Drone registrations are on the rise. Citing a report from the Federal Aviation Administration, Fortune noted that more than 670,000 unmanned aerial vehicles were registered with the government agency this year, as both hobbyists and corporations look to leverage the advantages of flight. According to Cornell University, there's another potential use of UAVs on the horizon: climate change drones are designed to capture and relay critical data about the rate and severity of climate shifts. Now, scientists are warming up to the idea of drone-filled skies. Here's why. Reflective Reasoning The rate and risk of climate change are tied to albedo: a measure of how much solar energy is absorbed, or reflected, by surfaces on the Earth. For example, snow-covered areas reflect sunlight and decrease overall warmth, while surfaces such as grass or asphalt better absorb heat. The Cornell study noted that albedo is currently measured using satellite imagery and sensor towers, but these options are non-mobile, making local comparisons impossible. At Cornell, doctoral candidate Charlotte Levy and her team overcame the characteristic weight restrictions on the drone by using only a downward-facing sensor on the vehicle itself and placing the upward-facing sensor in a nearby field. The results? Mobile climate change measurements and the ability to discover where proactive forest planting could have positive impacts on the local environment by reducing heat loss and carbon capture. Learning More  Enable targeting cookies to view this content. And that's not all drones are doing. As noted by AG Web, after a climate change innovation grant announcement last year, software developer Pix4D and drone manufacturer Parrot received more than 250 research proposals. Some of those selected are now using aerial vehicles to detect variations in grassland phenology, modulate wildlife extinctions in the African drylands and monitor the impact of insects in Mediterranean forests. The big advantage here? These climate change drones can gather data with minimal disruption to the natural environment, limiting the chance of corrupted or human-influenced data. Consider the work being done on Antarctic mosses. The Conversation reported that these plants are sensitive to even minor changes in their local environment, making them an excellent predictor of emerging climate shifts. But monitoring these mosses is difficult, since their remote location requires human researchers to traverse, and potentially disturb, miles of difficult terrain. Drones, meanwhile, can fly in to get the data they need without causing undue environmental impact. In addition, the use of drones expands mapping and data collection areas while reducing the total cost and potential risk to researchers. Developing Drones Unmanned aerial vehicles occupy a key intersection between autonomous device and human interference. While they're ultimately operated by human beings, they limit the overall impact on sensitive ecosystems and return critical data about environmental adaptations. These climate change drones are a natural next step, given the increasing focus on Earth-based science; NASA already operates a high-altitude, long-duration aerial science vessel known as the Global Hawk, and scientists remain on the ground in far-flung research outputs gathering and analyzing climate data. Custom-built drones provide a way to quickly collect data, make local comparisons and limit the impact on natural flora and fauna. The market for drones is shifting as online enterprises look to leverage corporate potential and private users take to the skies. The next generation of scientists, meanwhile, are developing ways to make drones fly farther and faster and find key data to mitigate the effects of long-term climate change.

Warming Up? Climate Change Drones Offer Environmental Insight

Climate change research predicts that we may experience more extreme weather. As the planet warms, increased water evaporation could drive wilder weather, increasing storm frequency and/or intensity. With sophisticated weather technology, climate scientists aim to handle these changes through better prediction or even by manipulating storms before they wreak havoc. More precise data is needed as weather prediction improves, which is why weather technology is looking to space with tools such as satellites and other eye-in-the-sky capabilities.   Here Is the Weather News   At the start of the last century, weather prediction science could let you know fairly accurately what to wear for work the next day. More than 100 years later, the range for long-term forecasting reaches beyond five days and is still advancing, according to The New Yorker. Advanced mapping and data collection meant that residents in the path of the hurricane had around a week to watch and prepare as Hurricane Harvey barreled along.   Being prepared plays a huge role in managing the effects of extreme weather; with advance warning, local authorities are able to provide emergency coverage and move vulnerable residents to safety, minimizing loss of life and structural damage.   Weather Sensing   Data plays a big part in forecasting, feeding into more sophisticated modeling that helps scientists and disaster management agencies understand what to expect. Current technology means that researchers can measure what's happening in the middle of a storm from the protected radar arrays that monitor tornado activity, or as a global picture from farther away.   Satellites. NASA and other agencies operate both geostationary and orbiting earth-observing satellites. The New Yorker describes sensor technology from high above us that monitors developing weather patterns and collects data on humidity, wind speed, temperature and more that feed into increasingly complex simulation models.   Space Weather Sensing. Sensor technology helps gather data on space weather. NASA explained how improved low Earth orbit arrays let scientists learn how solar activity influences our climate.   Global Hawk. Some retired Northrop Grumman Global Hawks are setting off on a new mission. These unmanned aerial vehicles, repurposed from military surveillance by NASA, take part in weather patrol. Wired explained how a high-altitude vantage point, coupled with extensive range and duration ability, means that a Global Hawk UAV is an excellent tool for long-term monitoring. Gathering data for a few hours or a few days gives meteorologists information critical to enhance weather models and make them more accurate.   Weather Manipulation   Spotting weather patterns is one thing, but there's also weather technology that lets us change it by manipulating clouds. Cloud seeding isn't just science fiction, it's an advancing field in weather technology, both in making it rain and for storm control. Seeding a cloud with glaciogenic or hygroscopic agents such as silver iodide encourages fatter droplet formation and, thus, rain.   Cloud seeding also shows potential for storm suppression. Chemical and Engineering News described how silver iodide seeding reduced hail storm severity over Alberta by 27 percent. Although in theory seeding should work for other storms by altering the precipitation status in clouds, results for hurricane suppression were less impressive, as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.   UAVs Sensing and Seeding   Problems with cloud seeding, however, include the ability to tell which cloud is the right one to seed and determining the best time to do it. Combining UAV sensing with the ability to deliver cloud seeding with precision could help, bringing cognitive automation to enhance process. A review in Atmospheric Research suggested that using drones to prospect clouds and then deliver seeding precisely into the most receptive areas could push the success of this weather technology. In the future, weather technology could both predict and banish the clouds with accuracy.    —    —    — 

Weather Technology To Outpace Storms

A new study has illuminated the fact that there are polar bears at risk for health problems caused by exposure to toxic chemicals around Hudson Bay, Canada. These chemicals can disrupt biological functions in polar bears and damage their immune, digestive and reproductive systems, according to CBC News.  Even without the revelations about toxic chemicals, scientists have predicted that we could lose wild polar bears by 2100 due to climate change, according to Polar Bears International. After several decades of research, scientists are still learning more about how animals are affected by pollution.  New Study Reveals Chemicals in Polar Bears  Researcher Robert Letcher told CBC News that, "The new study complicates our understanding of the complex cocktail of chemicals the bears are exposed to as they try to adapt to changing climate ... if a compound can migrate its way through the food web, all the way up to the polar bear, it must be pretty extensive.'"  According to WWF, bears with high levels of certain chemicals have "low levels of vitamin A, thyroid hormones and some antibodies. These are important for a wide range of biological functions, such as growth, reproduction and the ability to fight off diseases."  Even worse, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, if mother polar bears are exposed to high levels of chemicals, their milk can even become poisonous to bear cubs, which are especially sensitive to environmental toxins in early development.   Enable targeting cookies to view this content.  The 2001 Stockholm Convention  Although the new study reveals a new mix of chemicals in bears, scientists have been concerned about this class of chemicals — called persistent organic pollutants — for decades. POPs are toxicants that remain in the environment for long periods of time and can travel via wind and water, so they often accumulate thousands of miles from the source, according to the Stockholm Convention.  According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, POPs have caused environmental and health problems for both wildlife and humans, which led to 91 countries signing an international treaty called the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants — designed to address transboundary pollution. They "agreed to reduce or eliminate the production, use, and/or release of the 12 most dangerous POPs," said the EPA. More chemicals have since been added to the list, such as substances used for everything from flame retardants to pesticides.  Unfortunately, POPs still put animals like polar bears at risk. Even though these chemicals are now banned, they still pose a threat to wildlife and human health for several reasons, according to the EPA. First, POPs last so long that even if production was completely eliminated, they would remain in our environment for many years. Secondly, they are difficult to contain and track; since they travel though wind and water, POPs can affect ecosystems far away from where they were originally produced. Additionally, many developing nations have only recently started to restrict POPs.  Keeping an Eye on Arctic Wildlife  The good news is that there is new technology to keep track of how animals are affected by pollution. New screening methods are better at detecting chemicals and researchers are keeping a close eye on Arctic wildlife. For example, a Northrop Grumman team recently developed a drone specifically designed to track polar bears.  Now that scientists have a better understanding of global warming, they are investigating what happens to these persistent chemicals when Earth's temperatures rise. "'If there's any stressing factor to life in the Arctic, it is climate change,'" Letcher said. "'It's a major challenge for us to understand how climate change variables are affecting contaminant exposure.'" 

Polar Bears at Risk From Toxic Chemical Exposure

If you ignore history, you're doomed to repeat it; it's a gentle, collective wake-up call to learn from the past. And a recent finding from the seabed not far from the South Pole presented climate scientists with just this opportunity. A mid-Cretaceous period core sample has yielded a tangle of fossilized roots that reveal an ancient rainforest.  When the planet was at its warmest and, as noted by Phys.org, despite an annual four months without sunlight, temperate rainforest plants thrived over the Antarctic, which is now covered in ice. What lessons can the former jungle of Antarctica teach us about climate change?  A Tangle of Roots  Researchers from Germany and the United Kingdom published a paper in Nature that describes the unusual sediment layers in a core extracted from ocean bed around 560 miles (900 km) from the pole. Science Alert describes that when the scientists began examining the strangely striped bands, they could see a tangle of fossilized roots so well-preserved that detail was apparent even at the cellular level.  Upon analysis, they found that the species held in the geological time capsule were characteristic of a lush and temperate ancient rainforest. This meant that mid-Cretaceous period temperatures in the Antarctic were positively balmy compared with today's icy habitat.  Mid-Cretaceous Period 101  CNN describes the mid-Cretaceous period lasting from around 80 to 115 million years ago. The entire Cretaceous period spanned the time from the Jurassic to the mass extinction event caused when an asteroid smashed into the Earth to create the Chicxulub impact crater. Pangaea broke up and sea levels rose.  In 140 million years of Earth history, the mid-Cretaceous is the warmest so far. Levels of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases rose in the atmosphere driven by increased volcanic activity. This led to global warming with little difference between the poles the equator. Since the temperature gradient drives winds and thus ocean currents, the mid-Cretaceous period was characterized by warm but stagnant shallow seas.  And yes, there were dinosaurs; towards the end of the period, Tyrannosaurus rex and other powerful meat eaters roamed, while newly emerging mammals scuttled to find a safe niche. National Geographic describes how flowering plants established themselves, and we now know that swampy ancient rainforests covered the South Pole.  Secrets of the Deep  When the research team extracted the 10-foot (3-meter) core sample from the seabed, they realized that warmer temperatures also affected the pole. The sample — the southernmost Cretaceous core ever examined — showed that the landmass was not covered by ice as it is today.  One of the key features of the mid-Cretaceous period was abundant atmospheric carbon dioxide. Scientists previously thought that levels hovered around 1,000 parts per million (ppm). However, with the information from vegetation in the recent core sample, scientists had to revise their previous models. They compared species identified in the cores with plants growing today to determine a suitable climate for growth. They now estimate that levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide between 1,120 and 1,680 ppm would be needed to generate environmental condition suitable for ancient rainforests to thrive.  Lessons From the Past Inform Today  Climate change is leading to rising global temperatures. As well as altering global weather patterns, vegetation and habitats, warming is also affecting the poles. Glacier loss, thawing permafrost and melting sea ice impact polar wildlife survival and threaten to bring ancient disease back from the dead. One of the biggest proven drivers of global warming is the greenhouse effect; rising levels of carbon dioxide and other gases such as methane are trapping heat within the planet's atmosphere. In 2018, NOAA noted that atmospheric carbon dioxide rose above 400 ppm. These are now the highest on record in the past 800,000 years. In the last 60 years, the rate of increase in accumulation has accelerated around 100 times; by the end of this century, levels are predicted to rise above 900 ppm without serious intervention.  At mid-Cretaceous levels, the South Pole was covered in ancient rainforest. Scientists already know that polar ice caps contribute significant cooling to the region. Known as the albedo effect, ice and snow fields reflect heat back into the atmosphere and away from the planet's surface. According to The Verge, the loss of sea ice is responsible for around 25% of global warming. Losing Antarctic ice albedo would have similar impact.  Though we cannot predict exactly what a warmer world would look like, a tangle of fossilized roots from deep below the Antarctic seabed offers a glimpse of what our future might be.  

The Mid-Cretaceous Period and a Rainforest in the South Pole

 As a health-conscious consumer, you're probably aware of the buzz around probiotics. But did you realize that live yogurt might soon be on the menu in bee hives? The global bee population is under attack and scientists recently found that probiotics might be just the thing to help the insects recover.Decline of the Bees Beekeepers have noticed declining bee populations around the world since the late nineties. But in 2005, apiarists began reporting losses at a more frequent rate — opening hive after hive to find whole colonies dying at once. Researchers and farmers alike began to worry about the loss of these social insects.  As major crop pollinators around the world, bees are an invaluable species. Bees play a major role in agriculture, both for food and fiber crops. As essential pollinators for plants such as oranges, apples, cotton, lima beans and canola, the European Union estimated their value at around 153 billion Euros in 2005. In North America, bees are responsible for pollinating over a third of the foods you eat. The state of North Carolina estimates that — averaged over five years — honey bees "directly accounted for approximately $96 million in annual fruit and vegetable production (67.9%) and approximately $186 million in total annual crop productivity (24.5%)." Colony Collapsers But why should the global bee population suddenly take such a hit? Upon noticing the decline, bee researchers swung into action. Still, nothing seemed clear. Finally, after a number of studies, scientists narrowed the collapsing bee population puzzle down to three main factors: Infection: Infection is often a cause of sudden death throughout a population. Bees, as hive animals, are susceptible to a range of pathogens. When scientists looked at affected hives, they found higher levels of parasitic Varroa mites. While these mites don't actively kill their hosts, they weaken the bees by feeding off them. They also carry viruses that affect larval development by causing wing deformation or early death. Loss of habitat and supporting food plants: With changes in agriculture and the effects of climate change, habitats all over the world are changing. Simply put — bees need flowers. They need the pollen and nectar as food to survive and rear larvae. Insecticides and fungicides: When researchers analyzed hives that had collapsed, they found high levels of chemicals commonly used as pesticides and fungicides by the agricultural industry. A group of these sprays known as neonicotinoids, or neonics, seemed the worst culprits. In the end, there isn't a final and definitive answer; researchers have found that all of these factors combine to weaken the insects. Studies show that bees exposed to the neonics exhibit less resilience to infections and dietary stress. They didn't live as long as unexposed bees and also show behavioral changes. These changes impacted hive life since affected bees were less likely to perform vital cleaning or hygiene activity that keeps a hive healthy. Exposure to neonics also seriously impacted flight, with exposed bees foraging less for food or struggling to navigate their way home.Probiotics for Bee Microbiomes? Along with breeding Varroa-resistant strains and reducing pesticide use, bee specialists are finding that there are ways to help the bee population resist the stresses of modern living. Most recently, research in fruit flies shows that carefully selected probiotics can benefit the insects. When exposed to the neonic pesticides, the flies showed changes in their microbiota or bacterial flora and were more likely to die of infection or heat stress. However, when treated with probiotics, the challenged flies lived longer and resisted infection. The researchers found that the probiotic lactobacilli stimulated the insect's immune system. Since fruit flies have a similar immune system and carry the same bacterial populations, it's possible that this kind of support could help bees too. Not Just the Bees but the Birds, Fish and Beasts of the Field  Research into probiotics shows there is potential for the live bacteria to help in other areas of animal health, especially for species used in food production. Traditionally, farmers have used antibiotics as growth promoters to accelerate cost-effective animal rearing. However, in order to avoid the dangers of developing antibiotic resistance, the farming industry is now looking for alternatives such as in-feed probiotics. A 2016 report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization summarizes the potential benefits of probiotics for the food industry and global food security. Food Conversion: Ruminants such as dairy cattle rely on their rumen microflora for getting energy from feed. Since probiotics change the gut bacterial content, they can be used to make food digestion and conversion more efficient by altering the rumen contents. Animals would need less feed to produce meat and milk, for example. Growth Rate: Poultry grows faster with in-feed probiotics, producing better quality meat in a shorter rearing time. The same is true for beef cattle and pig production. Infection Control: There's also some evidence that probiotics could help farm animals resist infection and producers are already moving toward this and other strategies to reduce antibiotic usage. In the future, probiotics may be an important feature of global agriculture and food security. As for bees and live yogurt? Yes, it is a possibility — apiarists already support bee colony health by placing pollen patties in the hive as a nutritional snack for busy workers.

Solution to Bee Population Woes Includes Probiotics

Evidence for ongoing climate change is growing, and historical data show that humans should be worried about environmental disruption. Previous climate change episodes may have pushed early people into extinction through habitat loss and food scarcity. There also may be a connection between climate change and natural disasters in our modern era. Wilder storms, intense droughts and all-consuming wildfires seem more frequent, but just how does climate change affect natural disasters and is this the whole story?
Randall Alliss, a Fellow and atmospheric scientist at Northrop Grumman, suggests that to get the whole picture, much more quantitative data must be gathered and analyzed before drawing conclusions.
“There’s a lot more to learn about climate science and weather prediction than can be simply explained by what we’re currently seeing,” he says. “Data collection needs to continue, and the technology and computing power needs to improve to start seeing the patterns.”
Climate Change 101
Anthropogenic climate change — manmade climate change due to human activity such as emissions from fossil fuel combustion and intensive farming — is warming up the world. Greenhouse gas abundance in the atmosphere is wrapping us in a cozy blanket, trapping warmth from the sun and raising the average surface temperature. It’s affecting conditions in the polar regions, warming them faster than the tropics. This means there is less of a gradient between the poles and the equator, with warmer oceans in between.
Temperatures and the Water Cycle Are Key Factors at Play
So far, the evidence is not yet extensive enough to draw firm conclusions. The potential comes down to rising temperatures and the effect on the water cycle. Changes in surface temperature are largely what’s fueling the potential link between climate change and natural disasters. It’s all about water uptake; changes in vapor and evaporation into the atmosphere are likely driving more frequent and more ferocious storms and rainfall while also paradoxically contributing to drought and wildfire intensity.
In short, even though the rise is less than two degrees Fahrenheit, water is evaporating, and atmospheric humidity is rising. According to NOAA’s Climate website, the average surface temperature of the planet in 2021 was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th-century average of 57 degrees and 1.87 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial period of 1880-1900.
Changing Weather Patterns Bring Disasters Closer to Home
This change, though, is sufficient to alter weather patterns the world over, and it’s being felt by folks on the ground who are getting a personal experience of extreme weather. The U.S. Geological Survey, for example, describes an increase in the possibility of both droughts and intense storms as land temperatures increase and water vapor loads up in the atmosphere.
Hurricanes and Storms
Hurricane Ian hit Florida with faster winds and more rain. The combination was devastating. Though researchers cannot definitively pin worsening hurricanes on climate change, The Atlantic notes that planetary warming is having some effect.
The combination of heat and warmer oceans boost wind speeds, and with the planet’s poles warming faster than the tropics, this means that hurricanes form maximum intensity further from the equator and therefore closer to population density. The likelihood of these storms making landfall is therefore much greater, and we see more hurricane natural disasters reported as a result.
Floods and Storm Surges
Rising sea levels combine with these storms making landfall closer to populous areas, which causes flooding and storm surge natural disasters with greater impact on human life. Removal of coastal habitats like mangrove beds and saltwater marshes that offer protection increase the impact.
Inland, not only is climate change increasing precipitation, but The Conversation notes that it’s also leading to more and earlier rainfall on snow melt. In combination, these two factors lead to worse floods as rivers cannot cope with the higher volumes of water.
Human activities combine with adverse weather events to make flooding worse, as noted by The Narwhal. Heavier precipitation from an atmospheric river over southern British Columbia in November 2021 led to flooding in an extensive area of land reclaimed from a lake.
Droughts
Although global warming means more rainfall, the soil is drying out faster and less water is reaching rivers and lakes. In other areas, the traditional patterns of rainfall have changed, impacting reservoir accumulation. For example the Environmental Protection Agency notes that during spring, snow melts earlier and there is less accumulation of snowpack.
Shifting biomes move agriculture zones and the wildlife contained within regions. In areas that rely heavily on local agriculture and maintaining a water supply, these changes are devastating. EarthSky reports worst drought conditions in Europe in 500 years among other global regions hit hard. Reduced rainfall combined with prolonged extremes of heat result in greater evaporation; as a result, lakes dry up and fresh water supplies dwindle. In the Horn of Africa this affected thousands of people and their livestock, with many dying as a result.
Closer to home, NASA defines drought as a year with below-average rainfall. The agency notes that the American west has seen its driest years in the last two decades, impacting ranch country by decreasing valuable grassland grazing.
Wildfires
During droughts, vegetation dries out and becomes more flammable. There are also changes in water availability throughout the year, impacting growing seasons. This sets up dry conditions well ahead of the usual seasonal dry spells, and stresses vegetation, setting up banks of dead scrub and tinder. Climate change also leads to pest migration into previously safe areas, with pine beetle for example killing off more trees.
Wildfires in forests and grasslands can therefore be much more intense and uncontrollable since there is more fuel. People are also living closer to urban interface regions meaning that more lives and property are threatened when fires cannot be contained. This has certainly been noted over the past decade as seen in California, across Europe and within British Columbia, where each dry season seems accompanied by severe wildfires.
Does Climate Change Affect Natural Disasters?
While scientists have made observations such as a five-fold increase in weather-related disasters over the last 50 years and have made predictions that we’re more likely to see more natural disasters overlapping chronologically, data collection and analysis are still needed to conclusively link climate change and natural disasters.
And Alliss suggests that climate change might not be the whole answer.
“What causes the jet stream to be strong or weak is the difference in the temperature between the equator and the poles. And if that difference in temperature is decreasing because of climate change, we would expect the jet streams to become weaker,” Alliss suggests. “If the jet streams are becoming weaker, then in fact, we should see fewer severe winter storms, not more.”
There’s clearly still a lot of analysis and number-crunching needed to explore how climate change affects natural disasters. That’s where remote sensing technology and more powerful computing play important roles.
 
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Does Climate Change Affect Natural Disasters?

 Nowhere in the world are the effects of global climate change more visible and dramatic than in the Arctic, as documented by NASA's Aqua satellite and other powerful monitoring tools. The rate of warming across the Arctic is twice the global average. Vast regions of the Arctic Ocean, once covered with sea ice year round, are now open water during the summer months. This Arctic climate change is a transformation that has profound short and long-term national security implications. As the Arctic Ocean becomes open to widespread human activity, the world economy will be changed, with all the security implication for sea routes and other economic activities. At the same time, changes in the Arctic climate could accelerate climate changes worldwide. Opening the Northwest Passage ... Nearly five hundred years ago, explorers began searching for the Northwest Passage — a sea route around the northern edge of the North American continent that would save thousands of miles during a voyage between Europe and Asia. For centuries they never found it. Ships that attempted the Northwest Passage found their way blocked by Arctic sea ice. As NASA recounts, not until 1903—1906 did explorer Roald Amundsen succeed in making the passage in a specially built ship. But the voyage remained impassable to commercial shipping or indeed any conventional ships. Arctic climate change, however, is on the verge of opening the Arctic sea lanes — not only the Northwest Passage but also its counterpart, the Northeast Passage along the Arctic coast of Russia. Arctic coasts will thus become accessible for the first time. Ironically, Arctic land transportation could become more difficult as permafrost melts into marsh and mud. Rich deposits of natural resources are known to exist along these Arctic coasts, but sea ice rendered them economically out of reach. Now they are becoming accessible, potentially triggering a gold rush of activity that could raise the economic — and security — stakes across the Arctic region. As the CBC notes, the impact on Canada is particularly dramatic: Canada has the world's longest coastlines, more than 100,000 miles in all, most of it within the Arctic circle. Claims of territorial and navigation rights, once only nominal, may now become flashpoints of tension. Thus the Arctic region draws special attention in a Pentagon report on the national security implications of global climate change. Worldwide Security Implications But Arctic climate change has other national security implications that extend far beyond the Arctic. Polar bears are not alone in being threatened by the retreat of the Arctic sea ice. During the summer, the Arctic season of the midnight sun, intense sunlight pours down. Historically, sea ice has reflected most of it back into space. But as the ice melts, this summer sun is absorbed by sea water, warming it — and thus accelerating the process of global climate change. The warmer it gets, the faster the sea ice melts, and the more ice is melted, the more rapid the warming, a classic vicious circle or positive feedback loop. The effects, such as disruption of agriculture, could have a destabilizing effect on security worldwide. In responding to this national security challenge the first requirement is knowledge. As the Arctic region is transformed, we need to monitor both changing environmental conditions and growing human activity in the area. Yet Arctic conditions remain rugged at best, often hostile, making autonomous drone operations a natural and necessary solution for research and patrol surveillance alike. Thus a new tool for Arctic research is becoming available just as the need for it is growing.

The Seas They Are A Changin': Arctic Climate Change and National Security

Destructive hurricanes like Harvey and Irma certainly get attention, but the threat of rising sea levels is an everyday concern for coastal populations. While some corners of the world still debate the legitimacy of climate change, the governments of low-lying coastal cities aren't waiting around, especially when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and the non-profit environmental group Climate Central predicted that the U.S. faces an extreme sea-level rise of up to 12 feet by 2100. Instead, public and private entities prepare for drastic upheaval by exploring natural and artificial technologies and new planning approaches that have the potential to combat flooding. Floating cities, living shorelines and other options might give coastal communities a fighting chance to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Disappearing Islands Rising sea levels are the most striking example of the earth's spiking temperature. Heat-trapping greenhouse gases have caused glaciers and massive ice sheets to melt and expand the depth of oceans. Most scientists concur that global warming will continue to accelerate the melting, but they don't know how fast land ice will melt, and thus put coastal areas at risk of flooding. Erosion and the outright depletion of land are the costs of more sea water. At least eight low-lying Pacific Ocean islands have vanished in the past 70 years, according to New Scientist. At the same time, coastal areas like Miami deal with an overflow of rain that can't easily discharge into the Biscayne Bay, especially when the sea is at its highest level during the fall, causing "King" tides to simultaneously carry saltwater directly onto the streets, as the Miami Herald reported. Reconfiguring and Building Anew For cities directly in the path of a rising sea, taking an innovative approach to combating climate change isn't the pursuit of a new aesthetic or a bold opportunity to make a profit but rather a calculated preparation for the worst nature has to offer.  Consider Miami. On a small but effective scale, city planners have embraced various technologies and approaches to properly plan for more water. The city intends to use 3D models to have a better sense of how to plan urban development around flood zones. Miami is also benefiting from grant money to participate in programs to improve permitting processes and storm water management, as well as pay for a chief resilience officer whose sole task is to create a comprehensive climate change strategy, according to GCN. Taking an even bolder approach, Miami looked at the possibility of tearing down properties and returning flood-susceptible areas to nature, the Miami Herald explained. In French Polynesia, rising sea levels initiated the consideration of simply restarting civilization on a floating city. With many of its island coastlines eroding or at risk of disappearing, the government allowed the Seasteading Institute, a Silicon Valley enterprise, to explore the development of the world's first self-sufficient floating city, the Huffington Post reported. Aside from housing people, a floating city could serve as a hub for oceanographic and climate resilience research and implementation, including wave and tidal energy experiments and explorations into trapping atmospheric carbon on the sea floor, a Seasteading Institute executive told the Huffington Post. Combating Change Naturally For those who can't afford the potential livable space cost of $504 per square foot on a floating city, other avenues are being considered to preserve some semblance of existing property. Natural or nature-based structures known as "living shorelines" aim to protect shores more inexpensively and more effectively than man-made bulkheads and walls. NOAA contended that shorelines with intact natural coastal habitats suffer less damage and bounce back more quickly from severe storms. In 2016, the Army Corps of Engineers approved a nationwide permit that lowers regulatory hurdles to build living shorelines, such as wetlands with sea and marsh grasses, sand dunes, mangroves and coral reefs. Whether municipalities take incremental approaches by raising sidewalks, building natural recovery zones or restarting planning strategies, or if they boldly shoot for the moon by creating a floating city space, the time to address climate change has arrived in full force. Steps taken now will go a long way toward preserving the future.

Rising Sea Levels Trigger the Redesign of Coastal Communities

It's officially hotter than ever. July 2023 was the hottest month on record. Global average temperatures for the month were likely the highest in 120,000 years, according to the United Nations.
"The era of global warming has ended ... and the era of global boiling has arrived," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a statement.
How do we know for sure? International scientists compiled data from satellites, sensors and thermometers, along with millennia of climate data extracted from tree rings, coral reefs and deep-sea sediment cores. The consensus: It's getting hot in here. Way too hot.
Are Summers Getting Hotter?
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, global surface temperatures in July were 2.02 °F above the 20th-century average. The heat spike does not appear to be a fluke. Data collected by scientists worldwide shows a clear pattern of hotter summers — this was the 47th consecutive July with temperatures above the 20th century's average.
And the heat wasn't isolated to a few extreme locations — the record-warm temperatures covered 9.3% of the earth's surface. Not only was July the hottest month on record, but several other records were shattered, including the following:

    Hottest day: July 3 was the hottest day in recorded history, as the average global temperature reached 62.62 °F, according to ScienceNews. The following days were even more extreme, and that new record was tied or broken three more times. So now, the hottest day ever recorded is July 6, 2023, which saw average global temperatures of 63.01 °F.
    Highest ocean temperatures: For the fourth month in a row, global ocean surface temperatures set a record high, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
    Lowest sea ice: Sea ice coverage also hit a record low. In other words, less ice is covering the ocean than ever. The WMO reports that, globally, sea ice extent in July 2023 was about 470,000 square miles less than the previous record low from July 2019, according to the United States National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Take Antarctica, for example. Sea ice coverage ranked lowest on record for the third month in a row. The frozen continent is running about 1 million square miles — roughly the size of Argentina — below the 1991–2020 average.

"What we're seeing this year is uncharted territory in the satellite record," said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NSIDC.
What's Causing the Extreme Heat?
"The monthly climate monitoring reports ... confirm the extraordinary pace of climate change as a result of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," according to the WMO.
While some people remain skeptical, NASA summarizes the wealth of evidence for rapid climate change:

    The global temperature is rising.
    The ocean is getting warmer.
    The ice sheets are shrinking.
    Glaciers are retreating.
    Snow cover is decreasing (based on satellite observations).
    The sea level is rising.
    Arctic sea ice is declining.
    Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency.
    Ocean acidification is increasing.

Meanwhile, there is a perfect storm happening as climate change and El Niño coincide. El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, per National Geographic. El Niño appears every few years but is not as predictable as other events, like the tides or seasons.
"Depending on its strength, El Niño can cause a range of impacts, such as increasing the risk of heavy rainfall and droughts in certain locations around the world," Michelle L'Heureux, climate scientist at the Climate Prediction Center, told the National Weather Service. "Climate change can exacerbate or mitigate certain impacts related to El Niño. For example, El Niño could lead to new records for temperatures, particularly in areas that already experience above-average temperatures during El Niño."
The Consequences of Rising Temps
Scientists have been concerned about climate change since the 1800s, and the broader public has been increasingly aware of the planet's increasing temperatures in recent years. But while scenes of melting glaciers and suffering arctic animals are alarming, they can still seem distant. What happens when temperatures rise in more populated areas? Extreme heat affects human and animal health and the entire ecosystem.
"We just witnessed global air temperatures and global ocean surface temperatures set new all-time records in July. These records have dire consequences for both people and the planet exposed to ever more frequent and intense extreme events," Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, told a media briefing at the United Nations in Geneva.
Hotter temperatures may affect extreme weather events. The natural disasters we already contend with — events like wildfires and hurricanes — can become more frequent and powerful. And as ice melts, we're seeing unusual effects, such as ancient viruses thawing out.
Now What?
The evidence is compelling. While locals are asking, "Are summers getting hotter?" scientists, technologists and world leaders are looking toward solutions. There isn't an easy fix, but there are steps we can take to get back on track toward a healthy planet.
Engineers are developing technology to mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases. Scientists continue to collect data to understand the consequences of a changing climate. And concerned citizens are spreading the word and advocating for environmentally friendly policies.
Interested in doing your part to protect the environment by developing innovative technology solutions? Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.

The Era of Global Boiling: July Was the Hottest Month on Record

During summer 2016, a 12-year-old boy in Siberia died from a puzzling disease linked to thawing permafrost. Scientific American reported that 20 other people in the same remote area were diagnosed with the same disease; another 80 were hospitalized with suspicious symptoms. Then, more than 2,300 reindeer were found dead because of this disease.   The cause? Anthrax.   Thawing Permafrost Releases Anthrax   Most Americans associate anthrax with a white, powdery substance used to poison other people via the mail. However, anthrax is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium bacillus anthracis. Anthrax is usually spread by contact with the bacterium's spores, which often occur in infected animals. In the case of remote Siberia, scientists believe that the infection began in a reindeer that died 75 years ago, according to The Washington Post.   Scientific American warned that when permafrost — a permanently frozen layer of soil — begins to thaw because of the Earth's changing temperatures, previously frozen spores that cause deadly diseases can be released into the air. These spores can get into the water and soil, and may eventually enter a community's food supply.   In Siberia, a heatwave caused melting permafrost. Then came water and bubbling methane in the permafrost fields. Record fires lit up Russian grasslands, according to The Washington Post. The anthrax bacteria, which lay dormant and frozen for 75 years, thawed. Reindeer started to die. Reindeer herders fell ill. Eventually, the entire community found itself in quarantine.   Global Warming and Dormant Diseases   Scientific American noted that researchers have been predicting that warmer temperatures could cause permafrost to thaw, initiating a new spread of dormant diseases. When permafrost thaws, whatever is frozen also thaws, meaning ancient bacteria could be released into the environment more frequently as the Earth's temperatures increase.    The release of these dormant diseases depends on how deeply the permafrost melts and how high temperatures go. It also depends on how strong the type of frozen bacteria is: some microorganisms can't survive in the cold for very long, while others, like anthrax, seem built for long-term freezes.   Viruses also have the potential to survive for a long time in frozen Earth layers. It is possible, if not probable, that viruses that infected humans on a large scale (such as smallpox or the Spanish flu) could return. In 2014, two scientists resurrected the largest virus ever seen from a 30,000-year-old chunk of ice, according to Nature. The disease was still infectious, despite the time that had passed.   Cause for Concern?   Research published in Global Health Action warned that scientists should carefully monitor permafrost conditions, especially in areas where anthrax outbreaks have occurred in the past. Many scientists are doing just that. Janet Jansson of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory uses molecular approaches to study the microbial communities that live in soil and sediments, specifically in permafrost. Paul F. Shuster and his team of scientists found significant stores of mercury in permafrost sites in Arctic regions, according to Geophysical Research Letters. In Woods Hole, Massachusetts, scientists are drilling into permafrost cores to see what they can find, hoping to offset the surprise release of new deadly diseases, said the New York Times.   Overall, the threat of thawing depends upon which microorganisms are unearthed. The risk of releasing dormant diseases also depends upon how warm our planet gets and how much our climate changes in the coming years. Heat waves could thaw permafrost more quickly than expected, so more research will be required before we are fully prepared.

Thawing Permafrost May Reawaken Dormant Diseases

An oxygen minimum zone in the ocean is often called a "dead zone" because the dissolved oxygen levels are so low that most sea creatures can't survive. There has been an increase in the number of low-oxygen zones, which poses big threats to oceans. This is urgent, since — just like humans on land — marine animals need oxygen to survive.       A Growing Problem       A team of experts from a United Nations group, called the Global Ocean Oxygen Network, released a study in the January 2018 issue of Science about the growing number of low-oxygen sites in the ocean.       According to the scientists, oxygen concentrations in ocean water have been declining since at least the middle of the 20th century. They found that oxygen minimum zones in the open ocean have expanded by several million square kilometers and the problem is even worse in coastal water; some sites now have oxygen concentrations low enough that animals are fleeing.       What Causes Deoxygenation in the Ocean?       A phenomenon called nutrient loading is the main reason we're seeing an increase in low-oxygen zones, according to the Global Ocean Oxygen Network and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This is a process where polluted water from urban centers and land-based agriculture trickles into streams and rivers that flow into the ocean. This water is full of fertilizers and other nutrients that create problems when they enter natural environments.       NOAA scientist Alan Lewitus explains that excessive nutrients in the water can stimulate explosive blooms of algae. When the blooms die, they sink to the bottom of the sea where bacteria decompose them and consume oxygen from the water, ultimately making the environment uninhabitable.       According to the United Nations Development Programme, dead zones are costing fisheries, the tourism industry and other coastal livelihood tens of billions of dollars annually and will only continue to increase unless something changes.       Marine life is already vulnerable because of plastic pollution, acidification and other threats to oceans. The oxygen problem is also connected to rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change. Lisa Levin, one of the authors of the Global Ocean Oxygen Network study, explained to Newsweek that warm water is inhospitable to oxygen.       As the ocean gets warmer, the water's overall oxygen concentration decreases. Rising temperatures also slow down ocean circulation and cause layers of water to stratify so the high-oxygen surface waters don't mix as well with deep water in an oxygen minimum zone, according to Scientific American.       Three Steps to Help the Ocean Breathe Again       "'This is a problem we can solve,'" says Denise Breitburg, the lead author of the Global Ocean Oxygen Network study. She continues in a statement, "'Halting climate change requires a global effort, but even local actions can help with nutrient-driven oxygen decline.'"       The scientists highlighted three main ways to fix the ocean's oxygen problem. First, we can stop adding to the problem by addressing two of the causes: nutrient pollution and climate change. The authors suggest that cutting fossil fuel emissions would help fight climate change, and new policies can help reduce the amount of fertilizers leaching into groundwater. The Chesapeake Bay is a success story where better sewage treatment, farming practices and laws like the Clean Air Act have helped improve the ocean's health.       Secondly, there are steps we can take to protect fish near low-oxygen zones, such as creating marine-protected areas or no-catch zones animals could use to flee low oxygen. Lastly, we can work on improving tracking this problem around the world. Scientists have been working on creating models to help predict where low-oxygen zones will be in the future, but they need more data about current oxygen levels in the ocean worldwide.       Scientists around the world are grappling with many complicated threats to oceans, but eliminating low-oxygen zones is extremely important to the health of creatures and humans alike.           

Gasping for Air in the Ocean's Oxygen Minimum Zone

What would happen if Antarctica melted? If you're reading this in the Northern Hemisphere, you might not be too worried about events around the South Pole, but since we're all connected by Earth's oceans, you might want to pay attention.

As our planet continues to experience an unprecedented rise in temperature, the devastating effects of global warming are becoming more apparent each year. Antarctica glaciers melting even more or losing our entire southernmost continent would have a profound effect the world over, with people living close to sea level most impacted.



Rising Temperatures and Vanishing Ice



Climate change is affecting air temperatures and warming our oceans. For example, Greenland is reporting its warmest temperatures in 1,000 years, and this is melting the country's ice cap quite rapidly. Warmer temperatures are also causing sea ice to vanish in the Arctic, opening up navigation routes and thawing permafrost.



Global warming is impacting the Antarctic, too. Unlike the Arctic, Antarctica is firmly grounded on rock. It's a land mass, and therefore, it won't melt away like the North Pole; however, global temperature increases are already melting the ice that's built up over the centuries on the land and spills off its shores. 

NBC reported on a recent study that describes rapid acceleration in ice loss from both Greenland and Antarctica — both of which are contributing to rising sea levels. Using satellite imaging, the researchers estimate that ice sheet melt from Greenland alone is three times faster than 30 years ago and now accounts for around 25% of sea level rise.

It's worth noting that not only is Antarctica experiencing faster melting, but it also holds 90% of the world's ice, as described by the National Science Foundation.



Ice 101: The Different Types of Melting Ice



There are three types of ice under discussion here. Firstly, there's sea ice that forms on the ocean's surface. This ice is found at the North Pole and also surrounds the Antarctic landmass, forming when it's cold enough for seawater to freeze. Sea ice generally forms on the surface and shows seasonal fluctuation. Since it displaces an equal volume, melting sea ice doesn't contribute to rising sea levels.



The second type of ice comes from snowfall and ice accumulation over land. As this ages and compresses, the frozen freshwater forms glaciers. In the Antarctic, these ice sheets flow off the landmass and into the sea, where they form the third type of ice: ice shelves. These ice shelves exist mostly beneath the ocean surface and give support to the glacier edges. Glacier and ice shelf melt is what contributes to rising sea levels.



What's at Stake for Our Future?



When you think about what would happen if Antarctica melted, you might envision a dystopian underwater world, but is that realistic? While that might be a stretch too far, Antarctica glaciers melting would still have a profound effect on sea levels. For example, if the West Antarctica ice sheet disappeared completely, it would trigger a 3.3-meter rise in sea level.



A rapid melt is unlikely, though, but there's always science fiction. Business Insider illustrates what an overnight melt of all the world's ice would look like. For one thing, we'd wake up to a 66-meter rise in sea levels that would wipe out major coastal cities. Surviving that would mean learning to live with saline, as salt water would inundate our freshwater supplies. Less salty oceans would affect weather patterns and the climate, with more moisture evaporation fueling wilder storms.



We're unlikely to see what would happen if Antarctica melted in our lifetime, as it would take thousands of years, though scientists are predicting a rise of 0.8 meters in sea level by 2100. As noted in a Nature Communications paper, this rise would impact people living in areas less than two meters above sea level (62% of this land lies in the tropics).



Loss of ice in the Antarctic is still of concern. The ice not only holds vast stocks of freshwater, but its physical appearance is also protective. According to an article published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the albedo effect — which is caused by ice reflecting sunlight back into space — helps cool the environment by sending heat away from Earth. Ice also traps toxic chemicals that were banned decades ago as well as pathogens, such as bacteria and ancient viruses that we've never experienced in the modern age.
What Can We Do to Stop It?



But is it too late to reverse this ice melt? Although global warming is strongly impacting ice melt, research shows that the effects vary according to location. The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration notes that variation in the rate of ice loss across the West Antarctica ice sheet could show sensitivity to local changes in the wind and ocean current.
Commentary from the collaboration suggests that mitigating climate change by curbing greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades might help slow ice sheet collapse, so not all is lost yet — we can still make a difference before it's too late.



Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.



What Would Happen If Antarctica Melted? 

In October 2018, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report stating that Earth has about a dozen years before average global temperatures exceed 1.5 Celsius, if significant reductions in carbon emissions aren't made. Some businesses are heeding the warnings and focusing on sustainable development in technology that improves energy efficiency or reduces emissions. From better ways to store renewable energy to improving methods of capturing carbon from the atmosphere, environmental tech is outpacing policy in the race to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2). Here are three already out of the gate. Pumped Hydroelectric Storage When people think of batteries, they may think of the lithium-ion ones in mobile phones or the lead-acid batteries in cars. Pumped hydroelectric storage is also a battery but on a much larger scale. It requires a hill, pumps and two reservoirs of water — one at the top of the hill and another at the bottom. It's often paired with renewable energy, such as hydroelectric, solar and wind, as a way to store energy on a huge scale for the utility grid. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the United States has 42 pumped hydro facilities. But there are opportunities for many more. A 2019 study from researchers with the Australian National University found 530,000 sites worldwide that have the potential to site pumped hydro energy storage. Altogether they'd cache upwards of 22 million gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity, hundreds of times more than the amount needed to power the entire world with 100 percent renewable energy. In Germany, the wind power manufacturer, Max Bé¶gl Wind, recently won an award from the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum for a pilot project near Stuttgart that will pair some of the world's tallest onshore wind turbines with a pumped hydro storage facility. For the project, four monstrous wind turbines, one of which will tower 810 feet, are being built on top of a hill. Each turbine will be planted in a small reservoir of water. These four pools connect to a pump facility and larger reservoir at the bottom of the hill. When the wind blows and energy costs are low, water is pumped up the hill to fill the small pools. When the wind stops blowing, the water is allowed to run back downhill, where it passes through turbines that generate electricity. The power plant is expected to generate about 10 GWh of electricity annually. Carbon Capture In the U.N.'s IPCC report, the panel members published an assessment of a new technology that could reduce CO2 already in the atmosphere. It's called carbon capture. It involves removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and either sequestering it or turning it into a useful product, such as concrete or carbon nanotubes. According to IPCC experts, carbon capture tech could "trap up to 85 to 90 percent of the CO2 emissions produced from the use of fossil fuels in industrial processes and electricity generation, effectively preventing that CO2 from entering the atmosphere." In 2019, the DOE announced it would provide up to $20 million in federal funds to accelerate the sustainable development of this environmental tech, which can be set up near natural gas or coal plants to nab emissions as they're spewed. To date, the world's largest carbon capture project at a coal plant is NRG's Petra Nova, according to Forbes. Based outside Houston, Texas, the plant captures more than 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide gas each year, enough to remove 350,000 cars from the road, the company says. The CO2 is sucked from flue gas and piped 80 miles southwest to an oil field called West Ranch, and then a mile into the ground beneath it, reports the University of Texas. There, the CO2 is injected into spaces between rocks that used to hold oil. Although most of the oil has been extracted, remnants remain. The presence of the CO2 gas forces the remaining oil out, making older wells profitable again. Before using carbon capture technology, West Ranch produced about 300 barrels of oil daily. Now, NRG is recovering 4,000 barrels per day. Although carbon capture technology promises to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, environmental groups have criticized it for prolonging the world's dependence on fossil fuels and delaying sustainable development of renewable energy. A recent New York Times article said that Chevron, Occidental Petroleum and BHP have all invested tens of millions of dollars in the technology. But a 2019 study from the Center for International Environmental Law warned that carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies, could slow the transition to renewables and "undermine broader efforts to mitigate climate change." Cooling Data Centers In the United States alone, 3 million data centers bring the internet to the masses. Running day and night, these massive computer servers require a lot of electricity. The heat generated could melt critical electronics. To keep them cool, data centers use additional electricity to run air conditioners, server fans and other equipment. The carbon footprint is enormous. By 2025, data centers around the world are predicted to consume at least 1,200 terawatt-hours of electricity, or 3.2 percent of the planet's total electricity, and produce 1.9 gigatonnes of carbon emissions, reports the Guardian. Forced Physics, a company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, has invented a passive, low-power technology that they say could reduce a data center's electricity by 90 percent. The device also eliminates the need for the billions of gallons of water or other coolants that data centers rely on annually to cool these systems. The device is called a JouleForce conductor. It's a long, narrow and mostly hollow box made of aluminum. Computer circuit boards are attached to the outside. Inside, there are 3,000 very thin fins. Giant fans suck air through the middle of the conductor and over the fins. As they do, air molecules contact the fins, which, because of their thinness and special alignment, orient the molecules in the same way and accelerate them into a fast-moving "beam." The beam quickly moves heat from the attached electronics out the backside of the conductor. By using the technology, the company says, a data center could reduce their carbon footprint significantly and save $45 million a year by reducing costs on infrastructure, operations and energy. As the world grapples with the consequences of global climate change, including warmer, more acidic oceans, rising sea levels, more intense storms and droughts, some companies are working on mitigation. Pumped hydroelectric storage, carbon capture and data centers cooling technology are just three innovations that could have sweeping impacts.  If you want to contribute to a team exploring environmental tech solutions, take a look here.

3 Key Innovations Aiming to Reduce CO2 Emission

Sometimes the simplest solutions offer the best outcomes — along with a little help from human ingenuity. This is the case for night sky radiant cooling (NSRC), a process that combines the temperature in space with the continual efforts of environmental systems to reach thermal equilibrium. In other words, objects hotter than their surroundings get colder until the system balances out. On clear nights, however, thermal emissions from objects can outpace nearby environments, resulting in lower-than-ambient temperatures. Bolstered by technology, this process may offer a way to help offset the environmental impacts of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that use massive amounts of energy and generate substantive amounts of heat. Here's how. It's Getting Hot in Here As global temperatures continue to reach new extremes — data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ranked 2021 as the sixth-hottest year on record, while 2020 and 2019 both ranked in the top three — demand for cooling systems is on the rise. The need for heating solutions is also heating up; even as the rest of the world sweltered, Antarctica recorded its coldest temperatures since 1976. The problem? All this heating and cooling is actually making our problem worse. HVAC systems (along with lighting) now account for 28% of total greenhouse emissions on Earth, meaning that even as we try to control the temperature in our immediate vicinity, we're creating larger environmental issues that in turn drive a greater need for HVAC systems. It's a classically human problem: While technology affords us ways to circumvent natural processes and allow people to live in extremely warm or cold climates that would otherwise wipe us out, this same technology creates ripple effects in the world around us. According to NASA, these effects aren't limited to temperature changes. Many parts of the world have already seen average temperature increases of 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. If these changes reach 2 C, more than 60 million people across urban areas worldwide could be subject to severe drought, while other regions could see substantially increased flooding. A 1.5 C change also leads to a 50% reduction in geographic range for 6% of insects, 8% of plants and 4% of vertebrates surveyed. Even more worrisome? Current predictions put us on track for a 5 C increase by 2100. NSRC may offer a partial solution. Keeping It Cool The underlying concept of night sky cooling is simple: Use the temperature in space to reduce the temperature of objects on Earth. All you need is ground, sky and a clear night. Here's how it works: All objects slowly radiate heat. On a clear night, this radiation can travel up into the vast expanse of space and allow objects to significantly cool down, even dipping below the ambient air temperature. This sky-concept cooling has been used for centuries in places where even the night provides little solace against accumulated heat. People in North Africa, India and Iran leveraged earthen pits or plant-insulated ceramic trays to hold water overnight. Heat radiated upward to cool the water, while natural insulation kept the water from warming up again when it fell below the ambient outside temperature. The result? Ice, despite an air temperature well above freezing. While other heating and cooling solutions rely on energy-intensive technology to either remove or add heat for human comfort, NSRC uses existing system components to improve efficiency and reduce total energy expenditures. (Night) Sky's the Limit How cold is outer space? It depends on where you are. At the edge of Earth's atmosphere, the average temperature is a not-so-chilly 10 degrees Celsius. Move past the upper atmosphere and temperatures can fall to -100 C; keep going and you'll see the mercury drop to -270 C. So how cold is outer space? Cold enough. This falling temperature gradient, however, sets the stage for night sky cooling. On a clear night, there's nothing to stop heat energy from radiating all the way up into space instead of hanging around here on Earth. But how do we make the best use of NSRC? While turning water into ice overnight offers a historical glimpse of this cool concept in action, how can it be adapted in predominately urban settings to help offset energy costs? One approach from Aaswath Raman — a materials scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) — looks to expand the impact of night sky cooling by bringing it into the light of day. Along with his colleagues, Raman has created an incredibly thin reflective film that allows objects such as solar panels to radiate substantial amounts of heat while absorbing virtually none. The results speak for themselves: Equipped with this film, the temperature of objects fell by 10 C or more, even in the middle of hot, sunny days. Applied to other HVAC systems such as air conditioners and furnaces, this film could help minimize heat generation while simultaneously improving performance. Work is also underway to generate rather than radiate energy from night sky cooling. It all started as a proof-of-concept effort from researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. The team purchased $30 worth of materials at hardware and electronic supply stores to create an aluminum disk and painted it black on one side. The researchers placed the disk on a rooftop during winter with the black side facing the sky, and it began to radiate heat, which was then captured by a thermoelectric generator and converted into heat. Worth noting? It wasn't much energy — 25 milliwatts per square meter, or enough to power an LED bulb. With purpose-built technology, however, the team believes they could increase the energy efficiency to 0.5 watts per square meter, enough to power a room full of lights. Expand this to a whole rooftop full of radiating discs, combine it with solar power generated during the day and you've got a substantial renewable resource scenario. Like Night and Day Night sky cooling looks to flip the script on energy consumption and heat production. By using natural temperature differentials to radiate heat into space — and leverage that heat to generate renewable energy — there's an opportunity to both improve HVAC efficiency and get something usable in return. Being on the forefront of change, especially regarding space, physics, and engineering has been part of the Northrop Grumman culture for generations. Click here to search jobs in these areas of scientific innovation.

Cold as Ice: Night Sky Cooling Taps the Temperature in Space

Insect migration is a global occurrence, with moths, dragonflies and others taking flight in search of food and breeding grounds. If you grew up in North America, you may be familiar with one species with an especially long journey: the Monarch butterfly. Twice a year, Monarchs take a 3,000-mile journey between overwintering grounds in Mexico and food sources in the United States and southern Canada. Thousands make the journey successfully, but their route has dangerous roadblocks in the form of climate change and human interference. Monarch's Flight The Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexipuss) is a major pollinator and also the only butterfly species to make a twice-yearly migration. There are two populations in North America. Western butterflies, a smaller population, live to the west of the Rocky Mountains, overwintering mostly in California and into Mexico. A much larger population to the east spends the winter roosting on Mexican hillsides. The U.S. Forest Service describes how they return each fall from feeding grounds in north and central U.S. states and southern Canada. Their journey was first discovered and reported in 1976 in National Geographic by University of Toronto researcher Dr. Frank Urquhart. Prior to this, it was as if the butterflies simply vanished from sight, and no one knew where they disappeared each winter. Through tagging and one of the earliest citizen science projects, Urquhart traced the disappearing populations. The World Wildlife Fund describes the Monarchs reappearing in Mexico each year around el Dié¡ de los Muertos. The butterflies roost among oyamel and pine trees on the high slopes of Mexico's Sierra Madre. They cluster together for warmth and safety, forming bright orange, densely packed colonies until triggered to fly north again by the longer days of spring. Monarchs at Risk Monarch butterfly numbers are dwindling. They're not listed as endangered in Canada but are included under the Species at Risk Act. Their status under the Endangered Species Act in the U.S. is under review, along with protection legislation for their habitat. The downward trend also affects Monarch butterflies west of the Rockies. A report in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution reveals that western numbers dropped in abundance by 97% between the 1980s and the mid-2010s. National Geographic notes that, at this rate, models predict an 11% to 57% chance that Monarch numbers will fall so low over the next 20 years that the population will not be able to recover. Climate Change and Other Impacts Although the insect migration each year poses a huge threat to individual survival, studies show that deaths along the route are not the primary cause of the population slump. Tagging studies carried out by Iowa State University researchers summarized in Science Daily show that migration mortality due to factors such as car strikes, for example, is not significant, and most butterflies make it to their destination. Monarch butterflies make their twice-yearly journey for two reasons — food and shelter — and both are under threat from climate change and human activity. Overwintering forests are under threat of logging in Mexico, and food sources are sensitive to herbicides. Milkweed grows alongside major migratory routes, such as the I-35 running through the central and mid-west U.S. Nectar-rich plants are important energy sources for migrating butterflies, but milkweed supports a vital part of the Monarch's life cycle. Not only do the butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves, but the cardiac glycoside toxins in the plant sap help protect the larvae from predators and parasites. Climate change, through temperature and carbon dioxide levels, is impacting this beneficial habitat. Not only is rising CO2 changing the toxin production in the plants and rendering its protection less effective, but increased temperatures are forcing the butterflies into longer migrations as they journey to breeding grounds further north. And the impacts can be seen already; though Monarchs are built to fly long distances, their wings are now growing even larger to cope with the stress of a longer migration. Saving Monarchs Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are all involved in saving Monarch butterfly populations. Efforts mostly involve protecting habitat and food sources. For example, the National Wildlife Federation's Mayors Monarch Pledge sees municipalities in the three countries taking steps to protect environment. Their actions include protecting and creating habitats for not only the butterflies but all pollinators along the major migration routes. Captive breeding is also a popular eco initiative. However, a 2019 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) suggests that individuals bred in captivity may not migrate as successfully compared with wild butterflies. There's also a Monarch Highway initiative devoted to creating and maintaining pollinator habitats. For example, milkweed benefits from seasonal maintenance. Mowing the plants especially in time for egg laying season ensures a fresh crop of young and tender leaves for the butterfly larvae. Although actions like legislating environmental protections may be a little beyond what the everyday citizen can accomplish, there are practical steps you can take to protect Monarch butterfly food sources and habitat. Planting a butterfly garden helps to provide energy for the migrating insects and also supports local pollinators. You can also take part in annual Monarch counts and other citizen science observation projects to keep this amazing insect migration in the air.

Monarch Butterfly Migration at Risk From Climate Change

Could the end of the world be closer than we think? Earth is predicted to move out of the sun's habitable zone in a few billion years; however, computer modeling by a team of scientists published in Nature Geoscience brings forward mass mammalian extinction to only 250 million years away. Their estimates show that the formation of the supercontinent, Pangea Ultima, will render life on Earth inhospitable to mammals simply due to its size.Earth's Surface on the MoveThe surface of our planet and its landmasses are on the move. They always have been, and our current configuration of continents is not only temporary but also evolving. Plate tectonics are making the Atlantic Ocean wider, the Pacific is shrinking and, eventually, the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia will be next-door neighbors. Walking across them or taking a road trip will be easy — if we're still around.This continual movement is because the land is only a thin crust on top of a molten core. Currents form underneath the crust, caused by convection and temperature changes in the molten rock, which are making the continents drift a few centimeters (around an inch) each year.Pangea UltimaAs described in The Conversation, the last supercontinent to exist was Pangea, which formed around 310 million years ago. Using computer modeling, it's possible to speculate what the next configurations will be. These vary from single masses straddling the equator or the North Pole to land masses where existing continents encircle ocean remnants as huge inland lakes.The most likely configurations to settle next are Novopangea, a consolidation of all current landmasses, or Pangea Ultima, where a much smaller Atlantic Ocean exists as an inland sea. It's the latter that researchers have used as their model to explore what life might be like on Earth 250 million years in the future.Climate ImpactThe impact on climate by the continental cluster will be extreme, according to the supercomputer simulation model. This will be due to the sheer size of the landmass itself as well as how it is formed.As plate tectonics push the continents together over the crust, a lot of energy will be released as increased volcanic activity. According to CNN, volcanic eruptions will release even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thus increasing the greenhouse effect we're already seeing due to burning fossil fuels.This accelerated greenhouse gassing will combine with a brighter sun, which will be sending more energy our way 250 million years in the future. As temperatures rise, the new aggregation will impact the climate due to its sheer size alone — the landmass will alter ocean currents and the circulation of warm air and water, which will, in turn, alter weather patterns. The Guardian describes how an increase in humidity at the coastal zones will be matched by increasingly arid environments in the interior of the landmass.Mass Extinction EventThe last mass extinction event happened around 66 million years ago with an asteroid crashing into the planet. The research team predicts that Pangea Ultima will cause another mass extinction, this time for mammals as less landmass remains inhabitable. Despite its enormous size, only around 8% to 16% of the new landmass will be okay for mammals to live on.Predictions show the average temperatures rising to between 40 °C and 50 °C (~104 °F and 122 °F). At these temperatures over prolonged periods, mammals cannot survive. Combined with increased humidity, they simply cannot sweat enough to regulate body temperature and will die from heat stroke. Furthermore, at these temperatures, it's not only mammals that suffer — plants don't cope well in extreme heat. Above 40°C, they do not thrive, and above 60 °C, they suffer irreparable damage.Without viable plants, the mammal food chain is disrupted at the source. Mammal mass extinction is the result.What Comes After Pangea Ultima?Climate change due to the supercontinent wouldn't be the first time that humans have been forced into extinction; it may be the reason why modern humans survived, while other species of hominids perished. Will our own species be able to adapt and survive the dramatic increase in climate extremes?On a brighter note, the information gleaned from the computer simulation will help us look for a new planet to live on. It's already identified clues to the influence of tectonic events on mass extinctions and climate change that might make it easier for researchers to sift through data in the search for habitable exoplanets.Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.

Pangea Ultima — the Supercontinent Marking the End of Humanity

"Marine snow" is the name given to a widespread natural phenomenon of the underwater world. Discovered and first reported by divers, and recorded by submarine cameras, it resembles a light snowfall — an endless stream of mostly white specks, swirling in the underwater currents like snowflakes in a breeze as they gradually sink into the ocean depths.Only in recent years have scientists discovered that this "snow" includes a growing proportion of plastic bits and fragments, a little-understood aspect of plastic in the ocean.Pieces of plastic between half a millimeter and five millimeters in size, though just barely visible to the eye, are known in the marine research world as microplastic, a term sometimes abbreviated to "MP." According to Science Daily, one study estimates that there are 24.4 trillion individual pieces of microplastic in the world's oceans, weighing up to half a million tons. The study also cautioned that the total is almost certainly much greater.A Nutritious SnowfallWatching flurries of white like snowfall may be charming for divers, but the natural components of marine snow are not a bit appealing to us humans. According to the Smithsonian Institution, it is largely made up of "waste, such as dead and decomposing animals, poop, silt and other organic items."Unappealing to us, perhaps, but marine snow is an important source of nutrition for marine life that lives in the intermediate and lower depths of the ocean, below the surface waters, as well as the inhabitants of the sea floor. As reported by NOAA's Ocean Service, studies of marine snow have found it rich in carbon and nitrogen, fundamental nutrients for all life, including the scavengers of the ocean depths.This material drifts slowly downward and can take weeks to eventually reach the ocean floor. Much of the seabed under the ocean depths is covered by the ooze deposited by endless centuries of marine snowfall, amounting to as much as six meters over a million years.Trillions of Bits and Pieces of JunkWhen we think of the harmful effects of plastic in the ocean, reports Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, we typically picture larger chunks of plastic, such as the ringed plastic containers for drinking cans. These notoriously can entangle marine mammals, seabirds and other large ocean dwellers, often with fatal consequences.But surveys of the ocean surface have revealed that only a small fraction of the plastic that gets washed into the sea remains as large floating pieces. The rest is broken down into smaller pieces by sun exposure and other forces acting on it, eventually breaking up into trillions of individual microplastic fragments.Other sources of plastic are already micro-scaled by the time the material reaches the sea. These small pieces, per Woods Hole, include "microbeads" incorporated into toothpaste and body-cleansing products, as well as "nurdles" produced by snap-off plastic tabs.According to Pew Trusts, more than three quarters of microplastic pollution in the ocean may be from a source we don't usually think of as plastic — namely, wear and tear from tires: bits of synthetic rubber (a type of plastic) that get washed down highway storm drains, eventually finding their way to the sea.Plastic Snow Keeps On FallingPlastic in the ocean comes from a wide variety of sources, and it also undergoes a complex cycle of interaction with marine life once it breaks down to the scale of microplastics fragments. For example, the bits of plastic may be ingested by fish or other sea life and subsequently excreted as fecal pellets, or they may provide anchoring points for colonies of marine microorganisms.In turn, these processes can set the stage for a complex cycle. The scientific journal Nature reports on "the intriguing possibility that a widespread entrainment/release cycle dominates the transport of biologically active plastic particles."As a piece of microplastic becomes intermixed with living cells such as bacteria or plankton, a process called biofouling takes place. The result is a "plastic-organic aggregate" that has negative buoyancy — that is, it gradually sinks toward the bottom. As the microplastic sinks into deeper water, the pressure around it increases and can force chemical changes that "remineralize" the plastic, clearing away the biofouling.The remineralized plastic, with its initial positive buoyancy restored, then drifts back upward in the ocean. Once it reaches the sunlit and life-rich upper waters (the euphotic zone) biofouling can again take place, and the whole cycle may repeat itself.Searching for Clues on the Ocean FloorAll of these subtle processes, taking place largely in the dark depths of the oceans, are exceptionally difficult to observe. What comes through in research reports on marine snow and plastic in the ocean is how much we are still in the initial reconnaissance stage of our exploration.The same Science Daily study that estimated there are 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastics in the world's oceans also concluded that their combined weight was likely between 82,000 and 578,000 tons ("but probably much greater"). Another study, reported at FrontiersIn.org, found that what is rather oddly described as the "seafloor export potential" (that is, absorbing material into the seafloor ooze) could account for between 7,300 and 420,000 metric tons per year of plastic junk, or about 0.06—8.8 percent of the estimated total annual pollution of plastic in the ocean.Those wide estimated ranges are a blinking yellow light reminding us that researchers are still finding their way around down there, and there is a lot we are only starting to learn.The same caution applies to uncertainty about the possible effects of microplastics in the oceans, particularly on the health of ocean ecosystems, including fisheries, and on our own health. National Geographic notes that microplastics have been detected across the whole range of sea life, from plankton to whales. They have been found in seafood and also in drinking water, where standard drinking water treatment does not fully eliminate microplastics.As Pew Trusts notes, microplastics don't just have the potential to include harmful plastic components; they can also absorb and concentrate other substances from the environment, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have been linked to humans. Pew also reports that microplastics produced by tire wear have been responsible for die-offs of salmon in the Pacific Northwest fishery, already regarded as fragile.Woods Hole further observes that filter-feeding sea creatures, such as oysters and scallops, are exposed to microplastics, and as popular seafood items, they pass them along to humans. The full marine contribution to the human food chain is known only in the broadest outline — one more mystery of the deep that we are only beginning to tease out. Clearly a great deal more research is needed for us to fully understand the role of microplastics in the overall impact of plastic in the ocean.Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery in science, technology and engineering.

Plastic in the Ocean Pollutes "Marine Snow"

Life as we know it would not exist without carbon, which is an essential component of complex molecules, including DNA, proteins and carbohydrates. Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe, according to Earth Observatory at NASA. Most of Earth's carbon is stored in rocks. The rest is present in the atmosphere, the ocean, living things, the soil and fossil fuels. The carbon cycle — which includes fast and slow components — describes how carbon naturally moves through these different repositories.
 
 
 
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution about 150 years ago, humans have been releasing carbon into the atmosphere from fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. The energy from these sources enabled the widespread availability of manufactured goods, automobiles, electronics and other innovations that make modern life possible. However, the excess carbon is now altering the climate and threatening the ecosystems that keep life in balance. Thus, reducing carbon emissions has become an urgent international goal.
 
 
 
The Fast Carbon Cycle
 
 
 
The fast carbon cycle is largely the movement of carbon through life forms on Earth. Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is taken up by plants undergoing photosynthesis, which uses energy from the sun to combine CO2 with water (H2O) to produce sugar (usually C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2).
 
 
 
The carbons captured through this process can be incorporated into a seemingly endless variety of complex organic molecules as the plants grow and support ecosystems that include animals, bacteria and fungi. In a reverse of the original reaction, sugar molecules can be broken down to produce energy and CO2 during digestion, decay or fire. This requires the input of oxygen and water and allows CO2 to be released back into the environment.
 
 
 
Humans are most familiar with CO2 in the atmosphere, but CO2 is also present in the ocean. Microscopic marine algae — called phytoplankton — take up this CO2 and use energy from the sun to undergo photosynthesis. These algae form the base of the marine food chain and provide 50% of the oxygen in the atmosphere, according to National Geographic.
 
 
 
The Slow Carbon Cycle
 
 
 
The fastest part of the slow carbon cycle is the ocean. At the surface of the ocean, carbon dioxide is exchanged with the atmosphere. As humans have released more CO2 into the atmosphere, the ocean has taken up more CO2.
 
 
 
Once in the ocean, carbon dioxide reacts with water molecules to release hydrogen, making the ocean more acidic. The hydrogen reacts with carbonate to produce bicarbonate ions. Carbonate is also used by shell-building organisms, including phytoplankton, corals, oysters and starfish, to build their calcium carbonate shells. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has led to less carbonate in the oceans and more fragile shells.
 
 
 
As marine organisms die, they sink to the seafloor. Over time, layers of shells and sediment become cemented together to form limestone. The carbon trapped in limestone can be stored for millions of years, as evidenced by the fossil shells commonly found in limestone. About 80% of carbon-containing rock is made this way. The remaining 20% comes from land-dwelling organisms that became embedded in mud to form shale, which is another type of sedimentary rock. If dead plants build up faster than they can decay, they may become fossil fuels.
 
 
 
Over geological time, these sedimentary rocks may be exposed to the atmosphere or volcanic activity, and their carbon may be returned to the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere combines with water to form carbonic acid, which is a weak acid that falls as rain and dissolves exposed rocks through a process called chemical weathering. This releases ions — such as calcium needed to form calcium carbonate shells — and eventually leads to more carbon being deposited on the ocean floor. When volcanic activity causes sedimentary rocks to melt, they form fresh silicate minerals and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
 
 
 
Reducing Greenhouse Gases
 
 
 
At present, volcanoes emit between 130 and 380 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. By burning fossil fuels, humans now emit about 36 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to Statista. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now greater than any other time in the last 3.6 million years.
 
 
 
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. When present in the atmosphere, it absorbs heat emitted by Earth and reflects some of it back to Earth. Without greenhouse gases like water vapor, CO2 and methane, Earth would be completely frozen. However, too much carbon dioxide causes excess warming. Since 1880, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have risen from 280 parts per million to 387 parts per million, and average global temperatures have increased by 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
 
 
 
Reducing carbon emissions by using energy more efficiently and transitioning to clean, renewable energy whenever possible is essential to reversing this problem. It's also important to protect and restore natural carbon reservoirs, such as forests, permafrost and salt marshes. However, some industrial processes (e.g., iron smelting and making cement from limestone) will release carbon regardless of the energy source.
 
 
 
Therefore, we need ways to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or from the point of emission and store it safely for thousands or millions of years.
 
 
 
How Carbon Capture and Storage Technology Can Help
 
 
 
According to Chemical and Engineering News, existing carbon capture technologies work but are prohibitively expensive in all but a few settings. Carbon capture is essentially a gas-separation problem, which becomes more energy intensive as CO2 becomes more dilute. The "low-hanging fruit" includes iron and steel plants, which emit streams with 15% to 80% CO2. Coal and natural gas power plants are more challenging, as they produce the largest share of gas emissions and emit gas streams with less than 15% CO2. Most challenging of all is ambient air, which has a CO2 concentration of around 0.041%.
 
 
 
Existing technologies include the use of filters, membranes or solvents that absorb CO2 while allowing other molecules to pass through. These processes often require heat to push gas through the filter to remove purified CO2 so it can be stored or to refresh the system so it can be reused. One promising option is to pair these energy requirements with clean energy sources or heat that would otherwise go to waste.
 
 
 
According to the environmental policy think tank Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, existing carbon capture technologies can capture more than 90% of CO2 emissions from power plants and industrial facilities. Geological formations being used or considered for CO2 storage include old oil and gas reservoirs, saline aquifers, basalt formations and shale basins.
 
 
 
Almost all the CO2 captured to date has been used in "enhanced oil recovery," where the CO2 is injected into declining oil fields to increase oil production. This would seem to negate the benefits of carbon capture and work against the goal of transitioning to renewable energy. However, oil and gas companies have been early adopters of carbon capture technology and have enormous budgets — both of which are essential for rapidly improving the technology to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.
 
 
 
Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.
 
 
 

The Carbon Cycle: How Can We Reduce Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere?

Scientists know from the study of tree rings, layers of ice in glaciers, ocean sediments, coral reefs and sedimentary rocks that climate change has been occurring on Earth on a regular basis for at least the last 5 or 6 million years — without any help from humanity.
Over the last million years, for example, the surface temperature of Earth has risen and fallen by approximately 3 to 8 degrees Celsius in ice-age cycles roughly every 100,000 years. As recently as 20,000 years ago, the sea level was at least 120 meters lower than today because so much water was frozen in ice sheets.
As explained by the Australian Academy of Science, these global changes can be attributed to slight wobbles in Earth's orbit that have altered when and where sunlight falls on our planet's surface, variations in the sun's output of solar energy and even volcanic eruptions that have generated billions of sunlight-reflecting particles, effectively cooling the climate.
Climate Change as an Agent of Natural Selection
In parallel with these climatic gyrations, the human race has also been evolving. According to the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, the emergence and survival of today's Homo sapiens species — an evolution that included the genera Ardipithecus, Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis — supports the theory that human adaptations have occurred largely in response to environmental instability and that individuals who survived were those best able to adapt to these changing environmental conditions.
The adaptations most central to this human evolution include the ability to walk upright, the capacity to make tools, the enlargement of the brain, the emergence of complex mental and social behavior, and dependence on technology to alter surroundings.
How Did Climate Change Affect Early Humans?
Researchers have observed that most organisms on the planet live in habitats that experience moderate daily or seasonal variations in temperature, light and precipitation. Over time, these organisms typically develop characteristics and behaviors well suited to living and surviving in this preferred habitat. If the cyclical variations become too extreme, however, an organism will either have to move its habitat or adapt to the new habitat through genetic change. Otherwise, it will go extinct.
Humans have proven to be extremely adaptable to changes in environmental conditions and habitat. Over the last 5 million years, for example, large-scale shifts in temperature and precipitation have turned grasslands and shrublands into woodlands and forests and changed cold climates into warm ones. Tectonic events have also altered the landscape, creating changes in rainfall patterns or in the size or location of lakes and rivers.
These changes forced hominins — any of the aforementioned bipedal species closely related to humans — to rethink the rules of engagement for securing food, clothing and shelter in their now-altered habitat.
Climate Instability Motivates Survival Skills
Human Origins Program Researcher Rick Potts has developed an idea called variability selection that hypothesizes that key events in human evolution were shaped not by habitat alone — some people think, for example, that walking upright evolved from the need to travel long distances in drier climates — but rather by environmental instability. Human ancestors may have responded to increased variability in their environment and habitat by developing coping mechanisms or characteristics that enabled them to survive.
Potts has examined this theory in the context of fossil records of early humans. He's found that ancient hominins lived in a variety of habitats on multiple continents. The genus Ardipithecus ramidus, for instance, has been found in wooded habitats, while Australopithecus anamensis, the notional beginning of upright-walking hominins, have been found in open savannas with low trees and shrubs adjacent to grasslands and forests.
A further indication of early humans' ability to tolerate different environments was the dispersal of the genus Homo erectus beyond Africa into Asia. Hominins have been found in geographically and environmentally diverse habitats in sites ranging from Hadar in Ethiopia and Turkana in Kenya to Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia, Java and the Nihewan Basin in China. In these locations, the groups encountered a variety of plants, animals and foods in diverse climatic conditions, including harsh monsoonal rains and extreme aridity.
How Did Early Humans Adapt to Their Environment?
The genus Australopithecus anamensis (aka "Lucy") features a skeleton with a human-like hip bone, knee joints, long ape-like arms, longer grasping fingers than humans and flexible feet for walking or climbing. This configuration gave it the ability to move around in diverse habitats, alternating as needed between walking and tree climbing.
The first known stone tools, which date to about 3.3 million years ago, indicate hominins' ability to interact with and adjust to their environment. The earliest tools, which featured stone-on-stone pounding and crushing, enabled hominins to access a wider variety of foods than they could eat by simply using their teeth. This diversity of stone tools allowed them to include both animal meat and plants in their diets. Paleoanthropologists have found evidence that early humans could carry these tools from habitat to habitat as the climate changed.
But the evolution of tools (and humans) didn't stop there. Beginning about 400,000 years ago, hominins began developing smaller, more diverse tools that allowed them to access food sources in new and effective ways. By creating sharper-edged rocks and attaching them to spears or arrows, for example, hominins were able to create projectile-type weapons, which allowed them to spear fish and hunt prey from a distance.
Adding Brains to the Outfit
Another key adaptation of Homo sapiens, according to the Human Origins Program team, has been encephalization — the evolutionary enlargement of the brain relative to body size. Over the first 4 million years of human evolution, this trend was modest at best. But over the last 800,000 years, during the periods of greatest climatic fluctuations, encephalization became much more pronounced.
A larger brain allows humans to be more thoughtful about how they manage their lives. For example, it allows them to process and store information, plan ahead and solve more abstract problems. It can also help them generate more versatile solutions to new and diverse survival challenges.
Closely related to these problem-solving skills were increasingly sophisticated social interactions among groups of early humans. They might have used these social alliances for various tasks, such as trading resources during prosperous times or sharing them to mitigate the effects of periodic famines or droughts.
Surviving by Diversifying
Of course, not all hominins survived. Some fell victim to their inability to adapt to significant and persistent climate changes. Homo neanderthalensis, for example, endured dramatic shifts in climate between glacial and interglacial conditions, including rapid swings between cold and warm climates. Their approach to dealing with this environmental instability, however, proved ineffective.
While modern humans have developed more specialized tools to satisfy their diverse dietary needs, Neanderthals' tool sets (and, by extension, their diets) appear to be far more limited. While humans were busy using their growing brains to develop social networks and exchange goods with other groups over long distances, Neanderthals maintained more limited connections with outside groups. Eventually, modern humans were able to expand their presence to include Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas, while Neanderthals went extinct.
How Will Future Climate Change Affect Human Evolution?
Today, humans are dealing increasingly with the very real effects of climate change, from rising sea levels, more frequent wildfires and more severe storms to periods of uncharacteristically hot and cold weather. In many ways, they're dealing with the same challenges faced by their hominin ancestors: radically altered landscapes, unpredictable environmental conditions and ways of life that may no longer even exist.
Against this backdrop, our brave new world will continue to test how flexible and adaptable the human species truly is and perhaps guide us toward the beginnings of an inevitable evolution to Homo futuris.
If you're wondering how fast your career could evolve, check out the latest opportunities at www.northropgrumman.com/careers/.

Uncovering the Links Between Climate Change and Human Evolution

Key Takeaways Wildlife conservation benefits from drones as eyes in the sky for population and habitat monitoring. Boosting analytical power with AI can help speed up results. AI coupled with drone flights can help spot poachers and protect vulnerable populations.Wildlife conservation is getting help not only from wildlife drones but also from the limitless computing power of artificial intelligence (AI). With diversity under threat, researchers are flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as wildlife drones to gather information on endangered populations and habitats. To cope with the massive amounts of data generated, AI is helping to speed up results. From remote areas of the planet to endangered populations, drones and AI are working together to extend the reach for conservation and research.How Are Drones Used in Wildlife Monitoring?Traditionally, conservation efforts took place on foot or by aerial surveillance, with population counts and habitat assessments performed manually by an observer. The main problems with this approach are access, impact and scale. Access: Wildlife conservation often means working in remote regions of the planet, which aren't always easily accessible. Even traditional aerial survey is difficult if dense scrub blocks visual identification. The Wildlife Society describes how researchers used drones to penetrate dense vegetation in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands, the world's largest tropical floodplain. Images collected over two months counted 66 marsh deer in this delicate ecosystem. Impact: Human presence impacts wildlife, disrupting normal behavior with damaging results on feeding, breeding and hunting. The World Wildlife Fund is using remote drone surveillance to monitor cetaceans in Canada's arctic waters. Without disrupting the bowhead and narwhal whales, researchers witnessed unique behaviors for feeding and hunting that had never previously been seen. Scale: Covering large areas on foot or even with a vehicle is limited, so monitoring an entire population takes a lot of time and may not be possible. The Nature Conservancy in Colorado not only uses drones to track bison movement over inaccessible territory but also picks out cottonwood tree health from the infrared imaging sensors in UAVs.Replacing direct human observation with drones can help increase wildlife conservation efforts. Although there are issues with regulation for flights beyond the visual range of the operator, drones can help with access to remote areas, and their sensors can cut through dense vegetation. There are also ethical concerns with flying at the correct height to avoid disturbing wildlife. However, once this is addressed and permits are obtained, there will be less impact on the species under observation, so they are free to continue uninterrupted. This is extremely valuable for scientists interested in the behavior of species in the wild.Drones and AI Meet ConservationWhen the power of AI can be combined with drones, wildlife conservation can truly take flight. Drone flights can cover a greater area than traditional methods and, when coupled with AI, can return more results faster. Plus, wildlife drones with AI are not only highly scalable but also teachable. Sensors aboard drones can capture images and features that the human eye may miss, and then, AI can make light work of processing all the incoming data.AI is already supporting conservation projects around the world. Faster processing speeds help sift through images from camera traps to capture meaningful data from thousands of empty images. The National Wildlife Federation describes how researchers are training AI tools for pattern recognition to identify humpback whales by their songs, whale sharks by their markings and trout by their spots.Researchers in Botswana use drones for rhino conservation, coupling them with machine learning AI that makes the process much more effective. According to The Wildlife Society, drones are helping monitor rhino populations as they rebound from near extinction. In the 1980s, rhino herds were greatly reduced due to poaching activity, and their recent reintroduction is being closely monitored for the herds' protection. Frequent foot patrols monitor the rhino habitat, but there's often too much to cover and not enough personnel to be completely effective. Enter AI as a solution.Using wildlife drones, researchers use AI to train detection programs on the images obtained from aerial reconnaissance. The scientists use machine learning to speed up alerts and support foot patrols. The research team's AI can now discriminate between rhino herd movement and human activity. It can even tell the difference between the wardens and poachers simply by analyzing their behavior on the ground. In addition to spotting poachers and protecting rhinos, the AI is helping keep track of other species. The drones can also spot giraffe, elephant and zebra herds.In short, AI is making a big difference to wildlife conservation as eyes in the sky, and it's just getting started.Northrop Grumman is committed to promoting conservation and inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards. Learn more about our environmental stewardship. 

Wildlife Conservation: How Are Drones Used in Wildlife Monitoring?

One of the best — and worst — parts of home craft projects with kids usually involves spreading sparkly stuff around. You may also find glitter at schools, music festivals, in boat paint, and even in cosmetics for added glitz and glam. However, glitter isn't just annoying to get out of clothes and carpets; it's a pollutant. This microplastic craft material definitely does not belong in nature, but without an eco-friendly glitter alternative, it is difficult to prevent it from washing down drains.   But all is not lost! Researchers have found biodegradable materials inspired by biomimicry that could potentially replace it in shiny craft and cosmetics. Made from long ribbons of cellulose nanocrystals, this eco-friendly glitter could take over the crafting and festivals scene.   Glitter as a Pollutive Microplastic   Glitter may sparkle, but it has definitely lost its shine with the environment. The problem is both its size as much as its construction. As The Conversation describes, glitter is simply plastic in disguise. According to a BBC article, it's made out of a thin polyester PET plastic film core that's coated with aluminum and then capped with another plastic layer.   It's too small to pick up and dispose of manually, which means that a lot of glitter is simply washed away into our drains. From there, it makes its way into water courses and eventually the ocean. A letter in Geochemical Perspectives notes that these crafty particles have even been found at the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches. What's even more staggering is that in these depths, the abundance of glitter is comparable to highly polluted coastal waters such as the Yangtze River and the Strait of Georgia.   The Trouble With Glitter   Glitter is troublesome because of its size; it's easily gobbled up as food, where it fills tiny bellies with non-nutritive plastic trash. Insider explains that because it enters the lowest tiers of the food chain, it causes death by accumulation as larger and larger animals dine out. As the BBC article notes, lab studies showed that contamination in U.K. rivers reduced common plant abundance.   One of the main problems with glitter in the food chain is that the PET plastics hold toxins that slowly leach out inside the host or into the environment. These toxins can also include hormone disruptors that affect fertility, behavior and health in general. The plastics last for years, degrading only very slowly, so the release of toxins is prolonged. Fast Company also notes that there is some evidence that microplastics can also lodge in our body tissues. When trapped here, it could lead to chronic inflammation. Initial research shows that microplastics embedded within tissues trigger an immune system reaction. This is definitely concerning since chronic inflammation can lead to other disease, including cancer.   Biodegradable Materials   Modern glitter has been around since 1934, and until recently, no eco-friendly alternatives were available. Even bioglitters were not truly biodegradable since they often just contained less plastic and required very specific composting to break down properly.   According to Green Matters, bioglitter could still cause environmental damage. In fact, not only does plant-based bioglitter still contain plastic and aluminum, but it's also been shown to stunt freshwater plant root growth, reduce phytoplankton abundance and lead to an increase in invasive land snails.   Since around 2016, many festivals now ban use of glitter because of its impact on waterways.   Eco-Friendly Glitter   However, the arrival of a promising eco-friendly glitter could make festivals and children's crafts sparkle once again. Science News describes how researchers took inspiration from nature to make glitter from plants.   The study, reported in Nature Materials, describes how the team explored industrial production of ribbon films created from cellulose nanocrystals. The team was first inspired by a plant from forested regions of Africa, Pollia condensata, in which cellulose patterns in cell walls create shimmery blue marble berries as fruits. They were able to mimic this pattern by creating nanoscale cellulose fiber patterns that would reflect light.   Using a roll-to-roll deposition process, the researchers were able to expand production to industrial-scale lengths of the product. These sheets could then be ground down into particles as eco-friendly glitter. Not only is the process sustainable, since the starting materials come from plants, but the glitter produced can replace toxic and pollutive materials for safer arts and crafts.   Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery. 

Eco-Friendly Glitter Alternatives Sparkle With Biodegradable Materials

If a person is going green by setting out to make the world a cleaner, greener place through everyday tasks, the first items to come to mind might be activities like recycling, planting trees, buying used items or driving a hybrid car.  How about not driving at all — at least, when possible? For Pete Moss, a Northrop Grumman accounting coordinator, that method has paid big dividends in time and money saved while reducing his impact on the environment.  Moss describes how an innovative management program helped him start a going green solution that could work for many others.  "During a department meeting two years ago, we developed a system of work-at-home awards based on cash forecasting accuracy, and through that I started telecommuting once a week, avoiding the 80-minute round-trip commute. This award system has been greatly received but I wanted to see if it could be expanded. In today's highly mobile society, one of the most sought-after benefits that today's job applicants look for is a workplace that's more adaptable to the needs of our ever-busy lifestyles. While I know the ability to work from home is not possible for everyone, I want to use my case as an example of how doing it once a week can achieve positive financial, environmental, retention and engagement benefits."  Here's how the good news stacked up for Moss and the environment during the course of a year by telecommuting once a week:  Â· 4,587 miles not driven  Â· $437.85 saved through 208.5 fewer gallons of gas purchased at $2.10/gallon  Â· 83 hours commuting time saved  Â· About $100 for routine maintenance saved  Â· About two tons less carbon dioxide dumped into the atmosphere, as well as less carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrous oxides and particulates that come from burning gas If 10,000 employees with similar commutes telecommuted once a week, it would translate to about 40 million pounds less CO2 in the atmosphere per year — not to mention some easing of the gridlock on our freeways. And then there are the intangible benefits, such as less stress in dealing with that gridlock. It truly affects quality of life.  Many people struggle to strike the right work/life balance. Finding an adaptable employer that offers some flexibility in working arrangements is a top-criteria item to many job seekers. So if a company is seen as that kind of employer, all the better. According to ApplicantPro.com, Dell, a computer industry leader, is aiming to have 50 percent of its global workforce on flexible schedules by 2020. And if more employees start telecommuting, at least occasionally, the benefits can extend beyond these factors to the bottom line. Companies across the nation could save thousands in building rental space alone, plus all the overhead that goes with them. Encouraging more and more employees to work flexible schedules has saved Dell $21 million since 2013 in real estate costs alone.  Lower expenses mean companies can lower their rates, beat the competition and gain market share. Now you've got the attention of the accountants and the C-suite. Not too bad for creating a commute that goes just down the hall.

Going Green From Home

 Each year, hundreds of adventurers crowd the slopes, hoping to make it to the summit of Mount Everest. Unfortunately, this popularity is causing ecological problems on the world's highest peak, since not everything that goes up comes back down again. Climbing season to ascend Mount Everest comes around each May when the weather window is favorable. Although this remote area should be a pristine wilderness, visitors leave reminders from the outside world that are threatening to overwhelm Mount Everest as a high-altitude garbage dump. The very conditions that make this mountain a bucket-list climbing challenge also make it an eco-challenge for tourism.Trash in but Not Trash Out For many years, only highly experienced climbers would consider heading to the peak, and only after major preparation; one in four would die on the mountain. Nowadays, trekking firms will take you there in relative safety for a fee. Each year has seen increasing numbers of clients heading to the top, bringing climbing gear, oxygen bottles, provisions and camping equipment. Harsh conditions mean harsh choices — survival or carry out your trash? When every step in the low-oxygen atmosphere is an effort, waste removal is low priority; trash left on the mountain includes climbing gear, tents, packaging and human waste. There are no porta potties in the death zone. And neither is there decomposition. Conditions are too cold, too extreme for bugs and enzymes to break down waste materials. So, the trash, the feces and even the bodies stay there frozen in time.Climber Clean Up Last year, the Nepali government issued climbers with a refundable deposit alongside climbing permits that encouraged each person to bring back 8 kg of garbage from the mountain. In 2017, it is equipping climbing parties with giant canvas sacks to take with them. Holding more than 80 kg, the plan is to leave these at various points up the climbing route to accumulate trash. Once full, the helicopters that bring climbing ropes up to the slopes will return laden with trash. This climbing season also started well for trash removal, with Chinese teams removing more than four tons from the north side of Everest ahead of peak season. However, these methods rely on willingness and ability. So far they're unenforceable, and when safety is a concern, removing trash is the lowest priority.Eco-Climbing to the Rescue Some climbers deal with waste proactively, committing to eco-climbing. Asian Trekking, a firm that organizes annual trash removal expeditions on the mountain, minimizes waste by smart outfitting. By switching to solar power for cooking stoves, they reduce reliance on local firewood. Although studies have shown that deforestation and resulting soil erosion is not primarily from supporting climbers on Everest, they found that increasing tourist numbers put greater pressure on local forestry resources for building and fuel. In addition to mobile water filtration and trash bags, climbers keep it clean by carrying personal sanitation storage to carry human waste off the mountain.Climate Change Reveals Urgency There is urgency in cleaning up Mount Everest; climate change is affecting the world's highest peaks, shrinking glaciers and reducing snow cover. As well as making climbing conditions more hazardous (the 2014 and 2015 avalanches are thought to be due to glacier and icefall instability), this exposes trash. Along with an opportunity for record-breaking high-altitude kayaking, the meltwater carries human pathogens from the vast amounts of human fecal waste into water systems below.  The Mount Everest Biogas Project (MEBP), however, is attempting to capitalize on all that shit by installing a local bioreactor. Normally, human fecal waste is carried away from base camp by Sherpas, using barrels to bring approximately 26,000 pounds of poo annually to the open pits at Gorak Shep. Here it sits, leaching into the local water system. MEBP engineers are proposing an ingenious system to digest the waste and create methane gas as fuel with fertilizer as a useful byproduct. Since the temperature hovers around freezing year round — not good for the digestive bacteria that the bioreactor relies on — the system will be warmed by a solar panel array. Extreme Recovery As glaciers recede and snow cover diminishes, it uncovers more than trash. Everest holds around 200 bodies, either visibly along the climbing routes as a stark reminder of the extreme conditions, or hidden in crevasses or inaccessible gullies. The dead do not decompose in the extreme cold and wind, but freeze into the landscape. Transporting a 75 kg cadaver at sea level may be easy, but above 8,000 meters in the death zone, rescuers must overcome low oxygen conditions while freeing what is now a 150 kg frozen block from the ice. Although some grieving families request repatriation, many acknowledge that climbers simply wish to remain on the mountain after death so teams remove them to less visible locations. Despite proactivity, trash removal from the summit of Mount Everest will remain a hands-on venture until autonomous recovery vehicles are developed. It could, however, benefit from an eye in the sky. Although helicopter rotor blades cannot create lift at such extreme altitudes, unmanned aerial reconnaissance such as the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk is more than able to fly at that altitude. Equipped with multiple sensors, the Global Hawk has already taken part in post-disaster recovery missions. Capable of surveying debris, terrain and even bodies from high altitude, this sensor capability could prove valuable for directing human garbage removal efforts on the mountain.

Peak Trash: The Summit of Mount Everest

Successfully reducing marine pollution requires both environmental activism and government regulation to stop land-based trash from ending up in the sea. For instance, companies like Starbucks and Disney are phasing out single-use drinking straws from their businesses. "Disney estimates that it will reduce their annual plastic footprint by 175 million plastic straws and 13 million stirrers," said TIME. Plastics pollution affects oceans all over the world. Even the once pristine Arctic Ocean has microplastics contaminating the food chain and plastic degradation leaching chemicals into the seawater. This October, an environmental initiative called Expedition: Plastic Seas from nonprofit organization EarthEcho International will bring marine plastics pollution into the classroom to inspire a new generation of environmental activism. Plastic Is Polluting the Ocean Pollution with marine plastics causes problems large and small. Ocean currents and gyres build visible garbage patches that stretch for miles. As they degrade, explained the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), plastics break down into smaller and smaller particles. Although mostly invisible to us, they still cause problems. CBC reported research showing that shellfish and plankton eat microplastics, mistaking them for food. Overall, EarthEcho observed that Australia has seen an increase of 14 percent in coastal population between 2001 and 2009, and this rapid growth is affecting the coastal ecosystem. The Plastic Seas initiative focuses on the impact of marine plastics in Port Philip Bay, as well as the impact of rapid population growth in nearby Melbourne on coastal areas. Educating Teachers About Environmental Initiatives Awareness will be brought to the classroom through Expedition: Plastic Seas. Australian teachers are invited to explore the effects of plastic pollution on their southwestern coastline. In collaboration with researchers, local activists and other experts, the teachers will develop educational materials to inspire the next generation of innovators, activists and engineers. According to EarthEcho CEO Philippe Cousteau, Jr., expeditions provide educators with "'a firsthand opportunity to experience environmental issues and meet people who are developing solutions to solve them.'" The initiative is sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Foundation. This is the second year that the foundation has worked with EarthEcho. The Northrop Grumman Foundation supports and encourages new STEM students around the world, focusing on programs from preschool to college level. Working closely with educators and outreach programs, such as Expedition: Plastic Seas challenges, new generations of engineers will develop sustainable solutions and environmental initiatives.  Enable targeting cookies to view this content.   Expedition: Plastic Seas In a weeklong exploration with local researchers, policymakers, and marine and environmental experts, the teachers will discover how plastics affect the bay's marine environment. As Expedition Fellows, they will take part in on-site activities to tackle the pollution. From this, they create an educational module to take back to students:   A video exploring the impact of plastics in the bay  An environmental audit of impact  An examination of youth-led environmental initiatives  Profiles of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) professionals active on the issue  In conjunction with live virtual events through the year, this module lets teachers bring the ocean to the classroom. They can engage their students with a firsthand account of the problem and show them how innovation is creating solutions. Challenging a New Generation in Environmental Activism The United Nations Environment Assembly highlights marine plastics pollution as an ongoing concern: It's important to develop solutions and challenge new generations. Immersing young students in the so-called plastic soup of marine pollution through environmental initiatives such as these helps bring the problem closer to home. Interested in saving the ocean? Check out Northrop Grumman's career page.

Environmental Initiative Brings Marine Plastics Pollution Into the Classroom

The ultimate road trip is coming up thanks to the next stage in Pangaea theory. Even though today's continents formed by breaking apart from a massive supercontinent millions of years ago, according to The Conversation, plate tectonics predict that we could all be very close neighbors once again.  But don't book time off quite yet: Novopangea, as the potential supercontinent is called, is around 200 to 250 million years away.   What Was Pangaea?  Pangaea, from the Greek pangaia, which means "all the Earth," once contained almost the whole landmass on the planet. Pangaea theory, according to National Geographic, suggested that the tectonic plates forming the planet's outer crust slid over the inner layers until they merged as a landmass surrounded by a massive ocean called Panthalassa.  Movement didn't stop there though.  Driven by rift formation and subduction, the plates and their landmasses continued drifting, eventually breaking up Pangaea. The Geological Society noted that this formed the current arrangement of continents and oceans around 50 million years ago, when India collided with Eurasia to form the Himalayas.  Pangaea's Discovery  The discovery of Pangaea hinges on a series of coincidences that pushed earth scientists to dig deep into our planet's history. Anyone who has looked at a world map can't help but notice how neatly South America fits into the west coast of Africa. According to Scientific American, there are a number of clues that led researchers to consider that our continents and land masses are not fixed in location and have indeed been on the move since formation.  One finding shows that the iron-rich rocks formed from lava vary in their orientation around the world. As the lava cools, the rocks magnetize and line up according to the Earth's magnetic field. Geological survey shows that the orientations vary by location, suggesting that the original lines of formation have shifted as the landmasses moved around over the millennia.  Additionally, LiveScience noted similarities between coal deposits in North America and Poland, and that the age and type of rocks found across the Appalachian ranges match those found in the Scottish Highlands. Fossil records also show the same species popping up in areas that are now far apart.  Future Supercontinent Travel Itineraries  These findings strongly support Pangaea theory in that at one time in Earth's history, the animals that became those fossils could simply walk from one area to another unhampered by oceans to cross. And thanks to plate tectonics, seen in action as spectacular volcanic eruption and lava outflow forming new land, we're likely to see this again.  The tectonic plates are still moving at a rate of a few centimeters per year, according to The Conversation. This also means that with enough time, another supercontinent could form. Novopangea is one proposal, where the continents merge again as the Atlantic Ocean continues to open and the Pacific closes. Pack your Bags?  Traveling across a massive continent regardless of configuration will be quite different to a road trip today. Expect new mountain ranges thrown up by the squeeze from each continental collision. Local and global climate will also change.  When Pangaea split, ocean currents altered direction and strength affecting movement of warm air and water around the planet. As the continents come together again, systems such as the Gulf Stream will alter course or disappear.  Although modern human migration did take advantage of land bridges, it happened too late to exploit the lack of ocean borders brought about by Pangaea theory. The Smithsonian documented human migration of modern hominids at around 80,000 years ago when our early ancestors left to colonize the ancient world beyond Africa. However, maybe our descendants will take advantage of landmass contiguity, benefiting from a new Pangaea for a global road trip in the (very) distant future. 

Pangaea Theory Has Earth's Surface on the Move

Throughout human evolution and human history, relationships with other humans have come with risk and opportunity. This is true of relationships with individuals and with groups. Many anthropologists believe that the need to navigate complex social interactions was a major force that drove the evolution of large human brains. Sharp rocks for stone tools The fossil record suggests that human ancestors were participating in complex social interactions 300,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age. As a paper published in Science explains, human ancestors living in Kenya likely had a trade network to distribute materials for stone tools. While many archaeological sites from this time period included tools made from local rock, one site had stone tools made from glassy volcanic obsidian. Careful analysis revealed that the obsidian came from multiple sources that were 25 to 95 kilometers away in multiple directions. When traveling by foot over the rocky terrain, the actual path would have been even longer. In present-day Africa, the remaining hunter-gatherer families generally only travel within a 20-km radius in a given year but maintain trade relationships with groups up to 100 km away. The Kenyan site contained a large number of finished obsidian tools (mostly sharp points for projectile weapons), large pieces of unfinished obsidian and evidence that the site was used repeatedly over many years. Thus, the simplest explanation is that neighboring groups developed stable trade networks to move significant quantities of this valuable stone. Human Evolution and Climate Change Many major milestones in human evolution have taken place within the context of climate change. According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the earliest fossils attributed to Homo sapiens are from roughly 320,000 years ago during a period of dramatic climate change. As the Science paper describes, the fossil layers at the obsidian tool site from 300,000 years ago show that the once-stable lake environment had become unpredictable, with the lake drying up and the climate alternating between wet and dry. Present-day hunter-gatherer societies show that strong social networks and the willingness to use a wide range of strategies for subsistence are crucial for survival in such unpredictable environments, according to a paper published in Nature. When conditions improve, the most adaptable groups are more likely to flourish in the new environment, often increasing their range. The first major expansion of Homo sapiens occurred 130,000 to 100,000 years ago, after a major ice age, according to work published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Humans spread across Africa and into Europe and Asia. There was a clear increase in population size, although some human populations were soon replaced by Neanderthal neighbors. After a mega-drought, there was another major migration out of Africa into Europe and Asia 70,000 to 50,000 years ago. These new neighbors displaced many of the groups from the first human migration. They even interbred with Neanderthals and possibly another hominid group called Denisovans. Advantages of Diversity While interbreeding with Neanderthals may seem like an extreme way of practicing diversity and inclusion, Homo sapiens did benefit. Neanderthals had been living in Europe and Asia since 400,000 years ago, and they were well adapted to the cooler climate. The changing climate and competition with humans finally drove Neanderthals to extinction 40,000 years ago, but they left their mark. Neanderthal DNA makes up 1.38% of the genome in modern East Asians, 1.15% in modern Europeans and 0.08% in modern African Luhya, as Nature reports. After the last ice age, there was another major expansion during the Holocene Epoch. Hunter-gatherer-fishers expanded into all major regions of the world, including North and South America. Populations also increased in Europe and Asia, which led to the development of farming in western Asia. With strong social networks and unprecedented control over their source of food, farmers expanded their range through Europe and elsewhere. Local populations either had to assimilate — with many becoming farmers — or be replaced. Many populations chose to embrace diversity and inclusion, as evidenced by the rich diversity within the gene pool of modern peoples. As humans currently face another major episode of climate change, we may do well to remember how early humans survived and thrived. They built strong social networks that allowed for the exchange of materials and ideas and were willing to try different approaches to achieve success. These same principles may prove critical in finding new ways to survive, thrive and innovate amidst today's ecological challenges. Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

In Human Evolution, Neighbors Were Allies Rather Than Enemies

Reclassification of global ocean space means there are now five oceans for school kids to list. In a nod to emerging ocean technology research, National Geographic cartographers recently reclassified the band of water surrounding Antarctica as the Southern Ocean. In redrawing the map, they hope the recognition brings climate change issues to the fore, refocusing attention on the impact global warming could have on both this pristine ecosystem and the planet as a whole. A New Ocean for World Oceans Day 2021 This isn't strictly a new discovery; the ocean has been hiding in plain sight since Antarctica separated from the South American continent around 34 million years ago. However, it's a new name, with a new classification spurring recognition. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) charts and tracks all global seas and waters. As Smithsonian Magazine notes, the boundaries of the new ocean were proposed to the IHO back in 2000, but not all IHO members recognize this yet. Although the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recognized the body of water as distinct in February 2021, National Geographic chose to recognize the Southern Ocean on June 8, World Oceans Day. By redrawing maps, the hope is that the change will influence the next generations through education in school. Ocean Technology for Discovering a New Ocean What makes a new ocean? In the case of the Southern Ocean, it's partly the results of new ocean technology with a heavy side order of climate change research. The new ocean is bounded by the current encircling Antarctica, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which flows clockwise from west to east at around 60 degrees south latitude. This ocean current boundary, rather than continental definition, makes the Southern Ocean unique, since the Indian, Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans all show land boundaries. The ACC forms a boundary, meaning it isn't simply a southern extension of the four oceans. The new ocean is colder and slightly less salty, with the ACC transporting more water volume than any other ocean current. It's a unique system that's only now being recognized as essential to the pristine Antarctic ecosystem and to the planet as a whole. Global Warming and the Southern Ocean Defined by currents alone, the waters encircling the Antarctic are nonetheless an important planetary defense against global warming. A primary research paper published in Nature Communications charting long-term temperature changes in the first 800 meters (around 2,624 feet) of seawater showed that the ocean here was gaining heat and that human-induced warming north of the ACC exceeded its buffering capacity to absorb it. This is important; as Encyclopedia Britannica notes, the Southern Ocean makes up one-sixteenth of the total ocean area on Earth and is an essential habitat supporting the marine food chain. As warmer water from the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans flows south, cold water heading north sinks, which forms the Antarctic Convergence. This is where phytoplankton and krill — a major food source for many marine mammals and fish — flourish in abundance. In addition to stocking the larder, the waters in the world's newest ocean act as a heat sink. Around 35% to 43% of the global upper 2,000 meters heat gain (around 6,500 feet) was stored in the water encircling Antarctica. Furthermore, as the colder, denser water sinks to the ocean floor, it also locks down carbon away from atmospheric interaction. The Nature Communications study, which tracked temperature changes over 25 years, revealed that warming in this area has been vastly underestimated. As the Washington Post notes, the effect of this is already being seen on the Antarctic ice shelf. This region supports a diversity of life and preserves the stability of glaciers. As warmer water flows around the margins of the continent, the ice shelf melts, leaving the glaciers unsupported. Loss of these glaciers will impact coastal communities around the planet as sea levels rise. Not only will warmer waters affect the Antarctic ecosystem, but the effects will likely be felt worldwide. That's why it's important for this fifth ocean to be recognized: By spreading awareness around these changes, the world can come together and put a plan of action in place to protect these waters and ecosystems around the globe. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery in science, technology and engineering.

Oceans Five With the New Southern Ocean

"Plankton" is something of a catchall term for small organisms that live in the water. Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that feed off the sun, while zooplankton are tiny animals that feed on phytoplankton. Both are integral to the sea's ecosystem, as they're a source of food for small fish, crustaceans and even larger organisms, such as humpback and blue whales. Scientists have been studying the effects of climate change and the decline of Arctic sea ice on this important sea-dwelling population for years. Plankton form the base of the aquatic food chain, and any disruption in this population would have negative effects across marine life. Previous hypotheses stated that as the seas warmed, these organisms, which are dependent on the sun to survive, would become more numerous. However, a new study published in Nature Geoscience presents evidence that contradicts that widely held belief, making it clear there are other factors that will affect the plankton population as Arctic sea ice melts further. Why Won't the Population Increase in Warmer Waters? It's easy to understand why scientists believed that this population would grow in number as the Arctic sea ice melts and the oceans warm. Greater light availability, scientists theorized, would mean a higher growth rate for phytoplankton, which feed off the sun hitting the surface of the water. This would lead to a greater bounty for marine life. However, a team at Princeton University and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry have a different perspective: These organisms need more to grow than just sunlight. Nitrogen is vital for the population to thrive, and research suggests that available nitrogen will be limited in melting Arctic waters, which will in turn limit the population growth rate. How the Team Researched Arctic Nitrogen Levels While phytoplankton thrive off sunlight they obtain from near the ocean's surface, nitrogen is located at deeper levels of the ocean. The ability for this population to acquire nitrogen depends on the stratification of the ocean, which occurs because it's the meeting place of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, where dense Atlantic water flows under lighter Pacific water. "When the upper ocean is strongly stratified, with very light water floating on top of dense deep water, the supply of nutrients to the sunlit surface is slow," said Jesse Farmer, the lead author of the study. To measure the stratification levels of the Arctic Ocean throughout history, the team looked at the nitrogen levels within fossils, tracking how the shifting Atlantic and Pacific oceans have changed over time and affected the nutrient levels these organisms can access. Nitrogen Levels Have Not Been Consistent The researchers specifically looked at the last ice age, when the sea levels were low and Asia and North America were connected by the Bering Land Bridge. At that time, the Arctic Ocean consisted of Atlantic water only, which made it colder and much less stratified. There was more nitrogen available to the plankton during this last ice age, which ended over 11,000 years ago. Stratification levels increased after the land bridge was subsumed and the Bering Strait filled in with water. The scientists then turned to the Holocene Thermal Maximum (a period around 6,000 years ago when temperatures were warmer than they are today) to look at what the future might hold for plankton and nitrogen levels. What they found contradicted commonly held beliefs: The increase in sunlight reaching Arctic waters due to melting ice cover will not correspond to an increase in organism activity because the waters will become more stratified. Climate change and warm Pacific waters will continue to increase the stratification levels in Arctic waters, which means the organisms will have a more difficult time acquiring nitrogen from the depths of the water. What Does This Mean? Scientists had hoped that an increase in plankton activity and growth would be a small silver lining in the ravages of climate change, but now it looks as if that isn't going to happen. "A rise in the productivity of the open Arctic basin would likely have been seen as a benefit — for example, increasing fisheries," said Farmer. "But given our data, a rise in open Arctic productivity seems unlikely." The impact of climate change on these tiny organisms will be felt throughout the ocean and will directly affect creatures that rely on the population as food. This is just one more reason for us to put our heads together and focus our resources on slowing climate change to protect our world. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery in science, technology and engineering.

Disappearing Arctic Sea Ice Might Spell Doom for Plankton

Regardless of which hemisphere you live in, you're likely to see year-round headlines announcing wildfires — in places like Europe, Canada and California — describing loss of life, property and habitat. The latest bushfires raging across Australia show a worrying pattern; forest fire season is earlier, longer and more intense. But why, and what is changing forest fire origin? How does a natural wildfire start and what are countries doing to prevent these disasters from happening? Australian Bush Fires Between December 2019 and the end of January 2020, bushfires burned more than 27.2 million acres (11 million hectares) in Australia, destroying more than 2,000 homes and resulting in 33 deaths. The BBC reported that authorities in New South Wales, the worst-hit state, ordered a state of emergency in areas south of Canberra. NASA satellite imagery in another BBC article showed smoke from the bushfires extending over the Pacific, reaching as far as South America. Vast tracts of land are burned, with fire destroying natural habitat and killing livestock and wildlife in its path. As with fires burning in the Amazon, loss of habitat seriously threatens diversity in the area as well as releasing abundant carbon stores locked up in the vegetation. The impact of this year's bushfires is not yet known, but Australia and other countries with high fire risk fund research into forest fire origin to develop prevention and protection strategies. How Does a Natural Wildfire Start? In most cases, natural wildfires start with a lightning strike; these go unnoticed in unpopulated areas and usually burn themselves out. The Canadian province of British Columbia estimates that lightning strikes account for approximately 60% of forest fires annually. Enough heat is released to set fire to trees and underbrush. Prolonged drought, insect infestation and increased temperatures create more dead and desiccated vegetation as fuel, and fires take hold more easily. According to CNN, high temperatures combined with high winds drove the Australian bushfires. However, in areas with urban interfaces where people, agriculture and property sit close to forest fuel, human causes also factor in. These include accidental ignition from using engines in dry grassland, discarding cigarette butts and campfires, but authorities also cope with deliberate acts of arson. Set Fire to Prevent Fire In answering the question — how does a natural wildfire start? — countries can use the information to develop strategies that both prevent and fight this hazard. Forest fire origin needs heat, oxygen and fuel for success; removing one of these quenches the fire and prevents spread. Climate change predicts increasing temperatures with longer drought periods that will affect two of these factors, so efforts that reduce fuel and create firebreaks are key. The Conversation notes that preparation is as important as response and recovery in managing wildfires. Removing underbrush mechanically, thinning forests and using prescribed burns all reduce fuel ahead of fire season. But without understanding the land and its vegetation, uncontrolled burning could set up worse conditions for the future. For this reason, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia is working closely with aboriginal knowledge holders to manage ecological niches. Managing and timing these burns encourages vegetation growth that supports habitat diversity and reduces future fire risk. Time describes how traditional ecological knowledge brings a new awareness of the seasons. Based on local animal activity, this close understanding of the land means that prescribed burning takes place as needed by each microregion rather than according to the calendar. This promotes growth of less flammable native vegetation rather than invasive species, which often burn more readily. Building Fire-Resilient Communities In terms of developing response strategies for managing wildfires, countries are also going high-tech to fight these fires. Research into vegetation mapping, remote surveillance by drone and satellite, and data sharing initiatives help crews on the ground. However, climate change isn't going away, so taking action to mitigate fires is crucial. For example, the United States Forest Service suggests that communities take responsibility to identify fire risks and create solutions for them by creating resilient structures and landscapes. These actions can help people live safely in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Resilient landscapes are only part of the solution. Ensuring reduced fuel, thinned forest and mechanically created firebreaks around habitations helps stop buildings burning and maintains safe evacuation routes, says the United States Forest Service. There are also steps homeowners and developers can take. Many municipal governments now include forest fire mitigation as part of city planning. The Resort Municipality of Whistler runs a Fire Smart program with property guidelines and services. This advises homeowners to reduce flammable vegetation through choosing fire-resistant planting and keep fuel away from outer walls. The U.S. Forestry Services advises making buildings more resistant to airborne embers by using materials with low flammability. For example, cedar shake roofing or sidings catch fire easily, and metal spark screens under eaves and deck space will stop embers. Understanding forest fire origin and a little DIY could help save your home.

Studying Forest Fire Origin for Prevention Strategies

Key Takeaways Arctic exploration is more feasible due to climate change. Climate change is threatening traditional Arctic landscapes by melting ice on land and in the ocean. Exploration is at the micro as well as macro level, with microbial finds and plant history discovery topping the list.Not only is climate change melting glaciers in the Arctic and negatively impacting sea levels, but reduced sea ice is also challenging polar animals by interfering with the food web, closing down traditional hunting strategies and potentially disrupting ocean phytoplanktons. These effects and an increase in traffic for Arctic exploration are local problems with a global impact.Conversely, polar exploration also benefits from thawing ice. Increased access to field sites is revealing the historical record of climate cycles, while microbes living deep within the ice give clues to antibiotic resistance and survival tactics.Arctic Ice at Sea and on LandThe Arctic is defined as the region lying north of the Arctic Circle (66° 34'), where there is no sunset on the summer solstice or sunrise on the winter solstice. The Arctic is also described as the lands north of the tree line, including northern latitudes where summer temperatures do not rise above 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). In this region, ice is found all over the Arctic Ocean or as glaciers or ice caps on the land around its perimeter.While sea ice melt doesn't contribute to rising ocean levels, water from thawing glaciers and ice caps does. Due to global warming, glaciers are melting at much faster rates. CNN reports that if the whole Greenland ice sheet melts (approximately 1.71 million square kilometers, or 660,000 square miles), sea levels will rise around 7 meters, or 23 feet. But regardless of where it's found, ice coverage in the Arctic can be an obstacle to polar exploration.Polar Exploration Takes Advantage of Melting IceAs the ice melts, nations gain easier access to polar exploration. Benefits include safer, faster shipping lanes and easier resource survey and extraction. There's even potential for renewable energy production and sustainable fish harvesting.Geographical lists energy sources such as oil and gas, in addition to precious and rare earth metals, sparking interest. Untouched fossil fuel reserves here may contain around 22% of the undiscovered but technically accessible deposits globally.Arctic permafrost — the rock and soil that stays permanently frozen year-round — is also thawing and opening up areas for resource exploration and extraction. However, this is causing problems with infrastructure, such as roads.Ice Melt Uncovers Historical Climate RecordsIce melt also opens up areas for scientific discovery — researchers have found valuable data as the Arctic ice recedes. Samples need to be quickly collected before warmer conditions destroy the evidence. Columbia Climate School describes ice cores from Greenland that show climate change in the past led to abundant plant life on the island.These historical plant records show that previous episodes of global warming led to profound changes in vegetation, giving insight into how our planet could respond to climate change. The National Snow and Ice Data Center calls the current conditions "the new abnormal," with less Arctic sea ice and warmer conditions overall.Cautious Next Steps for Polar ExplorationResearchers have also found microbes alive in thawing ice samples, including 30,000-year-old viruses still capable of infection after their deep freeze. Rising temperatures risk reawakening old diseases. Permafrost contains animal carcasses that didn't get a chance to decompose in sub-zero temperatures, so any disease-causing pathogens can survive and spread when these resurface. Some pathogens, like anthrax, survive long periods of freezing by creating indestructible but infective spores.CNN postulates that the next pandemic might thaw out from permafrost, reporting on results from a genomic study of samples from Lake Hazen in the arctic that shows virus presence. Awareness of these hazards could help protect workers mining the new resources.And once reanimated, ancient microbes get busy producing carbon dioxide and methane greenhouse gases. Permafrost thaw also releases toxic metals, such as mercury. The U.S. National Park Service notes that this release of metals and organics is hitting Arctic waterways hard. In addition to quite literally rusting up streams, the materials released from permafrost are driving out fish and other aquatic species by altering water chemistry.Potential for New MedicineColumbia Climate School describes finding microbes that have developed characteristics to survive extreme cold. These include new bacteriophages that attack other microbes and bacteria that can digest oil.Research could also be valuable to medicine. Arctic ice could be an excellent repository for novel genomic material. Even though they haven't been exposed to modern commercial antibiotics, some ancient bacteria contain antimicrobial resistance genes. While this is worrying in terms of potential disease risk, genomic research could benefit from learning about these novel resistance mechanisms and allied virulence factors as targets for new drugs.Arctic exploration isn't always about adventures at sea and drilling for resources — some of the new finds could be invisible to the naked eye.Leadership in environmental sustainability and climate change is our priority at Northrop Grumman. Learn more about our commitment to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.

Arctic Exploration Opens Up with Climate Change

The Amazon is burning, with more than 10,000 square miles alight across both Brazil and Bolivia. As noted by Time, the destruction is clearly evident from space — satellites and astronauts are watching the Amazon forest fires, "sending back images of white smoke from the burning jungle streaming east over the Atlantic—pictures that would be beautiful if their implications weren't so ugly." And while ongoing coverage highlights specific aspects of this environmental disaster, prioritizing the bigger picture is problematic in a world of curated messaging, crunchy soundbites and continually-churning news stories. From fundamental ecological importance to long-term global impact, here's why the Amazon blaze demands our attention — and how innovations in firefighting technology could help manage future disasters at scale. Supply and Demand It's often repeated but isn't true: The Amazon does not produce 20% of the world's oxygen. Instead, the rainforest is responsible for something even more important: According to National Geographic, it "contributes around 20 percent of the oxygen produced by photosynthesis on land." Most of this oxygen supply is consumed by the trees, plants and micro-organisms of the Amazon itself — with more than 80,000 known plant species living in the rainforest, this self-sustaining oxygen mechanism is critical for their survival. The Amazon is also an in-demand habitat for approximately 10% of all species worldwide, including more than 2.5 million insect types, 3,000 species of fish and over 400 mammal species. Nutrients produced by biological processes help sustain the forest, even as it provides shelter, hunting and breeding grounds for these animals. Loss of rainforest real estate forces significant ecological shifts that could result in substantial population shifts or large-scale extinction of plant and animal species — species that aren't found anywhere else in the world. Conservation of Energy Beyond the loss of habitat and species, growing Amazon forest fires represent a substantial ecological threat: massive carbon release. In a recent interview with The Harvard Gazette, Amazon expert Brian Farrell, director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, noted that "the Amazon's storage of carbon is substantial enough to change the world climate if it were released into the atmosphere." For Farrell, if fires continue to burn out of control, the potential for massive carbon outflux makes this "a local problem of global significance." According to The Conversation, continued deforestation due to deliberately-set and natural wildfires can also cause local climate change. Recent research found that "disturbed" forest areas experienced annual temperature increases of 0.44 degrees Celsius more than neighboring intact forests, which "equates to approximately half of the warming seen in the region over the last 60 years." This problem is more pronounced in the dry season, when temperature differences of 1.5 degrees were observed between intact and disturbed forests. Along with failing tree populations as temperatures exceed their tolerances, small-scale agriculture will become significantly more difficult for local indigenous groups. Manipulation, Mitigation and Migration While the scope and severity of Amazon forest fires is daunting, new firefighting technologies could help limit the impact of similar blazes next year or manage other large-scale disasters. Current areas of innovation include:   Data Manipulation: Government agencies can use technologies like IoT-enabled sensors and smartphones, orbiting satellites and short-range drones to create more accurate models of fire intensity, impact and potential expansion. This could allow firefighting teams to better coordinate their efforts and limit overall spread.  Digital Mitigation: Advanced robotics may soon make it possible to directly fight fires with reduced risk to human lives. Work on high-powered drones that can carry heavy water hoses and fight fires at night is already underway, while humanoid robot technologies such as Walk-Man offer the potential to both douse fires directly and send data back to emergency personnel. Physical firefighting gear is also getting an upgrade with devices like the C-Thru — a futuristic helmet that provides digitally-projected room temperature, oxygen and carbon dioxide data along with thermal imaging cameras to provide sight lines through heavy smoke.  Orbital Migration: As noted by Scientific American, space-based solutions may help post-fire rainforest recovery. For example, fertilizer developed for use on the ISS could be used to spur plant regrowth in the Amazon — designed with a polymer coating for slow release of nutrients and reduced run-off, it could help replace critical plant life with causing a secondary ecological collapse. Also a potential option? Controlled growth in orbital facilities until ground conditions stabilize. The highly-regulated nature of orbital environments allows precise delivery of nutrients, water and light, allowing them to act as effective incubators of critical Amazon species until we (hopefully) restore some semblance of order.  Disaster of Scale The Amazon is burning. It's a disaster of scale and substance, one that carries serious implications for the future of both local ecosystems and our environment at large. From massive carbon sinks to missing species, this rainforest removal presents a real risk for Earth. While widespread shifts in government policy and human perception are critical for long-term improvement, continued innovation of firefighting technology could help limit the immediate impact of Amazon forest fires.

Amazon Forest Fires: Ecological Impact Demands Innovation

For those who live on Easter Island, a remote Chilean territory in the South Pacific Ocean, eliminating plastic bags and other plastic waste has reached critical levels. Although the island is more than 1,200 miles from its nearest neighbor, plastic litters its shores. The pollution comes in from a swirling mass of garbage that floats far offshore and is one-and-half times the size of Texas, reports PBS.  It's not just in the ocean, either. Broken-down bits of plastic, called microplastics, are in the soil, in drinking water and in the air we breathe. Chemicals added to plastics to make them colorful, flexible, rigid, heat-resistant and more could be harmful to the health of animals and people. Plastics also attract heavy metals and other contaminants like pesticides that are poisonous, reports Discover. Although the potential health effects of ingesting microplastics are still largely unknown, many local, state and national governments are eliminating plastic bags and searching for alternatives to plastic packaging. But even if society can turn completely turn away from plastic, what will it do with the products already manufactured and the plastic bits infiltrating the environment? The solution may lie in a tiny organism hungry for this ubiquitous pollutant. The Plastic Picture Plastic waste and the proliferation of microplastics in the environment is just one facet of the plastic problem. Producing plastic and transporting it requires fossil fuels and emits greenhouse gases. According to a 2019 report from the Center for International Environmental Law, producing and incinerating plastic in 2019 generated an amount of greenhouse gases equivalent to that of 189 coal-fired power plants. Researchers at the center say that if production continues on the same path, plastic-related greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 will reach a level on par with 295 coal plants. By 2050, emissions will be about the same as 615 coal plants. In an effort to reduce plastic waste and lower emissions, some agencies and governments see eliminating plastic bags as a first step in the right direction. These bags, which are distributed widely by retail stores, are very thin, typically used just once, are rarely recycled and kill at least 100,000 marine animals annually, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Each year, 12 million barrels of oil are used to manufacture the 100 billion bags Americans use and toss out, the center says. Although the United States has not committed to a national ban, states such as California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon and Vermont have outlawed them, reports the National Conference on State Legislatures. As of early 2019, at least 127 countries had implemented some form of restriction, regulation or fee to reduce the use of plastic bags, says the World Resources Institute. Alternatives to Plastic Packaging Even as local, state and national legislators write up policies to reduce or restrict the use of plastic, other groups are developing alternatives. In 2018, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched their New Plastics Economy initiative in collaboration with the United Nations' Environment Program. The initiative aims to "eliminate all problematic and unnecessary plastic items, innovate to ensure that the plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable or compostable and circulate all the plastic items we use to keep them in the economy and out of the environment," the website says. A $2 million innovation prize awarded to 12 teams has laid the foundation for some plastic packaging substitutes. For instance, researchers at the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland demonstrated a way to make a compostable, multi-layer material derived from wood, rice, sugar cane tops, recycled fibers, textile waste and agricultural residues. Recyclable and biodegradable, the plastic-like film could be used to package a range of foods, from cereals to nuts to meats and cheeses. An Indonesian startup company called Evoware created food wrappings from a seaweed-based material that can be dissolved and eaten. Elsewhere around the world, entrepreneurs are innovating solutions to the plastic packaging problem. The Israel-based startup TIPA, for example, makes plant-based packaging that fully composts in 180 days. New York-based Ecovative Design combines agricultural waste with mushroom roots, called mycelium, to make a compostable Styrofoam-like product. The company has even created kits that let customers grow their own packaging. And Saltwater Brewery in Delray Beach, Florida, turned notorious six-pack rings into something beneficial. Using barley and wheat remnants that are a by-product of the brewing process, the team developed biodegradable, compostable and edible six-pack rings. If these products end up in the ocean, they become food for sea life. Making a Meal Out of Plastic Even if every person in the world stopped using plastic tomorrow, we would still need to contend with the billions of pounds of plastic that has already covered the planet. Morgan Vague, a biology student at Reed College in Oregon, thinks she may have found a way to eliminate a large portion of it, reports the The Science Times. Vague discovered a naturally occurring bacteria that consumes one of the most common plastics in the world, called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and breaks it down into harmless by-products. Vague found the bacteria after sampling water and soil from around her hometown of Houston, Texas. The student reasoned that because Houston had so many petroleum-polluting industries, she might get lucky and find bacteria that had adapted to living off the same molecules that make up plastic. After testing 300 strains of bacteria for a fat-digesting enzyme called lipase, which breaks down plastic to make it edible, Vague found 20 species. She then narrowed that group down to three bacterial candidates and fed them a diet of PET that she'd gotten from water bottles. The bacteria consumed the plastic. In a TED talk, Vague explained that although the process is natural, it's slow. To speed things up, she has the idea of dousing plastic in ultraviolet light to "tenderize" it and make it easier for the bacteria to consume. Eventually, she wants to create a contained, industrial-scale, carbon-free system that essentially composts plastic waste. "Imagine one day being able to dispose of all of your plastic waste at the curb in a bin that you knew was bound for a dedicated, bacteria-powered plastic waste facility," Vague told the audience. Vague acknowledges that her bacteria are just one part of a larger solution to the plastic problem. The challenge is so huge that it will take a variety of policy measures and innovative tactics to affect change. But by eliminating plastic bags and searching for viable alternatives to plastic packaging, humans could turn the tide on this environmental disaster.

Eliminating Plastic Bags Opens Up New Alternatives to Packaging

When a new zombie virus discovered due to permafrost melting made its way into headlines in March 2023, it caused concern. Some wondered if this meant we were on the brink of another worldwide health crisis. Here's a look at what researchers have brought back from the (near) dead, and how this undead infection could relate to public health.
What Is a Zombie Virus?
A zombie virus is a virus frozen in time. They're often caught up in permafrost after hitching a ride in the immune system of a long-deceased animal or insect. If these viruses are thawed out and introduced into a suitable host, however, they can effectively resurrect and get back to doing what they do best: infecting organisms.
According to Scientific American, zombie virus genomes could play a positive role in disease treatment. These genomes are byproducts of viral infections that are no longer capable of reproducing on their own. If they're introduced to cells compromised by other infections, they can hijack existing viruses and use them to replicate, in effect reducing the overall viral load. In healthy cells, meanwhile, these zombies have no effect. While research on zombie virus benefits remains in the early stages, the work suggests that not all zombies are out for brains.
Playing the Long Game: A Virus Threat 48,500 Years in the Making
How long can a virus survive and then be brought back to life in melting permafrost? If you said 50,000 years, you were just 1,500 years off the mark.
This is because permafrost offers the ideal environment to keep viruses in stasis. Not only is the temperature cold, but it's also oxygen-free and doesn't let in light. In other words, the energy sources needed to help the virus replicate — or kill it completely — are absent in permafrost.
As climate change drives rising temperatures, however, the top layers of permafrost are beginning to melt. This has made it possible for researchers like Jean-Michel Claverie, Emeritus professor of genomics at the School of Medicine of Aix-Marseille University, to obtain and revive virus samples that are tens of thousands of years old. Most recently, he discovered five new families of viruses in samples ranging from 48,500 years old and found in the soil of an underground lake to those discovered in a 27,000-year-old wooly mammoth's stomach contents and coat.
The biggest threat posed by these viruses? A lack of natural human immunity. Since we've never encountered these viruses, our immune systems have no natural defense against their infection vectors. As a result, it's possible that these old issues could become modern problems. This isn't without precedent: Consider the impact of the European colonization of the Americas, which led to massive outbreaks of diseases, such as smallpox and influenza.
Is Permafrost Melting a Public Health Risk?
Yes and no. So far, the viruses reanimated by scientists are only capable of infecting amoebas. While it's possible that less-permanent permafrost could bring human- and animal-infecting viruses back to life, Claverie notes that any unearthed microbes would be "quick to decay once they're exposed to heat, UV light and oxygen." Claverie also points out that, while humans might lack the inherent ability to combat zombie infections, the chance of infection itself is "extremely low" because these viruses have never encountered a modern human immune system.
While the chances of a zombie virus going viral are slim, however, they're never zero. Increasing temperatures mean that more permafrost is melting more quickly, which means that more zombie viruses are getting a second shot. As the COVID-19 pandemic made perfectly clear, it doesn't take much for a new virus to spread once it successfully infects an immune system that lacks effective defenses.
In short, while the new zombie virus discovered doesn't spell disaster for humankind, it does speak to the second-order effects of climate change. If we're not careful, crop and coastline loss could be the precursors to an unopposed, undead viral vector.
 
Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.

Grave Concerns: New Zombie Virus Discovered Due to Permafrost Melting

Greenland just recorded its warmest temperature in 1,000 years. According to a recent study published in Nature, cores taken from the Greenland ice sheet over the last decade show a 1.5 °C increase compared to climate reconstructions of the past millennia.
 
What, exactly, does this Greenland average temperature tracking mean for ice caps, sea levels and the world at large? Here's the hot take.
 
 
 
Getting Warmer — What's Happening in Greenland?
 
 
 
As noted by The Washington Post, 2023 temperatures in Greenland are significantly above average, with some areas smashing previous records. For example, Greenland's capital city, Nuuk, saw temperatures hit 59.4 °F (15.2 °C) on March 5, breaking both the previous March and April records of 55.7 °F (13.2 °C) and 58.2 °F (14.6 °C), respectively. Compared to the average temperature this time of year, this high is even higher: Typically, Nuuk comes in at 23 °F (-5 °C) in March. The new record is fully 32 degrees (18 degrees in Celsius) above normal.
 
 
 
Farther north, temperatures are even more extreme, with some areas of Greenland seeing a 50 °F (28 °C) jump over seasonal averages. This country-wide warming trend is linked to what's known as the "Greenland block" — a zone of high pressure that isn't going anywhere, causing the air beneath it to sink and warm. The block may be tied to a sudden warming trend in Earth's stratosphere that disrupted the polar vortex in February and pushed colder air further south.
 
 
 
The result is a dual concern for Greenland: Not only are current temperatures significantly above recent averages, but millennial measurements are also on the rise, suggesting this is more than a one-off hot spell.
 
 
 
Ice Cap Concerns: Sea-ing the Impact
 
 
 
What does Greenland global warming mean for the country's ice caps and the world at large? In a word: melting — and lots of it.
 
 
 
Current data suggests that melting already underway will cause sea levels worldwide to rise about 10.6 inches. As SciTechDaily points out, however, this is a low estimate. If Greenland continues to see record-breaking temperatures, it's possible for sea levels to rise by 30 inches or more. This estimate only includes the increase from Greenland — melting of other Atlantic ice sheets could add to this total.
 
 
 
For humankind, this melt means problems. First up are the direct effects on people who live in low-lying coastal areas. With more than 680 million people living at or very near sea level, these rising waters could spell disaster for small communities and big cities alike as infrastructure ends up permanently underwater or battered by continual coastal floods.
 
 
 
There are also growing concerns about what we may find under the ice as it melts. Some of what's revealed may be valuable, such as precious metals or fossil fuels that have remained untouched for millennia. But thawing ice sheets may uncover bacteria, viruses and pollutants that could cause problems for humans. According to a study published in Nature Climate Change in September 2021, one gram of permafrost may contain thousands of dormant microbes. While most of these microbes are likely harmless to humans, some could be viruses we've never seen or ancient diseases that could make a concerning comeback.
 
 
 
Consider a report from Siberia in 2016: As noted by NPR, dozens of people were hospitalized and one child died after an outbreak of anthrax. The culprit? An infected reindeer frozen in permafrost for 75 years until a heatwave hit. When it thawed, the anthrax bacteria became active and covered the nearby tundra in spores. Other reindeer picked up the anthrax and were then killed and eaten by humans, kickstarting the outbreak.
 
 
 
The effect of global warming on Greenland also comes with concerns about pollutants, such as dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), which haven't been used for decades but are trapped in layers of permafrost. As icemelt continues, these chemicals could leech into seawater and circulate around the globe.
 
 
 
Reducing the Effects of Global Warming on Greenland
 
 
 
Is there anything we can do about Greenland average temperature issues? Yes and no. Put simply, there's no going back. Melting ice can't suddenly be reversed, and rising sea levels would take decades to fix.
 
 
 
But it's not all bad news. According to Horizon, the E.U.'s Research and Innovation Magazine, while Greenland's ice sheet is melting, the driving component of this phase is air temperature — the hotter the air, the more the ice melts. Sea ice-melt, meanwhile, is tied to water temperature, and with water temperatures rising more quickly than their atmospheric counterparts, even significant changes in sea ice volumes didn't have a marked effect on Greenland ice sheets. In an experiment that assumed a 15 °C worldwide temperature increase, all sea ice disappeared, but the ice sheets remained relatively intact for centuries. This suggests that, while action is needed, there may still be time to save most of Greenland's ice.
 
 
 
Accomplishing this goal, however, isn't easy. One suggestion is spraying sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the stratosphere through a process known as stratospheric aerosol injection. Also called solar radiation modification or solar geoengineering, the plan is straightforward: Pack aircraft full of SO2, launch them into the stratosphere, release the payloads and then repeat the process each year for 15 years. Once the SO2 is in the atmosphere, it would reflect some of the sun's heat back into space in much the same way as ash from large volcanic eruptions. Done right, this process could cut the impact of global warming in half. The caveat? It can't reverse the damage that's already been done.
 
 
 
Ice, Ice Maybe?
 
 
 
When it comes to the effect of global warming on Greenland, ongoing icemelt is a significant concern — rising sea levels could pose problems for coastal settlements, while long-frozen chemicals and viruses could cause worldwide harm.
 
While there may still be time to prevent the worst, it's imperative that we take action now, even in the form of an SO2 stopgap, as we work on more permanent temperature management tactics.
 
 
 
Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.
 
 
 
 

Greenland Average Temperature Tracking Reveals Worrisome Warming

 Most buildings in which we spend our lives are not as green as they could be. Their construction can generate lots of waste; once they're up and running, inefficient use of energy and water could unnecessarily tax environmental resources, or even make human inhabitants sick. As humanity seeks to reduce its impact on the planet, innovators are turning to new technology to create more sustainable green buildings. The resulting cities might be better — not only for the environment but also for the humans that inhabit them.LEED Standards Today, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards are among the most popular worldwide to help homes and businesses use resources more efficiently. These standards outline how much energy and water should be used in the building and what kinds of materials use the fewest possible toxic chemicals. Building designers then get creative about how to fit the needs of the building within these parameters. They can make the building more efficient by careful selection of construction materials, good insulation and window placement to keep the interior warm during the winter and cool in the summer. Then they can add on technology to reduce the building's footprint, heating the building with natural gas or incorporating efficient fixtures like water-conserving toilets and energy-efficient light bulbs. As more LEED-certified buildings are constructed, their impact could be huge. Green building is expected to add 3.9 million jobs to the economy by 2018, according to a 2015 report from the U.S. Green Building Council. A separate report from the U.S. Department of Energy found that LEED-certified buildings can revitalize neighborhoods; people who work in green buildings are less likely to skip work and tend to be healthier, too, as they are exposed to fewer pollutants. Environmentally conscious companies are leading the way by constructing a growing number of facilities according to LEED standards — Northrop Grumman, for example, has eight LEED-certified facilities across the United States. Companies like these understand that green buildings benefit more than just the environment and communities — they make businesses more competitive.Smart Systems Another way engineers are looking to reduce the environmental impact of individual buildings is by creating sophisticated systems to monitor energy use. That way, they'll know what kinds of interventions can cut down on the amount of energy being used in the building. Data collected by internet-connected sensors and processed by artificial intelligence systems will make individual buildings more efficient. Companies such as ON World are developing smart lighting systems that can automatically adjust lighting based on occupancy and the time of day; others, such as Verdigris, are targeting manufacturing to reduce wasted energy. Many of these systems also incorporate sophisticated thermostats to save on energy used in heating and cooling; researchers from MIT have created a system called "Local Warming" that only heats spaces when they are occupied.Smart Grid Instead of focusing on individual buildings, some engineers are looking at cities overall in order to reduce the use of resources. One big push is to make better use of a city's electricity through a "smart grid." More homes and businesses are generating their own renewable power on-site, using techniques such as solar panels — two of Northrop Grumman's operating facilities, for example, were recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency for their energy-efficient equipment and building-systems design, according to NGC's forthcoming Corporate Responsibility Report. As the cost of this technology drops, more buildings are expected to do the same in the future. Any unused energy can be diverted to the larger electrical grid, creating a profit for the building owner and more efficient energy use citywide. In order for smart grids to become widespread and profitable for those involved, better technology is needed. Ideally, these systems could efficiently send electricity to the buildings that need it. Several companies, such as Tendril and Groom Energy, have designed software that measures how much electricity the building is using and how much can be contributed to the grid. Partnership between private industry and government will further facilitate more efficient energy use; according to a U.S. Department of Energy webpage: "To move forward, we need a new kind of electric grid, one that is built from the bottom up to handle the groundswell of digital and computerized equipment and technology dependent on it — and one that can automate and manage the increasing complexity and needs of electricity in the 21st century."Smart Money Green buildings clearly have many benefits, but some prospective builders choose not to build them because they assume they would be more expensive. In fact, studies have found that, in the long term, green buildings cost about the same as their traditional counterparts. They may seem to cost more up front, as more efficient building materials and installations may be more expensive, but ultimately these reduce operating costs. Green building owners save on electricity, water and heating bills — they could even make some extra money selling energy back to the grid. As more of the world's population moves to cities, and as resources like energy and water are put under greater strain, green buildings will become even more important. You might be working in a smart building — or even living in a smart city — sooner than you think. And chances are, your life will be enriched from it.

How Green Buildings Could Change Cities

Fishermen always have stories about the big one that got away. Now, scientists have a story about worms that didn't go anywhere — for 460 centuries.
These worms won't be known for their size but rather for their age: 46,000 years old. Permafrost melting in Russia has uncovered this prehistoric nematode species — roundworms that have unbelievably stayed alive throughout considerable change in the world around them by suspending their metabolisms.
Their long journey to nowhere prompts a host of questions and possibilities about molecular biology, not just for nematodes but possibly humans, too.
Tenacious Microbes Await Release in Melting Permafrost
As defined by Geographical, permafrost is any below-surface ground that's been continuously frozen for at least two consecutive years. After staying intact for centuries or even thousands of years, permafrost around the world is quickly melting because of climate change. Melting glaciers and thawing permafrost created more than 46,000 square kilometers of water — more than the surface area of Denmark — between 1984 and 2019.
Permafrost melting does more than create new bodies of water, however. It also thaws ancient bacteria and viruses lying dormant in ice and soil. The Arctic, for example, holds what Scientific American calls "resilient and tenacious" microbes that have adapted to prolonged exposure to subfreezing conditions, some of which might perish as permafrost melts.
The Thawed Worms Now Eat and Reproduce
There's no such worry about the nematode's demise. In 2018, a team of researchers announced they had discovered successfully revived nematodes. It was, as Live Science reported, the first evidence of multicellular organisms coming back to life following a long-term slumber in Arctic permafrost.
Since then, the researchers determined the age of the nematodes and reviewed how they managed to survive in a long, deep chill. In a paper published in PLOS Genetics, they said that precise radiocarbon dating had determined the nematodes had stayed alive for 46,000 years by being in a suspended metabolic state called cryptobiosis. The scientists named them Panagrolaimus kolymaensis, in honor of the Kolyma River in Siberia, near where they were found. They were frozen in an ancient gopher hole about 130 feet below the ground.
The researchers know the nematodes are alive because they've been observed moving, eating bacteria and reproducing, according to The Washington Post. They're also not the first microorganism to use cryptobiosis to freeze in time, as the researchers noted. A Bacillus spore was preserved in the abdomen of bees buried in amber for 25 to 40 million years, and a 1,000- to 1,500-year-old Lotus seed germinated after being found in an ancient lake.
But what made the recent discovery so fascinating was that the previous record for a nematode surviving cryptobiosis was 39 years. "The age over which it survived is one of the shocking things," Gregory Copenhaver, a co-editor of PLOS Genetics, told The Washington Post.
An Old Worm Could Lead to New Biological Ideas
Not everyone is convinced the nematodes are 460 centuries old. A Brigham Young University biologist who wasn't involved in the study said the research confirms only the age of surrounding plant material — not that of the worms — according to Smithsonian Magazine.
However, the researchers behind the discovery stand by their work, pointing to how they came to understand how the nematodes used cryptobiosis to survive as long as they did. "The major take-home message or summary of this discovery is that it is, in principle, possible to stop life for more or less an indefinite time and then restart it," Teymuras Kurzchalia, one of the researchers, told The New York Times.
Kurzchalia and colleagues identified genes in the nematode that allowed it to reach a cryptobiotic state. The same genes were found in a contemporary nematode called Caenorhabditis elegans, which can also achieve cryptobiosis. "This led us, for instance, to understand that they cannot survive without a specific sugar called trehalose," Dr. Kurzchalia said. "Without this sugar, they just die."
The research team believes the nematodes' ability to suspend their metabolism for hundreds of centuries could open a door to a greater understanding of evolutionary processes for all species, including humans.
"Generation times may be stretched from days to millennia, and long-term survival of individuals of species can lead to the refoundation of otherwise extinct lineages," they wrote in their study. "This is particularly interesting in the case of parthenogenetic species, as each individual can find a new population without the need for mate finding."
Understanding successful revivals from long-term cryptobiosis could also create new methods for long-term storage of cells and tissues, the researchers said. After their big discovery, that doesn't seem like a farfetched fish story at all.
Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.

Permafrost Melting Uncovers a Worm With Quite the Story to Tell 

Earth scientists are using space lasers to observe a water system of 130 lakes in Antarctica. They used the latest data combined with historical observations to discover two new lakes and improve their maps of the frozen continent. The lakes periodically fill and drain into the ocean on cycles that are still not fully understood. Studying these mysterious subglacial lake systems can help scientists understand more about ocean circulation, the speed and direction of Antarctica's ice sheet flow, and Earth's water system as a whole. Let's take a closer look at this discovery and what it can teach us about the world at large. The Discovery As Space.com reports, the newly discovered lakes are called the Lower Conway Subglacial Lake and the Lower Mercer Subglacial Lake. They are part of a larger system of lakes hidden below 1.2 to 2.5 miles of ice. The lakes and others like them are dynamic. They can change the currents in the Southern Ocean and can potentially affect worldwide ocean circulation. "It's not just the ice sheet we're talking about," researcher Matthew Siegfried said in a NASA statement. "We're really talking about a water system that is connected to the whole Earth system." Siegfried and co-author Helen Amanda Fricker studied data from several Earth-observing satellites and reported their findings in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. In the paper, they explain that below the glaciers, several factors lead to small amounts of melting ice: insulation, pressure, the heat of the Earth and friction. These drops of melted ice add up to produce "large volumes of subglacial water," which is stored in lakes and aquifers hidden below the surface of the ice. Subglacial Lake Studies Naturally, these water systems have been difficult for researchers to observe and access, since they are cloaked in miles of ice. Recent technology upgrades have made satellite observation possible. According to Space.com, as the lakes drain and fill on their natural cycles, the ice above them rises and falls. By measuring changes in the height of the glaciers, scientists can see evidence of what's happening below the surface. Satellites have observed these glaciers since 2007, with a NASA satellite called ICESat and then later with the Cryo-Sat2, a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite. The data collected from NASA and ESA satellites covered a broad area and gave scientists baseline measurements that kicked off a new era of understanding Antarctica. When the first generation of satellite data became available, Fricker discovered that subglacial lakes were much more dynamic than scientists previously suspected. While scientists thought the lakes in Antarctica were fairly still, the data revealed otherwise. Instead of being static reservoirs, they fill and drain on a cycle. The volume of water that flows from Antarctica's lakes is significant. One study found that a single Antarctic lake dumped 21 billion to 26 billion cubic feet into the ocean in 2019, as Live Science reports. Technology That Enabled the Discovery Earlier data was not precise enough to allow researchers to fully understand the water systems below the surface. "Satellite measurements have been limited by how often they collect the data and their coverage," the researchers explain in the paper. "Using new data from NASA's ICESat-2 mission, we show that ICESat-2 provides unprecedented detail over lakes, both in time and space. The ICESat-2 data will lead to a steep change in our understanding of how Antarctica's hidden subglacial water system operates, which is a crucial ingredient for how an ice sheet behaves and evolves." Northrop Grumman built the ICESat-2 satellite, which uses 10,000 laser pulses per second to measure the ice sheets in unprecedented detail. The satellite is equipped with a sensing technology called Light Detection and Ranging, or LIDAR, which is similar to RADAR but uses light instead of radio waves. A laser altimeter sends laser pulses down to Earth and analyzes the reflected light, measuring how long it takes the light to return to determine the distance. "The discovery of these interconnected systems of lakes at the ice-bed interface that are moving water around, with all these impacts on glaciology, microbiology and oceanography — that was a big discovery from the ICESat mission," said Siegfried. He added, "ICESat-2 is like putting on your glasses after using ICESat. The data are such high precision that we can really start to map out the lake boundaries on the surface." What's Next The discovery of two new lakes highlights the fact that there is still a significant portion of our planet we do not understand. Earth-observing satellites can provide clues about what's happening below the surface and how those lakes and their draining cycles affect ocean circulation. This type of information can help to reveal details about what happens when glaciers melt — a topic that is becoming increasingly urgent as global temperatures rise. "There are processes that are going on under Antarctica that we wouldn't have a clue about if we didn't have satellite data," said Fricker. "We've been struggling with getting good predictions about the future of Antarctica, and instruments like ICESat-2 are helping us observe the process scale." Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

What a Subglacial Lake Under Antarctica Can Teach Us

Meteorological phenomena conspire to create a host of wild and wonderful outcomes, from "superbolt" lightning that strikes with the force of a low-yield nuclear bomb to pastel-colored "supernumerary" rainbows that occur under the arch of their primary counterparts when sunlight shines through small, similarly-sized water droplets. There's also an oft-repeated adage that warns of worrisome weather to come: When skies turn green, tornadoes soon follow. But is there any truth to this green sky tornado theory, or is this color concern merely circumstantial? Not Easy Being Green Given the potential property and personal damage powerful tornadoes can cause, it's easy to position this color palate presumption as nothing more than superstition — an unrelated occurrence that isn't tied to weather patterns directly but happens adjacent to their occurrence. In fact, green skies prior to significant storms are well documented, suggesting some type of causal link between color and the creation of catastrophic conditions. In an effort to understand this atmospheric advance warning, scientists have already eliminated several explanations, including:   Ground reflection — Some theories held that color reflections from green grass or fields were responsible for the observed emerald effect, but the spectra isn't consistent, and the phenomenon has been observed even when the primary ground color is red or brown soil.  Optical obfuscation — Just as rainbows appear to have "ends" that touch the ground, it's been suggested that the green coloration of clouds is simply an optical illusion. However, meteorological analysis of stormy weather wavelengths has confirmed the presence of green light.  Considering Color Theory: Why Does the Sky Turn Green? Is it the direct result of tornado formation? The time of day? Or something more exotic? As it turns out, there's no single explanation that accounts for every shamrock-colored storm and teal-colored tornado, but several theories may explain common causes:   Low-angle sunlight — In the same way that low-angle light through water droplets after a rainstorm creates rainbows, it's possible the reddish-yellow glow produced by the rising or setting sun combined with blue sky above conspires to create a subtle greenish cast, which may be enhanced when severe storms provide a dark cloud backdrop. In this case, storms don't serve as the catalyst for green light but instead make it easier to observe.  Water vapor wavelengths — Another theory holds that the blue-tinted water held in large amounts by storm clouds combined with low-angle sunlight creates this green coloration as similarly-sized raindrops scatter sunlight into generally uniform wavelengths.  In-storm situations — It's also possible that falling hail or flashing lightning may act as the genesis of these green effects. In the case of falling hail, light reflected through its crystalline structure may produce a green color between storm clouds and the ground, while lightning crashing through a dusty sky may take on a yellow tinge against blue clouds and combine to create green.  So, why does the sky turn green during a storm? There's no simple answer. At best, it's complicated — and unpredictable. Seeking Storm Signs While the green sky tornado theory is scientifically sound, it's worth noting that, even in areas where severe storms are persistent and tornadoes are perpetual, this phenomenon remains rare. In most cases, inclement weather doesn't come with a color-first calling card. This makes it more important for observers to watch for more common signs, such as sudden changes in temperature, pressure or wind speed and the visible formation of large or rotating cloud masses. Put simply? When it comes to powerful storms and pulverizing tornadoes, green is tangentially tied to meteorological machinations. But even without chartreuse-colored clouds or spring-colored skies, severe weather can occur; as a result, it's better to bank on current conditions than bet on color concerns.

Color Me Concerned: The Green Sky Tornado Theory

Water is life. But even as our warming planet's sea levels and rainfall rise, the percentage of water on Earth is shrinking. Drought, water pollution, agricultural demand, exponential population growth and leaky infrastructure exacerbates the problem of water scarcity. At least 10 global cities, populated by tens of millions of people, face a future of limited water resources that will directly result in poor health, disease and death.  Researchers are working to address the problem, though. From technologies that purify polluted water to those that harvest it from thin air, solutions are coming online to quench the world's thirst.  The Blue Marble  One of the most iconic images of planet Earth came in 1968, when the crew of the Apollo 8 spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. NASA astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders produced a color photo that would later become known as Earthrise. It shows our planet as a fragile blue rock amid a vast, black cosmos. That blue is water. More than 70% of the planet is covered in it and the oceans alone hold 96.5% of all Earth's water, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  Although oceans support plenty of life, seawater is salty and undrinkable. Humans need fresh water and most of that is locked up in glaciers, ice caps or in deep underground reservoirs. Surface water, such as lakes and rivers, provide accessible water, but it's comparably tiny. The USGS estimated that if all of the surface water in the world were collected into a sphere, the bubble would be only 35 miles tall and wide — a mere speck compared to the size of Earth.  Another way to think of it is that for every 100 raindrops that fall on land, only 36 drops are available for humans to drink, PhysOrg reported. In a recent study, scientists found that although global warming is causing more rainfall, it's also drying out soils to drought-like conditions, reducing the chances the extra rain will flow into rivers and lakes.  "It's a double whammy," Professor Ashish Sharma of Australia's University of New South Wales told PhysOrg. "Less water is ending up where we can store it for later use. At the same time, more rain is overwhelming drainage infrastructure in towns and cities, leading to more urban flooding."  Will the Well Run Dry?  Assistant Professor Megan Konar studies hydrology and environmental science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She told Earther that although the percentage of water on earth a whole would not shrink to zero, certain locations would face water scarcity, which is already happening.  Back in January 2018, the government of Cape Town, Africa, announced that the city of 4 million people was three months away from running out of municipal water. Labeled "Day Zero," the day would come, officials said, when dam levels would be so low, they would be forced to shut off the taps, according to The New York Times. An aggressive conservation plan swung into action, limiting each person to just 50 liters (13.2 gallons) a day.  Although Cape Town averted disaster, it's still at risk, but other cities are close behind. CNN reported that Chennai, Mexico City, Cairo, Tokyo, Jakarta, Sé£o Paulo, Beijing, Bangalore, Melbourne and London are the top 10 cities most at risk for running out of water. Extended periods of drought, heavy agricultural demand, leaky infrastructure and pollution are some of the leading causes of water scarcity.  According to the World Health Organization, at least 1.8 billion people on the planet drink contaminated water. Unclean water and poor sanitation are leading causes of childhood mortality. Diarrhea alone results in 1.5 million child deaths annually. As climate change and population growth put increasing pressures on water access, improving the quality of the water we have left and dealing with water pollution is imperative.  Pure Solutions  Fresh, clean drinking water is within our grasp. Researchers around the world are working on technology to increase the percentage of clean water on earth. For instance, Innovative Water Technologies in Rocky Ford, Colorado, have invented the SunSpring Hybrid, a solar- or wind-powered filtration system that can purify more than 5,000 gallons of contaminated drinking water per day. Because it doesn't need to be plugged into a reliable source of electricity, the device can be used in remote regions or be deployed urban areas that have been devastated after a natural disaster.  In southwestern Morocco, a nonprofit called Dar Si Hmad has been harvesting water from thin air. The region's unique mountain setting, although quite arid, is frequently shrouded in a dense fog caused by a high-pressure system called the Azores High that sweeps in from the Canary Islands and becomes trapped against the High Atlas mountains. The fog doesn't ever turn into rain, but folks at Dar Si Hmad have built tall net-like structures on which droplets of fog collect and accumulate. To date, this fog-harvesting system extends to seven reservoirs with pipelines that reach nine villages, reported the Weather Channel.  Although technology can address some of the world's water problems, it cannot fix it all. Clean drinking water starts with the source, water resource educators Susan Boser and Diane Oleson of Pennsylvania State University wrote in an opinion piece for The Conversation. One of the most critical means for keeping water clean is regularly monitoring the lakes, rivers and wells that supply it. But countries also need to invest in infrastructure, public education, source water protection and regulation "to keep water flowing to a thirsty nation," they said. 

Populations Are Threatened as the Percentage of Water on Earth Shrinks

If you thought that a long extinct and fabulous beast that roamed the Earth thousands of years ago doesn't have much relevance to what's happening now, then be prepared to think again. A team of researchers has discovered that the American mastodon, which died out 11,000 years ago, holds important clues about our understanding of climate change. Reporting the findings in Nature Communications, the team describes that not only did the mastodons move thousands of miles up and down North America with the ebb and flow of ice ages, but they also became less genetically diverse, leaving them vulnerable to extinction. Mobile Mastodons American mastodons, or Mammut americanus to give them their proper species name, were around 10 feet tall, shaggy and stocky elephantine creatures. Once one of the largest land mammals on the planet, The Washington Post describes them as towering over other animals. They lived around 3.5 million years ago, making their homes in forests and swampy areas that held bountiful foods. According to Wired, they went extinct 11,000 years ago, presumably through a combination of pressure from climate change and being hunted by humans. Although fossil remains of the American mastodon exist, the recent study reveals how the various populations developed. Using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), the scientists examined the family trees of around 33 individual mastodons to tease out the different lineages. They found several distinct populations, with evidence suggesting that migrations took place as the climate warmed and food became abundant further north. Over around 800,000 years ago, these large creatures moved up and down the continent in search of new ranges, being forced back as the ice sheets froze again. Mitochondrial DNA MtDNA are the intracellular organelles that convert food energy into cell blocks, called ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which cells use to power themselves. Scitable describes how they not only contain the proteins required for oxidative phosphorylation that builds ATP but also their own distinct genome. Unlike nuclear DNA, mtDNA is circular rather than helical and is inherited only from the mother. It also contains fewer base pairs (bp) of genomic materials. For example, human mtDNA contains only 16,569 bp whereas nuclear genome comprises 3.3 billion bp. The smaller mitochondrial genome rapid mutation rate is exploited when looking at phylogeny, the relatedness in populations. Using mtDNA to trace the American mastodon family tree, the researchers found that not only were the northern groups distinct, representing the results of numerous migrations as the ice sheets grew and receded, but they were also less diverse. In terms of hybrid vigor, the northern American mastodons were much weaker than their southern counterparts and succumbed more easily to disease and food scarcity. Prehistoric Climate Change Relevance to Modern Day Biodiversity is under threat. Citing reports from the World Wildlife Fund and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, CNN notes that two thirds of our wildlife vanished over the past 50 years and around 40% of plant species are at risk of extinction. Human pressure from hunting, development and agriculture is making life almost impossible for many species. Anthropogenic climate change is making it worse. Ice-bound areas of the globe are warming and melting, opening up polar regions to exploration and resource extraction. We already know that climate change can dramatically affect habitats. Core samples drilled from beneath the Antarctic show that past global warming episodes created a lush temperate rainforest over the south pole. Furthermore, evidence from National Parks records shows that, with habitat change, species are moving north with their food sources. Brown bears are heading into the Arctic, and moose and beavers are making their way north in search of food. The evidence found by the researchers shows that the American mastodon also moved as the climate changed in search of new food sources. However, northward migration came at the cost of reduced diversity and weakened resilience. Northern populations died out faster. Under climate change, our planet won't be as abundant as it was in our recent past.

What Can the Extinct American Mastodon Teach Us About Climate Change?

This spring, the North Atlantic right whale population showed no new calves. This stark reminder of endangered marine animals follows the dramatic increase in whale mortality recorded the previous year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  Extinction is looking more likely — possibly in the next 20 years — for these marine giants, National Geographic reported. Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, according to Science, the Emperor penguin may disappear by the year 2100.    Climate Change Sets the Table   So, what do these endangered marine animals have in common that puts them under threat? Climate change is dramatically impacting the habitats of both species. They depend on cool ocean temperatures, and, as the planet warms, so does the water covering 71 percent of its surface, affecting food and habitat.   Data from NASA satellites show that less ice forms each year, especially in the Arctic, where the floating pack is more vulnerable than land-based Antarctic ice. In addition to habitat, sea ice is important for growing food. Marine algae on its margins are food for the krill, copepods and fish that both penguin and North Atlantic right whale depend on.   Warming also moves the buffet, added NASA. Krill and copepods are less bountiful, so diners travel further for a full belly. The North Atlantic right whales are moving further northwards to feed; Emperor penguins take longer to reach food, spending energy and time away from the nest during vulnerable breeding seasons.   It's not only animals following the food. Pacific Standard reported that sea ice recession has opened up more shipping routes into the Arctic. Not only do fishing boats compete with marine animals for fish, but they also present new hazards. Many of the dead North Atlantic right whales showed signs of collision trauma, suggesting that busier shipping lanes are dangerous for slow-moving whales.   Technology to the Rescue    Tech innovation could help conservationists learn more about endangered marine animals and take steps to protect them.   Projects like Operation #PolarEye, where autonomous drones capture sea ice and habitat data, help document environmental changes and monitor vulnerable populations. Drones operate at heights that capture a broad view without disturbing normal behavior, giving researchers more insight into how animals adapt to climate change.   From further away, satellite imagery also helps. The Conversation reported how researchers saw changes in nesting behavior with Emperor penguins moving from sea to shelf ice during the nesting season. Space tech could also help keep tabs on individuals; National Geographic described how researchers adapted a NASA algorithm for identifying star clusters to track whale sharks by skin spots.   Cameras give an even more intimate look into the lives of endangered animals. CBS News showed how penguin cams give researchers more insight into daily life, while the U.S. Geological Survey stays safe by gathering behavioral data via polar bear cam.   Enable targeting cookies to view this content.   Ships Pose Threat to Marine Life    Apart from speed restrictions in busy shipping areas, The Globe and Mail reported that plotting whale locations using hydrophones for acoustic monitoring and thermal imaging from aerial surveillance could soon feed into early alert systems for ships.   The Globe and Mail also noted that entanglement with fishing gear accounted for 82 percent of whale deaths between 2010 and 2014, while The Conversation added that superfine filament nets trap and drown many diving birds. A paper in Conservation Biology suggested that whales could escape from weaker, breakaway lines.  Biodegradable gear is another tactic, but rope-free could reduce the danger further; companies like Ashored Innovations are developing remote solutions to replace the line between fishing gear and the surface. Fishing vessels could soon keep track of lobster traps and other gear with devices that monitor location or let them know when a trap is full. There's also acoustic technology to bring traps safely to the surface by triggering a release mechanism.    Tech doesn't have to just be about innovation for innovation's sake; it can also protect. 

Tech to the Rescue for Endangered Marine Animals

In September 2017, we saw more superstorm hurricanes hit North America than usual, including hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, Katia and Maria. This is the only time in history — except for 2007 — that multiple Category 5 hurricanes have hit North America in the period of a year, let alone a month, said the The Atlantic. Research shows that more superstorms — defined as large, destructive storms — will occur every few centuries in a stable climate. However, according According to the NCA and Science News, as Earth's temperatures increase, the intensity and duration of these superstorms may get worse as a result.  As these storms hit harder and harder, many of us are left with big questions like: What is the outlook for weather patterns in the coming years? Can we expect more superstorms ahead? And how can we prepare for those superstorms? The Research The scientific jury is still out on whether or not increasing temperatures will increase the frequency of superstorms. However, according to Skeptical Science, scientists are certain that when these superstorms do occur, the effects of climate change will make the impact of these storms more pronounced. "As the world warms, evaporation speeds up. So on avg there's more water vapour for a storm to sweep up & dump now, compared to 70 years ago," climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe tweeted in the wake of Harvey. In a Nature article, several scientists explained that storm thermodynamics are strongly dependent on the climate. The world's rising temperatures and sea levels have in turn changed the intensity, path and location of the storms we have experienced and will experience. Climate Central also notes that severe downpours are now more likely, leading to increased flooding. PreventionWeb's 2016 Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report showed that financial damages from natural disasters are rising worldwide. After Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, Gary Lackmann, an atmospheric science professor at North Carolina State University, became interested in predicting future storms. He mapped the features of Sandy into the future and into the past, taking into account changing temperatures and humidity. In an American Meteorology Society paper titled "Hurricane Sandy before 1990 and after 2100," Lackmann explained that by using mathematically simulated computer models, he could see that an 1880 version of Sandy was similar to 2012's Sandy. However, due to changing temperatures and rising humidity, Lackmann found that a 2100 version of Sandy would be much, much worse. It would hit further inland with more intensity, causing more damages. Several other studies, including one from PNAS, have confirmed this finding about Sandy. How to Prepare John Holdren, Obama's presidential adviser, famously said that when it comes to changing climates, we will end up with a future that holds a mix of prevention, adaption and suffering. It is up to us to determine the ratio of these pieces. Through home preparation and awareness, we can prevent certain damages. When storms are about to hit, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends taking necessary precautions in your own home: "Coastal and inland residents should ensure that their families have an emergency plan and emergency kits in their homes and cars," FEMA experts recommend. "Some of the items in a basic emergency kit include: one gallon of water per person per day, for drinking and sanitation; at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food; battery-powered radio and a NOAA Weather Radio; flashlight and extra batteries; and First Aid kit." Through mitigation, we can attempt to limit greenhouse gases. The National Park Service recommends using renewable energy when possible and getting a home energy audit, if you're a home owner. Spending less time on the road and using energy-saving light bulbs are easy ways to reduce carbon emissions, according to the National Park Service. Finally, if we cannot mitigate or prevent damages, we can adjust to climate change. Some scientists have built tools that allow them to predict future superstorms, while other people are moving away from high-flood areas. As history has shown, human beings are designed for adaption.

Are There More Superstorms in Our Future?

Albatross mating has taken some heat from global warming, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Researchers studying black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) noticed that climate change was affecting relationship stability. As the seas got warmer, albatross divorce rose, and previously bonded pairs split up and went looking for new partners. If you're reading this and wondering, "Are all birds monogamous?" the answer is mostly yes, but it seems climate change is affecting bird relationships. Are All Birds Monogamous? A lot of bird species are monogamous — more than 90% according to Science News. Pairing for life confers huge advantages, with a stable pair bond increasing breeding success. There's a shared familiarity with territory and food resources, leading to more effective nesting and food gathering. Hatching eggs is hard work, and sharing nest duties helps spread the load for incubating and then feeding the hungry chicks. Albatross mating is often held up as a prime example of monogamous bird bonding. Adults spend most of the year at sea hunting for food before returning to the nest site to breed. Having a strong pair bond not only ensures this synchrony, but once the egg is laid, it also reassures the partner left sitting on the nest while the other feeds, often spending weeks away. However, strong pair bonds are becoming less common as the climate changes. Albatross Divorce Doubles as Oceans Warm Climate change is affecting ecosystems and species all over the world. For example, warmer temperatures are pushing pests further north, melting Arctic glaciers and bringing spring earlier. All of these factors can seriously impact food abundance and have already altered animal behavior. Researchers wondered if climate was affecting albatross mating, so they checked back through research data gathered between 2004 and 2019 from an albatross colony in the South Atlantic Ocean situated on the Falkland Islands. The scientists found that climate change was indeed impacting the birds. Normally, albatrosses mate for life. They return to the land after years at sea searching for food to breed and raise a single egg. Divorce among albatross pairs is rare, running at around 4% annually. A certain amount of albatross divorce is quite normal; usually it's the female that leaves if the egg fails to hatch. She moves on to find another male and perhaps improve her breeding success. However, when the researchers examined the population data, they found that divorce rates fluctuated in correlation with the temperature of the sea around the colony. As the ocean got warmer, not only did divorce rates almost double, but divorces were happening even in cases where chick rearing was successful. Why Divorce Matters to Albatross Mating Divorce increasing among normally stable and monogamous albatrosses impacts breeding success. A stable, longstanding relationship is vital for the shared duties of minding the nest and hatching the egg, and divorce takes each bird out of the action for a season. For albatrosses and many other bird species, the breeding season requires careful timing and synchrony. Birds need to hit peak food abundance and optimal weather when there's an egg in the nest. Moving on to another mate takes courtship, and as The Atlantic notes, putting additional effort into this behavior can often mean missing the breeding season. Nature Canada reports that climate change is forcing birds to relocate to more hospitable environments as adverse weather changes conditions. Alterations in weather patterns and the onset of seasons have advanced breeding cycles, affected nesting and interfered with migration. Shifts in the timing of the breeding season due to climate change have also increased swallow chick mortality. Science Daily describes how albatrosses no longer choose to mate purely when food is widely available. How Warmer Oceans Cool Albatross Mating Although the study did not determine the exact reason for higher albatross divorce rates, warmer oceans mean less food, such as fish or squid. The Smithsonian Magazine suggests that, with decreased abundance, albatrosses have needed to spend more time out at sea looking for food. This would disrupt both the timing of their return to land for the breeding season and their physical condition. Prolonged hunting excursions also keep one parent away from the nest for longer, disrupting the egg hatching partnership. Global warming doesn't just affect albatross populations. For instance, the Yale Environment 360 magazine notes that warming also affects grassland species. Little bustards don't take part in as many mating displays simply because it's too hot, and they need to shelter from the heat. Scientific American even describes how climate change is driving bird promiscuity, leading to greater numbers of mate swaps. When environmental conditions get tough, it may be more than albatross mating that suffers. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery in science, technology and engineering.

Warmer Oceans Cool Albatross Mating

In the U.S., temperatures were above average across the country during 2022's winter months. This has scientists wondering: are summers getting longer? Are the seasons shifting? And is it possible that it could be 75 degrees and sunny even during winter in the future?
In a recent study published in the Geophysical Research Letters, researchers looked at seasons in the Northern Hemisphere between 1952 and 2011. They found evidence to suggest that the length of the four seasons has changed due to global warming — and so have each season's temperatures. Let's take a look at some of the most important conclusions from this research and how these changes may impact the future of life on Earth.
The Four Seasons No Longer Have Equal Amounts of Months
Before climate change started significantly altering our environment, a single year could traditionally be separated into four equal seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter, each of which lasted about three months. Today, that's no longer the case. In the Northern Hemisphere, the four seasons don't have an equal amount of months anymore. In the time period between 1952 and 2011, the length of summer in the Northern Hemisphere has increased, while the length of spring, autumn and winter has decreased.
Are the seasons shifting? In short, yes. A year can no longer be divided into four equal-length seasons, and research suggests the seasons will continue to shift even more over time.
Summers Start Earlier
Are summers getting longer? Yes, scientists have also found that summers have been starting earlier, lengthening the season.
For every 10 years from 1952 to 2011, summer started 1.6 days earlier and lasted 4.2 days longer. In the last half-century alone, the length of summer in the Northern Hemisphere has increased from 78 to 95 days. These extended summer seasons have translated into hotter summers. From May to September, the frequency, duration and cumulative heat of heatwaves have increased significantly since the 1950s.
Winters, Springs and Autumns Are Shorter
Researchers have also discovered that the winters, springs and autumns are getting shorter. In the same time period between 1952 and 2011, the spring season decreased from 124 to 115 days, autumn went from 87 to 82 days and winter shrank from 76 to 73 days.
These shorter winters, springs and autumns are due to a shift in the onset of these seasons and another shift in their withdrawals. The study found that spring started earlier by 1.6 days every 10 years and summer started 2.5 days earlier. Autumn was delayed by 1.7 days every 10 years, and winter was delayed by 0.5 days.
Temperatures Have Also Changed
Along with the timing of the seasons, seasonal temperatures have also changed: Summers have gotten longer and hotter, but winters have become warmer, too. The warming trend of winter was most pronounced in northern North America, where the temperature has risen at the rate of more than 0.4 °C every 10 years. Shorter, warmer spring and autumn seasons have become the new normal.
The Trend in Changing Seasons May Be Amplified in the Future
Even if the current warming rate does not accelerate, changes in seasons will still be exacerbated in the future. By the end of this century, spring and summer may start about a month earlier, while autumn and winter may start about half a month later. By 2100, summers may last nearly half the year, and there may be less than two months of winter.
How will these changes affect humanity? Scientists predict that longer summers will likely disturb agriculture seasons and the rhythm of species' activities. This includes early flowering of plants and early bird migrations, which could disrupt the structure and function of ecological communities.
Warmer winters may also have an impact on crop yields. The insufficient chilling demand for bud dormancy due to milder winters can stunt the growth of plants, resulting in reduced yields and quality. Longer summers may also cause more frequent heat waves, more extreme storms and longer wildfire seasons.
Changes to Earth's Seasons Carry Risk to Human Health
Longer, more intense summers may also impact human health. The extension of the growing season may cause more allergenic pollen and longer allergy periods. During longer and hotter summers, tropical mosquitoes carrying viruses will likely expand northward and bring about explosive outbreaks.
Groups who work outdoors or indoors without cooling systems will face severe heat exhaustion. Higher temperatures are also correlated with a higher prevalence of mental health issues, and shorter winter periods may cause higher crime rates across several regions of the U.S.
While the seasons may be shifting due to human-accelerated climate change, there is still hope for the future. Organizations around the world are developing advanced technologies and new solutions to combat climate change. Even so, it's up to everyone to do their part to help maintain the environment — and in the meantime, you might want to keep the T-shirts out for winter next year.
 Learn more about life at Northrop Grumman, and check out our career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery in science, technology and engineering.

Are Summers Getting Longer, or Are the Seasons Shifting?

Key Takeaways  Weather machines are active worldwide, helping to control rainfall, storm severity, and snowpack levels. Cloud seeding is the primary weather control technique, and uses agents such as dry ice to speed up droplet production. Perforated pipes in the ocean could bring cooler water to the surface and help reduce hurricane intensity.Have you ever looked up at dark clouds rolling in and wished you could wave them away? Although weather manipulation on a personal level exists only in fiction, weather machine technology on a bigger scale is already on the horizon. Based around cloud modification, Business Insider notes that around the world, many countries are working on storm control.Man-Made Weather ManipulationAlthough it sounds like science fiction, weather machines are in action around the world already, influencing factors such as rainfall, storm severity and snowpack. Most of these rely on cloud seeding techniques that force clouds to rain.For example, China is investing heavily in large projects to ensure sufficient agricultural water supply. News Corp Australia describes vast ground-based cauldrons or burners that release rain-making silver iodide particles into updrafts. As part of the "Skyriver" project, around 500 artificial rainmaking machines near the Tibetan plateau will cover an area larger than Alaska. Business Insider estimates rainfall of around 10 billion cubic meters.The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is also investigating weather manipulation. Since large parts of the country are arid, there is great stress on groundwater supplies in areas with low rainfall and high evaporation rates. According to the Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science, UAE researchers are looking into aircraft dispersal cloud seeding to increase rainfall and improve the freshwater supply.The Alberta government in Canada also uses cloud seeding to modify precipitation. Its hail suppression program uses aircraft to launch dispersal agents into storm clouds and reduce the size of hail. According to Chemical and Engineering News, the use of silver iodide seeding was able to reduce hail storm severity above Alberta by 27 percent.How Weather Machine Technology WorksThe technology behind the current battery of weather machines relies on cloud seeding: Spraying agents such as dry ice, silver or potassium iodide or pure salt crystals into rain-bearing clouds speeds up droplet formation. The particles dispersed from aircraft or rockets act as nuclei for water droplets already present in the cloud. As water gathers around the nuclei, they become too heavy, and gravity takes over.This technique also makes snow. In The Conversation, two researchers described how clouds grew ice crystals following silver iodide seeding. Using wing-mounted sensors, they followed crystal formation along the path taken by an aircraft spraying silver iodide through the cloud. Areas that were not seeded did not form crystals.Storm Control for Climate ChangeUnderstanding how weather is made and how it can be manipulated could be valuable in the future. Of course, good snowfall is a boon to ski resorts, but it is also valuable in areas that regularly experience summer drought. Building up seasonal snowpack increases meltwater abundance for the spring and summer water supplies.Other types of weather machines could also reduce storm intensity. Although the National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) acknowledges that cloud seeding for hurricane suppression has been unsuccessful, other weather machines could have success in the future.Bubbles for Hurricane SuppressionOcean temperatures drive hurricane formation, as a storm's intensity depends on warm water at the surface. Making it cooler could, in theory, diminish the power of a hurricane.An ocean weather machine that produces bubble curtains, bringing cooler water from the depths, could reduce surface temperature. Newsweek describes a system of perforated pipes blowing bubbles from 100 to 150 meters deep that lift cold water to cool the surface. Similar technology is already in place in Norwegian fjords to stop them from freezing in the winter, but here the bubbles bring warmer water to the cooler wintry surface.Another suggestion blocks ocean warming in the hurricane's path by making brighter clouds to deflect sunlight. Loading clouds up with small water droplets makes them more reflective. Vox describes a theoretical prototype that sprays salt water plumes from floating weather machines positioned in the hurricane path. The machine's inventor however, acknowledges that so far, success exists only in computer models.Although fine control of our weather is still only available in films, research into weather forecasting has advanced in the last few decades. Breakthroughs in technology have improved prediction science and facilitated data gathering to reveal how and why weather happens. This exciting innovation could help refine weather manipulation, with the potential that weather machines could help mitigate climate change.We don't have total control over the weather (yet), but Northrop Grumman is on the leading edge of innovation that empowers the human experience. Learn more about how we're defining possible.

Storm Control With Weather Machine Technology

Botanists are combining science and the arts by using Henry David Thoreau's literature to understand how plants — specifically spring wildflowers — are reacting to changes in global temperatures. Thoreau's observations of plant life in Massachusetts has been referenced in a recent study by researchers at the University of Tennessee, University of Maine, Boston University and Syracuse University. The study demonstrates the importance of opening scientific work to those outside the field. While scientists are often busy examining the microscopic details of the world, writers can help put research into context. What Henry David Thoreau's Work Reveals About the Climate "Walden," a staple in the American literary canon, famously details Thoreau's life in a cabin in the woods by Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. He experimented with basic living, and he meticulously described his surroundings. A study published in Ecology Letters in March 2019 combines current research with scientific observations made by Thoreau in the 1850s. The study looks at the dates in spring when plants begin producing leaves, known as leaf-out dates. The scientists report that over the past century, "temperatures in Concord have warmed by 3 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit)," and the warmer climate has made plants produce leaves earlier in the year than during Thoreau's time in the woods, according to Science Daily. "Wildflowers are now leafing out about one week earlier than 160 years ago, but the trees are leafing out two weeks earlier," said researcher Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie of Boston University. "Understory wildflowers need the sunny conditions before the trees leaf out for their energy budgets." Science Daily notes that the window of time between wildflowers blooming and leaves opening is shortening, and scientists expect this gap to continue to get smaller because global temperatures are predicted to continue to increase at even faster rates in the future. This means that the flowers will have less time without leaf coverage, which means less time to photosynthesize in the spring. They report that these changes could have downstream consequences for other elements of the ecosystem. Literature and Science Like Thoreau, there are many other instances of literary observations being used to help further discoveries in the scientific community throughout history.   In the 1638 novel "The Man in the Moone," the protagonist builds a flying machine that he rides to the moon, where he meets aliens. Francis Godwin wrote this book long before space exploration was possible, but it helped spread foundational ideas like heliocentrism and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. As The Atlantic says, "Science fiction alone did not inspire the scientific revolution, but the literature of the era did allow people to imagine different realities—in some cases, long before those realities actually became real."  Author Aldous Huxley is famous for writing "A Brave New World," but Huxley's last published essay was "Literature and Science." A book review published in Science in 1964 describes how Huxley didn't want literature and science to reconcile, but to unite in their diversity, with literature focusing on the private experience and science striving for observations of facts.  Creative nonfiction writer John McPhee won a Pulitzer Prize for his geology collection, "Annals of the Former World," which describes how North America formed.  Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" kickstarted environmentalism, influenced a change in our national pesticide policy and led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Science and the arts both aim to understand and describe people and the world we live in. When science is open to a broader audience, outside perspectives can help come up with creative solutions to scientific problems. Literature like Thoreau's observations of nature can help more people understand science, which can influence public opinion and lead to policy change.

Science and the Arts: Botanists Use Thoreau to Study Wildflowers

Hummingbirds already feel like avian outliers. With their hovering ability that's more akin to insect-like flapping than familial feathery frameworks and their hearts racing at a ridiculous 1,200 beats per minute, it's no surprise that many species require up to 500 flowers worth of nectar simply to survive each day. Now, researchers have added a new evolutionary twist to the already-bonkers narrative of this live-fast, fly-hard bird: suspended animation to solve for cool, high-altitude climates.  That's right — when the going gets cold, these the tiny tweeters get even colder, dropping their body temperatures to a near-freezing 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Here's how.  Everybody, Just Cool It!  The high altitudes of the Peruvian Andes offer an ideal hummingbird environment rich in nectar and short on predators — at least during the day. At night, temperatures quickly tank, often coming close to the freezing mark. And for a bird that survives with a mystical combination of speed, nectar supply and sheer force of will, this is a serious problem.  The solution? Suspended animation. Researchers from the University of Pretoria in South Africa and the University of New Mexico captured six species of Andean hummingbirds and found that all were capable of entering a state of "torpor," which saw their body temperatures and heart rates significantly lowered, in turn making it possible for them to survive chilly mountaintop nights. And while some species like the sparkling violetear reduced their bodies to a set temperature of around 46 degrees Fahrenheit, others like the black metaltail displayed adaptive climate controls — one bird, in particular, reached a low point of 38 degrees Fahrenheit, the lowest temperature ever recorded for a hummingbird.  The Science of Suspended Animation  So, why suspended animation? Put simply, the lower the temperature and the slower the heartbeat, the less energy needed to survive. This is a big deal for small creatures like hummingbirds, which often run at 96 degrees or more during the day. Blair Wolf, professor of biology at the University of New Mexico, notes that this extreme temperature differential could allow hummingbirds to cut their energy usage by 95% overnight. It also makes them "cold as a rock," according to Wolf. "If you didn't know better, you'd think they were dead."  But they're not — when sunrise starts, the birds begin warming by around one degree per minute, vibrating quickly to warm up chilly muscles and get systems back up to speed. "You see the bird quivering there," says Wolf, "then all the sudden its eyes pop open and it's ready to go."  Tracking the Torpor Trail  If this cooling off and chilling out sounds familiar, that's no surprise — many species enter the long-term low-temperature state of hibernation during the winter months.  But that's not what's happening here. Instead, the birds are conquering climate concerns by leveraging what's known as "torpor". While hibernation and torpor share the characteristic of heterothermy (hypermetabolic states associated with low body temperature), hibernation lasts consecutive days or weeks and relies on food stores, whereas torpor lasts less than 24 hours and relies on daily food foraging.  The length of hummingbird torpor times is also relevant; the researchers found that birds who used torpor states only briefly could lose up to 15% of their body weight, while hummingbird torpor that lasted overnight caused a weight loss of just 2%. There's also anecdotal evidence to suggest that some hummingbirds may even enter a state of true hibernation.  The Cold and the Beautiful  Hummingbirds are fascinating, fragile creatures that somehow manage to survive with super-speed heart rates and a need for nectar that can't be sated. As it turns out, they're also capable of extraordinary organism action — enduring Andes mountain nights by turning off the motor and masquerading as tiny, low-temperature feathered rocks until the sun rises again.  Live fast. Fly hard. Sleep frosty.  

Live Fast, Fly Hard, Sleep Frosty: The Science of Suspended Animation

As the Earth rises in temperature, all living things on the planet are having to adapt. Climate change is forcing changes in plants' and animals' usual behavior for survival. For example, as global warming alters the seasons, early spring is advancing plant growth, and warmer temperatures are causing breeding cycles to progress earlier in the year. Migration patterns are shifting in response, bringing species into certain areas earlier in the year or as new residents. Fossil fuel use is the major cause of these changes, which makes humans the biggest contributors to global warming. We will undoubtedly feel the effects of climate change beyond adverse weather events. Accordingly, we will need to prepare for food shortages, diseases spreading due to migration, and the loss of biodiversity as biomes shift around us. What Is a Biome, and How Are Biomes Shifting? The word biome refers to the biological communities found under a shared regional climate. Larger than a habitat (the physical environment in which species live), biomes comprise plants and animals, and a single biome can hold several different habitats containing numerous ecosystems, which Sciencing describes as systems of biological interaction between living things and their physical environments. As Live Science notes, climate change is impacting global temperature and weather, which is altering the environment in turn. The increase in Earth's average temperature is affecting weather patterns such as storms, precipitation and wind, in addition to making some areas warmer or colder. Less or more rain and heat can impact plant growth, affecting seasonal availability of food, while extreme weather events will render some habitats uninhabitable. National Geographic lists the five major biomes as grassland, tundra, aquatic, desert and forest (rainforest and temperate). As climate change progresses, one prominent effect we will continue to see is certain biomes shifting locations. Shifting Biomes Change Migration Patterns As biomes move, migration patterns often move with them. Many animals migrate seasonally to make the best of resources and environmental conditions. Moving to an area with abundant food and a suitable climate helps these animals breed and raise their young. However, as a result of climate change, animals in both hemispheres are migrating earlier and moving closer to the poles to keep up with earlier growth seasons and cooler climates. For example, NASA reports that tracking data on around 200 Arctic species collected between 1991 and 2019 shows that arctic animals are changing behavior as climate change impacts the region. The analysis showed that eagle migrations were beginning earlier each year, with the birds leaving their winter nesting sites and heading north for the summer. The eagles began the migration half a day earlier each year, which added up to a two-week advance in their migration over 25 years. National Parks in the U.S. also hold key data pertaining to the effects of climate change. For instance, in addition to animals like the alpine-dwelling pika moving to higher altitudes to escape heat, trees are also "moving" further northward. Scientific American reports that altered climate is affecting mule deer in Wyoming and Bewick's swans in Europe. More frequent droughts are reducing vegetation growth along the mule deer migration corridor, resulting is less abundant food sources and shorter periods of availability. Mule deer are coping by moving more rapidly along their migration paths. In Europe, Bewick's swans have altered their patterns of migration, shifting overwintering further east to find more suitable temperatures. Even the iconic monarch butterfly is being impacted by climate change. Its migration patterns have shifted, forcing a longer journey to follow milkweed availability. As a result, they are growing larger wings to fly to breeding grounds further north.  Consequences of Chaotic Migration Patterns Migration disruption also affects food resources. Because insect migration patterns are impacted by climate change as well, numerous species that depend on them as food are being forced to look elsewhere for sustenance, and at different times of year. Altered insect migration can also have another sinister side effect: disease. As insect species such as ticks and mosquitoes expand their ranges, they may also carry arthropod-borne disease such as Zika virus into new areas. As food crops become more difficult to cultivate in some areas and increasingly severe weather makes certain regions uninhabitable, human migrations will also shift. Economic migration is mobilizing human populations to seek better living conditions and stability. Like war, the effects of climate irregularities are increasing the number of refugees around the world substantially.  In all, it's clear that humans, the biggest contributors to global warming, cannot avoid all of the changes that climate change will bring. However, there are steps we can take now to counteract its adverse effects, both for ourselves and for all other forms of life on Earth. Are you interested in science and innovation? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Global Warming Impacts Migration Patterns

In April 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden set a national goal of creating a completely carbon-free electric power grid by 2035. Reaching that goal, however, will require massive use of renewables — including wind, solar, and hydroelectric power — and getting that clean energy from where it is generated to where it is needed, day or night, anywhere in the U.S. Delivering that clean energy will also require a significant expansion of the nation's transmission capabilities, perhaps doubling or tripling our current capacity, notes nonprofit Energy Systems Integration Group. An Interstate "Highway" for Electricity Enter macrogrid, a concept for a national network of multi-regional, high-capacity, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines that would connect the major sub-grids or interconnections that make up the national electric power grid. HVDC transmission lines would connect to existing or updated alternating current (AC) networks that distribute electricity within regions. Likened by some to a Federal Interstate Highway System for electricity, macrogrid first emerged as a concept circa 2016 in the writings of Dale Osborn, a transmission planning engineer and consulting advisor for regulatory and economic studies for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator. Fortifying the Grid "It's important to note that macrogrid is a network, not simply a connection from one point to another," notes Dr. Jim McCalley, an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering and the Jack London Chair in Power Systems Engineering at Iowa State University (ISU) — a national authority on the macrogrid. "It would interconnect major load (electricity demand) centers with major sources of renewable energy, including wind, solar, hydroelectric power, even offshore wind." In addition to helping decarbonize the national grid, McCalley points out, a macrogrid would also add resilience, reliability and multiregional power and capacity-sharing capabilities to the grid. "With infrastructure, you sometimes have short- or medium-term events you didn't expect, such as the widespread, cold-weather-induced power outages in Texas in Feb 2021," he explains. "Macrogrid facilitates the strength of the grid and its ability to deal with these types of issues in a very positive fashion." Sharing of power generation capacity between regions, McCalley suggests, would also allow each part of the country to meet its annual peak power demand — the Midwest typically peaks in July or August, for example, while the Pacific Northwest peaks in winter or early summer — without having to invest in additional power generation infrastructure. Opening up the Seam According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), the nation's power grid comprises three major sub-grids: the Western Interconnection, the Eastern Interconnection and the Texas interconnection (overseen by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.) These grids are large — the eastern grid, with a total capacity of 1,460 MW, actually cross the so-called "Seam" between the two regions. The Seam follows a north-south, slightly meandering path from eastern Montana to the western edge of the Texas panhandle. In 2016, the DoE commissioned a two-year Interconnections Seam Study led by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The study, which included national lab, university and industry partners, quantified the benefits and costs of several options, including macrogrid, for transmitting power across the U.S. electric grid. A McCalley-led team from Iowa State supported the study by developing computer models for different ways that transmission capacity could evolve. Delivering Value, Managing Costs The Seam Study produced two major findings, explains Joshua Novacheck, an NREL electricity system research engineer and the technical lead on the study: "We concluded that there's a lot of economic value in being able to trade power between the Eastern and Western Interconnections, whether you're using macrogrid or some other transmission expansion approach," he says. "We also found that HVDC transmission across the Seam enables dynamic power trading among regions, which adds important diversity to the power options available to these regions." To explain interregional power trading, Novacheck suggests that California could share its peak (and less expensive) mid-afternoon solar power with East Coast consumers as they enter their early evening peak demand period. Similarly, less expensive wind energy generated in the Midwest in the mid-evening could be shared with West Coast consumers as they enter their early-evening high-demand period. "Cross-country power trading would be preferable," Novacheck advises, "to having communities rely on local but very expensive fossil-fuel-powered, greenhouse-gas-emitting power plants to fill gaps in power supplies." Some of these gaps could also be filled by hydroelectric power, he suggests. While most U.S. sources of such power have already been developed, hydropower remains an important part of the overall macrogrid equation, primarily as a backup to other renewable sources on calm or cloudy days. Leveraging Mature Technology According to McCalley, HVDC is the most mature, most desirable transmission technology to use for the macrogrid. "Today's HVDC lines can carry large amounts of current with little loss," he explains, "which makes them perfect for connecting renewable wind and solar resources — often located in remote parts of the country — to distant load centers." In addition, according to Rob Gramlich, founder and President of Grid Strategies LLC, the technology used in modern HVDC converter stations — the "on-ramps" and "off-ramps" of macrogrid that convert current back and forth between DC and AC — will help ensure a stable, reliable macrogrid. "The newest voltage-source converter technology can shift the magnitude and direction of power flowing through converter stations almost instantaneously, which will make it easier to control how much power enters or leaves the macrogrid network at any particular substation," says Gramlich. Rethinking Energy Policy Gramlich also notes that the road to the macrogrid is unfortunately anything but clear, even though it provides an opportunity to move large amounts of renewable energy quickly and inexpensively over long distances. "Our current electricity system and regulatory structure were not set up to handle an opportunity like macrogrid," he explains. "The 330 transmission owners in the country generally operate locally and are regulated locally or at the state level. It's only in recent years that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has come in to encourage more interregional transmission system planning." There is also the matter of macrogrid cost and who should pay for it. A network of transmission lines that crosses multiple states makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly who benefits and by how much, Gramlich observes. But just as the Federal Interstate Highway System allows consumers to travel freely as needed from east to west, north to south, etc., a macrogrid would benefit most consumers at one time or another. "There's a national interest in avoiding long-duration outages because we've seen how society can completely fall apart without electric power," he points out. "A robust macro grid is one of the best things we can do to avoid such outages. That benefit alone provides a good justification for taxpayer funding." Shifting the Paradigm A transition to macrogrid or other new types of interstate transmission networks will also require a culture shift of sorts, as Novacheck points out: "Many communities currently rely on a local nuclear energy or fossil-fuel-burning power plant to fill gaps in their renewable energy supplies on short notice," he says. "If we're suddenly talking about massive exchanges of energy between regions, that paradigm will have to change. It could cause communities to wonder if they can count on their neighbors to deliver the power needed to serve load reliably and cost effectively." Starting the Investment President Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides funding for much-needed transmission infrastructure, including a $2.5 billion revolving fund managed by the DoE to fund eligible projects. That funding is merely a down payment on what would eventually be needed to fund the macrogrid, notes Gramlich, but "it can help in the near term with specific projects, get them deployed and over the finish line." In the longer term, he believes, the DoE can help states and grid stakeholders plan and elevate everyone's vision toward a larger opportunity such as the macrogrid. The DoE plans to manage and fund IIJA-motivated transmission upgrade projects through its "Building a Better Grid" initiative launched in Jan. 2022. Looking to the Present In addition to IIJA commitments to transmission, McCalley sees other hopeful signs that the nation favors a larger-scale, macrogrid-like transmission network. "The transmission project for which I have seen the least resistance has been the SOO Green HVDC Link project, which is delivering wind power from Iowa to the Chicago area, all underground," he says. "They are burying their transmission lines along railroad rights of way." Burying transmission lines is more expensive than constructing overhead lines by a factor of about two, McCalley admits, but it often eliminates consumer resistance as well as the visual, land and environmental impacts of above-ground transmission lines. He's also excited about Power from the Prairie (PftP), a proposed 600-mile, 4,000 MW HVDC transmission line that would run from southeast Wyoming to northwest Iowa. It would be a critical leg of a two-way renewable energy superhighway connecting Southern California to Chicago and the PJM Interconnection grid that extends to the East Coast. McCalley believes that PftP could also serve as a demonstration or pathfinder project for how the macrogrid might one day be implemented. Solving the Puzzle Novacheck believes that HVDC transmission remains one of the most mature and cost-effective technologies for meeting national decarbonization goals. But for all of the resilience and reliability benefits it offers, it's still only part of a larger puzzle. "At NREL, we don't see a single solution to achieve a completely decarbonized power grid," he suggests. "A macrogrid alone is not going to do it, storage alone is not going to do it, renewables technology alone is not going to do it. It's really a system of potential solutions. By piecing these solutions together, however, we can help put the nation on the fastest, cheapest path to decarbonization." Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Macrogrid Could Help Connect US to a Clean Energy Future

Ocean acidification is on the rise as our seas soak up rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Although the increase in the last 200 years over the industrial age has been modest, the change is noticeable. A recent presentation at the annual Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference showed that when the ocean is more acid, bioluminescence is brighter. The presentation highlighted work by researchers from the University of Hawaii, who mimicked the anticipated rise in ocean acidity to investigate its effect on secretory bioluminescence, as Science News reports. After extracting the bioluminescence chemicals from various marine organisms, the light reaction generated in the increased acidity was up to 15% brighter, according to the presentation abstract. This suggests ocean acidification could have a major effect on light generation in a host of bioluminescent ocean organisms and seriously affect the marine sensory environment. Ocean Life and Bioluminescence Bioluminescence is a way of life for millions of sea creatures who generate their own light sources to feed, mate and escape predators in the gloomy depths. Some organisms, such as the dinoflagellates that create red tides, make the light internally. But for others, the process is external or secretory. Because it requires a chemical reaction, bioluminescence is often governed by surrounding acidity. For secretory bioluminescence, it's the pH of the surrounding seawater that is important. Acidity is measured by pH, a logarithmic scale of hydrogen ion activity in an aqueous solution. Neutral solutions, such as water, measure at around pH 7, whereas acidic lemon juice is closer to pH 2. Preindustrial age oceans measured around pH 8.2; now they are pH 8.1, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts further ocean acidification will reach pH 7.67 by 2100. Carbon Dioxide Drives Ocean Acidification Human activity such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation continues to release more CO2 into the atmosphere, forcing climate change. Our oceans play an important role in soaking up some of the excess gas, which produces chemical reactions that reduce seawater PH, according to the NOAA. With more CO2 available in the atmosphere, acidity increases. Researchers predict that the rising acidity will affect animal behavior. Some species use bioluminescence to signal to a potential mate or to lure food, as Science News points out. Having your own light source is incredibly valuable in the depths of the ocean where sunlight doesn't penetrate. There are also some that use a bioluminescent burst to escape from predators, releasing a glow bomb to distract and confuse or by setting a beacon that brings other larger predators to the buffet. However, not only will animals that rely on bioluminescence have to adapt swiftly, but they may also see changes in where they live and what they eat. Coral bleaching has been covered extensively as a prime example of warmer waters due to climate change. Acidification also makes it difficult for coral beds to survive. The NOAA notes that fewer carbonate ions are available to bond with calcium for skeleton growth and repair. This also impacts shell building in a wide range of marine species, including oysters and pteropods. Pteropods, also known as sea butterflies, are sea snails that form a valuable foundation of the food web for animals ranging from krill to whales. In acidic conditions, the pteropod shells simply dissolve. Beyond the Oceans Species loss and brighter oceans are two possible consequences, but acidic seas will impact terrestrial life, too. NOAA research predicts that with rising acidity, the ocean's buffer capacity could be 34% less by 2100. As a result, much less CO2 will be absorbed and more will remain in the atmosphere to drive climate change. Acidification could also impact another marine ecosystem that's important for trapping carbon. The biological carbon pump (BCP) relies partly on phytoplankton at the surface that take in CO2. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute describes how the phytoplankton convert the gas into organic carbon during photosynthesis. This is then sequestered in the ocean depths either as waste from the zooplankton that eat these tiny organisms or as the bodies of the creatures themselves. Researchers speculate that turning off the BCP could double atmospheric CO2. In Nature Climate Change, commenting on their original paper, the authors note that their 10-year study shows that ocean acidification does affect the BCP, as well as marine nutrient cycling. Though the results are highly variable and still not clear, the researchers note that the effects of ocean acidification on the smallest organisms have potential to impact the carbon cycle worldwide.

In a Flash: How Bioluminescent Organisms Signal Ocean Acidification

From school children to retired couples, everyday people around the world are participating in citizen science projects. Some help count migrating birds, monitor litter in their neighborhood, spot honeybees infected with a parasite or observe and report cloud cover. Now, two Norwegian women, Hilde Fé¥lun Stré¸m and Sunniva Sorby, are taking citizen science to new heights. The adventurers began a nine-month project called Hearts in the Ice in August 2019 to live on a remote island in the Arctic and collect a range of climate change research data. Since then, they've been observing wildlife, collecting water samples, photographing different types of clouds and daytime auroras, field-testing new technology and inspiring others to minimize their carbon footprint. Stré¸m and Sorby, who are the first women to overwinter in Svalbard without any men, say they draw inspiration from other female pioneers and hope their act will encourage others to take action against climate change. "It's overwhelming to be so vulnerable as we are, yet so meaningful to play a role in helping people around the world understand that mother nature needs us all right now," Sorby said in a January 2020 press statement via satellite phone from their small trapper cabin, named Bamsebu, which was built in 1930 and is about 86 miles south of Longyearbyen, the nearest town. From Phytoplankton to Polar Bears Stré¸m and Sorby are undertaking seven different citizen science projects, while also managing to survive a long, dark winter, isolation, occasional hurricane-force winds, temperatures of -22 degrees Fahrenheit and polar bear visits. In addition to conducting climate change research, Stré¸m and Sorby have been spending their free time picking up plastics that wash up on shore and photographing the wildlife, including Svalbard Reindeer, Arctic foxes, walruses, seals and whales, as well as thousands of migrating birds. There are also polar bears. About eight weeks into their expedition, they encountered two polar bears within a 12-hour period. "It was so sudden! I opened the door and 3 seconds later — there she was! My heart was racing! She glanced at me and then pushed off her hind legs and ran down the hill and south towards the fjord," Sorby wrote in a Hearts in the Ice blog post dated Nov. 13, 2019. The next day, while out for a walk, the women saw a large polar bear running off and found that it had killed a reindeer. Such behavior is not normal for polar bears, who almost exclusively hunt seals on sea ice. But with ice taking longer to freeze and melting sooner in the year, polar bears have to find other prey, the team wrote. "Reindeer is a great alternative, but the polar bears need to learn to hunt them. The polar bear we saw run away from its kill had clearly been lying in wait behind a knoll above where the reindeer was. She waited until it was close enough and then slid down the hill — we saw the skid marks," they write. Female Pioneers Stré¸m and Sorby are no strangers to extreme environments. Stré¸m, who was fascinated by stories of polar explorers as a child, moved to Svalbard more than 23 years ago. She has experience hunting, dog sledding, skiing, has lived for months at a time in remote huts and has had 200 polar bear encounters. Sorby is an experienced expeditioner, who has spent more than two decades working in Antarctica as a guide and historian. She has skied across the Greenland icecap, across King George Island and was among the first all-women team to ski across Antarctica to the South Pole in 1993. That expedition was led by Ann Bancroft, who was the first woman to cross Arctic ice to the North Pole, the first woman to reach the South Pole, and the leader of the first American women's east-west crossing of Greenland. Stré¸m and Sorby say they draw inspiration for their nine-month overwintering expedition from two women pioneers. The first is Hanna Resvoll-Holmsen, a Norwegian botanist born in 1873. She went on an expedition to Svalbard in 1907 led by the oceanographer Prince Albert, and the following year went again — this time alone — to take photographs. Her photos and botanical observations were published in scientific journals. She advocated strongly for the protection of Svalbard and the entire natural world. The second pioneer is the American nature writer, scientist and ecologist Rachel Carson, born in 1907, whose book "Silent Spring" confronted the issue of the destruction of nature and is credited with advancing the global environmental movement. "She remains an example of what one committed individual can do to change the direction of society. Never doubt the power of one!" say Stré¸m and Sorby. In March, as the end of their project came into view, Stré¸m and Sorby heard of the coronavirus pandemic overtaking the world. They wrote a post to the world offering encouragement and tips for living in isolation. They suggest staying connected, reaching out to people you care about and working to resolve differences. They suggest ways for solving problems that draw from patience, collaboration and adaptability, using all possible resources and reducing waste. They suggest self-care and creativity to infuse those around you with love. From the beginning Stré¸m and Sorby had a wish for what they might see when their time at Bamsebu came to a close. "We hope that every single person out there understands that they matter and can make an invaluable contribution. We hope individuals would step up to their own leadership abilities, discover a science project in nature they are passionately curious about and become a citizen scientist. Only then will we all embrace the planet!"

Extreme Citizen Science Underway in the Arctic

For millennia, weary travelers have uttered, "Water!" with relief and joy as they encounter fresh, drinkable water to quench their thirst. The need for freshwater is especially urgent when out at sea, surrounded by a literal ocean of undrinkable saltwater. Sophisticated sensing technology is now revealing vast deposits of freshwater under the ocean floor, which could one day provide a reliable source of water for communities on land.
Sound fishy? It's not a mirage — just an extension of geological concepts to the seafloor, which remains poorly explored even today. Discoveries made deep below the waters may hold promise for the resource-constrained future.
The First Signs of Water Underneath Water
Back in the 1800s, fishers off the coast of Florida reported "boils" of water that rose to the ocean surface and did not taste salty, as described in Scientific American. How is this possible? Freshwater is less dense than saltwater because the salt fits in the space between water molecules and adds weight. Therefore, freshwater will naturally rise to the surface of the ocean unless it is constrained by a waterproof barrier, such as a layer of impermeable rock.
To begin to understand the source of this freshwater in the ocean, it's important to know that geological formations do not end at the coastline. Continents extend offshore to form a rocky underwater shelf. Some of these rocks have cracks that allow seawater to penetrate. In many regions, the continental shelf is covered by layers of sedimentary rock, which contains interconnected pores that fill with water. As on land, these layers of rock may be permeable or impermeable.
In the 1960s, the U.S. Geological Survey drilled boreholes off the New Jersey coast and unexpectedly struck freshwater. Later studies revealed that the water was a mixture of rainwater and seawater — located 65 kilometers (40 miles) out to sea. In the 1990s, researchers started to map these freshwater deposits with controlled source electromagnetic sensing, a technology used by the petroleum industry to detect offshore oil deposits. Electromagnetic sensing essentially measures how well the seafloor conducts electrical current.
Mapping Freshwater Deposits
The sodium and chloride ions in saltwater can conduct electricity. Therefore, portions of the seafloor that contain saltwater in rock cracks and pores will conduct electricity better than portions of the seafloor that contain freshwater under a layer of impermeable rock.
To map the freshwater deposits off the coast of New Jersey and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, a research ship transmitted electromagnetic fields hundreds of meters down to the seabed, as reported in Scientific Reports. Return signals were detected by floating receivers attached to a line trailing the ship and by sensors on the sea floor. The results clearly showed that there are freshwater deposits — or submarine aquifers — off the coasts of these areas.
The amount of water in these deposits is still unclear. This is because electromagnetic sensing will give the same reading for a highly porous rock filled with fresher water as for a less porous rock filled with slightly salty water.
Aquifers as a Source of Freshwater
On land, modern-day humans often get water by drilling into aquifers that may or may not be capped by a layer of impermeable rock, as outlined by the U.S. Geological Survey. Aquifers are layers of porous rock or sediment that hold water. Some are shallow and can be replenished by rainfall. Other aquifers are much deeper and hold water that could be thousands of years old.
The simplest explanation for the deposits of freshwater under the ocean is that they are — or were — extensions of aquifers on land. Some of these submarine aquifers appear to be fed by modern-day rain that falls on land, while others may be ancient — filled by glaciers or rain when sea levels were lower. The "boils" of freshwater detected by fishers in the 1800s must have come from a break in the waterproof rock layer, much like freshwater bubbles out of natural springs on land.
Researchers estimate that there may be one million cubic kilometers of freshwater trapped in submarine aquifers around the world. For reference, New York City uses 1.4 cubic kilometers of water per year. Therefore, these submarine aquifers could be an invaluable resource for drought-prone regions that need to irrigate crops and care for people. Studies are underway to identify additional submarine aquifers around the world.
Extracting the Water Underneath Water
All aquifers have different characteristics, which are important to understand before considering any large-scale operation to extract water. The water in any submarine aquifer contains at least some salt, so some desalination would be required before the water could enter the water supply.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the salinity — or salt content — of seawater is about 35 parts per thousand (ppt). Freshwater has a salinity of less than 1 ppt. Samples taken from the submarine aquifers off the coast of New Jersey and Martha's Vineyard had salinity between 0.2 and 9.0 ppt. The higher the salinity, the more energy-intensive the desalination process.
For a submarine aquifer that's no longer connected to a source of water on land, pumping out freshwater could create a void that would be filled by saltwater. This would steadily increase the salt content of any remaining water in the aquifer. For a submarine aquifer that's connected to an aquifer on land, extracting from the submarine aquifer could cause mixing that increases the salinity of the land aquifer, negatively impacting natural habitats or people. Pumping from the submarine aquifer could also drain the onshore aquifer and even cause the land to sink.
In some situations, these risks may be offset by the enormous potential of submarine aquifers, so research groups may dive further into the problem. As the human population continues to grow, we must find ways to get the resources we need while protecting the natural environment, and if we can find safe ways to access and extract freshwater from these aquifers, then it may be a promising step forward.
Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.


Freshwater Deposits Under the Ocean Floor? Sounds Fishy

Climate change and melting glaciers in the Arctic are negatively impacting sea levels. Reduced sea ice challenges polar animals by interfering with the food web, closing down traditional hunting strategies and increasing traffic. These are local problems with global impact. Conversely, polar exploration also benefits from thawing ice. Increased access to field sites is revealing the historical record of climate cycles, while microbes living deep within the ice give clues to antibiotic resistance and survival tactics. Arctic Ice at Sea and on Land The Arctic is defined by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) as the region lying north of the Arctic Circle (66Â° 34'), where there is no sunset on the summer solstice or sunrise on the winter solstice. The Arctic is also described as the lands north of the tree line, including northern latitudes where summer temperatures do not rise above 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). In this region, ice is found all over the Arctic Ocean, or as glaciers or ice caps on the land around its perimeter. While sea ice melt doesn't contribute to rising ocean levels, water from thawing glaciers and ice caps does. Due to global warming, glaciers are melting at much faster rates. News Deeply reports that if the whole Greenland ice sheet melts (approximately 1.7 million square kilometers or 656,000 square miles), sea levels will rise around 7.2 m (23.62 feet). But regardless of where it's found, ice coverage in the Arctic can be an obstacle to polar exploration. Polar Exploration Takes Advantage of Melting Ice As the ice melts, nations gain easier access to polar exploration. Benefits include safer, faster shipping lanes and easier resource survey and extraction. There is even potential for renewable energy production and sustainable fish harvesting. Bloomberg lists energy sources such as oil and gas, in addition to precious and rare earth metals, sparking interest. Arctic permafrost — the rock and soil that stays permanently frozen year-round — is also thawing and opening up areas for resource exploration and extraction. However, this is causing problems with infrastructure such as roads; even the Global Seed Vault is affected. Ice Melt Uncovers Historical Climate Records Ice melt also opens up areas for scientific discovery; researchers have found valuable data as the Arctic ice recedes. Samples need to be quickly collected before warmer conditions destroy the evidence. On Baffin Island, melting ice has uncovered historical plant life that shows how changes in global temperature affected vegetation in the region throughout history. Rooted moss and lichen, which have been exposed as glaciers retreat, have been reliably carbon dated to 40,000 years ago, says CBC News. Research published in Nature suggests that summer conditions are now the warmest in around 115,000 years. Melting Ice Reveals New Fungi Science Daily reports the discovery of two new fungi. Researchers from Japan and Canada found the new species in a rapidly melting glacier on Ellesmere Island to the west of Greenland.  Both fungi are a type of yeast, and their discovery helps expand research on diversity in the region. Scientists are better able to understand the impact of climate change on the cold-adapted species and their role in decomposing organic material in the Arctic. Cautious Next Steps for Polar Exploration Researchers have found microbes alive in thawing ice samples. BBC News reports that ancient bacteria trapped in ice cores formed thousands of years ago in an Alaskan pond came back to life and started swimming.  Researchers also discovered 30,000-year-old viruses still capable of infection after their deep freeze. Rising temperatures risk reawakening old diseases. For example:   Animal carcasses don't decompose in sub-zero temperatures, so disease-causing pathogens can survive and spread when the carcasses of polar animals resurface.  In addition to microbes coming back to life when conditions improve, some, like anthrax, survive long periods of freezing by creating indestructible but infective spores.  Vox also notes that permafrost stores mercury, carbon dioxide and methane.  Awareness of these hazards could help protect workers mining the new resources. Potential for New Medicine Research could also be valuable to medicine. In 2012, Scientific American proposed that Arctic ice as an excellent repository for novel genomic material. Even though they haven't been exposed to modern commercial antibiotics, some ancient bacteria contain antimicrobial resistance genes. While this is worrying in terms of potential disease risk, genomic research could benefit from learning about these novel resistance mechanisms and allied virulence factors as targets for new drugs.

Climate Change Opens Up Polar Exploration

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault sits north of the Arctic Circle, around 800 miles from the North Pole. Its lone entrance tunnel emerges from a bleak mountainside more like a science fiction set or James Bond lair than a plant repository. Built as a safeguard against crop failure from violent catastrophe, climate change or more mundane factors such as disease that could bring humanity to the brink of starvation, the seed bank is a vital tool for conservation of plant species.   History of the Seed Vault   The global seed vault, situated on an island in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, opened its doors in February 2008. It is managed by the Norwegian government, Crop Trust and the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre. In its first year of operation, the vault gathered seeds from 90,000 food crop seed samples from sources outside the Nordic Gene Bank's collection, bringing the total in storage to 400,000.   As of 2013, a paper in PLoS One estimated that the inventory deposited by 53 individual gene banks represented "more than one third of the globally distinct accessions of 156 crop genera stored in [all global] genebanks as orthodox seeds."   At the vault's 10th anniversary last year, total holdings were counted at 983,524 accessions with 76 institutes depositing seeds. During 2018 alone, 30 gene banks and institutes deposited 92,638 precious seed samples — the busiest year since 2011.   What Is Stored in the Vault?   The global seed vault is home to 32 varieties of potato, alongside more than one-third of the planet's most important food crop varieties. Focusing primarily on important crop species that maintain food production and are necessary to sustain viable agriculture, the vault contains around 150,000 samples of wheat and rice, plus around 80,000 samples of barley. Other species include sorghum, maize, soybean and oats.   Each sample comprises 500 seeds, quadruple-wrapped in foil packets and stored in large plastic totes. According to Farm Journal's AgPro magazine, the facility can hold up to 2.25 billion seeds in total, representing around 4.5 million crop varieties.   The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is described as a "black box" holding facility, where the foil packets act as the reserve in case holdings at other seed banks across the world fail. Seeds will only be accessed under extreme need, when the original holdings have been destroyed. Furthermore, there will only be three dates during 2019 — in March, June and October — when the vault will open for new submissions.   How Are the Seeds Kept Safe?   It seems a little incongruous that the world's agricultural crop diversity reserve is held in such barren surroundings. Although there is plant life on the island, none grows taller than around 4 inches (10 centimeters) due to short growing season, terrain and fierce wind.   However, the vault's situation — near Longyearbyen, the world's most northerly settlement — also affords unique security for agricultural crop diversity, according to National Geographic. Not only is the location seismically stable and unlikely to be at risk of rising oceans or flooding, but the permafrost that the vault is built into helps provide the best conditions for keeping the foil packets of seeds viable. With additional cooling in the entrance tunnel, added to the vault's infrastructure after a 2016 leak from thawing permafrost, the vault stays at a constant -0.4 degrees F (-18 degrees C). With the vaults lying 397 feet (120 meters) deep into the rock, Crop Trust noted that the vaults stay frozen naturally without the need for power.   The Verge also noted that although climate change has reached the global seed vault, it has so far stayed safe from conflict or political instability; in 2015, the first withdrawal of seeds helped replace those lost from the Aleppo seed bank during the Syrian civil war. Crop Trust described this as only the second but the largest withdrawal. Returning seeds safely to Middle East researchers further highlighted the importance of the global seed vault.   This importance is well-recognized in security systems that protect the facility; The New York Times reported that no one person possesses all the entry codes to the seed vaults. When it comes to conservation of plant species, nobody holds all the keys to the pantry. 

Global Seed Vault Ready for Doomsday

We may think of the Arctic Ocean as pristine, but beneath the surface float billions of tiny pieces of plastic. Plastic waste is such a pervasive problem that even the most isolated parts of the world are cluttered with trash. Disturbing Evidence of Widespread Pollution In April of 2017, an international group of researchers published the results of a five-year study in Science Advances revealing high concentrations of plastic debris in remote Arctic waters. Their findings emphasized the global scale of pollution. Although the human population in the Arctic region is very low, the researchers discovered that "plastic debris was abundant and widespread" in the Greenland and Barents seas. The researchers estimated that Arctic waters contain 400 tons (363 metric tons) of plastic waste, composed of around 300 billion individual pieces of plastic. They suggested that the plastic came from far away and traveled to the Arctic Ocean through a combination of natural ocean currents and climate change. Increasing global temperatures are causing the ice to melt, which opens new pathways that connect the Arctic to the rest of the world. The researchers concluded, "The growing level of human activity in an increasingly warm and ice-free Arctic, with wider open areas available for the spread of microplastics, suggests that high loads of marine plastic pollution may become prevalent in the Arctic in the future." Sources and Scope of Marine Debris While the news about the Arctic Ocean may be surprising, ocean pollution is not. There are several known garbage patches throughout the world, where plastic collects in circular ocean currents called gyres. Plastics enter the ecosystem through outlets such as plumbing systems, beaches, landfills and boats. If this trend continues, by 2050, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean, and an estimated 99 percent of seabirds will have ingested plastic, according to estimates from the United Nations Environment Programme. Fish, sea turtles and many other animals can get caught in large plastics, but microplastics pose an even greater threat, according to National Geographic. "Scientists have collected up to 750,000 bits of microplastic in a single square kilometer of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — that's about 1.9 million bits per square mile. Most of this debris comes from plastic bags, bottle caps, plastic water bottles and Styrofoam cups." Microplastics are also polluting the food chain, as they are easily digestible and are mistakable for food, said National Geographic. "As plastics break down ... they leach out colorants and chemicals ... that have been linked to environmental and health problems. Conversely, plastics can also absorb pollutants ... from the seawater. These chemicals can then enter the food chain when consumed by marine life." If we ignore this problem, plastic will eventually drastically impact our ecosystems, health and economies.            What Do We Do Now? The first thing we can do to reduce ocean pollution is to stop creating new plastic waste. Some states have started taxing or banning single-use plastic, such as plastic bags, straws and water bottles. An increasing number of communities are banning plastic bags and bottles as well. Another big pollution culprit is microbeads, which are tiny plastic pellets found in many beauty products and toothpastes. In 2015, the United States passed a law banning microbeads altogether. Eco-conscious consumers can help by recycling, participating in beach cleanups and avoiding single-use plastics. Even if we stopped polluting altogether, there's already a large amount of trash in the ocean and no easy way to remove it. According to National Geographic, "The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program has estimated that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean." Conventional methods of trash collection include using nets and vessels. Thousands of volunteers manually collect plastic from remote Arctic islands, though the effort is complicated by the fact that the bags of trash then have to be airlifted away via helicopter, according to a report by CBS News. Luckily, innovative solutions are forthcoming. A Dutch university student came up with the idea for a solar-powered floating pipe system that catches plastic inside a barrier. His foundation, The Ocean Cleanup, estimates that it can clean up half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years.

Plastic Waste Is Stuck in the Arctic Ocean

 In September 2015, Siemens announced they were cutting their carbon emissions — which totaled 2.2 million metric tons per year — in half by 2020. They hope to be carbon neutral by 2030. But there's a big question you're probably asking: How will they reduce their carbon footprint that quickly? Siemens' Half Measure  Siemens' plan is far-reaching and sounds deceptively simple: They'll invest more than $100 million in building distributed energy systems at their 300-plus factories. They've already started transitioning their 100,000 company vehicles to low-emission models. They're also moving toward a cleaner power mix in their factories tapping mostly natural gas and wind power, which emit little to no carbon dioxide.  Our planet is facing a CO2 emissions problem: Rates of CO2 increased by 7.4 percent between 1990 and 2013, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, with no signs of slowing down. Traffic emissions and industry account for almost 60 percent of those extra CO2 fumes. That's why large companies like Siemens are chasing down these new carbon emissions goals, hoping to erase their large carbon footprint and aid in our planet's recovery. But there are additional benefits to chasing sustainability as well: creating more sustainable systems can reduce spending for large companies (at Siemens, for example, they say sustainability efforts could slash costs by $20 million per year). Some experts also note that increased sustainability efforts can improve recruiting, adding to employees' sense of contributing to a better world.  Enable targeting cookies to view this content. Ford's Efficient Engine  The Ford Motor Company is also in the carbon reduction game. The automotive industry produces approximately 14 percent of global GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, so Ford has developed an EcoBoost engine which improves fuel efficiency in their vehicles by up to 20 percent. They've also invested $4.5 billion in electrified vehicles and plan to offer 13 new models by 2020 in the U.S. and Canada.  They have partnerships with clean energy companies, as well — they've even installed wind sail and solar PV systems at Ford Dealerships across the U.S. to power buildings and EV charging stations. Dell Shortens the Straw  Dell is reducing their carbon footprint, too: They've recently changed their packaging to wheat straw, which requires 40 percent less energy to produce and 90 percent less water. Dell has also invested heavily in big data and analytics to track and reduce the energy consumption in their facilities. Nestlé© Fueled by Caffeine  Nestlé© is an "older hand" in the charge to reduce carbon emissions — they've been working toward a smaller carbon footprint for years, and have been ranked highly on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index many times because of their extended sustainability efforts. By 2014, they'd phased out 92 percent of their industrial refrigerants, replacing them with environmentally friendly ingredients. In their Mexico-based factories, 85 percent of the electricity comes from wind farms. They also use spent coffee grounds as supplement fuel in 22 factories, among other initiatives. Coke's Big Rig Gig  Coca-Cola has similar goals: They hope to reduce their carbon footprint by 25 percent in 2020 by adjusting their packaging formats, delivery fleets, refrigeration equipment and ingredient sourcing. Coca-Cola's efforts kicked off after the company discovered that their global fleet of trucks emitted approximately 3.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2014. Now, the company plans to power their trucks with a mix of alternative fuels, including biodiesel, natural gas and electric power. Northrop Grumman's Green Game  Northrop Grumman also has high carbon reduction goals: By 2020, the company plans to reduce their GHG emissions by 30 percent. They plan to reduce potable water use by 20 percent from 2014 levels, and to achieve a 70 percent solid-waste diversion rate.  Sustainability remains one of the most important innovation spaces in large companies — without it, the communities that live around major industry headquarters may be adversely affected. Without working to reduce our carbon footprints, our planet might not be habitable for as long as we hope. That's why thinking broadly, investing in sustainable systems and programs, and teaching employees how to live more sustainably, is more than just important: It's the way of the future.

Shrinking the Carbon Footprint: 6 Companies Putting Their Foot Down

Vespa mandarinia, an invasive species known as the murder hornet, are resurfacing in the West Coast. According to the New York Times, these giant hornets have been identified in Washington state and over the border in British Columbia, Canada. Although these particular travelers probably hitched a ride across the Pacific by packing crate, people have started to wonder, just how do insects migrate? Insect Migration Routes Murder hornets are much bigger than the native species in North America, clocking in at around 4 to 5 cm (almost an inch) in length. The BBC describes how they decapitate entire beehives to feed their young. Although some may have hitched an airborne ride with commercial freight, aerial migration is unlikely. According to Business Insider, accidental introduction is much more likely. But other insects do show impressive migration routes. Apart from learning the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly and its 3,000-mile journey, few people consider how insects migrate. Unlike flocks of birds or herds of wildebeest, they're difficult to follow. However, researchers are finding new ways to monitor their migration and are discovering some amazing facts along the way. Hydrogen Isotopes and Radar Scans Hydrogen isotope research has revealed where green darner dragonflies start their 900-mile migrations each spring and fall. Washington Post describes how University of Maryland Baltimore County researchers analyzed wings from collections across North America and the Caribbean, looking at the hydrogen isotope signatures for the birth ponds of larvae. Data show origin ponds in Florida, Maryland and Maine. Meanwhile, in the U.K., hoverfly migrations show up on radar. The New York Times shows how researchers clued in on the unique radar signature that these tiny wasp-like insects possess to track their migration. Using the data captured from insects flying at elevations higher than 450 feet, the scientists estimated 4 billion hoverflies cover around 50 to 100 miles per day. How Do Insects Migrate, and Why? Researchers know that some migrations are intentional and directional. For example, Bogong moths in Australia appear to navigate hundreds of miles. A paper in Current Biology reveals that moths probably combine visual landmarks and nighttime starscapes with cues from the Earth's magnetic field to make the 1,000 km (around 621 mile) journey between breeding grounds and seasonal cave shelters. Bogong moths migrate to stay safe from predators, sheltering in caves during their seasonal aestivation or dormancy period. Many insects migrate to reach breeding grounds that have abundant food as well as good weather conditions. Since insects are cold-blooded, many need warmth for activity. Migrating specifically for food sources is seen with a lot of pests and predatory species. In British Columbia, Natural Resources Canada describes how mountain pine beetles flit from tree to tree in order to feed off sap. When healthy evergreens are scarce, the beetles can migrate up to 100 km (ca. 62 miles) in search of fresh trees, damaging tracts of valuable forestry along the way. Impact of Insect Migration Pest insect migrations damage crops and other important natural resources, altering the ecosystem for other species as well as harming food production. For example, murder hornets prey on honey bees and can destroy entire hives within a few hours. This is why it's often important to control invasive species. However, insect migration can also control pests; samurai wasps in the U.S. help keep stinkbugs under control. As well as moving the boundaries for important pests and predatory species, climate change also impacts migratory routes. The National Resources Defense Council notes that climate change is impacting dragonfly migrations. Warmer temperatures could mean that green darners may not need to migrate at all in the future. As well as missing out on seeing dragonflies flitting around, reduced migration northwards impacts the ecosystem. Fewer dragonflies on the buffet mean lean times for frogs, ducks and carnivorous plants, for example. It also means that other winged insects such as aphids and mosquitoes, which are part of a dragonfly's diet, go unchecked. In southern England, hoverfly migration moves around an estimated 80 tons of nutritious biomass; losing the migratory routes could deprive predators of around 35 million calories. It would also impact pollination vital to many food crops. Migrating insect biomass not only supports species diversity but helps put food on our tables.  

How Do Insects Migrate?

The archaeological record suggests that prehistoric humans contributed to the fate of many endangered animals that went on to become extinct, especially as humans moved into new territories. In recorded history, the first endangered species known to be driven to extinction by human activity was the flightless Dodo bird of the Island of Mauritius, which was last seen alive in the 1660s, according to the BBC. As CNN explains, human patterns of resource utilization may be causing Earth's sixth mass extinction. In order for human populations to thrive over long periods of time, they must learn to live in harmony with their environment. Achieving this balance is more important than ever. The Conservation Movement In the recently published book "Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction," acclaimed science journalist Michelle Nijhuis covers the history of the modern effort to save animals from extinction. Starting in the late 1800s, Nijhuis highlights the work of people who often "did the wrong thing for the right reasons, and the right things for the wrong reasons." This conservation effort largely started with white Americans and Europeans, who were expanding into new territories with the help of guns and new technologies. Their treatment of the environment was substantially different from the resident indigenous people, who typically sought to preserve natural resources for future use. The American Bison In contrast, the peer-reviewed journal Religions describes how Americans of the 1800s embraced "manifest destiny." This was the belief that white Americans were destined by God to conquer the territories of North America, from sea to shining sea. The middle of the continent was home to an estimated 30 million bison, which provided a reliable source of protein, fur and leather for indigenous peoples. Once railroads allowed for the easy transport of goods, white Americans slaughtered these herds for fur and leather, leaving the carcasses to rot. As Nijhuis explains, this decimation of bison was encouraged, with President Grant's interior secretary stating that it would "confine the Indians to smaller areas and compel them to abandon their nomadic customs" so they could be more easily controlled. The bison's unlikely hero was a taxidermist, who went to Montana in 1888 to shoot some of the few remaining bison for the Smithsonian Museum. Nijhuis writes that after seeing these massive creatures in real life, he had become a fierce advocate for the preservation of this endangered species. He shot several specimens for a museum display and also brought back live bison for public viewing. These and other efforts convinced lawmakers and the general public to save the great American bison, which is considered the first endangered species to be intentionally saved through human action. Many organizations were established specifically to prevent extinction of other charismatic species. The Audubon Society was founded in 1905, the Nature Conservatory in 1951, and the World Wildlife Fund in 1962, as Nijhuis points out. She writes that, without the work of conservationists, "there would likely be no bison, no tigers and no elephants; there would be few if any whales, wolves or egrets." The Unintended Consequences of Human Activity In the 1930s, environmentalists started to realize that conserving species meant conserving their habitat, including mating grounds, nesting areas, foraging sites and migration routes. For many species, this requires an international effort and understanding the unintended consequences of human activity. For example, the Science History Institute describes how the highly effective insecticide DDT was found in the 1960s to be harmful to many other animals, including the emblematic bald eagle. How human activity influences plants and animals is still not fully understood. As an example, Yale Environment 360 explains that it's not entirely clear why bee populations have declined, but our quality of life depends on these pollinators performing their function in the ecosystem. Preserved specimens in a museum or a small population at the zoo would clearly not be enough. To preserve our natural heritage, species need to thrive in their natural environment, and endangered animals must be protected. These goals are inextricably linked to the preservation of natural habitats and a reduction in human-induced climate change. Through technology and research, it is absolutely possible to develop and apply techniques to ensure clean water, air and soil for all living creatures while providing the energy and other resources that humans need to continue pushing the boundaries of what's possible. Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Protecting Endangered Animals — and Earth's Future

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that 17 percent of all electricity produced in the United States in 2017 came from renewable energy sources, including solar, wind and hydroelectric dams. That percentage is expected to keep growing as communities seek ways to improve local air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked by EPA scientists to climate change. Unfortunately, renewable energy sources need proper weather conditions to generate power. And those periods of sunshine, wind or heavy wave action occur only intermittently between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. when consumer demand for electricity peaks. That's where energy storage technology comes in. The Importance of Energy Storage Technology "If we have energy storage on the grid, we can store excess renewable energy during the day, then distribute it at 6 p.m. when people are getting home from work, turning on their TVs and air conditioners," explained Wes Jones, a spokesperson for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). This technology, he added, is also critical for maintaining the stability and reliability of the nation's power grid, which nominally delivers electricity to our outlets at 60 cycles per second (Hz). Grid conditions can cause this frequency to fluctuate. Grid operators can use energy storage assets to add or remove power from the grid to help stabilize the frequency. Pumping for Power  The Department of Energy identified pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES) as the most dominant energy storage technology in use today. This technology creates power by pumping water to higher elevations when electricity is plentiful. During peak demand periods, the water is released and allowed to run through turbines that generate electricity. The 1682 MW pumped hydro Castaic Power Plant operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, for example, accounts for 2.5 percent of the utility's power portfolio and serves approximately 73,000 customers, according to Louis Ting, LADWP's director of power plant development and engineering. A related technology is called compressed air energy storage (CAES). "Think of [CAES] like 'pumped aero,'" said Ting. "Instead of pumping water from one elevation to another, CAES uses excess renewable energy to compress air and pump it under pressure into underground caverns. When demand is high, the air is heated, released and used to drive turbines that generate electricity." In Lithium-Ion We Trust  Lithium-ion batteries, the same technology used in your laptop or smartphone, are one of the most pervasive forms of energy storage technology in use today, according to Laurence Abcede, SDG&E's manager for distributed energy systems. "Lithium-ion technology is appropriate for both stationary and mobile batteries," he said. "It is cost effective, very reliable and modular, which means you can use it in nearly any application." The New York Times coverage, however, suggested that fire safety concerns with the technology remain. Nonetheless, lithium-ion remains the primary energy storage technology for many new battery storage facilities being developed in California, according to SDG&E news materials. Next in Line IEEE Spectrum magazine highlighted another promising energy storage technology for the grid known as the vanadium redox flow battery. Developed in the mid-1980s at the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia, VRF technology was matured in 2011 by a team at the DoE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington State. Unlike lithium batteries, which store energy in small cells, VRF batteries store their energy in two tanks of electrolytes separated by an ion exchange membrane. The battery generates a current by converting the chemical energy of the electrolytes into electrical energy; reversing this process allows the battery to charge itself from the electric grid. The requirement to maintain two tanks of electrolytes and related pumping equipment makes VRF technology better suited to utility-scale applications than portable applications. Durable Design, Longer Life VRF batteries also offer compelling performance benefits over lithium ion. "VRF batteries have a lifespan of 20+ years and can be completely charged and discharged repeatedly, without damaging the battery system," explained Abcede. "Best of all," he added, "VRF technology is not combustible." The DoE reported that VRF technology is being used widely today in Asia and Europe, with a growing presence in the U.S. A Multi-Purpose Future  Jeff Bishop, CEO for Key Capture Energy, a Houston-based developer of grid-scale electric projects, views energy storage as "the Swiss Army knife of the electric industry," serving the grid in many new and unexpected ways. "You're going to see storage paired with solar and wind power generation facilities both on- and offshore, and used increasingly as central generation to replace fossil fuels," he said. "It will also help reduce the need for new transmission infrastructure, serve as a microgrid for installations such as hospitals, and add reliability and stability to the electric grid." "As costs come down and the technology matures, it's going to be unstoppable."

Energy Storage Technology Helps Renew, Stabilize Electric Grid

Seeking a complete perspective on biodiversity in tropical forests that are under threat from deforestation and other forces, some conservationists want to combine sound and sight to learn what's really going on under the trees. Heralding the value of bioacoustics — the study of the sounds living organisms make — the conservationists believe on-the-ground recordings of the life in forests, coupled with the sights from imaging technology, will finally give scientists and conservationists the complete toolbox they need to protect nature. Satellite imagery on its own has limitations. Combining it with sound monitoring enables more accurate capture of events and trends, enhancing conservation efforts and academic research. A Call to Closely Monitor Rain Forests Contrary to popular belief that logging and other human activities are decreasing the number of trees on Earth, several research organizations last year contended that new forests are actually increasing global tree cover, as Phys.org reported. Still, deforestation poses risks to biodiversity by drastically changing environments and decreasing forests' ability to capture carbon dioxide, which leads to global warming. Last year, the independent monitoring group Global Forest Watch said 113,000 square miles of tree cover, equal to the size of Italy, were lost in 2017 as part of clearing efforts for farming, as Reuters reported. That's why a trio of conservationists are excited about the power of the microphone, according an article they published in the journal Science earlier this year. Scientists are already recording in areas like the rain forest of Papua New Guinea's Adelbert Mountain, but the conservationists hope that the scientific community and private landowners can place recorders throughout almost every tropical forest to record entire landscapes. The sounds and data the recordings produce could enable researchers to accurately assess how birds and bugs react to deforestation, and how environmental protection efforts are faring. In their article, the conservationists point to the difficulty of evaluating conservation efforts without knowing what happens at ground level. Satellite images can verify whether deforestation has occurred on conservation land, but even when seen from above with quality imaging technology, scientists can't fully detect the degradation of biodiversity from fires, invasions by exotic species or hunting, the conservationists wrote. Human observation on the ground also has limits: It's time-consuming and expensive, and some experts might have biases. Bioacoustics add levels of detail that other technologies can't capture, one of the Science authors, conservationist Rhett Butler, told Reuters. Using inexpensive audio equipment, scientists can listen for small changes to a landscape, or hear unauthorized vehicles and chainsaws or even gunshots, he said. By having "ears" on the ground, companies that promise to not cause deforestation can get help with this difficult undertaking — and be held accountable if they fail to provide proper stewardship of the land, according to Butler and his fellow authors. The analyzed data from the recordings can set an accurate baseline on how well wildlife and their environments are being preserved or harmed. Technology Built for Sight and Sound Bioacoustics date as far back as the early 20th century, when scientists started studying insect sounds. Scientists have studied the sound-detecting capacities of whales, dolphins and porpoises to better understand how acoustics work underwater, according to Mongabay. Sound also teaches lessons about space. The Chandra X-ray Observatory — which recently made news for its role in the first-ever image capture of a black hole — measured massive sound waves that were formed by the pressure of gas from a black hole. But as the conservationists who espoused bioacoustics in the Science article contend, sound is only one measurement of biodiversity. To that end, ecologists have also benefited from advancements in imaging technology. For example, to help distinguish colors and plant species, Northrop Grumman invented the Hyperspectral Airborne Terrestrial Imager. It can see more than 700 spectral bands and accurately show the solar spectrum ranges of any environment. Seeing is believing, until hearing is required. By combining the sights of image technology with the sounds of bioacoustics equipment, scientists should have their most intimate understanding of how wildlife adapts to the ever-changing world around them.

Bioacoustics Can Reveal the Unknowns of Rain Forests

According to the American Trucking Associations, more than 72% of goods and services moved in the U.S. travel by trucks. And more than 60% of the miles logged by the trucking industry come from heavy-duty diesel-powered, greenhouse gas-emitting semi-trailer trucks. A smarter, cleaner way to maintain that interstate flow of goods while mitigating climate change would be to power the long-haul trucking sector with hydrogen fuel cells. Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) have been around for a long time, but long-haul truckers still face the classic chicken-and-egg cost and infrastructure dilemma that other clean energy sectors have experienced. Clean, Green Power According to the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association, a fuel cell is a device that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction, not combustion. It combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat and water. In transportation applications, the electricity powers the electric motor that drives the vehicle's propulsion system. And because fuel cells contain no moving parts, they operate silently with extremely high reliability. "You can think of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle as an electric vehicle where you've replaced the battery with a fuel cell, and the electric charge used for 'fuel' with compressed hydrogen gas," explained Kenneth "K.C." Neyerlin, an electrochemist with the Electrochemical Engineering and Materials Chemistry group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Depending on the current density being delivered, a typical fuel cell operates in the range of 0.6 to 0.95 volts. FCVs typically combine several hundred fuel cells into a so-called "stack" to achieve the voltage and power levels required to operate the vehicle. Building on Success Auto manufacturers such as General Motors, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai have been accumulating hydrogen cell research since the early 1990s. Toyota unveiled its first FCV in 1996, continued maturing and demonstrating its FCV technology through the 2000s, then began selling the Toyota Mirai, a mid-size fuel cell sedan, in the U.S. in 2015. Jim Kast, a fuel cell business analyst with Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), explained that, today, the company is building on its Mirai experience to develop hydrogen fuel cell-powered Class 8 (semi-trailer) trucks as part of two company initiatives. "In 2019, we partnered with the Kenworth Truck Company to develop 10 zero-emission Kenworth T680s powered by Toyota hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrains," said Kast. "The collaboration is part of an initiative sponsored by the California Air Resources Board and the Port of Los Angeles to put zero-emissions cargo-handling equipment and hydrogen fueling infrastructure to work in the LA basin." Several of those Kenworth trucks are already built and expected to begin operating on trade routes in the greater Los Angeles area in 2021, he added. TMNA is also working with Hino USA to develop a Class 8 fuel cell electric truck for the North American market. The new truck will use the Mirai hydrogen fuel cell technology — except that it will use two fuel cell stacks to power a Hino XL Series chassis. According to Kast, a hydrogen fuel cell semi-trailer truck is similar in size, look and feel to a conventional diesel-powered Class 8 vehicle. However, it's quieter, has zero-emissions and provides better performance. "Our new fuel-cell trucks will deliver horsepower performance similar to a diesel truck, except you'll have a bit more torque — which means faster, more immediate acceleration — coming from the electric powertrain," he said. "The conventional diesel fuel tanks in the (semi-trailer) cab will be replaced with hydrogen fuel tanks." The initial Hino truck will have a range of about 300 miles (482.8 km) per tank of hydrogen, he added. Less Weight, More Efficiency For NREL's Neyerlin, hydrogen fuel cells are particularly attractive as a fuel source compared with batteries for long-haul trucking. "If you're doing heavy-duty trucking with batteries, you not only have to carry your goods, but you also have to carry the weight of every battery you need," he commented. "At some point, that Nth battery is only going to be carrying more batteries, not more goods." By comparison, he added, you can increase the size of pressurized hydrogen storage tanks on a truck for much less weight than adding a battery, and put more fuel cells in series to create higher-power stacks with an energy density higher than batteries. Another advantage of using hydrogen fuel cells versus batteries for big rigs is that refueling a fuel-cell powered semi is comparable to filling up a similar diesel-powered truck (10 to 15 minutes). However, charging a semi's batteries could require several hours, even with a fast-charging system. And any time spent charging batteries beyond 15 minutes is time spent not delivering goods and earning revenue. Overcoming Barriers For all the advantages of using hydrogen fuel cells for long-haul trucking, two distinct barriers to widespread adoption of this technology still remain: the cost of hydrogen and the availability of hydrogen fueling infrastructure. "The price of hydrogen at the pump right now is $10 to $15 per kilogram in California," said Mike Peters, a hydrogen infrastructure engineer with NREL. "That number needs to be closer to $3 to $5 per kilogram for fuel cell-based trucking to be cost competitive with diesel trucking. We have to continue pushing prices down, and we need to push for initiatives to produce green hydrogen, whether that's through electrolysis coupled with wind or solar energy, steam methane reforming with carbon capture or capturing hydrogen as a waste product of certain processes." In October 2020, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the formation of a new consortium, H2NEW, to reduce the costs of hydrogen production, transport, storage, distribution and use in multiple energy sectors. Co-led by NREL and the Idaho National Laboratory, H2NEW will focus on advancing both low- and high-temperature electrolysis techniques in hopes of achieving hydrogen production at $2 per kg. The DOE also recently funded the Million-Mile Fuel Cell Truck consortium, which is a collection of national labs and academic and industrial partners focused on the improving the durability, performance and cost of fuel cells to enable long-haul, fuel-cell-powered trucks. "Our hope is that by approaching the hydrogen fuel cell challenge from both the production and operation ends, we can solve some of the 'chicken-egg' dilemma that has stymied the growth of a hydrogen-based transportation segment so far," suggested Neyerlin. Greening Forward NREL's and H2NEW's work to reduce the cost of hydrogen will assist the broader goal of creating the hydrogen fueling infrastructure needed for a fuel-cell-based long-haul trucking industry. The main push to retain hydrogen fueling stations is currently happening in California, where the California Energy Commission (CEC) is funding the development of a network of hydrogen fueling stations through its Clean Transportation Program. To date, the CEC has funded the development of 45 light-duty retail stations with 16 more under construction. In December 2020, the CEC announced plans to invest in the development of 111 additional hydrogen fueling stations by 2027 to help meet California's climate change goals. A portion of those stations will be dual-purpose stations that can serve both consumer and heavy-duty vehicles. Same but Different At first glance, a hydrogen fueling station might look similar to a conventional gasoline dispensing station, but its infrastructure is completely different. "A hydrogen fueling station consists of three components: compression, storage and dispensing, and those components interact to fill the vehicle," explained Peters. "The goal is to transfer hydrogen stored at high pressure (10,000 psi) from the station to a vehicle in a safe manner." To ensure a safe transfer, he added, hydrogen is cooled to a temperature of about -40 degrees Celsius. This compensates for the fact that hydrogen expands as it flows out of storage and heats up the vehicle tank. A series of communication checks and balances between the station and vehicle further ensure the safety of the fueling transaction. "The dispensing of hydrogen is very similar to the process that drivers of gasoline vehicles are familiar with," said Peters. "You just swipe your credit card, pull the nozzle from its dispenser, connect it to your car and squeeze the trigger. In three to five minutes, your car will be filled, and you'll be back on the road." Starting Where It Makes Cents California's proactive approach to hydrogen fueling infrastructure is a good start, but it's not enough to pay for the national fueling infrastructure that will be needed to power a fuel-cell based long-haul trucking industry. Peters believes that the initial hydrogen fueling infrastructure could potentially be underwritten by fleet operators whose trucks operate on fixed routes and predictable schedules. "If you had trucks coming and going from say, a port, on a set schedule, or going to the same city and back on a regular schedule, you could justify having a few hydrogen fueling stations," he proposed. "The key driver of such an investment would be to make sure it has a high utilization rate." Such an approach might also work for Amazon, UPS or FedEx, added Peters, since their fleets typically operate on fairly fixed routes and return to a central warehouse at night. Creating Partnerships Kast is also optimistic about the long-term willingness of ports and energy companies to invest in hydrogen fueling infrastructure. For example, TMNA has partnered with Shell Oil to develop three such stations in the Los Angeles region to support heavy-duty trucks. "We're working with Shell on matching supply and demand, not only for these first three stations but also for an additional 50 stations for light-duty vehicles," said Kast. "That volume will help them bring down the cost of this infrastructure, and it potentially incentivizes them to also invest in renewable hydrogen production." Gaining Momentum Hydrogen fuel cells and related infrastructure are clearly a compelling environmental choice, especially as they grow in technical maturity and availability. But they still have a way to go. As Kast noted, the good news is that "hydrogen is no longer the fuel of the future, as it has been for so long. With all the new targets for zero emission vehicles, and all the new funding coming through, it's something we're going to start seeing in trucks on the road in just a few years. It won't be every truck, obviously, but the momentum is strong and continuing."

Hydrogen Fuel Cells Could Power the Future of Long-Haul Trucking

Many viable solutions for climate change will likely involve pairing advanced technology with legacy applications. For example, going driverless might be good for the planet, as autonomous vehicles such as the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and driverless cars produce fewer emissions than traditional manned options. In a similar vein, electric planes might make the most sense for counteracting climate change in the area of regional air travel. Electric Planes for Short Hops Vancouver-based Harbour Air plans to operate the world's first all-electric seaplane fleet, and as the Canadian Broadcasting Commission notes, Harbour Air has already conducted test flights with its electric-powered planes. Once they are certified as airworthy and ready for passenger flights, the airline plans to start using them on its regular commercial routes, which include short regional flights between Vancouver and the British Columbia capital, Victoria, for example. The airline already uses small propeller planes to connect up and down the Pacific Northwest coast, flying regularly between Seattle, Vancouver, Whistler and the Gulf Islands. The existing commercial itinerary is perfect for electrification. The world's largest electric plane flew in May of 2020 just a little further south down the coast from Vancouver, BC. The BBC reports that the nine-seater modified Cessna test plane made aviation history above a field in central Washington State, flying for 30 minutes above Grant County International Airport and becoming the first commercial airplane to be powered for takeoff and flight exclusively by electricity. Weight and Power Limit Battery-Powered Flights The reason why shorter routes are more suitable to electric planes is that they are comfortably within the range of the on-board batteries needed to power the flights. Battery-powered flight is limited by the battery power itself, and in terms of energy density, batteries fall way behind aviation fuel. This means that even if enough battery power could be placed on board a typical commercial jet liner, the jet could only fly for 1,000 km (621 miles) rather than its usual range of 15,000 km (9,320 miles). However, despite the relative lack of power and reduced range, electric flight could offer the benefits of cost savings and reduced emissions. A significant portion of global air travel is short haul, over distances suitable for electric planes, and the 30-minute modified Cessna flight cost only $6 compared to between $300 and $400 for a similar flight using conventional aviation fuel. Autonomous Handling, Higher Altitude and Longer Flights for Lower Emissions? Staying up in the air for a lot longer could also help to reduce emissions, as the MQ-4C Triton shows. Used for surveillance and reconnaissance, the MQ-4C Triton's advanced technology includes a 360-degree sensor payload that is well protected against environmental conditions frequently encountered at high altitudes and over marine environments. What goes up must come down, but keeping the vehicle in the air for longer can reduce its emissions and fuel costs, as takeoff and landing are the most fuel-hungry parts of flight, according to Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. As an autonomous aircraft system, the MQ-4C Triton has a flight duration of around 24 hours. Flying stats show that the MQ-4C Triton does differ from traditional manned flights considerably in terms of emissions. This is due to its design, which utilizes a smaller fuselage on a bigger wingspan to create better flying efficiency. Autonomous flight capabilities also help, as pre-programming a flight lets the on-board system fly with much greater efficiency than a human pilot could achieve, and at altitudes around 50,000 feet (15.24 km), where it is easier to cruise without guzzling fuel. Compared to the equivalent manned system, this UAS not only uses less fuel but also emits 34 times less carbon dioxide. One standard flight uses the equivalent of a 55,922-mile (nearly 90,000 km) car journey, while fuel consumption for its manned counterparts rockets to the equivalent of almost 2 million miles for a similar flight. Hybrid Options for Reduced Emissions Because commercial air travel requires flights over longer distances, but usually not for 24 hours at a stretch, UAS commercial flights may not be the way forward. Instead, researchers are exploring hybrid options that combine traditional fuel engines with advanced electric plane technology. For example, MIT News has reported on a hybrid electric plane concept that uses a gas turbine to create electric power for the propulsion system. In their turbo-electric concept, a gas turbine powers an electric generator, which in turn powers the propellers or fans on the airplane wings. Because the gas turbine exhaust can be contained in this system, it can be passed through an emissions control system that scrubs out harmful nitrogen oxide particles, one of the major sources of pollution from airplanes. Furthermore, airplane electrification using this approach would not add as much extra weight as batteries would. Another tactic that can help reduce emissions is replacing traditional surveillance methods that involve manned flights with the MQ-4C Triton and only calling in manned aircraft once a target is located and accurately mapped. With this approach, the gas-guzzling airplane would only need to fly out when it's necessary and wouldn't have to spend time in the air searching. While we might not be spending 24 hours on a UAS flight in the future, it's likely that we will be able to leverage electric power for certain flights, rather than relying exclusively on fossil fuels. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery in science, technology and engineering.

How Advanced Technology Is Creating New Solutions for Climate Change

When Operation #PolarEye team members Greg Kravit, Cris Paunescu, Victor Wang and Charlie Welch started the joint mission with San Diego Zoo Global (SDZG) to map Arctic sea ice, they had only one goal in mind: get to Hudson Bay by November to test and deliver a new autonomous system in the fight to conserve polar bears and their habitat. After months of preparation, countless hours in the San Diego FabLab (their home base) and more than 30 test flights, team members traveled to Canada in November 2017 to join SDZG scientists in Churchill, Manitoba, often called the Polar Bear Capital of the World. This was the second year of a collaboration that not only allowed for better understanding how new technology can be used for conservation but also provided Northrop Grumman engineers with an opportunity to rapidly prototype, test and deploy a system they developed into the field.[caption id="attachment_1872" align="alignleft" width="300"] Operation #PolarEye team members, Tony Long, Victor Wang, and Charlie Welch, make adjustments to their hexacopter before heading out to the sea ice.[/caption]During the 10-day mission, the team used a commercial off-the-shelf hexacopter fitted with a custom sensor pod designed to provide a more detailed, finer-scale view of sea ice habitat than scientists could previously acquire. Operating out of a small research cabin 25 miles north of Churchill on the edge of Hudson Bay, team members went to extreme measures to protect themselves and their equipment from stiff winds and air temperatures as low as minus-20 degrees Fahrenheit. While flying missions more than a mile out on the sea ice, team members wore head-to-toe Arctic gear and outfitted their hexacopter with a ruggedized thermal shell printed at Aerospace Systemsâ€™ Space Park (Redondo Beach, Calif.) site.â€œOur team led this effort with our background knowledge in autonomous systems, and a deep sense of passion and dedication to deliver a cutting-edge system for San Diego Zoo Globalâ€™s Arctic Mission. To be able to operate an advanced system like this in extreme Arctic conditions and collect data was a huge success for both our UAS and our San Diego Zoo Global-Northrop Grumman team,â€ said Welch, Operation #PolarEye technical lead.Equipped with four integrated sensors operating simultaneously, the hexacopter flew 11 sea ice mapping missions and collected an array of habitat data, including 3-D sea ice maps and multispectral data, both collected at sub-centimeter resolution. The team also tested the ability of its custom sensor suite to detect tracks and signs left behind by polar bears as they migrate from land to sea ice.â€œThis mission demonstrated what is possible when advanced technology is integrated into conservation research for threatened species like the polar bear,â€ said Dr. Nicholas Pilfold, scientist for SDZG. â€œTo be able to analyze polar bear habitat in three dimensions will allow us to answer pertinent questions that have previously eluded scientists.â€Kravit, Paunescu, Wang and Welch spent Thanksgiving away from their families living in extremely close quarters in the middle of an often unforgiving environment. Due to their commitment to mission success, Northrop Grumman was able to provide SDZG with a new tool for conservation efforts researchers hope to use again in the Arctic and other habitats where technology may hold the key to future conservation breakthroughs.Click here to learn more about Operation #PolarEye and the tech making a difference in our environment.

Operation PolarEye: Mission Success

The future of flowering plants — and human agriculture — is inextricably tied to honey bees. But falling populations linked to chemical crop spraying and environmental changes have experts worried — if we unintentionally banish bees, can flowering plants adapt? Technology may offer a viable solution to this hellish hive scenario: robotic bees.        Are these micro-machine pollinators the savior of stamen everywhere, or just bionic buzzkills?       The Pollinator Problem       Things aren't looking great for the bumbling, buzzing honey bee — as noted by Geographical, bee numbers are down 50 percent in the U.K. and U.S. over the last 25 years, while data from Germany shows a 76 percent drop in the total number of flying insects over that same time period. Some won't be missed — looking at you here, mosquitoes and wasps — but the honey bee decline poses a serious problem. Even as bee levels fall, crop volumes are on the rise, creating a short-supply, high-demand scenario for pollinators.       The key actor of apiary aggression? A class of pesticides known as "neonicotinoids." According to Chemistry World, these "neonics" were first deployed in the 1990s and remain popular worldwide. Seeds coated with neonics are protected for up to 10 weeks. Since the compound is water-soluble, it's readily dispersed through the plant during growth. Pests that suck or chew on treated plants get a high dose of neonics that binds to nerve cell receptors in place of acetylcholine, in turn eliminating them via cell death and nerve cell inactivation.        Bees are regularly exposed to sub-lethal doses of neonicotinoids in pollen and nectar. Repeated exposure increases nerve cell vulnerability and boosts toxicity, putting pollinators at risk. While legislation is emerging to regulate and reduce the use of neonics — for example, the EU recently expanded its pesticide ban — many non-flowering crops are exempt. Neonics present in ground water and soil used by flowering plants create secondary threats to bees.       Building a Better Bee       If bees can't save themselves from humanity's hubris, is there a way for scientists to improve pollination potential?        One option is gene editing, or using CRISPR-based technologies to build bees that aren't affected by neonic neurotransmitter trickery. But this may create more problems than it solves, since there is no way to know the long-term impact of genetic manipulation on bee colonies, honey production or pollination efficacy. What's more, gene editing doesn't stop the uptake of pesticides, merely the direct effects. As a result, both modified bees and their honey would still contain varying neonic concentrations.       Robotic bees offer an alternative: Instead of attempting to fool Mother Nature, some researchers are leveraging improved micro-materials and building techniques to create artificial bee imitators. As noted by New Scientist, work from Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology led to the creation of a 4-centimeter wide, 15-gram drone capable of extracting pollen grains without damage to flowers using a combination of horsehair and purpose-built sticky gel.        Other work in the field includes Harvard's RoboBee, which leverages a combination of microelectricalmechanical (MEMs) and biomimicry technology to fly, swim, perch and pollinate. Not to be outdone, the Draper laboratory at Cambridge created DragonflEye, a "backpack" that fits onto live dragonflies to enable data capture and guided pollination.       Economies of Scale       While technologies such as nanoscale manufacturing, MEMs and granular control of robotic devices has made the dream of robotic bees conceptually possible, there's debate about the large-scale usefulness of this solution. Quoted in the New Scientist piece, professor Saul Cunningham of the Australian National University in Canberra notes that the almond industry in Australia has "orchards that stretch for kilometers and each individual tree can support 50,000 flowers, so the scale on which you would have to operate your robotic pollinators is mind-boggling." According to Science Direct, meanwhile, using robots is "unlikely to be economically viable" and could cause "unacceptably high environmental costs," likely created by problems with the eventual end-of-life for robotic devices and the impact of their "death" on existing ecosystems.       Worth noting? Robotic bees have garnered commercial interest: As reported by Business Insider, industry giant Walmart recently filed a patent for robot bees. While there aren't any details on exactly how the super-retailer would use these artificial pollinators, it's clear that production at scale has potential.       Hive Mind       Fixing the pollinator problem may require more than armies of robot bees or backpack-bearing dragonflies. Instead, the solution may demand a multi-faceted approach that combines natural processes, government action and technological assistance.       What does this look like in practice? Consider that while just 10 percent of plants still rely on "wind pollination" to reproduce, 100 million years ago virtually all flowering species used this technique. Recent findings from the University of Toronto show that over time, decreasing efficacy of insect pollinators could prompt evolutionary selection for low-frequency stamen vibration to boost reproductory chances. As noted by Science Daily, meanwhile, improved pesticide legislation from state and federal governments will also play a role in long-term bee health — to encourage effective law making, researchers from the University of Missouri have catalogued every "pollinator protection policy" addressing threats to bees made by U.S. state governments from 2000 to 2017.        Finally, the increasing sophistication of IoT devices offers potential for remote monitoring of critical beehive health indicators such as temperature, humidity and the presence of pests such as mites.       Taking the Sting Out       We've got a pollinator problem: too many crops, not enough bees.       While artificial insect armies offer some potential, taking the sting out of stamen supply problems demands multiple marching orders for legislative change, IoT innovation and robotic bee development.        

Robotic Bees: Pollination Problem-Solvers or Biotech Buzzkills?

In March 1872, the United States Congress established Yellowstone National Park as a protected, special place for the American people. This single act started a movement to recognize the importance of American national parks and to protect national outdoor treasures around the world. President Woodrow Wilson further reinforced the importance of national parks in 1916 by signing an act establishing the National Parks Service. The park service offers more than camping, hiking and impressive selfie backdrops spanning 84 million acres in every state; its parks also protect species at risk and help endangered species. For Endangered Species From the gray wolves in Yellowstone to the desert pupfish in Arizona's Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the importance of national parks in preventing animal extinction is paramount. Thanks to conservation efforts in the South Dakota Badlands, the National Parks Conservation Association reported that what was once the world's rarest mammal — the black-footed ferret — is making a comeback. Animals like the green sea turtle and the California condor are also seeing a rise in numbers thanks to the Endangered Species Act. The NPCA also discusses how protected status in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park means that the last of the island's native goose species, the NÄ“nÄ“, can strut its feathers in safety. An Outdoor Laboratory The park system's extensive outdoor laboratory has been a perfect breeding ground for scientific discoveries. One of the most important discoveries in microbiology, celebrated in this Business Insider post, owes its existence to research within national park boundaries. Without careful research into extremophile bacteria living in the 80-degrees Celsius thermal vents of Yellowstone National Park, scientists wouldn't have discovered the enzyme responsible for DNA replication. Additionally, the 1960 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognized the usefulness of carbon dating, developed from work done in the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. Documenting Climate Change  American national parks also play a highly valuable role in documenting climate change. Researchers have utilized the vast tracts of pristine wilderness to collect data on species and habitats. At first, they collected observational data on foot; now, they use sophisticated methods such as aerial surveillance with drones like those used in Northrop Grumman's Wildlife Challenge to collect information on polar bears. Observational longitudinal data collection shows the effects of climate change that impact vegetation and animal species. The pika is the perfect example of an animal who may need to be relocated from the parks due to climate change, as described in Smithsonian Magazine. The park service is taking this very seriously. "It is ... openly discussing the possibility of 'assisted migration:' manually relocating some animals and plants if it turns out they can't survive within the park's changing landscapes." National park research also documents glacier retreat, finding that some ice fields have lost as much as 85 percent in the last five decades, according to U.S. Geological Survey. Glacier Park might be recognizable only as a historical name by 2030, it projects. It's not just glaciers retreating. The Conversation notes that national park data shows that trees are also affected by climate change: "Climate change is killing trees due to increased drought, changes in wildfire patterns and increased bark beetle infestations. Tracking of trees in ... national parks has contributed to a database that revealed how climate change has doubled tree mortality since 1955 across the western United States." We should not forget that at its inception, the National Parks Service's long-term intention was to protect the parks and "leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." 

The Importance of American National Parks: More Than Scenery

What is the hottest place on Earth? NASA satellite imaging shows that Iran's Lut Desert is the winner, with its sweltering sandscapes of dunes and wind-carved rocks. The 25th largest desert in the world also holds a few surprises: Even though it is remote and extremely arid, researchers have found life coping with these extreme conditions. What Is the Hottest Place on Earth, and How Is It Measured? Imaging data shows the actual heat on the land surface of the Lut Desert as the satellite passes overhead, according to Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. NASA has used MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data collection, which differs from land-based temperature recording in that it relies on remote sensing. Land-based data collection uses specific weather stations placed in physical locations. The stations must not be placed in shade, and the thermometers must be out of the sun. They're also situated a few feet above the land and measure the surrounding air temperature rather than that of the surface. Temperature recording is affected by air circulation. However, satellite imaging is not affected by wind or convection currents. It shows how hot it would be to walk across the desert surface, with Lut's maximum land surface temperature recorded above 80 Â°C (176 Â°F) in 2018. What Makes the Lut Desert So Hot? There are various factors that make this area such a hot spot. Its geographical location is one; Iran gets only a third of the world's average amount of annual rainfall. Another factor is the desert's appearance. The landscape is described as low albedo land. Its most extreme hot spots are covered with dark rocks, volcanic debris and sand. This makes the surface so dark that it does not reflect the light and therefore absorbs solar energy from the sun. The heat energy then radiates out and the surrounding area gets hotter. This thermal radiance is what the MODIS satellite picks up. This solar energy absorption is the reverse of the albedo effect seen in the ice fields at the poles, where the brightness of the frozen surface reflects back the sun's rays, keeping the surrounding air cool and reducing ice melt. This opposite nature earned the Lut Desert its nickname as Earth's thermal pole. Life in the Dunes The Lut Desert is quite remote and almost inaccessible, but researchers have explored some of its vast area, investigating how life adapts under extreme conditions. They discovered both plant and animal life surviving and thriving. Although it's extremely arid, there are areas where water lies not far from the desert surface. Plant life is rare, but specialized long-rooted sedges colonize the sand around some of the tallest shifting sand dunes in the world. There are also moths, numerous insects and even some mammals. National Geographic describes how Ré¼ppell's desert fox copes with the arid conditions by concentrating its urine to reduce water loss. The region may also be home to the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah. There may be fewer than 100 individuals left in the wild. Researchers also recently identified a previously unknown crustacean, Phallocryptus fahimii sp. n. living in the rare salty marsh areas in the desert. A 2020 Science Daily summary describes how this new creature has adapted to living in seasonal freshwater ponds. It can survive years of drought then hatch once water returns. How to Live in a Desert Since the area is so dry and plant life is not particularly abundant, biologists wonder — how do animals survive in what is the hottest place on Earth? One theory is a little gruesome, but it seems highly probable according to an article in Science Mag. On one expedition, researchers noted numerous bird carcasses stripped bare in the sand. They theorized that migrating birds might get lost and then perish from lack of water in the desert's steep-walled canyons. Desert dwellers would then use these to supplement a meager diet. Other desert inhabitants take it a step further. The spider-tailed horned viper has tufts protruding from its tail. When it waves them around, they look very much like a spider. Using this as a lure, the snake brings the exhausted birds closer before striking at them for a meal. Hotter Days Ahead Climate change is predicted to make large areas of the Middle East uninhabitable without air conditioning. Already, habitations around the fringes of the desert are pulling back, which further guarantees that the Lut Desert, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will remain mostly undisturbed. However, this won't protect its inhabitants from the additional stress of higher daytime temperatures on top of their daily challenges for survival.

Life Amidst the Dunes of the Lut Desert

Around the world, climate change and architecture are turning cities into ovens. Higher-than-average temperatures — combined with heat-absorbing infrastructure such as concrete, asphalt, steel and glass — can cause a dangerous phenomenon called the heat island effect. Using air conditioning only exacerbates the problem. From Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Zeehan, Western Australia, urban areas record summertime temperatures that are 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the surrounding countryside. As global temperatures continue to rise, tens of thousands of people could die each year from heat-related causes alone, according to the World Health Organization.  Fortunately, the future of architecture is taking on a cool change. Dozens of innovative building and urban designs, many of which take their cues from ancient civilizations and biological systems, are reaching maturity — and they could help keep local temperatures down while using less energy overall. From passive techniques that capitalize on shade and evaporative cooling to creative innovations inspired by insects, sources of creativity seem endless.  Climate Change and Architecture  Reducing the urban heat island effect starts with cooling individual buildings. Air conditioners may seem like an easy solution, but these relatively small appliances consume tens of thousands of megawatts of electricity globally. Researchers estimate that by 2050, more than 4.5 billion AC units will be in use, eating up 13% of the world's electricity and producing 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, reports The Guardian. Employing passive cooling techniques could keep buildings comfortable without a heavy carbon footprint.  In India, architects Manit Rastogi and Sonali Rastogi, who founded the firm Morphogenesis, have demonstrated an intriguing model that draws from the past. For the Pearl Academy of Fashion headquarters in Jaipur, a city of 3 million in northwest India, the architects used centuries-old architectural techniques to keep this modern building cool, reports Treehugger. They clad the exterior in a lattice screen set 4 feet away from the exterior wall. The outside layer, reminiscent of a traditional jaali, acts as a thermal buffer. Architects designed the building to be raised above a vast pool of water. The pool was inspired by ancient stepwells that date back to between 200 and 400 A.D. It acts as a thermal sink and provides evaporative cooling to the structure above. Together, these techniques keep the academy 20 degrees F cooler than the outside air.  Bio-Inspired Design  Most people look upon termites with scorn. These insects are known for burrowing into wood and eating homes from the inside out. But termites are accomplished engineers. In the sweltering deserts of Africa, Australia and South America, colonies build giant, naturally cooled towers of mud that, when dry, maintain a comfortable temperature inside, even when it's well over 100 degrees F outside.  Zimbabwean architect Mick Pearce took inspiration from these crafty critters, reports National Geographic. He found that termite towers, usually between 20 and 40 feet tall, are all built with a skinny, boat-shaped footprint that narrows at the top. These structures always face north-to-south, which exposes the widest part to the sun during the coolness of dawn and dusk and shows little surface to the sun when it's overhead. Strategically placed pores and a chimney-like structure allow air to pass up from the cool depths, venting warm air out the top.  Pearce borrowed from the termites when designing a building called Eastgate in Zimbabwe's capital city, Harare. It's made from brick and concrete — materials that can absorb a lot of the sun's heat without rising much in temperature. Exterior grooves along with hundreds of small rectangular shapes greatly increase the surface area, which reduces the building's ability to retain daytime heat and improves its ability to quickly shed heat at night. Airways at the base of the structure pull in cool air and circulate it upward through the building, where it warms and then vents through chimneys. Temperatures inside the building hover around 82 degrees F during the day, no matter what the thermometer says outside, and drop to 57 degrees F at night. Pearce has employed biomimicry architecture for several other buildings and continues to improve on his designs.  Cooling Urban Streets  Reducing the heat of individual buildings is a step in the right direction. Coupled with innovations in street design, urban architecture can transform a concrete jungle into a cool oasis. Recently, Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates and one of the hottest cities on the planet, sponsored a global design competition encouraging creative ideas that could counter the urban heat island effect. More than 300 entries submitted from teams in 67 different countries offered cooling solutions for a city where summertime temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees F for extended periods of time. Ten winning entries, announced in October 2020, each received $10,000 in prize money.  Their results were stunning, reports Arch Daily. A palm tree-inspired concept titled "The Oasys" combines structures shaped like 30-foot palm leaves with real trees. The towering leaves provide shade and are also solar-powered to run misters for pedestrians and landscaping below. A proposal, titled "Sa'af Al-Nakheel," envisions a multilayered courtyard featuring gardens, canopies and vertical walls interwoven with dried palm fronds to produce a dappled shade. The misters would also keep things comfortable through evaporative cooling. "Circadian Clouds" imagines a large, airborne shade structure that floats overhead. Made of dozens of individual geodesic globes, each would reflect sunlight by day, illuminate the space at night and together become a public art element.  But climate change and architecture can come together in less whimsical ways. Yale Environment 360 points to the many efforts around the world increasing the reflectivity of rooftops by painting them white or incorporating reflective materials into roofing materials. A new kind of coating developed by researchers at Columbia University contains tiny pores that reflect 96%-99% of all wavelengths of sunlight and, when applied to the exterior of buildings, cools them down, reports Smithsonian Magazine. Even a solution as simple as covering a building with ivy can lower local temperatures and relative humidity, according to House Beautiful.  In a world faced with the inevitable rise of global temperatures, the future of architecture demands innovations to cool cities. Looking to the past nature and to solutions already found in nature could give architects the tools and inspiration they need to turn down the heat. 

Climate Change and Architecture: Self-Cooled Buildings Lower Temps

There's a widening split in the Earth's surface in the East Siberia taiga, or forest. It's around 0.6 miles long with crater walls measuring over 300 feet to its floor. Local Yakutian people won't go near what they call the "doorway to the underworld" because of the constant crashing emanating from the chasm as its walls collapse, according to Atlas Obscura. The Batagaika Crater fascinates scientists as it grows bigger each year (30 to 100 feet), slowly revealing thousands of years of climate history. The crater may even give us insight into how climate change could alter the land we live on. Opening the Door to the Underworld So, how did the door to the underworld open? In the 1960s, forests covering the area around the Batagaika Crater were removed. Without its cover, the tundra heated up and its permafrost started to thaw. As the ice melted, the ground started to slump and distort. This in turn affected tree growth, and the protective forest cover hasn't been able to grow back. Each year, the ground heats up, more permafrost thaws and, as NASA's Earth Observatory has recorded, the crater grows. A multisensory satellite imaging study published in the journal Environmental Earth Sciences shows that the crater has grown three times larger between 1991 and 2018, and the fastest increase took place most recently between 2010 and 2014. Treasures From the Deep Opening the door to the underworld has had some benefits. With each slump and collapse, the Batagaika Crater exposes more of the Earth's history in the region. As the walls peel back on the world's largest permafrost crater, thousands of years of history are exposed, unearthing long-buried strata lines of sediment and prehistoric vegetation. Along with fossils and extremely well-preserved, long-extinct animals, scientists have been able to study the layers of ice age and vegetation growth stretching back over 200,000 years. Science Alert shows how data from this megaslump — or thermokarst — is helping researchers learn more about climate change. By examining the morphology of each layer and the plant remnants they contain, the scientists can then build a picture of what the landscape looked like and what kind of climate formed it. In addition to extracting blood from a 42,000-year-old foal, described here by Smithsonian Mangazine, climate scientists have been able to conceive how plant life adapted to temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuations. Information like this is extremely valuable in dealing with climate change. Unleashed From the Underworld However, other climate-change "gifts" driving the growth of the Batagaika Crater and effecting similar areas might not be so welcome. Although warmer conditions are a boon for Arctic exploration, thawing permafrost is releasing some unpleasant surprises. Scientists have already seen the ice release long-extinct pathogens still capable of causing disease. What the ice held safely in isolation is now bubbling back up to the surface. Heavy metals within the permafrost are now mobile, and toxic waste dumps can leach into water supplies. As The Narwhal notes, it's not only toxins such as mercury or industrial waste that affect the landscape; the thaw affects the landscape itself, altering ecosystems and food supplies for the animals and humans that make the Arctic region home. Even the world's global seed vault buried in permafrost on the Svalbard Archipelago is at risk. And the thaw itself is also contributing to climate change. Loss of permafrost releases not only carbon dioxide stores but also methane into the atmosphere. Arctic permafrost stores around 1.4 billion metric tons (around 1.54 tons) of carbon, according to The Narwhal, making it one of the largest carbon sinks in the world. Furthermore, warming the land activates microbes that can break down vegetable matter into methane, which then bubbles into the atmosphere through the newly permeable tundra. It's also raining more, which drives further thawing. The Batagaika Crater might be a door that is difficult to close.

Climate History Exposed by the Crumbling Batagaika Crater

Did you know there are areas on Earth missing gravity? Or that you weigh less in Quebec?   It's true: There are parts of Canada — mostly around Hudson's Bay — where you weigh less. This is because gravity is quite literally missing there compared with the rest of the continent.   Although the low gravity there won't really make much of difference to what you see on your bathroom scale, it is measurable from space. In a joint mission between NASA and the German Aerospace Center, the team flew a pair of closely coupled satellites that picked up subtle changes in the Earth's pull. From this, researchers not only mapped out variations in gravity over the globe but also gained useful insight into climate change.   Amazing GRACE   The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission (GRACE) launched in 2002 and flew until 2017 as part of the Earth Observation Systems and global climate change studies. The paired satellites flew 500 km (around 310 miles) above the Earth's surface and kept 220 km (almost 137 miles) apart. New Scientist describes how each was equipped with a microwave ranging system that could measure differences in distance as small as a micron (0.000039 inch).   When one of the satellites flew over an area with low gravity, it experienced less of a downward pull, and this difference could be picked up by instruments on board the other satellite. From the data gathered, scientists mapped variations in gravity all over the Earth, identifying the area around Canada's Hudson's Bay, among others, as missing the regular pull.   How Does Gravity Go Missing?   Gravity isn't usually something we spend a lot of time thinking about — unless, of course, you're a theoretical physicist. This invisible force that keeps us from floating off the planet into outer space has yet to be explained by quantum physics. But there may or may not be a particle, the graviton, involved. Quanta posits that, in the same way that photons convey light energy, the graviton might be the quantum particle that transmits the mysterious pull of gravity.   Gravity is a function of mass, in that objects with more mass exert more gravity. Bigger planets have a greater gravity. For example, Mars is much smaller than our planet, and its gravity is only 37.6% of Earth's, according to Phys.org. When gravity acts on mass, it gives an object weight. This is why an object that weighs a kilogram on Earth only weighs 376 grams on Mars.   When mass is reduced, gravity goes missing.   What's up With Mass on Earth?   So, if reduced mass causes lower gravity, what's happening around Hudson's Bay?   The GRACE mission picked up changes and fluctuations in gravity across the globe. The precise measuring instruments on board also recorded fluctuations in sea level, loss of Antarctic ice mass and changes in the Earth's crust following seismic activity. In picking up differences in the gravity topography, researchers also found that areas around Hudson's Bay were indented. It was as if the land had been flattened by a great weight and squished out to the sides.   On the Rebound   Going back in the climate record, the scientists proposed that the indentation is due to the Laurentide Ice Sheet. This ice layer, which is over three kilometers thick in some areas, covered the land as it slowly melted over 10,000 years. The weight of the ice pushed the Earth's surface out to the sides, meaning that the slowly rebounding land has less mass than adjacent areas and, thus, lower gravity.   However, that's not the whole story for Canada's missing gravity. GRACE data calculated that only 25% to 45% is due to rebound — the remainder is due to activity in the mantle layer 60 to 124 miles (100 to 200 km) beneath the Earth's surface. Convection currents generated by heat from the Earth's core warm up the magma or molten rock. These affect mass in local areas by making continental plates move around.   The kind of information the GRACE mission gathered is also useful to scientists studying past climate change to predict future planet impact. They also calculate that at half an inch (12 mm) per year, it will take another 5,000 years for the 650-foot bounce back to fill in the dent and "restore" gravity. 

You Weigh Less in Quebec: A Weird Case of Low Gravity

Put on good boots and grab a shovel, because Arbor Day is coming up on April 27 this year in the United States and on other seasonally appropriate days around the world. Trees are important multipurpose natural resources and have provided fuel, food and shelter through the ages. The Guardian describes how England was almost deforested by the British navy in efforts to build battleships and defeat the Spanish Armada. Some cultures believe trees have mystical properties: According to Druidry, Celtic nations consider rowan trees to be sacred, offering protection from witches and dark magic. Clearly there's more to trees than meets the eye.   Why Trees Are Important   Trees are great indicators of climate change, and they are also great assets for dealing with its effects, according to Canopy. Their benefits include:    Photosynthesis, Carbon Capture and Oxygen   As plants, trees convert sunlight into energy by photosynthesis. This process captures carbon dioxide, creates oxygen and captures carbon as wood, according to the United Kingdom Forestry Commission. This respiratory process also filters particulate and volatile airborne pollution, Nature Blogs noted. Coastal blue carbon, comprising trees like mangroves in addition to salt water marsh ecosystems, traps a significant amount of atmospheric carbon, according to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration.   Trees are the New AC   Leafy canopies cool, and temperatures under shady canopies can be 7—15ÂºC (44—59ÂºF) lower than in unshaded areas, as described in The Conversation. Architects and town planners could leverage this benefit to maximize building cooling by planting more trees in urban areas.   Ground Control and Habitat   Tree roots spread widely outwards from the trunk and, in doing so, can stabilize the surrounding soil. Planting mangroves along vulnerable coastlines does more than soak up carbon — it can mitigate effects from storm surges as weather patterns become more violent, notes the Environmental Protection Agency. On slopes, planting suitable trees can prevent erosion from rain and floods.       The Advent of Arbor Day   According to Smithsonian Gardens, the first tree celebration started in 1594 in Mondoé±edo, Spain. Citizens realized the importance of trees and decided to plant more for the future.   The first modern Arbor Day in the U.S. arrived in 1872, when residents of Nebraska City set about repopulating the plains with trees. Connecticut tree fan Birdsey Northrop was such an enthusiast that he spread the word, convincing Japan, Canada and Europe to celebrate trees' importance, too.        Enable targeting cookies to view this content.       Arbor Day's Changing Message   Trees obviously enhance the appearance of a neighborhood, but while everyone loves green outdoor space, there's a lot more to trees than just landscaping. The yearly Arbor Day celebration now has a more serious message for why trees are important, and it has to do with climate change.   National parks are experiencing tree loss due to climate change, increased drought, wildfires and infestations, none of which is inevitable, according to The Conversation. Arbor Day is a chance to bring the focus back to our trees and the environment.   Trees are an effective way of dealing with climate change, mitigating its effects and, as noted above, helping reverse them through carbon capture. Greater numbers of mature trees can make a bigger difference — which is why Arbor Day is becoming more important each year.        What are you doing on April 27? Go on — get out there and plant a tree.   

Reflect on Why Trees Are Important This Arbor Day

Conservation researcher Peter Hodum can remember the difficulty of observing nesting seabirds. It was just over 20 years ago when Hodum and his peers would have to guess where a seabird's underground nest was before digging a hole. They would then stretch their arms into the burrow and grasp for signs of a dwelling. "You would get a feel for it," he recently recalled. "It wasn't perfect, but eventually, you could get good at it." But that's just a pleasant memory now, as technology has drastically changed the practices of animal conservation and Hodum's work. Hodum now uses infrared cameras to study seabird domesticity. He and other conservationists and scientists take advantage of a wide array of technology, including sensors, satellite tracking, camera traps and many other digital tools. These give them a far better understanding of wildlife ecology than they had only decades ago — or sometimes even less than a decade. These technologies offer detailed, nuanced perspectives of how animals survive, eat, reproduce and evade predatory threats. It's as if conservation went, almost overnight, from a black-and-white documentary with patchy audio to a surround-sound, 3D blockbuster film. For Hodum, an associate professor of biology and environmental policy at Puget Sound University, the technology isn't just something to marvel at — it delivers unparalleled insights in real time. "It has transformed how we're doing seabird work," he said. Species Under Threat Hodum and other conservationists approach their work with an urgency that tries to match two primary threats to wildlife: climate change and poaching. "We're in the midst of an extinction crisis. We're seeing more loss of species than any other time, other than a few extinction events in the Paleolithic era," said Martha Hoopes, a professor of biological sciences at Mount Holyoke College. The World Economic Forum recently observed that "whether on land, in the air, or in the water, plants and animals large and small are struggling." Indeed, the World Wildlife Fund reports that wildlife populations have plummeted by 94% since 1970 in the tropical sub-regions of the Americas, while the U.N. says more than one million species of animals and plants around the world face extinction. "In the U.S., we forget about food and security," Hoopes said. "Grocery stores are well-stocked, and the thought is there is always food available. But that's not true everywhere else. Food is scarce, and you have to eat what you can. And there's poaching for parts of animals like tusks and nails." Poaching will be difficult to curb, she said, until perceptions of its value change. "When something becomes rare and embargoed, the more interesting it becomes," Hoopes pointed out. Nearly 6,000 different species of animals and plants have been seized between 1999 and 2018, with nearly every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade of wildlife, according to a 2020 U.N. report on the trafficking of protected species. Meanwhile, wildlife that can escape poaching and gaming have nowhere to turn on a warming planet. "The way we're changing the climate [â€¦] leads to evolutionary changes," Hoopes said. "We're seeing organisms in different places. Their main threat is fragmentation, habitat loss and invasive species." A "Wow" Moment Years ago, Hodum attended a British Antarctic Survey conference on the albatross and petrel and was amazed by a 3D-graphic presentation on the migration of those seabirds. "I thought, 'Wow. This is a seminal moment,'" he recalled. The presentation combined the scientific angle of the birds' travel patterns with an arresting visual that mapped out the seascape. "When you see it that way, it gives you a very good understanding of birds and what they're capable of." That was a precursor of things to come. Hodum, who also works for the nonprofit conservation outfit Oikonos, focuses on studying and preserving seabirds off the Pacific Ocean coastline of Washington state as well as the Juan Ferné¡ndez Islands in Chile. Since that "wow" moment, he has been able to expand the scope of his work and understand wildlife ecology in greater detail because of evolving technology. "It allows us to address conservation questions we couldn't address 25 to 30 years ago," he said. "People coming into the field now, they're more digitally native and the technology is more established, so it's hard to have that perspective of how groundbreaking it is." Tracking How Seabirds Eat, Dive and Travel Hodum and his colleagues no longer have to dig a hole and poke around with their hands to feel for a seabird's nest. They now carefully extend an infrared camera probe into a burrow. The small, unobtrusive camera, affixed to a flexible tube, can observe an adult, chick or egg without disturbing the natural rhythms of the seabird. Satellite tracking has even revealed where birds forage for food. "We didn't know before," Hodum said. "We had suspicions, but we didn't know if certain birds were actually representative of an area." Geographic information system (GIS) technology, which powers tracking devices, helps researchers see where the birds travel, providing details that can be overlaid on a map with locations of fisheries. Conservationists can see if seabirds are going to hot-spot areas and how they are foraging. The tracking sensors themselves are a further source of wonderment for Hodum. Time-depth recorders gauge the depth of water as a function of time, which is used as a means to study the birds' diving behavior. "It characterizes the dive profiles," Hodum said, "which opens up all sorts of questions. When they get to these foraging grounds, how long are their dives? How deep? And do they immediately go low or slowly? All of this ties back to conservation, and gaining an understanding of foraging gives us an understanding of how they're feeding and interacting with fisheries and how they're surviving in certain environments." In Chile, Oikonos deployed camera traps in seabird colonies to not only record the movements of poachers — information the local park service uses for enforcement — but also the presence or absence of the birds. Analytics shortens the time needed to review the visuals of the camera traps as well as the sounds of audio recorders that are left in the field for months at a time. Animal Conservation Advancements The vast number of technologies and how they are used are plentiful enough to fill the pages of a long-form scientific journal. For example, several projects attempt to identify animals through artificial intelligence. According to Conservation International, a collaborative program sits in Google Cloud and combines machine learning expertise with the knowledge of conservation groups. The program, known as Wildlife Insights, recognizes 614 different species with more than eight million images supplied by member organizations — a repository that's expected to grow. Initial identification accuracy ranges from 80% to 98%, depending on image quality and the distinctiveness of the species. Northrop Grumman employees are leading several projects that are helping scientists monitor, understand, and protect Earth's wildlife and ecosystems. The projects incorporate technological and conservation know-how to help sea turtles, polar bears and Hawaiian crows. One such program has as many as 40 employees using off-the-shelf, modern technology solutions to better monitor the reefs of the Chesapeake Bay in a bid to preserve a threatened oyster population. Hodum still uses a notebook and other manual tools in his animal conservation work — but despite his continued love for the old-fashioned, he's excited about the promise that new technology holds for his field. "Technological capacity has allowed us to be more efficient and effective in collecting data," he said. "And the tools for collecting data in the field will only become better, more refined, and more affordable and accessible." Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Just Ask a Seabird: Technology Boosts Animal Conservation Initiatives

Last year, genetically modified apples, particularly the Arctic apple (engineered to prevent browning), entered the consumer market in a big way. Though there has been some hesitation from consumers to accept genetically modified organisms, the creators of Arctic apples are hoping that their product will serve as a successful example of GMOs.   According to The Washington Post, "Industry executives predict the apple could open a whole new trade in genetically engineered produce, potentially opening the market to pink pineapples, antioxidant-enriched tomatoes, and other food currently in development."   What are some of the obstacles of genetically modified food, and will consumers eventually accept GMOs?   GMO Skeptics vs. Facts   The USDA reported in 2017 that the adoption of GMOs in farming has grown during the past few decades. However, the conversation among consumers doesn't put GMOs in the best light. Despite research suggesting that GMOs are safe, Stefaan Blancke, a philosopher at Ghent University in Belgium, theorizes that many people have a false belief that GMO equals contamination.   Blancke released a study where he and Belgian biotechnologists examined why negative publicity surrounding genetically modified food resonated with consumers better than their own researched benefits. As Blancke notes in a Scientific American article, the answer is pretty simple. Negative representations of GMOs are more intuitively appealing because they catch our attention. They tap into our tendency to view anything that strays from the natural order of things as dangerous and unhealthy. "The popular term "Frankenfood" captures what is at stake: by going against the will of nature in an act of hubris, we are bound to bring enormous disaster upon ourselves," he says.   Blancke concludes that the solution to fighting this misinformation begins with educating us about GMOs and emphasizing the benefits for consumers and farmers.   Consumers Want GMO Labeling, Despite Objections   A poll conducted by ABC News illustrates that most Americans are still highly skeptical of GMOs: 93 percent of Americans favor mandatory GMO labeling, and 52 percent of those polled believed that GMOs are unsafe.    Despite the objections by leading science and governmental organizations, many grocery chains across the country are adding labels to their produce. This year, Whole Foods will label all items containing GMOs, following the lead of their Great Britain-based stores, thanks to the EU-mandated laws for labeling such products.   Like it or Not, GMOs are Here to Stay   While genetically modified apples may be the most recent example of GMOs hitting American grocery shelves, our produce has been influenced by genetic engineering for a long time. Crops like soy and corn are some of the most heavily modified, either for durability or improved nutrition. Most controversially, the sugar beet, which has been deregulated since 2005, makes up half of the country's sugar market, according to the USDA.   Today, climate change affects every aspect of our lives, from pollination to national security, while our need to adapt grows. PRI magazine reports that some scientists believe modifying crops resilient to the challenges ahead could prevent food shortages and increase our ability to survive our ever-changing planet. 

Engineering Apples: The Impact of Genetically Modified Food

People like recycling. Tossing an empty bottle or old mail into the proper bin feels like tidying up and doing your part for the environment. But much of the plastic in recycling bins is never actually recycled, even if it is clean and accepted by the local recycling center, according to NPR. One of the problems is that current methods for recycling plastic are very expensive and produce plastic of inferior quality compared with new plastic, which is cheap to make from oil. As a result, we are inundated with plastic waste.Plastic-Eating Enzyme Offers HopeA genetically engineered, plastic-eating enzyme may soon improve plastic recycling on an industrial scale, as the journal Nature reports. The naturally occurring version of this enzyme was discovered in 2016, in bacteria that were living near a plastic recycling facility in Japan, according to the journal Science. This PETase enzyme breaks down a commonly used plastic — called PET, or polyethylene terephthalate — into its component parts, which can then be reassembled into shiny new plastic.In order for enzymatic degradation of PET to be commercially viable, researchers needed to develop a faster version of PETase. Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin started with the known sequence and structure of naturally occurring PETase plus two genetically engineered versions that had shown improved performance. A machine learning model was trained on a dataset of 19,000 protein structures of similar size and then used to predict which mutations would improve stability and activity of this plastic-eating enzyme. A total of 159 mutation combinations were then produced in bacteria and tested, with a version containing 5 mutations giving the best results.Enzymatic degradation offers major advantages over the current methods for recycling plastic.Current Methods for Recycling PlasticThe current methods for recycling plastic involve collecting, transporting, sorting and processing the many different kinds of plastics that are used in everyday life. The process is so intensive that entire loads of plastic might be thrown out if they have been soiled with food or other liquids. In many parts of the United States, otherwise acceptable loads of plastic have been thrown into landfills or incinerated because there were no companies willing to process the material to try and make a profit. The supply of old plastic is much greater than the demand.Old plastic is processed through washing, shredding, further separation and melting to form plastic pellets, as Recycle Track Systems explains. These plastic pellets might be used to manufacture polyester clothing, carpet or flower pots, but they are rarely used to make new food containers. That's because plastic gets weaker every time it goes through this recycling process.Plastics are made of polymers — long chains created by repeating monomer blocks. Every time a piece of plastic is melted for recycling, the polymers get shorter and the plastic becomes weaker. Thus, plastic can only be "recycled" in this way once or twice before becoming trash. In contrast, glass and metal can be recycled again and again without any loss of quality.The new plastic-eating enzyme provides a way to break PET down to monomer blocks, which can then be used to make shiny new plastic.New Enzyme on the BlockThe new, fast-acting enzyme was named FAST-PETase and found to be highly effective at 50Â° C (122Â° F). This relatively low temperature translates into lower costs and less environmental impact for enzymatic degradation. FAST-PETase was tested on small samples of 51 different PET products, including packaging for food, beverages, medications, office supplies, household goods and cosmetics. All the samples were fully degraded within 1 week, with several requiring just 1 or 2 days. In contrast, untreated plastics may take hundreds of years to degrade.FAST-PETase was able to depolymerize a large plastic cake tray within 48 hours, and a new plastic item was successfully constructed from the waste. Degradation of an entire plastic water bottle was aided by melting the bottle first, followed by 2 weeks at 50Â° C.The Advantage of EnzymesCompared with chemical approaches, enzymes can work at lower temperatures and thus require less energy input. Enzymes are also non-toxic, biodegradable and can be produced in large quantities by microorganisms. Furthermore, enzymes act very specifically on one or a few substrates, making them ideal for mixed waste streams. Examples might include plastics contaminated with food, fabrics that are a mix of cotton and polyester and packaging that includes layers of different materials (such as a potato chip bag with plastic and aluminum).Obvious applications for FAST-PETase include the recycling of consumer plastics, reducing industrial waste and cleaning up landfills. The study authors are also looking toward environmental remediation.Our Plastic MessAccording to a study in Science Advances, the world was producing 200 times more plastic in 2015 than it did in the 1950s. Around 9% of that plastic has been recycled, 12% has been incinerated, and 79% has accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. As Cas — a division of the American Chemical Society — describes, over 350 million tons of plastic are being produced each year, including over 50 million tons of PET. Over 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year and are causing real harm to marine life. These plastics break into microplastics that have been detected in every corner of the world, from the highest peak on land to the deepest trench in the ocean.While much needs to be done to clean up the mess we've made, a plastic-eating enzyme that allows for the endless recycling of plastic can be used to take a bite out of the problem.Are you interested in science and innovation? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

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