Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World

Week ending Friday, April 12, 2024

Warming Gases

Atmospheric concentrations of the three most potent greenhouse gases rose to new record levels in 2023, highlighting the failure by world leaders and industry to curb carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

While the increases in each did not quite match the record jumps of recent years, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and livestock farming have brought the world’s CO2 levels 50% higher than they were before the onset of the Industrial Revolution.

“As these numbers show, we still have a lot of work to do to make meaningful progress in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere,” said Vanda Grubišić, director of NOAA’s global monitoring laboratory.

Earthquakes

The northeastern United States was jolted by a magnitude 4.8 quake centered in New Jersey.

• Earth movements were also felt in central Virginia, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Northern Mariana Islands and southwestern Japan.

Cross Infections

With growing concerns that animal diseases such as bird flu may now be infecting humans more frequently, scientists say people pass on far more viruses to domestic and wild animals than we catch from them.

Writing in the journal Na- ture Ecology & Evolution, researchers say that when viruses cross over from animals to humans, a process known as zoonosis, they can cause disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics such as Ebola, flu or COVID-19.

But their study found that roughly twice as many pathogens were going from humans to other animals in a process known as anthroponosis.

It also revealed that many animal-to-animal infections occur without involving any humans.

Smoke Rings

Nearly perfect circles of gas spewing from Sicily’s Mount Etna delighted residents and tourists alike thanks to a rare set of atmospheric and volcanic conditions that caused the gas to wrap upon itself in a vortex motion.

The volcano towers over the historic port city of Catania. It is the largest in Europe and one of the most active in the world. It is also a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The vapor bands have prompted local residents to rename the volcano “Lady of the Rings.”