UA expert: Emissions feed droughts, which lead to more blazes

The Dude Fire, started by a lightning strike near Payson on June 25, 1990, killed six firefighters.

Man-caused fires play a significant role in global climate change, a University of Arizona researcher said Thursday.

“We found that approximately 20 percent of the warming effect of greenhouse gases is coming from deforestation fires set by people,” said Thomas W. Swetnam, UA professor and director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.

“This is more precise than what was previously available,” he said.

That figure includes only deforestation fires, or ones deliberately set to convert forests – often tropical rain forests – into farmlands and pasturelands, he said.

It does not include the wildfires – caused by man or acts of nature – that are seen regularly in the western United States and other areas, Swetnam said.

Large fires have a “feedback effect” that leads to more fires as well as climate change, Swetnam said.

“Warming conditions lead to more droughts, which lead to more fires. The fires release emissions, those go into the atmosphere and increases warming further,” he said. “Fire can actually generate more fire.”

This can include forest fires.

There are increasing numbers of so-called megafires in the western United States, Canada, Siberia and other regions, Swetnam said.

These megafires are at least partially driven by regional and global warming trends, he said.

“In the western United States, we have seen more than a sixfold increase in the total area burned the past two decades compared to the previous two decades,” he said. “Fire season in the western United States has increased by more than two months.”

Deadly fires in Australia are another example of the trend.

“Because of the high levels of industrial pollution that is changing the climate, we are already seeing changes in fire activity on Earth,” said David Bowman of the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia.

Bowman is a co-author of the paper that appears Friday in Science.

While the study more accurately reflects fire’s impact on climate change, much work remains, Swetnam said.

“In this paper, we make pains to talk about the difficulties and uncertainties that remain,” he said. “This is still a coarse-scale estimate on how much burning by people is contributing to global warming.

“It could be greater. There is potential for it to be considerably larger.”

The paper, “Fire in the Earth System,” calls for more research on the role fire plays in putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, Swetnam said.

“If we want to understand climate change in the future, we need to build fire into the models,” Swetnam said.

“Fire is affecting people and people are affecting fire . . . we need to put fire on the center stage of our understanding,” he said.

Smoke plumes from a 2007 southern California wildfire billow out over the Pacific Ocean. University of Arizona research didn't even take into account wildfires when they found fires account for 20 percent of the warming effects of greenhouse gasses. However, fires breed more fires - including wildfires, the team's research shows.

Partnership’s goal: Increase renewable energy use to 50%

The University of Arizona will soon make greater use of Tucson’s abundant sunshine by equipping more campus rooftops with solar panels.

UA’s goal is to increase its renewable energy generation to 50 percent within 10 years, President Robert Shelton said.

UA and APS Energy Services officials announced under sunny skies Wednesday – Earth Day – a partnership that will add 500 kilowatts of photovoltaic solar generation capacity.

In addition, thermal solar devices will heat swimming pool water.

The venture will decrease UA’s dependence on fossil fuels while reducing the school’s carbon footprint, Shelton said.

The project is expected to provide power to UA at about 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (normal grid rates), said Bob Georgeoff, APS Energy Services managing director.

APS will design, install, operate and maintain the system; UA will purchase the power generated, Georgeoff said.

This arrangement protects UA, and Arizona taxpayers, from financial liabilities for the project, said Ralph Banks, UA manager of engineering.

Installation of rooftop polycrystalline PV panels and solar thermal collectors is scheduled to begin in May and conclude by year’s end, Georgeoff said.

He declined to disclose the project’s cost.

The project continues the growth of UA’s renewable energy efforts, Shelton said.

“We will continue to add thermal and solar photovoltaic to the campus wherever we can,” he said. “In 10 years we should be able to generate half our energy through renewables.”

UA currently meets 5 percent to 10 percent of its energy needs through renewables, Banks said. The project will offset another 5 percent to 10 percent of UA’s energy needs to renewables, he said.

APS has worked with UA for more than 10 years to reduce energy use and boost the use of renewables.

Efforts have saved 55 million kilowatt-hours per year, Georgeoff said, as well as the carbon produced by 8,800 cars per year.

“UA is one of the most energy efficient campuses in the country,” said Leonard Byrd, project development manager at APS.

The project includes more than PV.

Thermal solar devices will heat pool water at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center and the Student Recreation Center, Banks said.

The solar devices will do away with the need for 50 percent of the natural gas energy used annually by UA to heat the 1.7 million gallons of water in the pools, Banks said.

PV panels installed on the roofs of the Second Street parking garage will help shade parked cars, and aid campus research efforts, he said.

The project is a step forward, but much remains to be done, Banks said.

The peak summer energy demand on campus is 25 to 30 megawatts, and the project adds 500 kilowatts, he said. A megawatt is 1,000 kilowatts.

“It’s still a baby step when you look at the overall demand,” Banks said

While APS will pay for and operate the solar project, Tucson Electric Power Co. will provide financial incentives in exchange for credits to meet Arizona Corporation Commission-mandated standards for renewable energy production, said Joe Salkowski, TEP spokesman.

The ACC requires that 2 percent of power sold by TEP and other Arizona utilities come from renewable sources this year. The requirement ramps up to 15 percent by 2025.

Byrd said TEP will provide 18 cents per metered kilowatt-hour generated by PV panels over 20 years.

TEP’s performance based incentive will pay $200,000 the first year of operation, with the figure falling slightly each year because of decreasing efficiencies in the solar generating system.

TEP’s incentive payments help APS provide UA power at a lower cost, Byrd said.

TEP’s customers benefit because the project uses the sun’s energy to offset power TEP would have had to generate using fossil fuels, Salkowski said.

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GLOSSARY

Watt, kilowatt and megawatt are measures of electrical power:

• A kilowatt is 1,000 watts.

• A megawatt is 1,000 kilowatts or 1 million watts.

• A kilowatt equals about 1.34 horsepower.

• A kilowatt-hour is the amount of energy expended if work is done at a rate of one kilowatt for one hour.

Stargazers are invited to attend a star party and fundraiser hosted by astronomer and author David Levy next month.

Levy’s nonprofit organization, the Sharing the Sky Foundation, is dedicated to getting young people interested in the night sky and will be accepting donations during the party, which will run from 3:30 to 10 p.m. May 2. The party will be on the Mall at the University of Arizona next to the Flandrau Science Center, 1601 E. University Blvd.

Telescopes with special filters will be set up to view the sun during the daylight hours. The moon and Saturn, along with distant stars and far-off galaxies, will be viewed after dark.

Admission is free but donations are encouraged. For more information, go to www.sharingthesky.org.

Brian Myer (left), a doctoral student in optics at the University of Arizona, talks about ways to store solar energy with Nate Allen (middle right) of Biosphere 2 and John Madocks at Global Solar Energy, 8500 S. Rita Road.

Five new projects granted $4 million in seed money could help make Arizona a center for solar development, backers said Friday.

Science Foundation Arizona announced the projects, and the formation of its new Solar Technology Institute, at lunch events in Tucson and Phoenix.

The Tucson event, attended by about 100 industry, government and university officials, was held just outside a 310,000- square-foot solar array that provides power at Global Solar Energy, 8500 S. Rita Road.

“The goal is developing disruptive technology breakthroughs that will bring the cost of solar energy down to the level of fossil fuels,” said Richard C. Powell, co-director of Solar Technology Institute. “We want to make Arizona a leader in the drive to change to solar.”

“Germany, Spain and even New Jersey lead Arizona in the development of solar energy,” said Paul Newman, a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities. “We’ve got to change that.”

The $4 million will provide startup funding for the projects, Powell said.

Half of the funding comes from Science Foundation Arizona and half from the private sector.

The funding is in hand and not affected by state budget cuts for the organization, Powell said.

The projects cover the full solar spectrum, from collecting the sun’s energy to distributing electricity to consumers, said Leslie Tolbert, vice president for research, graduate studies and economic development at the University of Arizona.

“The goal here is not just to meet our energy needs but to become a net exporter,” Tolbert said.

The projects are collaborations that include UA, Arizona State University and a variety of industry partners, she said.

Solar panels don’t work at night, and energy storage is a challenge that one funded project is addressing, Powell said.

Plans call for generating excess solar power during the day that will be used to compress air that will be stored, he said.

When darkness curtails energy production, the stored compressed air can be used to drive turbines to generate electricity, he said.

Another project is using nanotechnology to improve the efficiency of thin-film solar devices while driving the price down, said Ray Kostuk, UA professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Ultra-thin coatings will cause sunlight to spend more time exciting the elements in thin-film devices so they produce more electricity, Kostuk said.

Other projects are:

• Concentrator photovoltaics to develop the next generation of low-cost solar reflectors that concentrate the sun’s energy on high-efficiency photovoltaic cells.

• Quickly testing and certifying solar products to determine the performance of new and improved technologies.

• An improved system of “smart” electric grid management and command and control software to help select future power generation sites, storage sites and distribution and transmission pathways throughout the state.

Science Foundation Arizona is a nonprofit public-private partnership that invests areas of strategic importance to the state, including renewable energy and biomedicine.

The outlook for Arizona biotech industry jobs may be brighter than anticipated, 175 University of Arizona students learned at a BIO5 Institute event Tuesday.

W.L. Gore & Associates Inc.’s medical products division plans to hire about 1,500 employees in Phoenix and Flagstaff, said Cody Bliss, product specialist.

Bliss made the trek down from Flagstaff to meet and greet UA students studying biotech, engineering, information technology and other disciplines.While Tuesday’s event was not a formal job fair, many job résumés were dropped off with six participating biotech companies from around the state.

About 25 percent of employees at BioVigilant Systems Inc., a Tucson-based instantaneous microbial detection firm, were affiliated with UA, said Scott Morris, manager of special projects. The firm will consider UA students when filling current openings, Morris said.

But the economic slowdown and other factors mean other area bio firms are not currently hiring.

“In the past we’ve hired quite a few people out of UA,” said Kenneth F. Wertman, scientific director at Sanofi-Aventis Combinatorial Technologies Center in Tucson. “I wish I had hired a number of people I met here today but we’re waiting for the economy to turn around.”

Hilary Taylor, a UA senior in molecular and cellular biology, said she began sending out résumés in December and looked at the event to broaden her contact base for employment.

The event was held to introduce biotech firms to UA students, and vice versa, said Kevin Hall, director of research, training and career development at BIO5.

Even lesser periods of dryness will do more damage

University of Arizona researcher Henry Adams prepares a mature piñon from New Mexico for transplanting inside Biosphere 2, shown in the background.

A slight increase in temperature could see drought-stricken trees die five times faster than they do now, a University of Arizona researcher says.

Scientists were able for the first time to isolate the impact of increased heat on mature piñon mortality by using the controlled environment in UA’s Biosphere 2, said Henry Adams, lead author of a paper that will appear this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Drought killed at a faster rate piñon trees kept in an environment warmer than normal ambient temperature by 4 degrees centigrade – about 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

“The cooler trees lasted 28 percent longer,” said Adams, a doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology at UA. “All the warmer trees died before any of the cooler trees.”

Trees subjected to hotter drought conditions died in 18 weeks compared with 25 weeks for trees living in cooler drought conditions, he said.

A control group of trees watered normally survived at both temperatures, he said.

The effects of higher temperatures mean that lesser droughts, which occur with greater frequency than major droughts, will be deadly if temperatures increase, he said.

When researchers extrapolated the results using the region’s 100-year historical drought record, it showed that widespread piñon die-offs will occur five times faster than now based on anticipated temperature increases, Adams said.

Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have projected temperature increases of 3 to 5 degrees centigrade by 2100, he said.

Historical records from severe Southwestern droughts in the 1950s and earlier this decade showed that tree mortality was higher in a lesser drought with higher temperatures, said David Breshears, a UA professor of natural resources and the study co-investigator.

But researchers could not accurately say what impact higher temperatures had on tree mortality until this latest study led by Adams, Breshears said.

“What we’ve done is isolate the effect of temperature alone, and shown that this species is very sensitive to temperature,” Breshears said. “It is warmer in the future by 4 degrees centigrade you won’t need as long a drought to kill the trees.”

The study could show piñons are akin to canaries in coal mines, warning of deadly threats to a variety of species of trees and vegetation, Breshears said.

“I think it’s going to raise concerns of how big and vast the changes from increased temperature and drought are going to be,” he said. “In the Southwest, we’re going to have more drought and more frequent drought.”

Piñons try to protect themselves from drought by waiting it out, Adams said.

“They simply close their pores to not let water out so they are not losing water,” Adams said. “But they aren’t able to take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere needed to photosynthesize.

“If the drought goes on long enough, they run out of stored energy from photosynthesis and die,” he said. “At higher temperatures, they run out of stored energy faster and die sooner.”

The trees used in the two-year study came from near Las Vegas, N.M., Adams said. They were about 6 feet tall and 20 to 30 years old, he said.

The next step in research has begun near Flagstaff, Adams said.

“We’ll try to re-create what we did inside outside,” he said. “We’ll get accurate mortality rates in field conditions.”

The pines have been transplanted on the north side of the San Francisco Peaks to get a look at how heat affects drought-stricken trees in a more natural environment.

Trees have been planted at two levels – one 400 meters higher in elevation – to give a temperature difference of 4 degrees centigrade, he said.

The ground surrounding test trees will be covered with tarps to ensure drought conditions, he said.

Plans are in the works, said Adams, to study the heat effect on drought mortality on different species of trees inside Biosphere 2 near Oracle.

University of Arizona researcher Henry Adams explains his tree experiment to visitors at the Biosphere 2 glass-enclosed laboratory. The controlled environment allowed the testing of trees' mortality rates at varied temperatures.

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Tours, et cetera

• Biosphere offers tours throughout the day. The admission desk will provide tour times and start locations, according to Biosphere 2′s Web site.

• Admission: $20 general, $18 for seniors, military members, students and AAA members, $13 for children 6 to 12; free for children under 6.

• Half of the fee supports research and is tax deductible.

• Web site: www.b2science.org

Q. Since Venus is just coming up in the dawn twilight, I’m curious to know when a planet such as Venus becomes our ‘morning star’ and then the evening star?

A. There are no seasons or months in which planets regularly appear in our sky. The visibility of planets depends on what side of the sun they are on in comparison to Earth. Apart from a visit to Flandrau’s planetarium I recommend using a planetarium program on a computer (use a solar system and a local horizon type view). Programs available for personal computer use include: StarryNight Enthusiast (Mac or PC, go to www.starrynight.com), and Voyager 4 or Voyager 3 (Mac or PC, go to www.carinasoft.com). If you don’t want to spend any money, there is also ‘Celestia,’ a free planetarium program. It is available at www.shatters.net/celestia (older versions available at their FAQ site).

Can it prevent or treat prostate and cervical cancers?

Sherry Chow, research assistant professor at the Arizona Cancer Center, examines Polyphenon E pills being tested in three human clinical trials to determine if they can help prevent cervical cancer, prostate cancer and COPD, a precursor to lung cancer.

Arizona Cancer Center researchers are working to clinically prove readily available green tea extracts can prevent cancers.

The curative powers of green tea have long been touted, but three human clinical trials here seek to scientifically prove – or disprove – that Polyphenon E, a green tea extract, can help prevent cervical cancer, prostate cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – COPD – a precursor to lung cancer.

“A lot of people say green tea prevents this or prevents that,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, who is heading a cervical cancer study. “We’re actually trying to see if that is true.”

But Sherry Chow, a co-investigator on the three studies, said, “There is no direct proof yet that green tea can prevent cancer. We’re doing the clinical trials necessary to move in that direction.”

The green Polyphenon E pills used in the study come from the National Cancer Institute, Chow said. Taking four small pills once a day offers the equivalent of the beneficial properties found in 16 cups of green tea, she said.

Garcia, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UA College of Medicine and Arizona Cancer Center member, is working to see if cervical cancer can be prevented, and perhaps even be resolved non-surgically.

In the cervical cancer clinical trial, participants who have persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infections or other high risks for cervical cancer take the pills for 16 weeks, Garcia said.

Half the participants get Polyphenon E, and half get a placebo, he said.

About 180 women will take part in the study, which is still seeking participants.

Call 318-7178 for more information on getting involved in the study.

“We’re looking for people with evidence of persistent HPV infection, abnormal Pap smears, or might have an an abnormal biopsy,” Garcia said.

Dr. Frederick Ahmann, a UA professor of medicine and surgery, is leading a study to determine if Polyphenon E could potentially impact prostate cancer.

Study participants are taking Polyphenon E for a few weeks before undergoing surgery to remove their cancerous prostate.

Tissue removed during surgery will be examined to see if the green tea extract reached the prostate and had any effect on tissues there, Ahmann said.

“It’s the first step, but an important test, to see if these substances will turn out to be useful,” Ahmann said. “There are theoretical benefits right now but we don’t know if green tea does anything.”

Participants are told the research will not help their situation, but will perhaps help people in the future, he said.

If this test – slated for completion by year’s end – is successful, future clinical trials could possibly determine if green tea can prevent or even cure prostate cancer, he said.

The COPD study is assessing whether the green tea pills can reverse some of the damage associated with the disease, said Chow, research associate professor at UA.

COPD, primarily caused by heavy smoking, is a disease that leads to a high risk for developing lung cancer, Chow said.

Dr. Iman Hakim, principal investigator and dean of the UA College of Public Health, is investigating whether green tea intervention can actually reverse some of the airway damage caused by COPD, Chow said.

Green tea components like Polyphenon E – a chemically defined, decaffeinated, catechin-enriched antioxidant green tea extract – are dietary supplements already available to the public, Garcia said.

“The issue is not whether you can get it, but whether it would do anything for you,” Garcia said.

“The big thing for me is to not oversell this concept. We are enthusiastic and hopeful, but the whole reason we are doing the trial is to see if these agents, which look so promising in the laboratory, really have a human application.”

Ahmann, who is working on a study to see if green tea extract can impact prostate cancer, agrees.

“Dietary supplements can be sold and touted as something you can do to try and help yourself without any true tested evidence that it works,” Ahmann said.

“We don’t believe that is the proper way to decide what people should or shouldn’t take. You should test something to see if there is a positive benefit before you suggest someone take something.”

And the public should be cautious of the quality of supplements being sold.

“The over-the-counter pills are not controlled by the FDA,” Chow said.

“You don’t know what is in them. They are so variable.”

The National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, has funded the three studies to the tune of $3.2 million, Chow said.

The COPD study has $1.8 million in funding, the cervical cancer study got $1 million and the prostate cancer study received $400,000, she said.

The Arizona Cancer Center led the way in proving that Polyphenon E is safe and could enter the bloodstream, said Chow, who led that investigation.

The Tucson center, which was the first to work with pure Polyphenon E capsules, is also the leader in investigating the preventive properties of the green tea compound, she said.

“We’re really excited about each one of our studies,” Chow said.

“We can’t wait to finish them and have more information to share with the public.”

Taking four Polyphenon E capsules daily offers the equivalent of the beneficial properties found in 16 cups of green tea. Arizona Cancer Center researchers are working to determine if the pills can prevent several types of cancer.

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ON THE WEB

Arizona Cancer Center site: www.azcc.arizona.edu

Blind students get sound cues to help them haul in the goods at ASDB

The Easter Bunny poses for photos with students from the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind on Wednesday during the annual Easter egg hunt. The electronic eggs that beep were designed for the hunt by Arizona Qwest Pioneers.

Not much can stop a kid from enjoying an Easter egg hunt. Not even being blind.

Stephanie Dyke, 16, a sophomore at the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, can attest to that.

She was one of more than 30 students who participated in Wednesday’s annual Easter egg hunt. Now in its third year at the school at 1200 W. Speedway Blvd., the hunt came complete with electronic eggs that beeped for the blind, a group of smaller, nonbeeping eggs for the deaf and a host of volunteers who brought firetrucks and a guide dog.

Oh, yes, the Easter bunny showed up, too.

While Dyke was not new to Easter egg hunts, this was the first time she heard of the beeping eggs.

“I’ve always done Easter egg hunts with my family,” Dyke said, “but they always put the eggs in really obvious places where I could find them.” She said finding an egg perched atop a fence post is nary a challenge. “This is the first time I’m doing one geared toward the blind.”

The beeping egg was hatched about 30 years ago by the Qwest Pioneers, a group of retired and active Qwest Communications employees. The hunts began in Colorado Springs, Colo., and have since spread out to 14 states.

“Seeing the joy on the kids’ faces is the best part of it,” said Qwest’s Arizona president, Jim Campbell. “It gives kids a chance to experience something kids with disabilities may not get to experience.”

Campbell said the electronic eggs have undergone updates in the past three decades, but they still use a simple 9-volt battery and they are still held together with a big, plastic screw that’s usually used as part of a toilet setup.

That didn’t stop the students from eagerly gathering them. Eighth-grader Paige Segura, 14, ended up with five. While she didn’t have much to say about the hunt, she did agree it was a fun event. And she obviously was good at it.

Deaf kids got in on the fun, too, although some received hurried hand signals and sign language to put down the beeping eggs and gather the smaller ones instead.

All traded them in for plentiful baskets, toys and treats.

The kids weren’t the only ones having fun.

“Like everybody else, I’m here to see the Easter Bunny,” said Maureen Luikart, who has become an event regular with her guide dog, Rain. Rain serves as the ears for Luikart and her hard-of-hearing husband.

“It’s great to see the children so happy,” Luikart said. “It’s a wonderful way to inform the public about disabilities, to show that compassion is really important.”

Tucson Fire Department paramedic Scott Fleck said the event also puts things into perspective.

“It shows how lucky we are and gives us the opportunity to share things with the children,” Fleck said. “It’s amazing to see how excited they are.”

Tucson fire Capt. Lupe Leon said that this may be the first time for some of the kids to see a firetruck up close.

In addition to enjoying the egg hunting event, Dyke said attending the school for the past three years has benefited her greatly.

“This is so much easier than being in public school,” she said. “In public school they have computer programs that can read everything on the screen and stuff but they pull you out of class to go learn how to use them. Here, you are not losing time from being pulled out of class.”

Besides, other schools don’t come with beeping eggs. “Easter may not be my favorite holiday,” Dyke said, “but it’s up there.”

Paige Segura, 14, can barely carry all the eggs she found during the Easter egg hunt for students at the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind. Special beeping eggs were designed for the hunt by Qwest Pioneers, retirees and employees of Qwest Communications.

Stephanie Dyke, 16, a sophomore at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, joins several visually impaired students from the school looking for beeping easter eggs.

The first Biosphere 2 Earth Day Festival, a fusion of science and art, will take place Saturday.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 32540 S. Biosphere Road in Oracle.

Biosphere 2 director Travis Huxman said the festival is designed to combine music, art, science and technology as a way to bridge the gap between the public and science.

“We want everyone, young and old, science-inclined or not, to spend a day with us and get a unique look at our natural world,” Huxman said.

Navajo musician Mary Redhouse will perform on the flute inside the Biosphere 2 dome. She was nominated for a Grammy in 2005 for her collaboration with the Carlos Nakai Quartet.

Also performing will be the Kontomble Quartet and the Apocaplypso Steel Band.

It’s no surprise that Biosphere 2 was selected as an Earth Day celebration site.

“Biosphere 2 was designed and has been used to help us better understand how our Earth, which is Biosphere 1, works in maintaining all the necessary conditions to support life,” said UA College of Science dean Joaquin Ruiz, “Consequently, I think it is very fitting that Biosphere 2 celebrates Earth Day.”

Scientist and author Jan Poynter, one of eight people to live in the sealed, artificial Biosphere 2 dome, will sign copies of her book, “The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2″ at the festival.

Earth Day will mark the unveiling of several permanent exhibits on solar energy, green roofs, rainwater harvesting and a phenology garden.

Artists, businesses and vendors will inform the public about being “green.”

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If you go

What: Biosphere 2 Earth Day Festival

Where: 32540 S. Biosphere Road, Oracle

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

Cost: $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and military, and free for ages 15 and under

Details: For more information, call Nathan Allen at 838-6168 or e-mail nallen@b2science.org.

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What is Earth Day?

On April 22, 1970, 20 million people across America celebrated the first Earth Day.

Now Earth Day is celebrated annually around the globe on or about April 22.

Through the combined efforts of the U.S. government, grass-roots organizations and citizens, what started as a day of national environmental recognition evolved into a worldwide campaign to protect the global environment.

Source: www.eps.gov/earthday

Economic activity up 57% in 5 years, study says; 87,417 jobs in sector

Bioscience work such as the research done in the Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building at University of Arizona contributes billions of dollars to the Arizona economy.

Arizona’s bioscience sector posted $12.5 billion in state economic impact in 2007, and that figure is expected to continue to grow, according to a study released Tuesday.

Arizona had 87,417 bioscience jobs – 2.5 percent of total state employment in 2007 – paying $5.3 billion, according to the report prepared by Ohio-based Battelle Technology Partnership Practice for the Flinn Foundation in Phoenix.

The report is to be presented by Walter H. Plosila, Battelle senior adviser and consultant, at a luncheon at the Biozona 2009 conference in Phoenix.

“Between 2002 and 2007, economic activity within the bioscience sector increased 57 percent, jobs 20 percent and tax revenues 35 percent,” Plosila said in a statement released Tuesday morning. “This rate of growth is difficult to find elsewhere in the nation.”

Bioscience economic impact jumped from just short of $8 billion in 2002 to $12.5 billion in 2007. Sector jobs increased from 72,855 to 87,417, and bioscience payroll increased from $3.2 billion to $5.3 billion, according to the report.

State bioscience employment is projected to top 142,000 jobs by 2020 if industry and government leaders continue to make progress on Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap, a 10-year plan launched in 2002 to make Arizona a biotech powerhouse.

The recession may slow expected progress.

“The economic turndown will clearly have an impact on reaching these numbers,” said Plosila, who leads the Roadmap research. “It affects the biosciences, just as it affects all industries.

“Arizona is on the right trajectory, though given the state of the global economy, it may take more time to realize these long-term gains.”

Four teams from three area schools are representing Arizona this week at the Championship of the Americas in Omaha, Neb. Students are competing against other schools that have robots created from the VEX Robotics Design System, developed by Innovation First Inc.

The teams and their schools are:

• Sahuarita Mustangs, Sahuarita High School

• Jr. Mustangs, Sahuarita High School

• Continental Robotics, Continental School in Green Valley

• Robotic Asylum, Pueblo High School.

Several observatories have partnered with the University of Arizona to offer a 24-hour live webcast from telescopes around the world.

The event, which starts at 2 a.m. Friday, is in honor of the International Year of Astronomy. The event is called “Around the World in 80 Telescopes.”

Those interested in watching can tune in at www.100hoursofastronomy.org and watch. It can also be found on www.ustream.tv streaming live. Both require a web browser that supports Flash.

Telescopes from every continent, including Antarctica will be incorporated in the webcast.

The webcast will start in Mauna Kea, Hawaii and make its way west. Observatories in Arizona and California will be towards the end of the webcast.

Kaya Al-Amawi (left) and her mother, Margaret Al-Amawi, take Kaya's 5-month-old son Christopher for a stroll under big blooming paloverde trees along the walking path near Greasewood Road on the West Side. The elder woman said she suffers from allergies from all the pollen in the air.

The year is off to a roaring start when it comes to temperatures. January, February and March combined were the second warmest on record, the National Weather Service said.

March was the seventh warmest since Old Pueblo record keeping began in the 1890s, John Glueck, who compiles Tucson statistics for the weather service, wrote in a monthly roundup.

Rainfall lagged far below normal for March. The 0.18 of an inch that fell at the airport ranks as the 24th driest March in more than 100 years. The city has received less than half of its normal rain since October 1, the start of the water year that scientists use.

The area has had 2.69 inches compared to the normal 5.59 inches, based on a 30-year average.

Warmer-than-normal temperatures and lower-than-average precipitation across the state in March led to a “dramatic” snowpack dip, which will mean less water in the state’s reservoirs later in the year, said a March 24 outlook by the Climate Assessment for the Southwest.

Much of Arizona got less than 50 percent of normal rainfall for the winter, and some parts got less than 5 percent, CLIMAS reported.

Though most reservoir levels along the Colorado and Salt rivers were above last year’s levels for March, that means the Colorado reservoirs were hovering around 50 percent full.

A long-lead forecast for April-June calls for a increased chance of above average temperatures and normal rainfall.

A June-August forecast calls for above average rainfall, according to the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.

The weather service is calling for temperatures around 80 for the rest of this week, with lows around 50. No rain is forecast.

A carpenter bee pollinates the blossoms on a paloverde tree on a warm spring day.

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March by the numbers

Seventh warmest on record

0.18 of an inch of rain (0.81 normal)

91 degrees, highest temperature (March 2)

38 degrees, lowest temperature (March 28)

2.90 inches, rainfall deficit from normal since Oct. 1

Source: National Weather Service

Symposium provides a forum to present their works – & win cash

This week’s 37th annual GeoDaze symposium is an opportunity for University of Arizona students to present their work in the various fields of earth sciences. They will receive feedback from peers, professors and the public.

A $2,000 prize will be awarded for best oral presentation. Others include $1,000 for the best poster presentation, $500 for the best undergraduate presentation and five $300 prizes for oral presentations in five different subdisciplines.

The presentations will be Thursday and Friday.

John Smol, a professor of biology at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, will give the keynote address at 3:15 p.m. Friday. He is the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change, which focuses on human socioeconomic forces and effects.

Smol’s address – “From Controversy to Consensus: Making the Case for Recent Climactic Change in the Arctic Using Lake Sediments” – will be about recent climate warming in arctic lakes and ponds.

UA faculty members will judge students’ presentations and disburse the awards. The cash prizes are provided by endowments from private investors and science-related companies.

In addition to the Thursday and Friday presentations, a field trip to the Catalina Mountains is slated Saturday.

Jon Pelletier, a geomorphology and associate professor of geosciences at UA, will lead participants in exploring outcrops; how bedrock and other deposits appear; and examine how rivers shaped the surrounding surfaces.

Vans will take participants up Tucson Basin to the Catalina Mountains. Transportation and lunch will be provided.

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If You Go

What: GeoDaze, an earth sciences symposium for undergraduate and graduate students

When: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday • field trip 7:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: presentations at the Arizona Historical Society Museum, 949 E. Second St. • field trip participants will meet early Saturday at the University of Arizona’s Gould-Simpson building, 1040 E. Fourth St.

Price: free, but seating is limited

Info: For more details or to register for the field trip, call 621-6000, e-mail geodaze@ email.arizona.edu or go online to http://earth.geo.arizona.edu/ geodaze/09/registration.php