Poland moves forward with electric cars

A German-Polish partnership has got the first charging point for electric vehicles in Poland up and running. This EU-funded research project between the German integrated energy company RWE, the Polish group Green Stream Polska and the City of …

Scientists unravel riddle of Saturn’s yin-yang moon

Scientists in Germany and the US have solved the 300-year-old mystery of how Saturn's moon Iapetus came by its bizarre, asymmetrical appearance - the moon is black on one side and white on the other. In two papers in the journal Science, the researchers explain how dusty debris from other Saturnian moons builds up on one side of the moon; this in turn alters the temperature of the moon and drives the migration of water ice to the other side of the moon. Iapetus was discovered in 1671 by the French-Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. He quickly noticed that the moon had an unusual appearance, being much darker on its leading side (that faces the direction of orbit) than on the trailing side. In fact, the trailing side is some 10 times brighter than the leading side. 'This is not the most fundamental problem in the world, but it's an enigma that has been puzzling astronomers for centuries,' commented Joseph Burns of Cornell University in the US. Over the years, a number of theories have been put forward to explain Iapetus' appearance. One theory suggests that the dust on Iapetus comes from a debris cloud from a meteor impact within the Saturn system. Some have suggested that interplanetary dust could have gradually accumulated on one side of the moon, while others believed that geological processes inside Iapetus could be releasing dark materials onto the surface. A fourth theory, which combines the deposition of dust from external sources with thermal processes on the lunar surface, was proposed in 1974. However, this theory has been largely overlooked in the intervening years, even though its predictions of how the moon's appearance would change over time have proven correct. In this study, researchers on both sides of the Atlantic studied images taken by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft since 2004, with a particular focus on pictures taken during a close flyby on 10 September 2007. Using the data, the team was able to model what was happening on Iapetus. Their research reveals that dark dust breaks away from Saturn's other moons, especially Phoebe, and falls on Iapetus' leading hemisphere. Studies of craters on Iapetus suggest that the layer of dust is metres deep. However, the story doesn't end there. 'It is impossible that the very complicated and sharp boundary between the dark and the bright regions is formed by simple infall of material,' explained Tilmann Denk of the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany. 'Thus, we had to find another mechanism.' The dark surface absorbs large amounts of heat from the sun, and because Iapetus rotates so slowly (once every 79 days), the dark surface is exposed to the sun for a long time. Temperatures at the equator become high enough to trigger the evaporation of the ice under the dust. The evaporating ice recondenses at the moon's poles and on the trailing side, giving it its distinctive bright white appearance that contrasts so sharply with the dark, dusty leading side. According to the researchers, Iapetus' small size (it is just 1,500 km across) and low gravity mean that it is relatively easy for ice to move from one side of the moon to the other in this way. John Spencer of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, US, concluded: 'Iapetus is the victim of a runaway feedback loop, operating on a global scale.'
Quality validation date: 2009-12-14

Poland moves forward with electric cars

A German-Polish partnership has got the first charging point for electric vehicles in Poland up and running. This EU-funded research project between the German integrated energy company RWE, the Polish group Green Stream Polska and the City of Warsaw targets the launching of 130 charging points by June 2010. The project partners also seek to develop a functional and user-friendly system that would effectively fuel electric mobility in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Under the pilot programme, which is based on the international experience of the partners in this area, the City Hall of Warsaw will receive five electric cars. The work involved in this research will also be used to expand the network in the future. 'We are very glad to be able to use our experience gathered so far in our collaboration for the first such project in Poland. RWE is committed to the development of sustainable technologies and renewable energy,' said RWE Polska chief executive Filip Thon. 'Therefore, electric cars charged with renewable energy (wind power, photovoltaic) sources are part of our vision of the future,' he added. 'This project is also a showcase of collaboration between the private sector, local authorities and the European Union. This is an invaluable experience and a great pleasure for us.' For her part, Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz said: 'We are aware that transportation is one of the primary sources of threats to the climate. Therefore we do not hesitate to invest in replacement of the rolling stock with a greener one. We also gladly join initiatives promoting environment-friendly means of transport. 'I am glad that Warsaw is the first city in Poland to join the European leaders, Paris, London or Berlin, where similar charging points are available to their residents.' Meanwhile, in cooperation with the German carmaker Daimler and the German government, RWE initiated the 'e-mobility Berlin' electric vehicle operation plan in 2008. RWE is installing 500 charging points for electric vehicles in Berlin. Performance of existing electric vehicles is strong when compared to the performance of conventional vehicles. Notwithstanding this, they are friendlier to the environment. Noise pollution is nearly non-existent and they do not wreak havoc on the atmosphere. Experts also note how electric cars are less expensive to run than combustion-powered vehicles. In Poland, it costs around PLN 3 (EUR 0.73) to drive an electric vehicle for 100 kilometres, while the cost jumps up to PLN 40 (EUR 9.70) for a conventional car.
Quality validation date: 2009-12-11

Move over St Bernard … there’s a new rescuer in town!

Anyone who's brave enough to ski down an 80-degree vertical drop of pristine, virgin snow will tell you their greatest fear is being caught in an avalanche. Thanks to a team of researchers at the Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (Fraunhofer IML), they can rest assured that even if they do get buried in snow, they will be found. A new geolocation system makes use of signals from Galileo - the satellite navigation system being developed by the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA). The risk of being caught in an avalanche intensifies in areas that are off the beaten track. Avalanches are triggered by an external stress on the snow pack. Skiers, snowmobile drivers and even explosive work can kick-start an avalanche with devastating results. This novel system will enable rescuers to locate avalanche victims carrying an avalanche transceiver or a mobile phone. Its beauty lies in the fact that it can locate a buried victim with precision - to within just a few centimetres of their location. People stuck underneath the white stuff will survive only if they are found quickly and precisely. Experts say the maximum survival time is 30 minutes, so time is of the essence. Avalanche victims are most likely to survive if uninjured group members launch an immediate search, but the victim must be wearing an avalanche beacon for optimal results. 'In the experience of rescue teams, not everyone actually carries beacons,' explained Professor Wolfgang Inninger of Fraunhofer IML. 'However, nearly everyone has a cell phone. This is why we decided to enhance our automatic geolocation system that works with Galileo, the future European satellite navigation system.' The system's enhancement was made possible by adding two new components to the 'avalanche navigation system' (ARN), a mobile phone location function and software capable of determining the position of the buried victim on the basis of local measurements. According to the Fraunhofer team, the rescuers measure the field strength of the signal transmitted by the mobile phone or beacon at three to five reference points starting from the approximate location of the buried victim. The ARN then uses a very accurate calculation algorithm to locate the source of the signal, and in turn the location of the victim. The researchers point out that what is central in such a situation is the position relative to the rescue team's starting point rather than the absolute position relative to global coordinates, because there may be measurement errors. Rescuers obtain information on the direction and distance between their location and that of the victim without delay. The researchers are using the GATE Galileo test and development environment in Berchtesgaden in the German Bavarian Alps, where transmitter antennas installed on six mountain peaks simulate the Galileo signals in order to develop their system. The team said they will combine these signals (and real ones) after 2012 with signals from existing satellite navigation systems including the Russian GLONASS (global orbiting navigation satellite system) and the US-based GPS (global positioning system). Signals will also be added for error estimation and correction, they said. Research institutes, universities and regional enterprises are working together with the Berchtesgaden mountain rescue service and the police to get this project off the ground.
Quality validation date: 2009-12-10

Experts urge research into mental health impacts of climate change

Climate change is likely to have major mental health impacts worldwide, yet there is currently a dearth of research in this important area, write Lisa Page and Louise Howard of the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London, UK. In an editorial in the journal Psychological Medicine, they argue that this situation needs to be urgently addressed 'so that mental health policymakers can plan for the impact of climate change on mental health'. There is a growing body of research into the health impacts of climate change, with some estimating that it is already causing over 150,000 deaths a year - a figure that is likely to rise over the coming decades. However, although there is now some recognition that climate change will affect mental health, the authors note that 'such effects are mostly discussed in vague terms and rarely by those actively involved in mental health research or policy. Mental health is unlikely to feature on the Copenhagen agenda'. According to Drs Page and Howard, the effects of climate change 'will be felt most by those with pre-existing serious mental illness, but there is also likely to be an increase in the overall burden of mental disorder worldwide'. For example, natural disasters are predicted to increase as a result of climate change. Mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and other disorders are common in the aftermath of disasters, natural or otherwise. Furthermore, as the case of Hurricane Katrina in the US demonstrated, 'medical and psychiatric care can dramatically diminish for those with pre-existing mental illness in the period following a disaster, at a time when it is needed most,' the researchers point out. Heat waves are also expected to take a greater toll on the mentally ill, as psychotropic medicines and substance misuse are both risk factors for heat-related death. 'In addition, maladaptive coping mechanisms and poor-quality housing are likely to confer further vulnerability on people with mental health problems,' the authors note. Finally, there is 'preliminary evidence' that suicide levels may increase once a certain temperature threshold is crossed. Many infectious diseases are expected to become more common as the climate warms, and this is also likely to affect mental health, the researchers warn. Cases of psychological distress, anxiety and traumatic stress have all been documented in both infected patients and the wider public during disease outbreaks. Rising sea levels will force millions of people living in coastal areas to move. Mass exoduses are also likely in areas stricken by floods or droughts or other extreme conditions. 'Mass migration will undoubtedly lead to an increased burden of mental illness in affected populations,' the researchers caution, pointing out that conflicts are another possible driver of migration. Another problem is that mental health services in many low- and middle-income countries are already woefully inadequate. Drs Page and Howard fear that these services are 'unlikely to be prioritised should further economic collapse occur secondary to climate change'. The researchers conclude that mental health professionals urgently need to engage in research on this subject. 'Collaboration with other disciplines will be crucial,' the authors write. 'We may need to work with climatologists, geographers, environmental epidemiologists, urban planners, economists, modellers and development specialists to plan and execute meaningful research on these topics.' Says Dr Page: 'Climate change is assuming centre stage with the [...] UN conference in Copenhagen. While delegates will discuss the effects of climate change and possible responses by the international governments, we fear that the effects of climate change on mental health will be largely ignored, posing a tremendous risk to the mental health of millions of people in the not-too-distant future.'
Quality validation date: 2009-12-10

Global warming a constant upward trend, WMO figures reveal

As governments meeting in the Danish capital of Copenhagen work to hammer out a global deal to tackle climate change, new figures from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) place 2009 among the top 10 hottest years since records began in 1850. The figures show that temperatures are rising steadily, with the years from 2000 to 2009 hotter than the 1990s, which were in turn hotter than the 1980s. Meanwhile, scientists have developed a new tool that demonstrates the scale of the impacts of climate change. According to the WMO figures, above-average temperatures were recorded in most parts of the world except North America, which experienced cooler-than- average temperatures. Many extreme weather conditions were recorded by the WMO, including floods, droughts and heat waves. China suffered its worst drought in five decades, and severe and prolonged droughts also occurred in Argentina, south-eastern Australia, East Africa, India and Mexico. In Kenya the drought caused a 40% decline in the country's maize harvest. In West Africa, rainfall was so intense in September that more than 100,000 people were affected. Burkina Faso experienced the worst rainfall in the region for 90 years, more than 263 mm of rain in less than 12 hours. Many other parts of the world were also badly affected by extreme rainfall. Floods, tornados and heavy thunderstorms caused much damage across Germany. The United Kingdom also experienced severe flooding and more than 300 mm of rain was recorded in less than 48 hours in south-eastern Spain as well as across other regions of the Mediterranean. South and central America were also hit by unusual rainfall which led to flooding in Argentina, north-eastern Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. Landslides caused by flooding also led to hundreds of deaths in Colombia and El Salvador. Canada experienced many extreme weather conditions including almost double the normal number of avalanches and a record number of tornados which resulted in 25 deaths. The northern plains region of the US also experienced the wettest October for 115 years and record flooding during March. The data from the WMO is based on a variety of data sources including land-based climate stations, ships and satellites. The final figures for 2009 will be published in March 2010 in the annual WMO Statement on the Status of Global Climate. Meanwhile, the IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme) has released details of a new tool, called the IGBP Climate Change Index, to track global warming. The index was the brainchild of a group of IGBP scientists who were concerned that current climate change data are often confusing and not clear enough about the scale of the changes that are happening; it constitutes an attempt to simplify data and reveal general trends in climate change. The index charts changes in four key indicators of climate change: temperatures, sea ice, sea level, and carbon dioxide. It reveals a clear upward direction in climate change since 1980, the first year covered by the tool. 'We needed an oceanic measure and chose sea-level rise because the impact is global and of high public interest,' said Professor Steven Running from the University of Montana, US, one of the creators of the index. 'The fourth metric concerns the cryosphere. Growing concern about the rate of loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic led us to choose this metric. This parameter broadly represents the Earth system and it is interesting that the summer sea ice extent is shrinking much faster than models predicted five or two years ago.' The IGBP is a research programme that is studying global climate change in order to provide scientific evidence to help make the Earth and its ecosystems more sustainable.
Quality validation date: 2009-12-09