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Category: climatology – Page 31

Weather forecasting is important for various sectors, including agriculture, military operations, and aviation, as well as for predicting natural disasters like tornados and cyclones. It relies on predicting the movement of air in the atmosphere, which is characterized by turbulent flows resulting in chaotic eddies of air.

However, accurately predicting this turbulence has remained significantly challenging owing to the lack of data on small-scale , which leads to the introduction of small initial errors. These errors can, in turn, lead to drastic changes in the flow states later, a phenomenon known as the chaotic butterfly effect.

To address the challenge of limited data on small-scale turbulent flows, a data-driven method known as Data Assimilation (DA) has been employed for forecasting. By integrating various sources of information, this approach enables the inference of details about small-scale turbulent eddies from their larger counterparts.

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Fusion is a kind of nuclear power, which could revolutionise how clean energy is produced. As a new wave of experiments heats up, can fusion live up to the hype?

00:33 The future of green energy.
02:00 What is nuclear fusion and how does it work?
03:17 Is it achievable?

Sign up to The Economist’s daily newsletter: https://econ.st/3s9WjPB

Energy security gives climate-friendly nuclear-power plants a new appeal: https://econ.st/3QHgdd1

Continue reading “Is nuclear fusion the future of clean energy?” | >

This may sound great at first glance, but researchers say it could signal the start of a “vicious cycle.”

The world is undergoing an insect apocalypse, with our buggy friends experiencing global mass population decreases at an estimated 2 percent yearly due to a woeful combination of climate change, pesticides, habitat loss, and other human-made ills.

How are flora — which often rely on insects for pollination — adapting to this massive change within the worldwide food chain? Researchers in France have now revealed one way: turning to self-pollination.

In a new study published in the journal New Phytologist, researchers have found that wildflowers in a patch of farm meadow in the Paris region have increasingly adapted to self-fertilization.

Continue reading “Wildflowers Adapting to Insect Apocalypse by Pollinating Themselves, Scientists Say” | >

The AI gold rush has brought many market opportunities to the space tech sector, said Zainab Qasim, investor at Seraphim.

“AI’s impact on existing tech used in space will no doubt become more prevalent over the coming years allowing faster research and development execution and smarter insights for end customers,” she said.

AI plays a “heavy hand” in the development of future climate and space technologies, said Jeff Crusey, partner at early-stage fund 7percent Ventures, adding that it has “dramatically improved the efficiency of models, improving logistics, fuel savings, and ultimately the environment.”

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This was suggested by Gustave Fechner and other philosophers.

How about planets? Can they have minds? This idea, that planets are also conscious beings, seems to be at the heart of a new theory put forth by astrobiologists. The premise of this thought experiment is that bacteria and plants working together have altered planets like Earth, giving them a new lease on life.

This research, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, provides a scale by which planets’ intelligence can be evaluated. It’s shocking to consider an extraterrestrial organism intelligent rather than a sentient animal like a human. But in a way, a planet can have a “green mind”; this paradigm suggests novel approaches to coping with climate change, technological upheaval, and other emergencies.

Planetary intelligence was characterised by the researchers as “cognitive activity” and knowledge functioning on a global scale. We understand that the concept of intelligence may be applied to everything from an individual to a community or even the peculiar actions of a virus or mould. For example, fungi’s webs of mycelium beneath the forest floor are its own breath; together, they make up a living system that can detect and adapt to shifting climates. All of Earth’s conditions will be drastically altered by these factors.

Continue reading “Earth Itself May Be an Intelligent Being, Suggests New Theory” | >

Advanced infrared mirrors enhance climate and biofuel research via precision trace gas sensing.

An international team of researchers from the United States, Austria, and Switzerland has demonstrated the first true supermirrors in the mid-infrared spectral region. These mirrors are key for many applications, such as optical spectroscopy for environmental sensing, as well as laser cutting and welding for manufacturing.

Achieving Near-Perfect Reflectivity

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Let’s face it: on a scorching hot day, the sweet hum of an air conditioner feels like a lifeline. But what if that lifeline is actually tying us into a knot of environmental woes?

It turns out, our reliance on air conditioning is heating up the planet just as much as it’s cooling our homes.

Enter a team of ingenious researchers from MIT with a revolutionary idea: aerogel. This isn’t just another tech buzzword; it’s a potential game-changer in our fight against climate change.

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Could Earth end up with a runaway greenhouse effect like Venus someday, and what could this mean for finding life on exoplanets? This is something a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers used a 3D global climate model to investigate if Earth is destined to develop a runaway greenhouse effect like the planet Venus, which precious studies speculate was once much like Earth long ago. This study holds the potential to bring awareness of the long-term consequences of climate change and what steps can be taken to mitigate the effects.

A Runaway greenhouse effect can turn a habitable planet like Earth with a surface liquid water ocean into an inhospitable planet like Venus. (Credit: Thibaut Roger / UNIGE)

“Until now, other key studies in climatology have focused solely on either the temperate state before the runaway, or either the inhabitable state post-runaway,” said Dr. Martin Turbet, who is a research scientist at CNRS laboratories of Paris and Bordeaux and a co-author on the study. “It is the first time a team has studied the transition itself with a 3D global climate model and has checked how the climate and the atmosphere evolve during that process.”

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