The article you provided highlights an essential aspect of offshore energy production and infrastructure development. Texas A&M researchers have made significant progress in predicting underwater landslides using site characterization data. This breakthrough has far-reaching implications for ensuring the safety and productivity of offshore installations.

To achieve this, a team of experts gathers information about the seabed, sub-seabed, and environmental conditions before any offshore project begins. This process involves collaborative efforts from geophysicists, geomatic technologists, geotechnical engineers, and geologists. The order in which they perform their tasks is crucial, as it affects the accuracy of landslide predictions.

Associate Professor Zenon Medina-Cetina emphasizes the importance of starting with geophysical data, followed by geological information, and then integrating this with geomatics and geotechnical engineering data. This systematic sequence ensures that landslide models are better calibrated, reducing uncertainty in predictions.

The researchers employed Bayesian statistics to maximize the information produced in site investigation data, increasing the accuracy and confidence of the landslide model. This approach has significant financial implications for companies funding offshore projects, as it can help prevent losses due to uncertain designs that may not withstand geohazards.

Medina-Cetina’s goal is to ensure that offshore structures remain safe and in place under any geo-hazardous conditions. His team’s research demonstrates the value of accurate site characterization data in predicting underwater landslides, making this a crucial step forward for offshore energy production and infrastructure development.

The European Union’s goal of achieving 25% organic agriculture by 2030 is ambitious, but researchers argue that new genomic techniques (NGTs) should be allowed in organic farming to make this target more sustainable. NGTs, also known as gene editing, involve subtle genetic tweaks that can help develop crops that are climate-resilient, produce higher yields, and require less fertilizers and pesticides.

Currently, 10% of EU farming areas are organic, but these farms often require more land to grow the same amount of food. This means that expanding agricultural land could lead to biodiversity losses, negating some of the environmental benefits of organic farming. Researchers suggest that by allowing NGTs in organic production, farmers can increase crop yields while maintaining their environmentally-friendly practices.

The EU institutions are currently debating how to regulate NGTs, which did not exist when the EU legislation on GMOs was adopted in 2001. A proposal from the European Commission suggests allowing NGT usage in conventional but not organic farming. However, researchers argue that this creates a hurdle for identifying, labeling, and tracing NGTs in food products.

Researchers also note that NGTs are still not well understood by consumers, who often confuse them with traditional GMOs. This confusion can lead to unnecessary labeling and regulation. By defining and regulating NGTs separately from traditional GMOs, the EU can create a more efficient and effective regulatory framework for this technology.

Ultimately, researchers suggest that the decision to allow NGTs in organic farming should be made by the organic farming and consumer communities through democratic processes such as citizens’ juries or food councils. This would ensure that any new technologies are aligned with the values and goals of organic consumers and farmers.

By embracing gene editing in organic farming, the EU can create a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly agricultural landscape while also supporting innovation and progress in this sector.

The article highlights a critical aspect of environmental degradation: the rising soil nitrous acid (HONO) emissions driven by climate change and fertilization, which accelerate global ozone pollution. A team of researchers from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has examined global soil HONO emissions data from 1980 to 2016 and incorporated them into a chemistry-climate model. Their findings reveal that soil HONO emissions contribute significantly to the increase in the ozone mixing ratio in air, which has negative impacts on vegetation.

The researchers found that soil HONO emissions have increased from 9.4 Tg N in 1980 to 11.5 Tg N in 2016, with a 2.5% average annual rise in the global surface ozone mixing ratio. This increase may lead to overexposure of vegetation to ozone, affecting ecosystem balance and food crop production. Moreover, ozone damage reduces vegetation’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, further aggravating greenhouse gas emissions.

The study emphasizes that soil HONO emissions are influenced by nitrogen fertiliser usage and climate factors like soil temperature and water content. Emissions hotspots cluster in agricultural areas worldwide, with Asia being the largest emitter (37.2% of total).

Interestingly, regions with lower pollution levels are more affected by ozone formation due to higher volatile organic compound concentrations and lower nitrogen oxide levels. This implies that as global anthropogenic emissions decrease, the impact of soil HONO emissions on ozone levels may increase.

To mitigate this issue, Prof. Tao Wang recommends considering soil HONO emissions in strategies for reducing global air pollution. The research team developed a robust parameterisation scheme by integrating advanced modelling techniques and diverse datasets, which can facilitate more accurate assessments of ozone production caused by soil HONO emissions and their impact on vegetation.

Future studies should explore mitigation strategies to optimise fertiliser use while maintaining agricultural productivity, such as deep fertiliser placement and the use of nitrification inhibitors.