The 13th century CE Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha, India, is believed to have been built at the mouth of an ancient river named Chandrabhaga. This mythical river figures prominently in ancient literature, although at present no river exists in the proximity of the Konark Sun Temple. This study investigates the possibility of existence of a ‘lost’ river system near Konark through integrated geological and geophysical exploration in conjunction with historical evidence.

Cannabis agriculture is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States that is changing rapidly with policy liberalization. Anecdotal observations fuel speculation about associated environmental impacts, and there is an urgent need for systematic empirical research. An example from Humboldt County California, a principal cannabis-producing region, involved digitizing 4428 grow sites in 60 watersheds with Google Earth imagery. Grows were clustered, suggesting disproportionate impacts in ecologically important locales.

Anthropogenic aerosols are a key factor governing Earth’s climate, and play a central role in human-caused climate change. However, because of aerosols’ complex physical, optical, and dynamical properties, aerosols are one of the most uncertain aspects of climate modeling. Fortunately, aerosol measurement networks over the past few decades have led to the establishment of long-term observations for numerous locations worldwide.

Worldwide riverine thermal pollution patterns were investigated by combining mean annual heat rejection rates from power plants with once-through cooling systems with the global hydrological-water temperature model variable infiltration capacity (VIC)-RBM. The model simulates both streamflow and water temperature on 0.5° × 0.5° spatial resolution worldwide and by capturing their effect, identifies multiple thermal pollution hotspots.

Original Source

Matthew Hansen uses satellites to spot deforestation as it happens.

The aim of this study is to determine landscape dynamics in the classified forest of Haut-Sassandra (CFHS) during the periods of conflict in Ivory Coast (or Côte d’Ivoire). To achieve this, the land cover of this protected area was determined by classifying satellite images obtained before, during and after the conflicts, and via ground surveys. Metrics of landscape ecology were calculated. A ground campaign for observing the CFHS’s flora and damages incurred was carried out using a sampling of eighteen 500 m-long transects.

Understanding the causes of recent climatic trends and variability in the high-latitude Southern Hemisphere is hampered by a short instrumental record. Here, we analyse recent atmosphere, surface ocean and sea-ice observations in this region and assess their trends in the context of palaeoclimate records and climate model simulations. Over the 36-year satellite era, significant linear trends in annual mean sea-ice extent, surface temperature and sea-level pressure are superimposed on large interannual to decadal variability.

With space technology being used in the planning and monitoring of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) is set to

Accurate quantification of the millennial-scale mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to global sea-level rise remain challenging because of sparse in situ observations in key regions. Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is the ongoing response of the solid Earth to ice and ocean load changes occurring since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ~21 thousand years ago) and may be used to constrain the GrIS deglaciation history.

The interest in forest productivity estimation has increased in the last years as it is very important for forest management and the estimation of carbon stock, wood and non-wood products, etc. However, there are no estimates of productivity and stored volume and carbon of different forest cover types throughout the Amhara region, Ethiopia. The objectives of this study are the estimating of volume, aboveground carbon and net primary productivity (NPP) of the Amhara region.

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