NOAA: Antarctic ozone hole remains static 2014

Ozone concentrations above Antarctica on Sept. 11, 2014. 

Credit: NASA

The Antarctic ozone hole reached its annual peak size on Sept. 11, according to scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The size of this year's hole was 24.1 million square kilometers (9.3 million square miles), an area roughly the size of North America.

The single-day maximum area was similar to that in 2013, which reached 24.0 million square kilometers (9.3 million square miles).

The largest single-day ozone hole ever recorded by satellite was 29.9 million square kilometers (11.5 million square miles) on Sept. 9, 2000.

Overall, the 2014 ozone hole is smaller than the large holes of the 1998–2006 period, and is comparable to 2010, 2012, and 2013.

With the increased atmospheric chlorine levels present since the 1980s, the Antarctic ozone hole forms and expands during the Southern Hemisphere spring (August and September).

The ozone layer helps shield life on Earth from potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and damage plants.

The Montreal Protocol agreement beginning in 1987 regulated ozone depleting substances, such as chlorine-containing chlorofluorocarbons and bromine-containing halons.

The 2014 level of these substances over Antarctica has declined about 9 percent below the record maximum in 2000.

"Year-to-year weather variability significantly impacts Antarctica ozone because warmer stratospheric temperatures can reduce ozone depletion," said Paul A. Newman, chief scientist for atmospheres at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"The ozone hole area is smaller than what we saw in the late-1990s and early 2000s, and we know that chlorine levels are decreasing. However, we are still uncertain about whether a long-term Antarctic stratospheric temperature warming might be reducing this ozone depletion."

Space Debris: Ecuador Pegaso satellite collides with Russian rocket remains

An Ecuadoran satellite launched last month, with the help of China, has collided with the remains of a Russian rocket in the coming hours, the country's civilian space agency warned Wednesday.

The "Pegaso" (Pegasus) nanosatellite, designed and built in Ecuador, set off aboard an unmanned rocket April 25 from the Jiuquand station in northern China. It is the country's first.

The Joint Space Operations Center in the United States, which monitors all artificial Earth-orbiting objects, said there had been no head-on crash but "data indicated a lateral collision with particles" of the Soviet-era rocket.

"Pegasus could be damaged or spinning out of control but, because it's still in orbit, we have hope," Ronnie Nader, head of the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency, tweeted.

"Ecuador still has its satellite, the people still have Pegasus," he wrote, saying it could take up to 48 hours to assess damage.

The 2.6-pound nanosatellite had been orbiting at a distance of 404 miles while transmitting pictures of the Earth.

Measuring just 10 by 10 by 75 centimeters (four by four by 30 inches), and weighing 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds), Pegaso on Thursday transmitted its first live video with audio.

Last month's launch came amid much fanfare, including a live broadcast.

The South American country plans to send a second satellite into space from Russia in July.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Battery Problem Remains a Mystery

Boeing has admitted that it may never know what caused the battery malfunctions that resulted in all its 787 Dreamliner aircraft being grounded.

The admission came from Boeing's Larry Loftis  the general manager of the company's 787 division.

Replacement battery systems are now being fitted to all 50 Dreamliners that had been in operation with airlines around the world.

Boeing expects the planes to resume service in the coming weeks.

Boeing's Larry Loftis

'Best practice'
On Friday, US aircraft regulators approved a revamped battery design for the aircraft, paving the way for the fleet to return to the skies.

Speaking at a media briefing in London, Mr Loftis said: "It is possible we will never know the root cause.

"It is not uncommon not to have found the single root cause. So industry best practice is to look at all the potential causes and address all of them."

The groundings of all Dreamliners in January followed two major incidents concerning the plane's two lithium-ion batteries.

Firstly, on 7 January, a battery overheated and started a fire on a Japan JAL Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport.

Nine days later, an All Nippon Airways 787 had to make an emergency landing in Japan after a battery started to give off smoke.

Japan Permission
Japan's Civil Aviation Authority said final permission to resume Boeing Co's grounded Dreamliner flights may come as early as Thursday.

Boeing engineers on Monday began installing reinforced lithium-ion battery systems on the Boeing 787 jets in Japan, starting with launch customer All Nippon Airways.

That should make the first 787 ready to restart flights in about a week.

Helicoprion: Mystery of ancient Spiral-Toothed Shark clarified

An ancient spiral-toothed fish has been reconstructed from fossil evidence by scientists.

US researchers used CT scans to build a computer model of what Helicoprion looked like and how it ate.

They were also able to resolve an ongoing puzzle over whether the unique saw-like spirals were located inside or outside the mouth.

The findings show the animals were more closely related to modern chimaeras, or ratfish, than sharks.

The study is published by researchers from Idaho State University in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

The university's Museum of Natural History has the largest public collection of fossilised Helicoprion in the world.

The fish lived 270 million years ago but because they were largely formed from cartilage, which does not preserve well, their fossil record comprises unusual spiral structures.

Referred to as "whorls", these features have been compared to spiralling saw blades and have puzzled the scientific community for over a century.

Early theories suggested that they were actually used for defence and were located on the fish's upper or lower jaws, or even the dorsal fin.

Dental records
To solve the mystery, Dr Leif Tapanila and colleagues investigated the most complete fossil in the collection.

The fossil, discovered in Idaho, has a whorl measuring 23cm with 117 individual teeth. Unlike other specimens, the fossil also includes impressions of the cartilage structures.

The team used a high-powered CT scan, which uses X-rays to create a detailed computer image, in order to fully analyse what was inside the rock.

"When we got the images back, we could easily see that we had the upper and lower jaw of the animals, as well as the spiral of teeth," said Dr Tapanila.

"For the first time we were able to very clearly image how that spiral of teeth relates to the jaw."

The scientists found that the spiral was connected to the fish's lower jaw, in the back of the mouth.

"Imagine that... instead of having a tongue, you have this large spiral of teeth," Dr Tapanila explained.

"Only maybe a dozen teeth are poking up out of your lower jaw so you can bite."

"The rest of those teeth are stored inside and are not being used, those are your baby teeth - the teeth you had when you were younger."

Dr Tapanila said this discovery supports the argument that unlike sharks, which constantly replace their teeth, Helicoprion retained its teeth permanently.

Using the computer images, the team could build a 3D model of the jaw, to reveal how the tooth spiral worked.

"As the mouth closes, the teeth spin backwards... so they slash through the meat that they are biting into," Dr Tapanila reported.

"The teeth themselves are very narrow: nice long, pointy, triangular teeth with serrations like a steak knife.

"As the jaw is closing and the teeth are spinning past whatever it's eating, it's making a very nice clean cut."

Of the 100 fossils of Helicoprion that have been discovered, very few show broken or worn teeth.



Ancient diet
Dr Tapanila said that this evidence, combined with the "rolling and slicing" mechanism, provided clues to what the ancient fish ate.

"If this animal were eating other animals that were very hard or [had] hard armour plating or dense shells, you would expect more damage to their teeth.

"This leads us to believe that our animal was probably eating soft, squishy things like calamari. It was probably eating squid or its relatives that were swimming in the ocean at the time."

The study also highlighted the family connections of the ancient fish, categorising it with chimaeras and ratfish rather than sharks.

"One of the main ways that fish are identified is based on how the upper jaw connects to the rest of the skull," said Dr Tapanila.

"Because we have the upper jaw we can look at the bumps and grooves on it and see how it would have connected.

"It was fixed in two positions and was fused essentially to the brain tip... a feature that's distinctive for chimaeras and ratfish."

Following the reconstruction the jaw of the fish, the team is using inferred characteristics to create a scale model of the 4m animal for an exhibition at the Idaho State University Museum of Natural History this summer.

Based on fossil evidence, scientists believe the fish could have measured up to 7.6m long.

US Rely on Russian Soyuz Progress programme to support ISS crew

Progress, a Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress M-06M, lifted off toward the International Space Station at 19:35 Moscow time [15:35 GMT] on Wednesday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

It was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz-U booster rocket. It separated 10 minutes later and successfully entered the designated orbit.

The space freighter will deliver fuel, oxygen, scientific equipment and video and photo equipment to the ISS, as well as food, water and personal items for the crew.

The spaceship is to dock with the space station on July 2 at 20:55 Moscow time [16:55 GMT].

Preparations have already been made for the module's arrival. In early June, Russia's Mission Control readjusted the ISS orbit, raising it by 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) to ensure the best conditions for the docking of the Soyuz TMA-19 manned spacecraft and the Progress M-06M.

On Monday, the ISS crew moved the Soyuz TMA-19, which docked with the Zvezda module on June 18, to the Rassvet research module in a 24-minute maneuver to make room for the Progress M-06M.