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The Perilous Plight of Rainforest Epiphytes – PNAS (2024)

September 1, 2024 at 2:07 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Global Patterns

Epiphytes (mosses, ferns, bromeliads and orchids) are a strikingly interesting group of non-parasitic plants prevalent in the tropics that live on the surface of other plants. They are particularly abundant and diverse in mountainous cloud forests. Epiphytes are interesting because they constitute an important part of nutrient cycle in their ecosystems capturing moisture and nutrients from the air. In the tropics they can accumulate a considerable amount of biomass within forest canopies and form a special type of micro environment […]

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Can Money Stop Deforestation? – The Economist (2023)

September 29, 2023 at 12:08 pm / Global Patterns, Human Nature, Video

In the 1980’s due to governmental policies favoring agriculture, the landcover of tropical rainforests decreased from 75 % (in the 1940s) down to 21 % in Costa Rica. Many tropical countries followed suit. The world’s largest rainforest the Amazon also experienced decades of deforestation. Money clearly drives deforestation. But can it also help save the forests? The promise of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) is fairly straightforward: Forest owners keep their standing vegetation intact and in return […]

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How El Niño and La Niña Cause Extreme Weather – The Economist (2023)

June 1, 2023 at 4:47 pm / Global Patterns, Video

El Niño and La Niña are opposite states of one of Earth’s most important climate processes together constituting the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. It can lead to devastating weather events all over the world. But how does it work, what kinds of extreme weather does it cause and how is global warming affecting it? The ENSO observed during the 1997/1998 period was a legendary one. It appears 2023/2024 could be another significant ENSO event. Since 1950 the amplitudes […]

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Drone Footage of the Geldingadalur Volcano, Iceland – Olivier Grunewald (2021)

May 12, 2023 at 11:38 am / Evolution, Global Patterns

The drone footage by Olivier Grunewald shows the crater filling up and forming a short lived lava lake like the one that was present in the crater of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or that of Erta Alé in Ethiopia. Subsequently. the lava begins to cascade at high speed through an opening in the walls of the crater. The surface of the lava lake experiences bubbly explosions releasing hot gasses similar to Bembow and Marum craters […]

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Updates from NASA’s Curiosity Rover [Mars Science Laboratory]

April 15, 2023 at 11:38 pm / Cosmological, Global Patterns, NatureDocumentaries.org, Video

Geological evolution of the Earth and Mars have started from very similar origins but yet the two planets have followed quite different trajectories. Geology of our planet has shaped the evolution of life (and vice versa). Understanding Mars will also help understand our own planet. For this reason, Nature Documentaries will be paying attention to this ambitious Mars rover project. Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been holding regular detailed update sessions. You can follow some of these updates below starting from […]

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Newtok | The Water is Rising / Patagonia Films (2022)

June 7, 2022 at 11:27 am / Global Patterns, Human Nature, Video

Human induced climate change is creating fast coastal landscape changes and during that process turn many indigenous communities into climate refugees. Co-directed by Michael Kirby Smith and Andrew Burton, Newtok | The Water is Rising highlights demise of a population. Rising sea levels threaten Newtok, Alaska. The Arctic permafrost is melting at an increasing rate. Due to Polar Amplification the speed of climatic change in the Arctic is rather fast. To keep their culture and community intact, the Yup’ik residents […]

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Live from Geldingadalir Volcano, Iceland (2021)

February 2, 2022 at 10:28 am / Global Patterns, Video, webcams

Be it Mount Ararat or Mount Chimborazo, every massive stratovolcano was once upon a time a tiny little pimple on the Earth’s surface. It is most certainly very fascinating to see a baby volcano being born, a geological process that will last a very long time. The first technical description of lava flow comes from the ancient geographer Strabo of Amaseia. In his book, he describes the Katakekaumene, which means the “burnt country” referring to a region of around 1,800 […]

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NASA TV live

December 26, 2021 at 8:47 am / Cosmological, Global Patterns, Human Nature, Video

Ever since the successful landing of Mars rover Curiosity in August 6th of 2012, NASA TV broadcasts have experienced a big surge in viewers. Since then many other successful missions and interesting Earth-based as well as cosmic phenomena have been transmitted to curious masses of viewers all over the world. NASA TV has a rich body of programming including recording and analysis of significant global events such as the Chelyabinsk airburst event. There are regular broadcasts from the International Space […]

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Forest Dynamics of North America Over 25 Years

December 20, 2021 at 8:14 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Global Patterns, NatureDocumentaries.org, Video

Using the images captured by the Landsat satellites, landscape ecologists produced a comprehensive visualization of decades of forest dynamics shaped by human management and natural disturbances. Dark green pixels had no disturbances in the 25 years studied. Yellow shows where a disturbance happened in a particular year. At this scale, what really stands out are the large fires in the West and timber harvesting in the Pacific Northwest, Maine, and all across the Southeast. Climate scientists need to know the […]

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A Satellite-eye View of Three Decades of Deforestation in the Amazon

December 17, 2021 at 1:39 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Global Patterns, NatureDocumentaries.org, Video

This short documentary compiles satellite-tracked evidence for Brazilian Amazon rainforest destruction between 1985 and 2018. How do you map and quantify the Amazonian deforestation? The data recorded by the Landsat has revealed the stark rate of the Amazon deforestation in great detail. The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world. It covers an area roughly equal to that of the continental United States. In a time series spanning over three decades, starting the year of 1985, we can observe […]

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Landsat 9: part 1, Getting Off The Ground – NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (2020)

December 16, 2021 at 1:18 pm / Global Patterns, Video

Landsat missions span for more than half a century starting from 1972. In this first episode of the four part mini series we explore how the project got started and what sorts of challenges were faced during the initial design of this legendary Earth observing instrument. The episode introduces people including William Pecora, Stewart Udall and Virginia Norwood who were pivotal in realization of Landsat 1. The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA […]

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Landsat 9: part 2, Designing For The Future – NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (2020)

December 16, 2021 at 1:13 pm / Global Patterns, Video

We cannot protect our planet if we cannot understand it. Understanding a complex system requires accurate measurements and quantification of dynamic processes. The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).Landsat missions span for more than half a century starting from 1972. The unbroken sequence of images covering the entire Earth’s surface provide an invaluable record of historical land use. In this second episode of the four part mini […]

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Landsat 9, part 3: More Than Just A Pretty Picture – NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (2020)

December 16, 2021 at 1:11 pm / Global Patterns, Video

In this third episode of the four part mini series, we explore challenges faced by the Landsat ground crew. The ground station crew is responsible for maintaining the constancy of the data stream coming from the satellite. The storage capacity of the memory onboard the satellite is finite and if a problem arises on the ground in receiving the data there is a risk of missing irreplaceable recordings. Landsat Program missions span for more than half a century starting from […]

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Landsat 9, part 4: Plays Well With Others – NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (2020)

December 16, 2021 at 1:04 pm / Global Patterns, Video

In this last episode of the four part mini series, we take a look at a few examples for how scientists are using the Landsat data to find answers to diverse questions. For instance biologists use imagery to quantify evaporative stress in plants and health of the trees. Landsat measurements can be combined with that of GRACE to interpret effects of underground water levels on the plant cover in a given area. Landsat data can integrate with data coming from […]

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A Scientific Visualization of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season – NASA/SVS (2020)

April 16, 2021 at 10:28 pm / Global Patterns, Video

NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) has released an animated summary of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. The visualization starts on May 1, 2020 showing Sea Surface Temperatures and cloud cover. Precipitation data layer enters in as hurricanes are tracked throughout 2020. Hurricane strengths pepresented with the letter “T” for Tropical Storm and numbers for each storm’s respective strength along the hurricane tracks. At the end by all storm tracks are projected together on the surface. The season stunned meteorologists and […]

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