An artist’s rendering of the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. Though Titan is the only other world in our solar system with standing lakes and seas, its liquid bodies are made of methane and ethane, not water. Credit: Stan Richard; NASA
AGU News
AGU opposes rule that would rewrite the terms of US Science
Last week, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget proposed a federal rule that would embed political control into the rules governing federal research funding in the United States. If finalized as written, this rule would give political appointees veto power over peer review, allow the government to cancel active grants mid-project with minimal justification, ban entire categories of science from federal funding, and restrict researchers’ ability to publish their work and attend scientific conferences. AGU President Brandon Jones urges the AGU community to submit a comment through AGU’s Action Center before 13 July. [statement From the Prow]
Featured Research
Storms on Titan can make 10-foot waves on methane and ethane seas
Saturn’s moon Titan has lakes and seas of methane and ethane, making it the only other world in our solar system with standing liquids on its surface. New simulations show that the same wind speed generates waves 30 times larger on Titan’s liquid bodies than on Earth’s. While daily winds on Titan are too weak to coax out any waves at all, stronger winds from spring and summer storms likely make waves up to about 1.5 feet high, on average, and up to around 10 feet high when storm winds blow their hardest. Based on their direction, storm waves likely sculpted the eastern shore of Ontario Lacus, a lake in the south of Titan. [JGR Planets study]
Earth’s ballooning energy imbalance locks in more warming than expected
At the top of Earth’s atmosphere, the planet is gaining more energy from the Sun than it loses to space, an imbalance felt as warming temperatures on the ground. The gap is widening; the energy differential has more than doubled since 2001. Satellite measurements show energy accumulating in the climate system much faster than models predict. This means the ocean is absorbing more heat than expected and more future warming is locked in. If global societies were to restrict greenhouse gas emissions to very low levels starting now, the warming trend would not turn around before the 2040s, more than 10 years later than previous estimates. Surface temperatures would continue to rise as the extra heat already absorbed was distributed throughout Earth’s systems. [Geophysical Research Letters study]
See also:
- Global warming has accelerated in the last decade [press release] [Geophysical Research Letters study]
- Ocean will burp accumulated heat in an ideal cooling world [AGU Advances study]
- Earth’s energy imbalance more than doubled in recent decades [AGU Advances commentary]
Air pollution may raise hospitalization risk for type 2 diabetics with other conditions
Short-term air pollution exposure puts those with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, hypertension or peripheral vascular disease at greater risk of hospitalization. An analysis of over 92,000 hospital admissions of type 2 diabetics in China’s Sichuan Province, over half of which also had one of the comorbidities, showed air pollution raised hospitalization risk 1.5% to 4.3% depending on the comorbidity, especially around six to seven days after exposure. The resulting hospital costs totaled tens of millions of Chinese Yuan (millions of U.S. dollars), highlighting the impact of air pollution not only on vulnerable people’s health but also on healthcare expenses. [GeoHealth study]
Which regions of the U.S. guzzle the most water per household, and why
Two months of monitoring by smart water meters in over 33,000 households across 39 major American cities bore these insights: households in the southwest, south, and northern Midwest used the most water, while those in coastal regions, especially in California, used the least. Behaviors — especially toilet flushing and shower time — explained most of the differences in water use per capita, while the efficiency of appliances, especially clothes washers, made the most impact between households. Sustainable urban water management should target both areas for improvement, the researchers wrote. [Water Resources Research study]
See also:
- Toilets and showers make up the vast majority of household water use [press release][Earth’s Future study]
- Faced with water restrictions, many Americans would willingly pay to reuse water [newsletter item][Water Resources Research study]
Uncovering the best conditions for finding hydrogen fuel in mountains
Erosion may augment the amount of hydrogen naturally stored in mountain ranges like the Alps and the Pyrenees, which could help humans pinpoint where to drill for the gas as a clean energy alternative to fossil fuels. When rocks from deep in Earth’s mantle get lifted towards the surface as mountains form, they pass through a suitable temperature range in which they can react with water to produce hydrogen. Erosion of the mountains can help bring those rocks towards the surface, making that process more efficient, new computer simulations suggest. Too much erosion, however, can bring them towards the surface so quickly that they spend less time in the temperature range necessary for the hydrogen-producing reaction. Excessive erosion can also wear away the porous rock layers that might otherwise store the newly made hydrogen. [JGR Solid Earth study]
The surprising link between a cold blob and the Indian monsoon
Climate processes that at first glance appear separate can actually be intimately linked, modeling shows. [Eos research spotlight][AGU Advances study]
Rivers in the Antarctic sky, captured in 3D
A new study shows that atmospheric rivers may be responsible for up to 90% of Antarctica’s annual precipitation. [Eos research spotlight][Geophysical Research Letters study]
Model of complex blanket bog improves prediction of peat expansion
Peat expansion is tightly coupled to the global climate cycle. As a nature-based solution to climate change, we need to know how peatlands will respond to different climate scenarios. [Eos editors’ highlight][Water Resources Research study]