Due to the devastating impacts of COVID-19, citizens around the world are now familiar with the global health challenges caused by virus spillover events – when a pathogen travels from one host species to another such as a bat to a human. As human populations continue to grow and move into wildlife […]
The Sabancaya volcano sits in the southern Peruvian Andes. Records of eruptions there span back hundreds of years, making it a site of interest to volcanologists around the world. A new study by a team of Italian and Peruvian scientists led by Dr. Diego Coppola at the Università Degli Studi Di Torino […]
Urban parks in desert areas often use copious amounts of water for maintaining grass and trees. In Phoenix, Arizona, two primary irrigation methods are used: sprinklers and flooding. A new study in Ecohydrology led by Mercedes Kindler compares the benefits and drawbacks of these methods. They also analyze the impact of using […]
On-farm reservoirs play a critical role in crop irrigation. They store water during the wet season for subsequent use for crop irrigation during the dry season. In the U.S. alone, there are an estimated 2.6 million such reservoirs. However, storing this water has poorly understood impacts on downstream hydrology and ecosystems. The […]
Satellite imagery can provide geologic context for scientific discoveries on the ground, such as sample location mapping for fossil discoveries. A new study led out of McGill University by Cortés et al. (2021) details the discovery of fossils in central Colombia that represent a new genus of ichthyosaur—large, long-extinct marine reptiles. Dubbed […]
Illegal sand mining is running rampant in the world due to the need for river sand as a binder in making concrete. Desert sand isn’t suitable for this purpose due to its shape. This illegal activity had led to the deaths of journalists, farmers, miners, and more, as well as causing ecological […]
Multiple studies have found that exposure to “greenspace” such as parks and forests has benefits to early childhood development. Some of these benefits include fewer behavioral problems, improved memory, and even better academic performance. However, the root explanations as to why these benefits happen are still not entirely clear. A new study […]
Permafrost is defined as ground that remains below freezing for multiple years in a row. This frozen ground is hard as concrete. However, rising temperatures from climate change are leading to thawing of this permafrost, impacting local ecosystems and infrastructure. Thaw also results in the release of significant amounts of methane into […]
Above Image: Point Lay, Alaska research site @ 2021, Planet Labs, Inc. Please note that walruses may not be present in this image, but can be seen in the referenced research paper. Walruses are coming ashore along the coasts of Alaska more frequently and in increasing numbers due to the decline in […]
Past studies have explored the use of flowing ice debris to estimate stream velocity with Planet data. However, tropical rivers pose a distinct challenge, due to high cloud cover and turbidity. Adriano Junqueira, of São Paulo State University, led a team to deploy a novel approach in the Araguaia River watershed in […]
