April 4th, 2012 Category: Climate Change, Lakes

USA - April 3rd, 2012

Stretching across this image is Lake Superior, the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. Visible to its north, in the upper right corner, is the frozen Lake Nipigon.

Despite being the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, and the world’s third-largest freshwater lake by volume (it is deep enough to hold the combined water in all the other Great Lakes), over the last five years scientists have reported that Lake Superior is losing water and getting warmer. The changes to the lake could be signs of climate change, although scientists aren’t sure.

Superior’s level is at its lowest point in eight decades, and the average water temperature has surged 4.5 degrees since 1979, significantly above the 2.7-degree rise in the region’s air temperature during the same period.

Water levels also have receded on the other Great Lakes since the late 1990s. But the suddenness and severity of Superior’s changes worry many in the region. Shorelines are dozens of yards wider than usual, giving sunbathers wider beaches but also exposing mucky bottomlands and rotting vegetation.

Tags: Canada Climate Change Great Lakes Lake Nipigon Lake Superior USA | | Leave a comment

February 6th, 2012 Category: Climate Change, Glaciers and Ice Caps

Pine Island Glacier - January 28th, 2012

The Pine Island Glacier, visible at the center of this image, is a large ice stream flowing west-northwest along the south side of the Hudson Mountains into Pine Island Bay, Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. The image focuses on a floating ice shelf at the downstream end of Pine Island Glacier. The crack shows the start of a large iceberg calving.

The area drained by Pine Island Glacier comprises about 10 percent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Satellite measurements have shown that the Pine Island Glacier Basin has a greater net contribution of ice to the sea than any other ice drainage basin in the world and this has increased due to recent acceleration of the ice stream.

The Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers are two of Antarctica’s five largest ice streams. Scientists have found that the flow of these ice streams has accelerated in recent years, and suggested that if they were to melt, global sea levels would rise by 0.9 to 1.9 m (2 ft 10 in to 6 ft 3 in), destabilising the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet and perhaps sections of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Tags: Amundsen Sea Antarctica ASAR Hudson Mountains Ice shelf Ice Stream Iceberg calving Pine Island Bay Pine Island Glacier | | Leave a comment

June 5th, 2011 Category: Climate Change, Lakes

Chad - May 23rd, 2011

Here, some dust can be seen in the air above the northwestern part of Lake Chad. Once one of the world’s largest water bodies, could disappear in 20 years due to climate change and population pressures.

The lake – surrounded by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria – has shrunk by 90 per cent, going from 25,000 square kilometers in 1963 to less than 1,500 square kilometers in 2001.

The 30 million people living in the Lake Chad region are being forced into competing over water, and fish production has recorded a 60 per cent decline.

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November 19th, 2010 Category: Climate Change, Vegetation Index

Brazil - November 16th, 2010

In a one-year period the Amazon region has gone through the biggest flood and now the worst drought. Scientists have expressed surprise, saying that they were expecting these extremes would only happen every 50 years.

This FAPAR image focuses on the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Here, the vegetation index is highest to the west (rusty red), and good to the east (green), with some areas of low photosynthetic activity (yellow).

The fact that these extreme events are so close may indicate changes in the climate, not only here in Amazonas region of Brazil visible here, but also in the south of Brazil, since the Amazon influences the rains there as well. Deforestation, therefore, affects this entire system.

This drought directly affects the lives of people who live along the rivers. These people depend on the river for transportation, meals, and end up isolated because of the drought. In some areas in the middle of the Amazon basin, people have no water to drink, reported Greenpeace.

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October 30th, 2010 Category: Climate Change, Rivers, Vegetation Index

Brazil - September 14th, 2010

The full version of this FAPAR image stretches from northeastern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana (left to right along the coast), across the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, to the southern border of Brazil.

The areas showing the highest vegetation index (rusty red) are found in northeastern Venezuela. The other countries along the coast show a mostly good index (green). At the bottom of the full image, multiple large deforested areas in Brazil show a low index (yellow).

Interestingly, the Amazon Rainforest itself generally shows only a good index. This may be because it is being afflicted by an unusual severe drought. Some rivers are at their lowest level in decades, including the Amazon River at Manáus (visible near the center of the full image), which has fallen to its lowest level since 1963.

Scientists say the region is facing its worst drought since that year. The Peruvian Amazon, 2,000km (1,240 miles) upstream has also been affected. In Amazonas state 27 municipalities have declared a state of emergency because of the dry spell. Several tributaries of the Amazon have almost completely dried up, paralysing river transport and the fishing industry.

The Brazilian government has announced $13.5m (£8.6m) in emergency aid for Amazon regions hit by the worst drought in decades. The money will fund water pumping and purification, as well as food deliveries to towns cut off by the drop in river levels.

Environmental groups say severe droughts are likely to become more frequent in the Amazon as a result of global warming, putting further strain on the rainforest.

Tags: Amazon Rainforest Amazon River Brazil Deforestation FAPAR | | Leave a comment

September 1st, 2010 Category: Climate Change, Fires, Rivers

Brazil - August 4th, 2010

Many areas of deforestation can be observed in this image of the Brazilian states of Amazonas (upper left), Rondônia (lower left), Mato Grosso (lower right) and Pará (upper right). These areas appear to be located near roads and settlements.

The image is crossed by several tan lines. The thicker, curved lines are rivers such as the Manicoré River in Amazonas, in north-western Brazil (upper left). The straight lines are roads, such as Route 230, running diagonally southwest to northeast, south of the river, and Route 16e, running diagonally northwest to southeast, through the town of Novo Progresso.

While some thick clouds are present near the top, the rest of the image is slightly covered by a thin veil of smoke. Upon opening the full image, several fires, probably agriculture-related, can be seen in the lower left quadrant.

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August 22nd, 2010 Category: Climate Change, Fires, Image of the day, Rivers

Brazil - July 29th, 2010

The city of Rio Branco can be observed in the center of this image as an expansive tan area amidst the lush green rainforest of the Brazilian state of Acre. Several other towns and the roads connecting them also appear tan in color.

Rio Branco is located near the Brazil-Bolivia border, and the land south of the city belongs to the latter. The meandering, tan sediment-carrying river crossing the lower part of the image is the Madre de Dios River, in Bolivia.

Much deforestation can be seen in the area, realized for clearing land for settlements and agriculture. Multiple fires are also visible in both Brazil and Bolivia. Many of these were probably set in order to deforest the land.

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July 16th, 2010 Category: Climate Change

Brazil - June 26th, 2010

The feathery tan lines cutting through the dark green of the Amazon Rainforest are from deforestation and agricultural fields or pastures on cleared land. Nearly 80 percent of land deforested in the Amazon from 1996-2006 is now used for cattle pasture, according to a 2009 report released by Greenpeace.

The report confirms that cattle ranching is the primary driver of deforestation in Earth’s largest rainforest: the Brazilian Amazon. Over the past decade more than 10 million hectares – an area about the size of Iceland – was cleared for cattle ranching as Brazil rose to become the world’s largest exporter of beef.

Now the government aims to double the country’s share of the beef export market to 60% by 2018 through low interest loans, infrastructure expansion, and other incentives for producers. Most of this expansion is expected to occur in the Amazon were land is cheap and available — 70 percent of the country’s herd expansion between 2002 and 2006 occurred in the region.

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July 11th, 2010 Category: Climate Change, Fires, Image of the day

Brazil - June 26th, 2010

Several fires, possibly agriculture-related given the number of fields checkered across this image, can be seen here in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. A state with a flat landscape, alternating great chapadas and plain areas, Mato Grosso presents three different ecosystems: Cerrado, Pantanal and the Amazon Rainforest.

In the upper half of the image, the herringbone patterns of deforestation can be seen where the vegetation has been cleared for agricultural use or human settling. The area around the river to the right, however, has not yet been affected.

Tags: Brazil Deforestation Fires Mato Grosso | | Leave a comment