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26 April 2016
Idling diesel engines may produce dangerous pollutant
New research finds exhaust from idling diesel engines produces a significant amount of isocyanic acid when photons from sunlight help it react with other compounds in the atmosphere. The amount of this secondary photochemical isocyanic acid produced by non-road, idling diesel engines, like those in tractors, loaders, and other heavy construction and farm equipment, was 50 to 230 milligrams per kilogram of diesel burned.
30 December 2015
Scientists develop new tools to anticipate coastal pollution in Maine
Scientists from the University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, and College of the Atlantic have now designed a new way to predict fine-scale watershed contamination along Maine’s coast. Their work will inform watershed management throughout the state and ultimately other coastal areas, said Sean Smith, a watershed geomorphologist at the University of Maine who presented the project at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.
23 April 2014
Proposed seawater-based air conditioning could benefit farmers
Discharged seawater pumped from the ocean and used for a renewable air conditioning system would overload surface waters with minerals that could potentially be captured instead for use in agriculture, according to a noted oceanographer.
9 August 2013
Scientists observe significant methane leaks in a Utah natural gas field
In Utah’s Uintah Basin, scientists testing a new way to measure methane emissions from a natural gas production field found leakage of 6 to 12 percent of the methane produced, on average, there on February days. A recent federal report estimated that methane’s leak rate, nationally, is less than 1 percent of production. But another report noted that emissions in the Uintah Basin may have higher emissions than typical for western gas fields. The Uintah Basin produces about 1 percent of total U.S. natural gas,
26 April 2013
Geophysicist challenges fracking’s bad rep
Mark Zoback, a geophysicist at Stanford University, cringes at the word “fracking”. He doesn’t oppose this controversial process of extracting fossil fuels from shale rock, or hydraulic fracturing. He just laments the stigma of its nickname.
11 March 2013
Triple blow lowered arctic ozone in 2011
A combination of extreme cold temperatures, man-made chemicals and a stagnant atmosphere were behind what became known as the Arctic ozone hole of 2011, a new study finds.
7 December 2012
Scientists put a new spin on waves
Whirlpools created at the edges of breaking waves can influence how ocean nutrients – and pollution – get mixed about in the ocean.
30 April 2012
Smoking out an air pollutant’s hot spots
A smoke-related chemical may be a significant air pollutant in some parts of the world, especially in places where forest fires and other forms of biomass burning are common, according to new research.
6 April 2012
Ocean’s plastic pollution runs deep
The ocean is filled with more plastics than previously thought, according to a new study. Tiny plastic fragments not only float on the ocean’s surface, but are also temporarily pushed beneath the top layer of water by the tumult caused by maritime winds.
8 November 2011
Thames River contamination tied to World War II gardens
A World War II “Dig for Victory!” campaign, while the United Kingdom was effectively cut off from Canadian food supplies, played a key role in today’s nitrogen contamination of the Thames basin. That’s according to researchers who dug into century-old, leather-bound volumes of water quality measurements dating back to the mid-1800s.
GeoSpace is a blog on Earth and space science, managed by AGU’s Public Information staff. The blog features posts by AGU writers and guest contributors on all sorts of relevant science topics, but with a focus on new research and geo and space sciences-related stories that are currently in the news.