Now that we think about the future of the Earth, we know that there are two main factors that people need to live here.

First, the sun provides most of the energy that living things on Earth need to survive. Plants use sunlight to grow and produce oxygen. Animals, including humans, directly or indirectly rely on plants for food and oxygen.

Another thing that makes the Earth habitable is that the surface of our planet is constantly moving and shifting. This ever-changing surface environment creates weather patterns and chemical changes in the oceans and continents. allowed life to develop on Earth.

Movement giant chunks of the outer layer of the earth, which are called tectonic plates, move due to heat in the bowels of the Earth. This heat source will keep the Earth’s interior hot. for billions of years.

So what will change? Scientists have calculated that the sun will still shine 5 billion years. But gradually it will become brighter and brighter, warming the Earth more and more.

This warming is so slow that we would not notice it. In about 1 billion years, our planet will be too hot to support the oceans on its surface necessary for life. Considering that the average human life expectancy about 73 years old this is about 13 million human lives.

Many years later – in about 5 billion years – our Sun will grow into an even larger star, which astronomers call a “red giant”, which will eventually swallow the Earth. Just as our planet existed for more than 4 billion years before the appearance of man, it will exist for another 4 to 5 billion years after it becomes unsuitable for human life.

Shichun Huang is Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Tennessee.

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For months, residents of L’Espluga de Francoli have been saving bottled water and pre-shower water to cope with long hours of daily water rationing as northeastern Spain suffers from one of the worst droughts in decades.

While this small Catalan town has suffered from water supply problems for years due to the depletion of the water table, the current drought has exacerbated the situation.

Every night from 22:00 to 07:00 in this city of 3,600 people, located 100 km west of Barcelona, ​​the water supply is cut off.

“We keep bottled water so we can brush our teeth and wash our faces in the morning,” says Maria Gonzalez, a 24-year-old nurse.

“At night, we either take a shower at work or at the gym, or we heat water in pots (to wash ourselves at home), like in the old days,” she said.

Three times a week, a tanker truck ferries water for hours to replenish municipal water supplies in L’Espluga, in a region where aquifers have been depleted by months of drought.

“Over the past two or three years, climate change … has happened very quickly,” says Xavier Rosell, who is in charge of environmental affairs and municipal services in the area.

Reservoir Rescue Operation

The effects are being felt in Spain’s wealthy northeast region of 7.7 million after 32 months of drought that saw its reservoir capacity plummet.

Regional data showed that due to the lack of rainfall, which was especially bad in Barcelona, ​​where restrictions are in place, the reservoirs are only 26 percent full.

“At the moment, this is the most serious problem we are facing,” Catalan leader Pere Aragonés said, lamenting one of the “worst droughts in 50 years.”

Last summer, falling water levels in the Sau reservoir exposed the ruins of an 11th-century church in the normally flooded village of Sant Roma de Sau, which was flooded in the 1960s when a dam was built nearby.

Due to critically low levels in Sau, authorities last month began an emergency transfer of remaining supplies to a nearby reservoir to preserve water quality.

This is not the first major water shortage in the region – the last was between 2004 and 2008 – but such episodes are becoming more intense.

“Droughts caused by climate change are getting worse,” said Narcis Prat, a retired professor of ecology at the University of Barcelona, ​​pointing out that warmer temperatures cause more water to evaporate.

Although the drought was particularly severe in Catalonia, it affected the entire country.

“We are facing a difficult moment both in terms of water resources and rainfall,” Agriculture Minister Luis Planas said after the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

hot three

UN data shows that Europe is warming faster than any other continent, and in the deep southwest, Spain is especially vulnerable as the national meteorological office AEMET marks 2022 as the hottest year on record.

The numbers are extremely alarming. In the current “water year” – a 12-month period starting in October when hydrologists track rainfall levels – Spain’s average rainfall has been 21 percent below normal.

In the south, reservoirs in the Guadalquivir Basin have been hit hard, with 25.2% filling compared to the national average of 50.7%, data from the environment ministry showed on Tuesday.

In March, Catalonia declared a second-level state of emergency in its most densely populated areas, imposing a ban on the use of hoses and restrictions on the use of water for agricultural or industrial purposes.

They have also increased investment in water treatment plants, purification systems and desalination plants, which are already operating at full capacity.

“The Mediterranean area has been particularly hard hit, so other ways to manage water resources need to be found,” Prat said.

“This means that we will need to change our current model of water retention in reservoirs to one that includes other resources… such as desalination plants or wastewater recovery plants.”

© 2023 AFP

W. Ross Stone, influential IEEE Technical Activities leader, died March 29 at the age of 75.

Life Fellow received the 2023 award IEEE Richard M. Amberson Award “for continued contributions to and active leadership in the publishing business of the technical activities of the IEEE.”

Stone has served in several leadership positions on the IEEE Technical Activities Board for over four decades. He changed the way the TAB periodicals committee worked, creating several programs and processes to revitalize IEEE publications and initiating strategic plans to ensure their future success, according to his Amberson Award citation.

He was president ceramicsa business he founded in San Diego that provided consulting and expert services related to antennas, distribution, and telecommunications.

Communications and patent law expert

Stone received his bachelor’s degree in geosciences in 1967. University of California, San Diego. He then received his M.A. and Ph.D. in applied sciences from the University of California in 1973 and 1978, respectively.

He has served as chief scientist at McDonnell Technologies and as a scientific advisor at IRT. In the early 1980s, he founded Stoneware, which also provided litigation, patent infringement analysis, prior art research, and invention and design consulting services in mobile phone and base station antennas, cellular systems, IEEE 802.11 technologies, LTE networks, Wi-Fi and wireless network technologies. During his career, he has also held leadership positions at 16 wireless start-ups.

He was an adjunct professor at Peking Jiaotong University And Polytechnic University of Turin.

Perennial editor IEEE Antennas and Propagation Journal

Stone, who was chairman of the TAB Periodicals Committee, established 15 ad hoc committees to further the publishing goals of the IEEE. Ad hoc committees developed new metrics for evaluating submitted articles, a mentorship program for publication editors, and long-term open access strategies.

For over 30 years, Stone was the editor-in-chief IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Newsletterwhich turned into IEEE Antennas and Propagation Journal.

“While he is known for his rigor and results-oriented approach, those who work with Stone invariably refer to him as a gentleman,” said one Amberson Prize supporter. “He is unfailingly polite, open to discussion and resolves any differences with tact and respect. Stone finds a kind word for each employee and shows an unwavering sense of humor in the most difficult situations.

In addition to his contributions to the IEEE, Stone worked as an editor for over 20 years. Radio Science Bulletinpublication International Union of Radiologists (URSI).

He was a member Chinese Institute of Electronics, Academy of Electromagnetismand URSI. He was also a life member Phi Eta Sigma honor society. In addition, he was a member of several societies, including Association for Computing Machinery, Optics, Society for Industrial and Applied MathematicsAnd Society for Technical Communication.