Ecoclimax

"Water flows" does not only refer to the hydrological processes related to natural watercourses. The project also answers the following questions: How much water flows through Germany in terms of natural, artificial and virtual flows? What are the different ways in which water is used and for what? Who uses it and why? And how much water flows out of Germany – physically and virtually?

From space, the earth’s great forests and rivers still seem intact and flowing. The Congo Basin rainforest straddles Africa extending across the continent, regulating the regional climate, providing food and livelihoods to millions, and refuge to thousands of species including forest elephants and chimpanzees. Asia’s great rivers – the Mekong, Brahmaputra, the Yangtze, etc – meander from the head waters of the Himalayas before flowing down to the mouths of Vietnam Delta and the Bangladesh, providing water, food, and energy to hundreds of millions of people. And the vast plains of the Dakotas still remain some of most sparsely populated regions of the United States. Zoom in further, the threats to these great natural phenomena become apparent. Forests and rivers face both seen and unseen dangers. Forests are strafed by logging roads, which cut deep in intact forest areas. The loggers extract valuable timber, feeding ever growing demand for tropical hardwoods. They provide jobs for a...

Via www.vividmaps.com

"Estream" - a portable water generator. It can convert any type of running water into stored energy. It takes proximally 4.5 hours to fully charge one charge "Estream", which can charge up to three smartphones, GoPros or Tablet PCs. You can alsow use Estream as lantern with for different modes, even under water. Via kickstarter.com

Climatemaps is an interactive map of global monthly mean climate data from land observations between 1961 & 1990. Mean temperature Precipitation Diurnal temperature range Radiation Wind speed Wet days Via  Climate Maps

323 reindeer, including 70 calves, were killed last Friday in what might be the deadliest lightning strike in known history. Wildlife officials are calling it an unusually large natural disaster. Reindeer tend to stay close to each other in bad weather. Which could explain how so many were killed at once. Via theverge.com

Average pH of surface waters in 1850 vs its projected value in 2100 if current trends continue; CO2 emissions have increased ocean acidity by 26% since the beginning of the industrial revolution, by 2100 the acidity will have surged by 170%; as a result, many marine species will become extinct. - It's essential to note that the pH scale is logarithmic, i.e. a pH of 6 is ten times more acidic than a pH of 7 and 100 times more acidic than a pH of 8. That's why a decrease from 8.2 to 7.8 is a drastic change for the oceans. - Why and how does ocean acidification happen? About 30% of the carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere is absorbed by the global ocean. Once CO2 meets the H2O, we get: 1. carbonic acid H2CO3 and 2. free hydrogen ions H+. Now, these free hydrogen ions H+ will bond with carbonate ions CO3(2-), which is bad, because carbonate ions are essential for the creation of calcium carbonate CaCO3, an essential ingredient for calcium based structures such as shells...

Lost in Light, a short film on how light pollution affects the view of the night skies. Shot mostly in California, the movie shows how the view gets progressively better as you move away from the lights. Finding locations to shoot at every level of light pollution was a challenge and getting to the darkest skies with no light pollution was a journey in itself., a short film on how light pollution affects the view of the night skies. Shot mostly in California, the movie shows how the view gets progressively better as you move away from the lights. Finding locations to shoot at every level of light pollution was a challenge and getting to the darkest skies with no light pollution was a journey in itself.

No one is entirely sure how many birds reptiles and small animals are killed by cats every year, but the number is thought to be enormous. Next to habitat loss cats may be the largest threat to migratory birds and migratory bird numbers are diminishing at an ever-increasing rate.

Recent research expeditions have unearthed extraordinary features beyond the existing monument boundaries such as the world’s oldest living animal - a black coral estimated to be 4,500 years old - and six massive seamounts, one of which is nearly 14,000 feet high and teeming with life. Via washingtonpost.com

Green and blue colors represent areas where surface water changes occured during the last 30 years. Green pixels show where surface water has been turned into land (accretion, land reclamation, droughts). Blue pixels show where land has been changed into surface water (erosion, reservoir construction).

This is a chart of the ionizing radiation dose a person can absorb from various sources. The unit for absorbed dose is 'sievert' (Sv), and measures the effect a dose of radiation will have on the cells of the body. One sievert (all at once) will make you sick, and too many more will kill you, but we safely absorb small amounts of natural radiation daily. Note: The same number of sieverts absorbed in a shorter time will generally cause more damage, but your cumulative long-term dose plays a big role in things like cancer risk. Via xkcd.com

In this map, the orange places are those that face the highest pressure from humans. The blue areas face the least pressure. This map shows where humans' impact on the environment increased or decreased from 1993 to 2009. - In 1993, just 27 percent of the land had no measurable human footprint. By 2009, that had grown by 9.3 percent, or 23 million square kilometers. - While population increased by 23 percent, the average score for the human footprint increased by just 9 percent. - During that same 16-year period, the global economy has grown 153 percent, 16 times the rate of footprint growth. - The footprint more than doubled in areas such as the New Guinea mangroves and the Purus Varzea rain forest in the Amazon, and it jumped more than 1,000 percent in the Baffin coastal tundra. The Torngat Mountain tundra saw an increase of more than 10,000 percent. Via nationalgeographic.com Related posts: -  Ecological footprint -  The ecological wealth of nations

Green urban areas, and to a certain extent also water areas, contribute to cool the city. It can be expected that a high share of green areas reduces the urban heat island effect and provides access to cooler open space. The actual effect depends however on more variables, like the size distribution and position of the areas, wind pattern etc. Population density can also be used as an indication for the urban heat island effect. High population desities are associated with the lack of green space, high building mass, high production of anthropogenic heat per area. Climate-change projections suggest that European summer heatwaves will become more frequent and severe during this century, consistent with the observed trend of the past decades. The most severe impacts arise from multi-day heatwaves, associated with warm night-time temperatures and high relative humidity. Heatwaves include tropical nights (minimum temperature exceeding 20°C) and hot days (maximum temperature exceeding ...

"These are roughly 28,835 Jelly Beans. I counted out 500 of them and used those to weigh the rest. In this pile, there is one Jelly Bean for each day that the average American will live. You might have more beans in your life, or maybe less, but on average this is the time we have. Here's a single bean. It's your very first day. A special day, but kind of a rough day on everyone involved. Add 364 more and you have the first year of your life. Now for a sense of scale, here are your first fifteen years. 5,475 days. Which brings us to the threshold of adulthood. And at that moment this is the time that we have left. And this is, on average, what we will do with all that time. We will be asleep for a total 8,477 days.  If we're lucky some of the time will be sleeping next to someone we love. We will be in the process of eating, drinking, or preparing food for 1,635 days. We will be at work, hopefully doing something satisfying for the equivalent of 3,202 of those days. 1...

Fossil fuel intensive A1FI is the most extreme scenario regarding emission rate.

The continent with the highest average elevation on Earth, the average height is 2500 m above sea level.

Via usgs.gov Map of the maximum intensity of earthquakes registered in Italy Related post: -  European Seismic Hazard map

Top ten Importers (1995 - 2014) Top ten Exporters (1995 - 2014)

Fourteen of the 15 hottest years have occurred since 2000, as heat waves have become more frequent, more intense & longer lasting.  Number of 100° days expected in US cities over time. "By the end of the century, the number of 100-degree days will skyrocket, making working or playing outdoors unbearable, and sometimes deadly." Via nytimes.com Related posts: - July 2016 was unquestionably the hottest month in 136 years of continuous record

The rise of malaria in the Congo The Democratic Republic of Congo is the 2nd largest country in Africa. In 2014, a quarter of African malaria deaths occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 10 countries that surround it equated to another quarter. Since 2006 the surrounding countries malaria victims have been on the decline, by the Democratic Republic of Congo has continued to rise, peaking at nearly 31,000 in 2013. Civil war prevents medical supplies reaching those that need it. Refugees fleeing conflict leave behind vital mosquito nets.

Related post: - Environmental Performance Index 2016: How environmentally friendly are the world's nations in 2016?

Brazil had made progress in combating deforestation between 2004 and 2012, reducing the annual rate by 83%, from 27,772 to 4,571 square kilometers. However, in a due diligence process analysts would also discover that the successes of combating deforestation have been partial and, in fact, are threatened. The average annual deforestation rate of the past three years was 5,578 km2, having risen 16% in 2015. When landholders burn the biomass to clear the soil of each new area deforested, they release greenhouse gases equivalent to almost double the 52 million existing light vehicles in the country. Why is the country regressing in the fight against deforestation? - The reduction of conservation units in the Amazon to validate illegal occupation and to facilitate licensing the construction of hydroelectric power plants. - The amnesty of illegal deforestation by changing the Forest Code. - The implementation of major infrastructure projects without fully implementing measures to...

Here's how every month since 1880 compares.

As result, we have a lot of light pollution... Most major cities create a light bubble over 200 miles in diameter.

This map shows the average direction 2900 mammals, birds, and amphibians need to move to track hospitable climates as they shift across the landscape. Only 41 percent of the natural land area in the United States retains enough connectivity to facilitate species tracking their preferred climate conditions as the global climate changes. As part of that study, scientists modeled the distribution and habitat needs of 2,903 vertebrate species in the Western hemisphere against land use and projected climate patterns. Scientists combines global circulation model projections, species distribution modeling, and electronic circuit theory. Via nature.org

How can we see the expanse and magnivicence of our national parks?

Asia, the largest continent, spanning 44.6 million sq km (17.2 million sq m) from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the western Pacific Ocean. Africa is number two by size. In the area, it spans 30 million sq km (11.6 million sq mi). North America is the third-largest continent in area, spanning 24.5 million sq km. (9.4 million sq mi).   Land Mass at Each Longitude. All the land is primarily concentrated in the northern hemisphere.   Land Mass at Each Latitude The ratio of land and sea at different latitudes Visualizations created by  andywoodruff.com & roadtolarissa.com & Reddit user: neilrkaye

The house is 44 feet long and 8 feet wide. It rotates to follow the sun or the view.  

The zookeepers of Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna (Austria) were left in awe when they found out a giant panda, who was supposed to give birth to one little cub, had given birth to two!

This map provides an estimate of the potential for solar photovoltaic energy systems based on information about buildings in Minneapolis.