land
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Earth
The separation of arid land storage and rainfall highlights human shocks
The attribution of surface water storage changes to precipitation, basin hydrology, and human water management. Credit: Zhao Gang Featuring aridity index (AI) of less than 0.65, the arid land covers around 45% of the Earth’s land and supports over 3 billion people. Severe water shortages in these regions pose serious risks to human well-being and ecosystems. However, understanding of long-term…
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Environment
How land use change increases China’s carbon sequestration potential
Comparison of China’s Land Use Change Carbon Budget (LULUCF) based on different data sources. Positive values ​​indicate carbon sources and negative values ​​indicate carbon sinks. a. LULUCF carbon flux from 1980 to 2100. b. Multi-year averaged LULUCF carbon fluxes from 1994 to 2018. c. Estimation of China’s forest area based on various data sources. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54846-2…
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Earth
Advanced algorithms reduce land cover classification errors in landslide analysis.
Land cover changes in hilltop areas. Credit: Renata Pacheco Quevedo/INPE Land use and land cover (LULC) analysis is becoming increasingly important in environmental research as it has a direct impact on the environment. Changes in LULC not only increase the susceptibility of landscapes to hazardous phenomena, but also affect ecological and climate balance. However, one of the key challenges when…
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Space & Cosmos
A new Mars landing approach: How to land large payloads on Mars
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Back in 2007, I spoke with Rob Manning, a distinguished engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Then he said something shocking to me. Despite successfully leading entry, descent and landing (EDL) teams on three Mars rover missions, he said the prospect of landing a manned mission on Mars may be impossible. But after nearly 20 years…
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Environment
Research: Even if warming is kept below 1.5°C, wildfires will significantly reduce the amount of carbon absorbed by land.
The percentage of burned area at 1.5°C and 2.0°C for each GFED region will change from the current time. Credit: Nature Geoscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01554-7 One of the objectives of the Paris Agreement was to “continue our efforts” to keep global warming below 1.5°C, but even this ambitious goal will continue to grow as wildfires become more intense and frequent.…
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