#weathering — Public Fediverse posts

To Predict Tree Death, Scientists Tapped Gamma Rays To Peer Underground
(Airborne radiation sensors could help forecast and prevent drought-driven tree mortality_
--
https://www.science.org/content/article/predict-tree-death-scientists-tapped-gamma-rays-peer-underground <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1029/2026GL122182 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @hannah Richter
“Over an 18-month period starting in 2023, the dense forests of Western Australia [WA] experienced a record-setting drought. Jarrah trees towering 35 metres high died off in patchy brown splotches, turning 400 square kilometres - 3% of the forest - into brittle, fire-prone stands. The event led researchers to wonder whether there was a better way to predict where such die-offs might occur both there and in other forests, a problem that has long been tricky to solve because important factors such as soil depth are hidden underground…
Now, those same researchers have unveiled a surprising new tool for predicting tree mortality: gamma rays [link above.] Resulting from the natural decay of the potassium-40 isotope from granite-rich bedrock, the radiation acts as a proxy for soil depth, which in turn signals how much water a tree can access during drought. The new method could be applied to other highly weathered soils, which cover one-third of Earth’s ice-free land...”
--
"... PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: During a record-breaking drought and heat event in 2023–2024, forests in southwestern Australia experienced widespread, patchy die-off. While we know that extreme weather triggers these events, it is often a hidden factor, the thickness of soil and the depth to underlying bedrock, that determines which trees live or die. Trees growing in shallow soil over solid rock are highly vulnerable due to limited water storage. Here, [they] show how to map these hidden zones from the air using gamma rays that are naturally emitted by potassium in the ground. Like southwestern Australia, many parts of the world have highly weathered soils where potassium has been washed out of the upper layers of soil. However, [they] showed that higher potassium areas signal that potassium-rich bedrock is closer to the surface and this is sensitive for tens of meters. By comparing gamma ray maps with ground-based geophysical surveys and satellite data, [they] showed that these potassium hotspots accurately predict where forests are most likely to experience die-off during a drought. These types of soils cover about one-third of the Earth's land, so the method provides a powerful new tool for managers to identify and protect vulnerable forests from future, hotter droughts…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #Australia #WesternAustralia #WA #forests #vegetation #bush #jarrah #karri #drought #heat #extremedrought #extremeweather #climatechange #water #waterresources #dieoff #soil #weathering #erosion #moisture #nutrients #airborne #gammarays #GRS #granite #gneiss #bedrock #geology #potassium40 #potassium #K #remotesensing #earthobservation #groundwater #interstitial #subsurface #waterstorage #electricalresistivitytomography

To Predict Tree Death, Scientists Tapped Gamma Rays To Peer Underground
(Airborne radiation sensors could help forecast and prevent drought-driven tree mortality_
--
https://www.science.org/content/article/predict-tree-death-scientists-tapped-gamma-rays-peer-underground <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1029/2026GL122182 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @hannah Richter
“Over an 18-month period starting in 2023, the dense forests of Western Australia [WA] experienced a record-setting drought. Jarrah trees towering 35 metres high died off in patchy brown splotches, turning 400 square kilometres - 3% of the forest - into brittle, fire-prone stands. The event led researchers to wonder whether there was a better way to predict where such die-offs might occur both there and in other forests, a problem that has long been tricky to solve because important factors such as soil depth are hidden underground…
Now, those same researchers have unveiled a surprising new tool for predicting tree mortality: gamma rays [link above.] Resulting from the natural decay of the potassium-40 isotope from granite-rich bedrock, the radiation acts as a proxy for soil depth, which in turn signals how much water a tree can access during drought. The new method could be applied to other highly weathered soils, which cover one-third of Earth’s ice-free land...”
--
"... PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: During a record-breaking drought and heat event in 2023–2024, forests in southwestern Australia experienced widespread, patchy die-off. While we know that extreme weather triggers these events, it is often a hidden factor, the thickness of soil and the depth to underlying bedrock, that determines which trees live or die. Trees growing in shallow soil over solid rock are highly vulnerable due to limited water storage. Here, [they] show how to map these hidden zones from the air using gamma rays that are naturally emitted by potassium in the ground. Like southwestern Australia, many parts of the world have highly weathered soils where potassium has been washed out of the upper layers of soil. However, [they] showed that higher potassium areas signal that potassium-rich bedrock is closer to the surface and this is sensitive for tens of meters. By comparing gamma ray maps with ground-based geophysical surveys and satellite data, [they] showed that these potassium hotspots accurately predict where forests are most likely to experience die-off during a drought. These types of soils cover about one-third of the Earth's land, so the method provides a powerful new tool for managers to identify and protect vulnerable forests from future, hotter droughts…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #Australia #WesternAustralia #WA #forests #vegetation #bush #jarrah #karri #drought #heat #extremedrought #extremeweather #climatechange #water #waterresources #dieoff #soil #weathering #erosion #moisture #nutrients #airborne #gammarays #GRS #granite #gneiss #bedrock #geology #potassium40 #potassium #K #remotesensing #earthobservation #groundwater #interstitial #subsurface #waterstorage #electricalresistivitytomography

To Predict Tree Death, Scientists Tapped Gamma Rays To Peer Underground
(Airborne radiation sensors could help forecast and prevent drought-driven tree mortality_
--
https://www.science.org/content/article/predict-tree-death-scientists-tapped-gamma-rays-peer-underground <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1029/2026GL122182 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @hannah Richter
“Over an 18-month period starting in 2023, the dense forests of Western Australia [WA] experienced a record-setting drought. Jarrah trees towering 35 metres high died off in patchy brown splotches, turning 400 square kilometres - 3% of the forest - into brittle, fire-prone stands. The event led researchers to wonder whether there was a better way to predict where such die-offs might occur both there and in other forests, a problem that has long been tricky to solve because important factors such as soil depth are hidden underground…
Now, those same researchers have unveiled a surprising new tool for predicting tree mortality: gamma rays [link above.] Resulting from the natural decay of the potassium-40 isotope from granite-rich bedrock, the radiation acts as a proxy for soil depth, which in turn signals how much water a tree can access during drought. The new method could be applied to other highly weathered soils, which cover one-third of Earth’s ice-free land...”
--
"... PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: During a record-breaking drought and heat event in 2023–2024, forests in southwestern Australia experienced widespread, patchy die-off. While we know that extreme weather triggers these events, it is often a hidden factor, the thickness of soil and the depth to underlying bedrock, that determines which trees live or die. Trees growing in shallow soil over solid rock are highly vulnerable due to limited water storage. Here, [they] show how to map these hidden zones from the air using gamma rays that are naturally emitted by potassium in the ground. Like southwestern Australia, many parts of the world have highly weathered soils where potassium has been washed out of the upper layers of soil. However, [they] showed that higher potassium areas signal that potassium-rich bedrock is closer to the surface and this is sensitive for tens of meters. By comparing gamma ray maps with ground-based geophysical surveys and satellite data, [they] showed that these potassium hotspots accurately predict where forests are most likely to experience die-off during a drought. These types of soils cover about one-third of the Earth's land, so the method provides a powerful new tool for managers to identify and protect vulnerable forests from future, hotter droughts…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #Australia #WesternAustralia #WA #forests #vegetation #bush #jarrah #karri #drought #heat #extremedrought #extremeweather #climatechange #water #waterresources #dieoff #soil #weathering #erosion #moisture #nutrients #airborne #gammarays #GRS #granite #gneiss #bedrock #geology #potassium40 #potassium #K #remotesensing #earthobservation #groundwater #interstitial #subsurface #waterstorage #electricalresistivitytomography

To Predict Tree Death, Scientists Tapped Gamma Rays To Peer Underground
(Airborne radiation sensors could help forecast and prevent drought-driven tree mortality_
--
https://www.science.org/content/article/predict-tree-death-scientists-tapped-gamma-rays-peer-underground <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1029/2026GL122182 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @hannah Richter
“Over an 18-month period starting in 2023, the dense forests of Western Australia [WA] experienced a record-setting drought. Jarrah trees towering 35 metres high died off in patchy brown splotches, turning 400 square kilometres - 3% of the forest - into brittle, fire-prone stands. The event led researchers to wonder whether there was a better way to predict where such die-offs might occur both there and in other forests, a problem that has long been tricky to solve because important factors such as soil depth are hidden underground…
Now, those same researchers have unveiled a surprising new tool for predicting tree mortality: gamma rays [link above.] Resulting from the natural decay of the potassium-40 isotope from granite-rich bedrock, the radiation acts as a proxy for soil depth, which in turn signals how much water a tree can access during drought. The new method could be applied to other highly weathered soils, which cover one-third of Earth’s ice-free land...”
--
"... PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: During a record-breaking drought and heat event in 2023–2024, forests in southwestern Australia experienced widespread, patchy die-off. While we know that extreme weather triggers these events, it is often a hidden factor, the thickness of soil and the depth to underlying bedrock, that determines which trees live or die. Trees growing in shallow soil over solid rock are highly vulnerable due to limited water storage. Here, [they] show how to map these hidden zones from the air using gamma rays that are naturally emitted by potassium in the ground. Like southwestern Australia, many parts of the world have highly weathered soils where potassium has been washed out of the upper layers of soil. However, [they] showed that higher potassium areas signal that potassium-rich bedrock is closer to the surface and this is sensitive for tens of meters. By comparing gamma ray maps with ground-based geophysical surveys and satellite data, [they] showed that these potassium hotspots accurately predict where forests are most likely to experience die-off during a drought. These types of soils cover about one-third of the Earth's land, so the method provides a powerful new tool for managers to identify and protect vulnerable forests from future, hotter droughts…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #Australia #WesternAustralia #WA #forests #vegetation #bush #jarrah #karri #drought #heat #extremedrought #extremeweather #climatechange #water #waterresources #dieoff #soil #weathering #erosion #moisture #nutrients #airborne #gammarays #GRS #granite #gneiss #bedrock #geology #potassium40 #potassium #K #remotesensing #earthobservation #groundwater #interstitial #subsurface #waterstorage #electricalresistivitytomography

To Predict Tree Death, Scientists Tapped Gamma Rays To Peer Underground
(Airborne radiation sensors could help forecast and prevent drought-driven tree mortality_
--
https://www.science.org/content/article/predict-tree-death-scientists-tapped-gamma-rays-peer-underground <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1029/2026GL122182 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @hannah Richter
“Over an 18-month period starting in 2023, the dense forests of Western Australia [WA] experienced a record-setting drought. Jarrah trees towering 35 metres high died off in patchy brown splotches, turning 400 square kilometres - 3% of the forest - into brittle, fire-prone stands. The event led researchers to wonder whether there was a better way to predict where such die-offs might occur both there and in other forests, a problem that has long been tricky to solve because important factors such as soil depth are hidden underground…
Now, those same researchers have unveiled a surprising new tool for predicting tree mortality: gamma rays [link above.] Resulting from the natural decay of the potassium-40 isotope from granite-rich bedrock, the radiation acts as a proxy for soil depth, which in turn signals how much water a tree can access during drought. The new method could be applied to other highly weathered soils, which cover one-third of Earth’s ice-free land...”
--
"... PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: During a record-breaking drought and heat event in 2023–2024, forests in southwestern Australia experienced widespread, patchy die-off. While we know that extreme weather triggers these events, it is often a hidden factor, the thickness of soil and the depth to underlying bedrock, that determines which trees live or die. Trees growing in shallow soil over solid rock are highly vulnerable due to limited water storage. Here, [they] show how to map these hidden zones from the air using gamma rays that are naturally emitted by potassium in the ground. Like southwestern Australia, many parts of the world have highly weathered soils where potassium has been washed out of the upper layers of soil. However, [they] showed that higher potassium areas signal that potassium-rich bedrock is closer to the surface and this is sensitive for tens of meters. By comparing gamma ray maps with ground-based geophysical surveys and satellite data, [they] showed that these potassium hotspots accurately predict where forests are most likely to experience die-off during a drought. These types of soils cover about one-third of the Earth's land, so the method provides a powerful new tool for managers to identify and protect vulnerable forests from future, hotter droughts…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #Australia #WesternAustralia #WA #forests #vegetation #bush #jarrah #karri #drought #heat #extremedrought #extremeweather #climatechange #water #waterresources #dieoff #soil #weathering #erosion #moisture #nutrients #airborne #gammarays #GRS #granite #gneiss #bedrock #geology #potassium40 #potassium #K #remotesensing #earthobservation #groundwater #interstitial #subsurface #waterstorage #electricalresistivitytomography

This afternoon's bike trip was a 37 km round trip in one hour and ten minutes to collect a 20 kg sack of "greensand" olivine for the garden.

I think it's a good example of the efficiency of velomobiles: how they make human power even more effective than when riding a normal bike. Even on the return journey with a headwind and loaded with the sack of sand, it was easy to keep the speed above 35 km/h.

Being able to stow a lot of things inside the aerodynamic form of the bike helps a lot with efficiency. You feel extra weight when accelerating, not so much once you get going.

And why the olivine ? I calculated a few weeks back that in the worst case this last winter our heating could have emitted 105 kg of CO2. This sack is enough to absorb about a fifth of that amount from the atmosphere.

Each time we plant things indoors or in our garden we add a bit of olivine.

Once humanity (especially those of us in the highly emitting richer countries) has reduced emissions by a lot, it's possible to make a bit of a dent by using a product like this. But there's no chance of compensating for ever larger emissions by trying to mine ever larger amounts of olivine.

#recumbent #velomobile #regel17 #cycling #biketooter #olivine #greensand #weathering #enhancedweathering

And then, after one final reminder that the city will officially be worshipping fossil fuel next week, I got back home, with a loaf of bread for my lunch picked up in the city centre and a 20 kg sack of olivine ("greensand") which will eventually absorb about 20 kg of CO2 when I use it in the garden. I don't use any fossil fuels, but others unfortunately still do. It seems better to buy this stuff to dilute our home-made compost than other things which are more environmentally destructive.
#velomobile #regel17 #cycling #biketooter #weathering #enhancedweathering #olivine #greensand

This morning's exercise ride was a 34 km round trip to collect another 20 kg sack of greensand. We've been using it with our house-plants, mixed with compost from the garden to start tomatoes, and here in the front garden it's levelled up the ground above our potatoes.

Over time, each sack permanently removes 20 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere and the process is beneficial to growing plants.

Three sacks make a very small difference to our historical emissions, but if I'm going to buy soil of some kind for the garden it may as well be this. I certainly won't buy #peat which would help to destroy an ecosystem somewhere and release CO2 into the atmosphere.
#olivine #greensand #weathering #enhancedweathering #regel17

Photos of this morning's recreational ride. It took an hour and ten minutes to ride 37 km, my average speed being pulled down by riding slowly into a farmyard at around the half way point to buy another 20 kg sack of olivine.
We've been using this sand-like ground up olivine in pot plants indoors and also in the garden to fill gaps.
Plants seem to grow well in it.
Olivine is one of several minerals which absorb CO2 from the air as they weather so my feeling is that if I'm going to spend money on something to put in the garden or use for planting indoors, why not use olivine which has a small positive effect on the climate?
#regel17 #velomobile #cycling #netherlands #bicycle #greensand #olivine #weathering #enhancedweathering #BikeTooter