Tag Archive for: Erosion

Corn Belt Farmland Has Lost a Third of Its Carbon-rich Soil

More than one-third of the Corn Belt in the Midwest – nearly 100 million acres – has completely lost its carbon-rich topsoil, according to University of Massachusetts Amherst research that indicates the U.S. Department of Agricultural has significantly underestimated the true magnitude of farmland erosion.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers led by UMass Amherst graduate student Evan Thaler, along with professors Isaac Larsen and Qian Yu in the department of geosciences, developed a method using satellite imagery to map areas in agricultural fields in the Corn Belt of the Midwestern U.S. that have no remaining A-horizon soil. The A-horizon is the upper portion of the soil that is rich in organic matter, which is critical for plant growth because of its water and nutrient retention properties. The researchers then used high-resolution elevation data to extrapolate the satellite measurements across the Corn Belt and the true magnitude of erosion.

KEEP READING ON EUREKALERT

A Wrenching Choice for Alaska Towns in the Path of Climate Change

Authors: Craig Allen, Gray Beltran, Hannah Fairfield, David Furst, Taige Jensen, Meaghan Looram and Jeremy White

SHAKTOOLIK, Alaska — In the dream, a storm came and Betsy Bekoalok watched the river rise on one side of the village and the ocean on the other, the water swallowing up the brightly colored houses, the fishing boats and the four-wheelers, the school and the clinic.

She dived into the floodwaters, frantically searching for her son. Bodies drifted past her in the half-darkness. When she finally found the boy, he, too, was lifeless.

“I picked him up and brought him back from the ocean’s bottom,” Ms. Bekoalok remembered.

The Inupiat people who for centuries have hunted and fished on Alaska’s western coast believe that some dreams are portents of things to come.

But here in Shaktoolik, one need not be a prophet to predict flooding, especially during the fall storms.

KEEP READING ON NEW YORK TIMES