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The Mysterious Ocean Plastic Sink: Gone With the Rivers

Lead image: A microplastic under the microscope. Credit: CEFREM/UPVD Plastics are a growing problem for natural ecosystems around the globe, and in particular for our marine and freshwater environments. Rivers are the leading source of plastic pollution, as it has been estimated that they deliver several million metric tons of plastic annually to our oceans from poor land-based waste management. The problem is that the estimates made for plastics flowing from the rivers are tens to hundreds of times higher than the quantity of plastics floating on the ocean’s surface. So where is all of this river-derived plastic actually going…

Scientists Uncover an Additional Threat to Antarctica’s Floating Ice Shelves

Lead image: Ice melange, a combination of ice shelf fragments, windblown snow and frozen seawater, can act as a glue to fuse large rifts in floating ice in Antarctica. Researchers at UCI and NASA JPL found that a thinning of the substance over time can cause rifts to open, leading to the calving of large icebergs. Credit: Beck / NASA Operation IceBridge Thinning of rift-healing slush is identified as a major cause of iceberg calving events. Glaciologists at the University of California, Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have examined the dynamics underlying the calving of the Delaware-sized iceberg A68…

EGS, Jacobs completing first round of Artemis 1 pre-launch integrated tests prior to Orion stacking

NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program and prime launch support contractor Jacobs are working to complete the first round of Artemis 1 pre-launch testing before the end of September. The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the lunar orbit mission is stacked on Mobile Launcher-1 (ML-1) in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where an Integrated Modal Test (IMT) is being completed to gather data on the natural frequencies of the SLS along with an Orion mass and center of gravity simulator. Engineers are reviewing data on the first two of the three sets of pre-launch tests…

Fast and Furious Floods From Overflowing Craters Shaped the Surface of Mars

Lead Image: A colored topographical image showing river valleys on Mars. The outlet canyon Loire Vallis (white line) formed from the overflow of a lake in Parana Basin (outlined in white). Black lines indicate other river valleys formed by processes other than lake overflows. Background is colored Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter-derived topography over a Thermal Emission Imaging System image mosaic. Image is approximately 650 kilometers across. Credit: NASA/GSFC/ JPL ASU On Earth, river erosion is usually a slow-going process. But on Mars, massive floods from overflowing crater lakes had an outsized role in shaping the Martian surface, carving deep chasms…

Coral Microbiome (Bacteria, Fungi and Viruses) Is Key to Surviving Climate Change

Lead Image: The study site in Puerto Morelos, Mexico (Caribbean Sea), where the researchers collected Siderastrea radians. Credit: Sergio Guendulain-García Researchers tease apart contributions of symbiotic bacteria and algae to corals’ heat tolerance and identify genes involved in stress response. The microbiomes of corals — which comprise bacteria, fungi and viruses — play an important role in the ability of corals to tolerate rising ocean temperatures, according to new research led by Penn State. The team also identified several genes within certain corals and the symbiotic photosynthetic algae that live inside their tissues that may play a role in their…