Category: Environment

Astronomers Find Closest Black Hole to Earth, Hints of More

4/8/2020 - By Seth Bornstein. Meet your new but shy galactic neighbor: A black hole left over from the death of a fleeting young star. European astronomers have found the closest black hole to Earth yet, so near that the two stars dancing with it can be seen by the naked eye.… SEE MORE

https://apnews.com/98ff320c9b5693c314b0e4c0283dbf6e

Catch This Week’s Supermoon, Biggest and Brightest of Year

4/6/2020 - By Marcia Dunn. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A supermoon rises in the sky this week, looking to be the biggest and brightest of the year. Not only will the moon be closer to Earth than usual, it will also be a full moon. Scientists call this cosmic combo a… SEE MORE

Hōlei Sea Arch formed by wave action and coastal erosion in Hawai'I Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. Photo courtesy of NPS.gov

Scientists Quantify How Wave Power Drives Coastal Erosion

4/5/2020 - By Jennifer Chu. Over millions of years, Hawaiian volcanoes have formed a chain of volcanic islands stretching across the Northern Pacific, where ocean waves from every direction, stirred up by distant storms or carried in on tradewinds, have battered and shaped the islands’ coastlines to varying degrees. Now researchers at… SEE MORE

Arctic Sea Ice Reached Its Annual High on March 5th

3/26/2020 - Arctic sea ice extent—the area where ice concentration is at least 15 percent—reached its apparent annual maximum on March 5, 2020. On March 24, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported that the 2019–2020 growth season had an unexceptional finish: 5.81 million square miles (15.05 million square kilometers). It was… SEE MORE

https://www.penbaypilot.com/article/40-ways-help-conserve-maine-s-birds/131767

40 Ways to Help Conserve Maine’s Birds

3/16/2020 - By MDIFW Bird Biologists / Pen Bay Pilot. Our beautiful state is turning 200 this year! But Maine wouldn’t be “Maine” without our fish, wildlife, and recreation opportunities. Celebrate with us by learning 200 ways you can help conserve Maine for generations to come. Here are 40 ways you can… SEE MORE

High Tide Bulletin: Spring 2020

3/11/2020 - The rising and falling of the sea is a phenomenon upon which we can always depend. Tides are the regular rise and fall of the sea surface caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun and their position relative to the earth. There are some factors that cause… SEE MORE

https://www.ifishillinois.org/catch_release/index.html

Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources Catch & Release Fishing Guide

3/4/2020 - Catch-and-Release Fishing Catch-and release fishing has become an increasingly popular practice among many anglers throughout the country. Compliance with bag and size limits means many anglers, by law, have to return fish they have caught to the water. It is also quite common for anglers with a commitment to conservation… SEE MORE

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/news_posts/article.html?post=903

NOAA Completes Tidal Current Survey of New York Harbor

3/4/2020 - NOAA conducts current surveys to gain critical understanding of tidal currents so commercial and recreational mariners can navigate safely. In order to provide the most accurate predictions possible, NOAA must periodically resurvey various coastal and estuarine locations. Survey locations are selected based on mariners’ navigation needs, oceanographic analyses, and the… SEE MORE

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mississippi_River_Views.jpg

A Mini Mississippi River May Help Save Louisiana’s Vanishing Coast

2/26/2020 - By John Schwartz. We were standing on the levee of the Mississippi River, about an hour west of Boston. Of course, the actual Mississippi River is a half-continent away. We were in fact in a vast, warehouse-size laboratory above a scale model of a bend in the river in Louisiana,… SEE MORE

Mississippi River