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Today's Interesting Science News
I found four interesting stories today as I was browsing around and wanted to share them with you.
Night Shining Clouds over Budapest
1. Mysterious Night-Shining Clouds Photographed over Budapest, Hungary. They are among the first such noctilucent clouds pictured this year.
The clouds form in the upper layer of the Earth's atmosphere in summer.
Scientists don't know much about how the clouds form, or why they have been appearing more often at lower latitudes and glowing brighter.
To find out, NASA has employed a satellite, named AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in Mesosphere) to observe two cloud seasons over both of Earth's Poles. On June 11, AIM captured its first images of night shining clouds (not shown). The satellite will also provide scientists with data on the size and shape of the particles that make up the clouds.
"It is clear that these clouds are changing, a sign that a part of our atmosphere is changing and we do not understand how, why or what it means," AIM principal investigator James Russell III said in statement.
The clouds "could represent an early warning that our Earth environment is being changed."
Noctilucent Clouds over Saimaa
2. From National Geographic comes the report that Hurricanes Heal Reefs in Surprising Cases Hurricanes may actually provide a healing balm of sorts for dying coral reefs, a new study shows. By mixing up cool deep layers of the ocean, a distant hurricane reduces sea-surface temperatures by several degrees—enough to help heat-stressed corals survive bleaching.
Coral healed by hurricanes
3. Also from National Geographic comes the report that Ancient Arctic Lakes are drying up as a result of global warming. These ponds, which lie atop bedrock, freeze solid in the winter and then melt for a few months each summer, becoming hot spots of activity in the forbidding Arctic terrain. The wetlands around these ponds is also disappearing and all of this affects local wildlife. Archaeology shows that these ponds have been relatively stable for thousands of years, until the 1800s. There has actually been more rain in recent years, but higher temperatures in the summer have cause the evaporation to outweigh the extra precipitation.
Camp Pond, an ancient arctic lake, is drying up
4. Discovery Channel has a story about Texas and a desalination project. By turning sea water into fresh water, it enables people around the world to get water in fresh water in places where it is scarce. About two-thirds of the world's desalinated water is produced in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and North Africa. Perth, Australia, is looking to meet a third of its fresh water demand by removing salt from sea water. Everyone needs water to drink. I hope that as more companies work on the desalination project, the costs will drop and make it more affordable everywhere.
