Did you know that AI can help us protect species and conserve ecosystems? This week's episode of Nature Breaking dives deep into how AI helps conservationists make sense of data from sources like camera traps and satellite images: wwf.to/3SYm2m3.

World Wildlife Fund

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RT @BESNet_UNDP: 🌍🌿 Invasive species are more than just a problem for nature – they're a major driver of global #BiodiversityLoss.

These species, brought beyond their natural range by human activity, disrupt ecosystems and outcompete native species, leading to habitat degradation. ⚠️

Protecting our precious biodiversity means stopping the spread of #InvasiveAlienSpecies.

UN Biodiversity

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#HappeningToday
The @UNbiodiversity #KMGBF pavilion welcomes an insightful event by @theGEF titled’ Dialogue with Multilateral Environmental Agreement Secretariats and GEF,' today at the #GEFAssembly2023.

Find the @UNbiodiversity pavilion's schedule here: cbd.int/article/GBF-Pavilion…

UN Biodiversity

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“Local efforts to restore the ecosystem of Lake Victoria, the world's second biggest lake, also aims to reduce gender-based violence.”

Via @Forbes @ligaze forbes.com/sites/andrewwight…

Conservation Intl

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Last week, @alizaidi46 spoke with @ChristinaDeConc about the first year of the #InflationReductionAct and how the law has spurred clean energy manufacturing investments and created hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs.

Watch a recording of the event: wri.org/events/2023/8/one-ye…

WRI Climate

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NEWS: IUCN launches guide to effectively and equitably conserving at least 30% of the Earth by 2030. bit.ly/3P5PEOT #GEFAssembly2023 #30x30

IUCN

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For #TimelapseTuesday, we’re reviewing the path of #HurricaneHilary’s 6-day journey from the Eastern Pacific to the Pacific Northwest in this #GeoColor imagery from @NOAA’s #GOESWest satellite. #Hilary brought several inches of rain and downed trees and powerlines across parts of the western U.S.

NOAA Satellites

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Tue Aug 22 1630 UTC: A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. More info: hurricanes.gov/text/MIAHSFAT…

NHC_TAFB

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RT @NWS: More than 90 record high temperatures are forecast to be set over the next three days... with more to follow Friday and Saturday. Readings in many areas will be more than 15 degrees above normal for this time of the year. Check your local forecast at weather.gov and stay #WeatherReady.

NOAA

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NASA's IMERG algorithm estimated precipitation totals from #HurricaneHilary, which brought record-breaking rainfall to the Southwestern U.S. this weekend go.nasa.gov/3Ph2ied

NASA Atmosphere

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Our research reveals that the reintroduction of 20 key species could boost biodiversity by restoring natural large mammal populations across swathes of the Earth. 🦌🐺🐗🐻

Learn more about the research right here ➡️ eu1.hubs.ly/H04Y8z00

UNEP-WCMC

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RT @NOAAeducation: #BackToSchoolNOAA: Students can build their own paper sphere of some of our most popular datasets with this hands-on activity that allows students to explore real data around the globe: sos.noaa.gov/education/resou… #BackToSchool #Science #Education @NOAASatellites @NWS

NOAA Satellites

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Healthy plants can help to:

🍚 end hunger
⬇️ reduce poverty
🌎 protect the environment
📈 boost economic development
& so much more!

We need to protect plants for people & planet 👉 bit.ly/3wn3gKW

Via @FAO

UN Biodiversity

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.@NOAA: U.S. high tide flooding continues to break records; El Nino to bring more high tide flooding into 2024.

MORE: noaa.gov/news-release/us-hig… #HighTide #Flooding #ElNino @NOAAOceanMedia

NOAA Communications

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NASA Maps Key Heat Wave Differences in Southern California
In Brief:

No stranger to hot weather, the region is facing more humid heat waves that test the adaptability of its residents. But different areas feel different effects.
Like much of the planet, Southern California is expected to experience more heat waves in the future due to Earth’s changing climate. And some of these will feel increasingly humid, as long-term forecasts call for muggy spells more typically associated with Florida or eastern Texas.

To begin to understand what these changes could mean across the greater Los Angeles area, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California mapped how extreme heat and humidity patterns vary with regional geography. The results underscore how air temperature alone does not tell the full story of dangerous heat.

“We can’t just look at air temperature when we talk about heat wave impacts,” said study author Anamika Shreevastava, a NASA postdoctoral program fellow at JPL. “People tend to get acclimatized to where they live. We have to understand how anomalous conditions are making a difference in what people are used to.”
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Climate change is fueling longer, hotter, and more frequent heat waves. In the U.S., extreme heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer, causing more deaths than hurricanes and floods, according to the National Weather Service.

Greater Los Angeles is a prime example of an urban heat island – cities and suburbs woven with heat-trapping concrete and asphalt that lead to warmer temperatures than nearby rural areas that have more vegetation. Bordered by mountains and the ocean, the Greater L.A. area encompasses suburbs and skyscrapers, with a dense population and disparities in green space. It includes several counties, tens of thousands of square miles, and more than 18 million people, making it a compelling test bed for heat wave research.

<picturehttps://climate.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2709/Map_of_land_surface_temperatures.jpeg <figcaptionMade using NASA’s ECOSTRESS instrument, this map shows land-surface temperatures, or how hot the land is to the touch, in much of L.A. County on Aug. 14, 2020. Peak land-surface temperature in the San Fernando Valley hit 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit (53.5 degrees Celsius), while coastal areas stayed cooler. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Climate change and urban heat are together fueling different heat waves now. In the 20th century, most heat waves in L.A. were dry. However, humid events have steadily increased in frequency and intensity since 1950 due in part to swelling moisture from the warming sea surface.

In their case study, JPL scientists compared two heat waves that affected the Greater Los Angeles area in the summer of 2020: a prolonged muggy stretch in August and an extremely dry three-day spike in September. During the latter event, record-breaking temperatures soared over 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius) in the San Fernando Valley – a densely populated portion of the city of Los Angeles – while scorching winds fanned a destructive wildfire in the nearby San Gabriel Mountains.

For their study, recently published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, the scientists used NASA’s Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) data set – a reanalysis of historical atmospheric observations. They found that both heat waves drove temperatures above the 90th percentile for the August-September climate record in L.A. Using advanced weather modeling, they simulated the heat waves and looked at their impacts across the region.

The researchers found that, although air temperatures were as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit [...]

(10 degrees Celsius) cooler during the muggy August heat wave, the heat stress to human health was more intense than the September event. That’s because the wet-bulb temperature – which relates heat to how well our bodies cool down by sweating – surged due to the humidity.

The results underscore the importance of including humid heat when issuing extreme heat warnings, the scientists said.

Local Impacts

Another key finding of the study was that heat waves don’t touch every place the same way. “The same heat wave can feel different because of local climate variabilities and disparities in vegetation, which has a shading and cooling effect. These small-scale variabilities make a big difference in impact,” said Shreevastava, who studies extreme heat and its effect on urban and natural ecosystems.

Shreevastava and her team examined three regions that experienced the 2020 heat waves differently: Southern L.A. County and Orange County stayed cooler, given their proximity to the Pacific Ocean and coastal moisture. Valley regions, including San Fernando and Riverside, skewed drier and hotter. And central L.A. fell between the two extremes.

Despite the microclimate variations, humidity had a leveling effect: Both the coastal and inland areas experienced increased nighttime heat stress during the muggy August heat wave. This was a notable change for the valley regions, which historically have countered scorching daytime temperatures with drier nights. Valley areas such as those in San Bernardino and Riverside counties experienced the greatest change over recent historical averages, with up to 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) of added heat stress during humid heat wave nights.

The researchers said that their findings highlight how disparities in small-scale heat wave patterns across urban neighborhoods are vitally important when designing emergency plans and policies for our shared, hotter future.

News Media Contacts

Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov



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