks-may-lead-to-quakes
Ocean Sciences:
1. What American Samoan Corals Tell About El Niño's History
Samoan corals record how patterns of warm/cool and more/less salty in the equatorial Pacific changed in space and time over the last 500 years.
https://eos.org/editor-highlights/what-samoan-corals-tell-about-el-ninos-history
