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New Research Provides Glimpse of How Microbes Could Weather Climate Change

Microbes in soil — organisms that exert enormous influence over our planet's carbon cycle — may not be as adaptable to climate change as most scientists have presumed, according to a paper published March 2 in PLOS One.

16 Mar 2016

Study Reveals Ice Wedges are Thawing at Rapid Pace Throughout the Arctic

Throughout the Arctic, ice wedges are thawing at a rapid pace. Changes to these structures, which are very common in permafrost landscapes, have a massive impact on the hydrology of the tundra. This is the result of a study carried out by an international research team in cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), which will be published in the journal Nature Geoscience today.

16 Mar 2016

New Model to Improve Predictions of Permafrost Area and Stability in Northern High Latitudes

Uncertainties are a fact of life for those who model climate change and the factors that amplify or moderate its effects. One important dynamic in climate change studies is the extent of permafrost (permanently frozen soils) in the northern high latitudes and the rate at which it defrosts as the climate warms.

16 Mar 2016

Novel ORNL Technique Paves Way for Improving Solar Cell Performance

Measurement and data analysis techniques developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory could provide new insight into performance-robbing flaws in crystalline structures, ultimately improving the performance of solar cells.

16 Mar 2016

CPI, Merck and Polysolar to Develop Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Windows

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is part of a consortium which is developing building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) devices that will enable windows of the future to not only generate their own solar power but also provide greater thermal control.

15 Mar 2016

NASA Selects Four Proposals to Develop Advanced Solar Technologies for Deep-Space Exploration

As part of its Game Changing Development (GCD) program, NASA has chosen four proposals to build next-generation solar array technologies for deep space missions. The aim of the program is to develop solar arrays that will help spacecraft to explore space destinations that lie outside of the low-Earth orbit.

15 Mar 2016

Surprising Finding Highlights Significance of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Mitigate Arctic Climate Change

The drastic cut in sulfate particle emissions in Europe partly explains the amplified Arctic warming since the 1980s, shows a new study published in Nature Geoscience. The team, which consists of scientists from Stockholm University and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, say that their surprising finding highlights an even more urgent need for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate Arctic climate change.

15 Mar 2016

Study Results Confirm Ocean Played Significant Role in Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

As the Earth emerged from its last ice age several thousand years ago, atmospheric carbon dioxide increased and further warmed the planet. Scientists have long speculated that the primary source of this CO2 was from the deep ocean around Antarctica, though it has been difficult to prove.

15 Mar 2016

Study Helps Policy Makers Assess Impact of Sea Level Rise on People and Infrastructure

A new study by University of Georgia researchers could help protect more than 13 million American homes that will be threatened by rising sea levels by the end of the century.

15 Mar 2016

Upside-Down Rivers of Warm Ocean Water Threaten Stability of Floating Ice Shelves in Antarctica

“Upside-down rivers” of warm ocean water threaten the stability of floating ice shelves in Antarctica, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. The study highlights how parts of Antarctica’s ice sheet may be weakening due to contact with warm ocean water.

15 Mar 2016

Rising Temperatures Worldwide Change Weather Systems and Distribution of Water Around Globe

Rising temperatures worldwide are changing not only weather systems, but - just as importantly - the distribution of water around the globe, according to a study published today (March 14, 2016) in the journal, "Scientific Reports."

15 Mar 2016

New Ion-Driven Thermoelectric Supercapacitor Stores Heat as Electricity

A team of scientists at LiU’s Laboratory for Organic Electronics have produced an innovative supercapacitor that can be charged by solar energy. This patent-pending supercapacitor does not include any toxic or costly materials, and can be mass-produced on an industrial scale.

15 Mar 2016

Fairchild’s 1200V SiC Diode for Next-Generation Solar Inverters, Industrial Motor Controls and Welders

Fairchild, a leading global supplier of high-performance semiconductor solutions, released its first 1200V silicon carbide (SiC) diode, the FFSH40120ADN, in its series of upcoming SiC solutions. The 1200V diode’s combination of superior switching performance, higher reliability and low electromagnetic interference (EMI) make it ideal for next-generation solar inverters, industrial motor controls and welders which are all increasingly required to be more energy efficient at higher power densities.

15 Mar 2016

Toshiba’s H2One Hydrogen Energy System Enters Operation in Phase-2 Building of Henn na Hotel

Toshiba Corporation today announced that H2OneTM, Toshiba’s hydrogen based autonomous energy supply system, which integrates renewable energy generation and uses hydrogen as a fuel for power generation, has entered operation in the Phase-2 building of the Henn na Hotel, at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki, Kyushu.

14 Mar 2016

NASA Scientists Study Influence of Tidal Movements on Antarctic Ice Shelves

Ice shelves, the floating extensions of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, are not simply resting on the ocean waters: they rise, fall and bend with the tides. Ultimately, these oceanic motions impact the flow of ice coming from the glaciers that these ice shelves buttress. Ryan Walker and Christine Dow, researchers with the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recently spent more than a month doing fieldwork in Antarctica to study the influence of tidal movements on a small, little-studied ice shelf.

14 Mar 2016