Why does the Sun's Corona sizzle at one million °F?

A team of physicists, including NJIT’s Gregory Fleishman, has discovered previously undetected energy in the Sun’s coronal loops.

The Sun's corona, invisible to the human eye except when it appears briefly as a fiery halo of plasma during a solar eclipse, remains a puzzle even to scientists who study it closely. Located 1,300 miles from the star's surface, it is more than a hundred times hotter than lower layers much closer to the fusion reactor at the Sun's core.

A team of physicists, led by NJIT's Gregory Fleishman, has recently discovered a phenomenon that may begin to untangle what they call "one of the greatest challenges for solar modeling" -- determining the physical mechanisms that heat the upper atmosphere to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit and higher. Their findings, which account for previously undetected thermal energy in the corona, were recently published in the 123-year-old Astrophysical Journal, whose editors have included foundational space scientists such as Edwin Hubble.

"We knew that something really intriguing happens at the interface between the photosphere -- the Sun's surface -- and the corona, given the noticeable disparities in the chemical composition between the two layers and the sharp rise in plasma temperatures at this junction," notes Fleishman, a distinguished research professor of physics.

With a series of observations from NASA's space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the team has revealed regions in the corona with elevated levels of heavy metal ions contained in magnetic flux tubes -- concentrations of magnetic fields -- which carry an electrical current. Their vivid images, captured in the extreme (short wave) ultraviolet (EUV) band, reveal disproportionally large -- by a factor of five or more -- concentrations of multiply charged metals compared to single-electron ions of hydrogen, than exist in the photosphere.

The iron ions reside in what the team calls "ion traps" located at the base of coronal loops, arcs of electrified plasma directed by magnetic field lines. The existence of these traps, they say, implies that there are highly energetic coronal loops, depleted of iron ions, which have thus far eluded detection in the EUV range. Only metal ions, with their fluctuating electrons, produce emissions which make them visible.

"These observations suggest that the corona may contain even more thermal energy than is directly observed in the EUV range and that we have not yet accounted for," he says. "This energy is visible in other wavelengths, however, and we hope to combine our data with scientists who view it through microwaves and X-rays, such as scientists at NJIT's Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array, for example, to clarify mismatches in energy that we've been able to quantify so far."

There are various theories, none yet conclusive, that explain the sizzling heat of the corona: magnetic energy lines that reconnect in the upper atmosphere and release explosive energy and energy waves dumped in the corona, where they are converted to thermal energy, among others.

"Before we can address how energy is generated in the corona, we must first map and quantify its thermal structure," Fleishman notes.

"What we know of the corona's temperature comes from measuring EUV emissions produced by heavy ions in various states of ionization, which depends on their concentrations, as well as plasma temperature and density," he adds. "The non-uniform distribution of these ions in space and time appears to affect the temperature of the corona."

The metal ions enter the corona when variously sized solar flares destroy the traps, and they are evaporated into flux loops in the upper atmosphere.

Energy releases in solar flares and associated forms of eruptions occur when magnetic field lines, with their powerful underlying electric currents, are twisted beyond a critical point that can be measured by the number of turns in the twist. The largest of these eruptions cause what is known as space weather -- the radiation, energetic particles and magnetic field releases from the Sun powerful enough to cause severe effects in Earth's near environment, such as the disruption of communications, power lines and navigation systems.

It is only through recent advances in imaging capabilities that solar scientists can now take routine measurements of photospheric magnetic field vectors from which to compute the vertical component of electric currents, and, simultaneously, quantify the EUV emissions produced by heavy ions.

"Prior to these observations, we have only accounted for the coronal loops filled with heavy ions, but we could not account for flux tubes depleted of them," Fleishman says. "Now all of these poorly understood phenomena have a solid physical foundation that we can observe. We are able to better quantify the corona's thermal structure and gain a clearer understanding of why ion distribution in the solar atmosphere is non-uniform in space and variable in time."

Scientists at NJIT's Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) have captured the first high-resolution images of magnetic fields and plasma flows originating deep below the Sun's surface, tracing the evolution of sunspots and magnetic flux ropes through the chromosphere before their dramatic appearance in the corona as flaring loops.

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Eggs not linked to cardiovascular risk, despite conflicting advice

Fresh chicken eggs.

University of Sydney researchers aim to help clear up conflicting dietary advice around egg consumption, as a new study finds eating up to 12 eggs per week for a year did not increase cardiovascular risk factors in people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition today, the research extends on a previous study that found similar results over a period of three months.

Led by Dr Nick Fuller from the University's Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders at the Charles Perkins Centre, the research was conducted with the University of Sydney's Sydney Medical School and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

In the initial trial, participants aimed to maintain their weight while embarking on a high-egg (12 eggs per week) or low-egg (less than two eggs per week) diet, with no difference in cardiovascular risk markers identified at the end of three months.

The same participants then embarked on a weight loss diet for an additional three months, while continuing their high or low egg consumption. For a further six months -- up to 12 months in total -- participants were followed up by researchers and continued their high or low egg intake.

At all stages, both groups showed no adverse changes in cardiovascular risk markers and achieved equivalent weight loss -- regardless of their level of egg consumption, Dr Fuller explained.

"Despite differing advice around safe levels of egg consumption for people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, our research indicates people do not need to hold back from eating eggs if this is part of a healthy diet," Dr Fuller said.

"A healthy diet as prescribed in this study emphasised replacing saturated fats (such as butter) with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (such as avocado and olive oil)," he added.

The extended study tracked a broad range of cardiovascular risk factors including cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure, with no significant difference in results between the high egg and low egg groups.

"While eggs themselves are high in dietary cholesterol -- and people with type 2 diabetes tend to have higher levels of the 'bad' low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol -- this study supports existing research that shows consumption of eggs has little effect on the levels of cholesterol in the blood of the people eating them," Dr Fuller explained.

Dr Fuller said the findings of the study were important due to the potential health benefits of eggs for people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, as well as the general population.

"Eggs are a source of protein and micronutrients that could support a range of health and dietary factors including helping to regulate the intake of fat and carbohydrate, eye and heart health, healthy blood vessels and healthy pregnancies."

The different egg diets also appeared to have no impact on weight, Dr Fuller said.

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Scientists train spider to jump on demand to discover secrets of animal movement

Visual comparison of body attitude and leg arrangement at the start and end of the jumping tasks. The starting frame is the instant of take-off. The end frame is taken either at the point where the spider makes contact with the landing platform, or where the centre of gravity passes the longitudinal location of the task landing point, depending on which happens first.

Scientists have unlocked the secrets of how some predatory spiders catch their prey whilst hunting by successfully training one to jump different distances and heights for the first time.

The study, conducted by researchers at The University of Manchester, is the most advanced of its kind to date and first to use 3D CT scanning and high-speed, high-resolution cameras to record, monitor and analyse a spider's movement and behaviour.

The aim of the research is to answer the question of why jumping spider anatomy and behaviour evolved the way it did, and secondly, to use this improved understanding of spiders to imagine a new class of agile micro-robots that are currently unthinkable using today's engineering technologies.

The study is being published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Dr Mostafa Nabawy, lead author of the study, says: "The focus of the present work is on the extraordinary jumping capability of these spiders. A jumping spider can leap up to six times its body length from a standing start. The best a human can achieve is about 1.5 body lengths. The force on the legs at take-off can be up to 5 times the weight of the spider -- this is amazing and if we can understand these biomechanics we can apply them to other areas of research."

The researchers trained the spider, which they nicknamed Kim, to jump different heights and distances on a humanmade platform in a laboratory environment. Kim belongs to a species of jumping arachnid known as Phidippus regius, or 'Regal Jumping Spider'. The team then recorded the jumps using ultra-high-speed cameras, and used high resolution micro CT scans to create a 3D model of Kim's legs and body structure in unprecedented detail.

The results show that this particular species of spider uses different jumping strategies depending on the jumping challenge it is presented with.

For example, to jump shorter, close-range distances Kim favoured a faster, lower trajectory which uses up more energy, but minimises flight time. This makes the jump more accurate and more effective for capturing its prey. But, if Kim is jumping a longer distance or to an elevated platform, perhaps to traverse rough terrain, she jumps in the most efficient way to reduce the amount of energy used.

Insects and spiders jump in a number of different ways, either using a spring like mechanism, direct muscle forces or using internal fluid pressure.

Scientists have known for more than 50 years that spiders use internal hydraulic pressure to extend their legs, but what isn't known is if this hydraulic pressure is actively used to enhance or replace muscle force when the spiders jump.

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25 years of fossil collecting yields clearest picture of extinct 12-foot aquatic predator

A rendition of what the Hyneria lindae might have looked like.

After 25 years of collecting fossils at a Pennsylvania site, scientists at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University now have a much better picture of an ancient, extinct 12-foot fish and the world in which it lived.

Although Hyneria lindae was initially described in 1968, it was done without a lot of fossil material to go on. But since the mid-1990s, dedicated volunteers, students, and paleontologists digging at the Red Hill site in northern Pennsylvania's Clinton County have turned up more -- and better quality -- fossils of the fish's skeleton that have led to new insights.

Academy researchers Ted Daeschler, PhD, and Jason Downs, PhD, who specialize in the Devonian time period (a time before dinosaurs and even land animals) when Hyneria lived, have been able to reconstruct that the predator had a blunt, wide snout, reached 10-12 feet in length, had small eyes and featured a sensory system that allowed it to hunt prey by feeling pressure waves around it.

"Dr. Keith Thomson, the man who first described Hyneria in 1968, did not have enough fossil material to reconstruct the anatomy that we have now been able to document with more extensive collections," explained Daeschler, curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Academy, as well as a professor in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences.

Originally, pieces of the fish were collected in the 1950s. Thomson described and officially named Hyneria lindae in 1968, but he had just a few pieces of a crushed skull and some scales to work with.

The new discoveries that Daeschler and Downs (who is an assistant professor at Delaware Valley University) wrote about in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology were made possible by years of collecting that turned up, "well-preserved, well-prepared three-dimensional material of almost all of the [bony] parts of the skeleton," according to Downs.

No single complete skeleton exists of this giant, but enough is there to show that Hyneria would have truly been a monster to the other animals in the subtropical streams of the Devonian Period, roughly 365 million years ago. An apex predator, Hyneria's mouth was bristling with two-inch fangs. For reference, that's bigger than most modern Great White Shark's teeth.

Due to its sheer size, weaponry, and sensory abilities, Hyneria may have preyed upon anything from ancient placoderms (armored fish), to acanthodians (related to sharks) and sarcopterygians (lobe-finned fish, the group Hyneria belongs to) -- including early tetrapods (limbed vertebrates) that are also found at the site.

Since the streams Hyneria lived in were likely murky and not conducive to hunting by eyesight, sensory canals allowed it to detect fish swimming near it and attack them.

"We discovered that the skull roof elements have openings on their surfaces that connect up, forming a network of tubes that would function like the sensory line system in some modern aquatic vertebrates," Daeschler said. "Similarly, we found a network of connected pores on the parts of the scales that would be exposed on the body of Hyneria."

All of the new information gleaned about Hyneria is doubly valuable because it provides more information about the ecosystem -- and time period -- it lived in. The Devonian was a pivotal time in vertebrate evolution, especially since some of Hyneria's fellow lobe-finned fish developed specialized fins that would take them onto land and eventually give rise to all limbed verterbates including reptiles, amphibians and mammals.

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New evidence that bullfrogs are to blame for deadly fungus outbreaks in western US

American bullfrog.

In the 1890s, settlers crossed the Rocky Mountains seeking new opportunities -- and bearing frogs. A new study coauthored by a San Francisco State University biology professor draws a link between that introduction of American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) to the western half of the United States with the spread of a fungus deadly to amphibians. The work highlights the catastrophic results of moving animals and plants to new regions.

The fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has rapidly spread around the world since the 1970s, causing a skin disease called chytridiomycosis and wiping out more than 200 species of amphibians globally. In the United States, these declines have followed a curious pattern. "In the whole region east of the Rockies, there hasn't been a single outbreak of Bd," said study author Vance Vredenburg, a professor of biology at San Francisco State. "But in the West there's hundreds, if not thousands."

American bullfrogs, a species introduced to the West by settlers who wished to populate ponds with an abundant source of frog legs, have for over a decade been a main suspect. Bullfrogs can carry Bd without falling victim to it themselves, making them a potential vehicle for the fungus to colonize new habitats that harbor vulnerable amphibians.

Firmly placing the blame on bullfrogs, however, has been difficult. "The problem is we need a time machine to see what happened," Vredenburg explained. So he and a team of colleagues sought out historical data from around the American West to pinpoint when bullfrogs arrived in each region and how those dates line up with the first local records of Bd.

In 83 out of the 100 watersheds where the team could dig up data on both bullfrog and Bd occurrence, the frogs were spotted first or in the same year. And in 13 of the remaining 17 cases, bullfrogs had previously been found in a neighboring region. The team reported their results on April 16 in the journal PLoS ONE.

"Even when Bd got there before bullfrogs, the frogs were usually close by," Vredenburg explained. So these new findings are more evidence in the case scientists have built against American bullfrogs -- if their presence is a prerequisite for an outbreak, it appears even more likely that they've contributed to Bd's spread.

That link between frog and fungus explains patterns in the U.S., but it's also relevant far beyond the country's borders. Thanks in part to a U.S. Agency for International Development program that shipped bullfrogs to developing countries to start frog farms, the invasive amphibians have taken hold in parts of Europe, Asia and South America. "I hope researchers will take this study and try it in other parts of the world," Vredenburg said.

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Mars growth was stunted by early giant planetary instability

The particular dynamics of the instability between the giant planets kept Mars from growing to an Earth-mass planet.

A University of Oklahoma astrophysics team explains why the growth of Mars was stunted by an orbital instability among the outer solar system's giant planets in a new study on the evolution of the young solar system. The OU study builds on the widely-accepted Nice Model, which invokes a planetary instability to explain many peculiar observed aspects of the outer solar system. An OU model used computer simulations to show how planet accretion (growth) is halted by the outer solar system instability. Without it, Mars possibly could have become a larger, habitable planet like Earth.

"This study offers a simple and more elegant solution for why Mars is small, barren and uninhabitable," said Matthew S. Clement, OU graduate student in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, OU College of Arts and Sciences. "The particular dynamics of the instability between the giant planets kept Mars from growing to an Earth-mass planet."

Clement and Nathan A. Kaib, OU astrophysics professor, worked with Sean N. Raymond, the University of Bordeaux, France, and Kevin J. Walsh, Southwest Research Institute, to investigate the effect of the Nice Model instability on the process of terrestrial planetary formation. The research team used computing resources provided by the OU Supercomputing Center for Education and Research and the Blue Waters sustained peta-scale computing project to perform 800 computer simulations of this scenario.

The goal of this study was to investigate simulated systems that produced Earth-like planets with Mars analogs as well. Recent geological data from Mars and Earth indicates that Mars' formation period was about 10 times shorter than Earth's, which has led to the idea that Mars was left behind as a 'stranded planetary embryo' during the formation of the Sun's inner planets. The early planet instability modeled in this study provides a natural explanation for how Mars emerged from the process of planet formation as a 'stranded embryo.'

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Astronomers find exoplanet atmosphere free of clouds

WASP-18b is a 'hot Jupiter' located 325 light-years from Earth.

Scientists have detected an exoplanet atmosphere that is free of clouds, marking a pivotal breakthrough in the quest for greater understanding of the planets beyond our solar system.

An international team of astronomers, led by Dr Nikolay Nikolov from the University of Exeter, have found that the atmosphere of the 'hot Saturn' WASP-96b is cloud-free.

Using Europe's 8.2m Very Large Telescope in Chile, the team studied the atmosphere of WASP-96b when the planet passed in front of its host-star. This enabled the team to measure the decrease of starlight caused by the planet and its atmosphere, and thereby determine the planet's atmospheric composition.

Just like an individual's fingerprints are unique, atoms and molecules have a unique spectral characteristic that can be used to detect their presence in celestial objects. The spectrum of WASP-96b shows the complete fingerprint of sodium, which can only be observed for an atmosphere free of clouds.

The results are published in research journal Nature on May 7 2018.

WASP-96b is a typical 1300K hot gas giant similar to Saturn in mass and exceeding the size of Jupiter by 20%. The planet periodically transits a sun-like star 980 light years away in the southern constellation Phoenix, halfway between the southern jewels Fomalhaut (α Piscis Austrini) and Achernar (α Eridani).

It has long been predicted that sodium exists in the atmospheres of hot gas-giant exoplanets, and in a cloud-free atmosphere it would produce spectra that are similar in shape to the profile of a camping tent.

Nikolay Nikolov, lead author and from the University of Exeter said; "We've been looking at more than twenty exoplanet transit spectra. WASP-96b is the only exoplanet that appears to be entirely cloud-free and shows such a clear sodium signature, making the planet a benchmark for characterization.

"Until now, sodium was revealed either as a very narrow peak or found to be completely missing. This is because the characteristic 'tent-shaped' profile can only be produced deep in the atmosphere of the planet and for most planet clouds appear to get in the way."

Clouds and hazes are known to exist in some of the hottest and coldest solar system planets and exoplanets. The presence or absence of clouds and their ability to block light plays an important role in the overall energy budget of planetary atmospheres.

"It is difficult to predict which of these hot atmospheres will have thick clouds. By seeing the full range of possible atmospheres, from very cloudy to nearly cloud-free like WASP-96b, we'll gain a better understanding of what these clouds are made of; " explains Professor Jonathan J. Fortney, study co-author, based at the Other Worlds Laboratory (OWL) at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).

The sodium signature seen in WASP-96b suggests an atmosphere free of clouds. The observation allowed the team to measure how abundant sodium is in the atmosphere of the planet, finding levels similar to those found in our own Solar System.

"WASP-96b will also provide us with a unique opportunity to determine the abundances of other molecules, such as water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide with future observations ," adds co-author Ernst de Mooij from Dublin City University.

Sodium is the seventh most common element in the Universe. On Earth, sodium compounds such as salt give sea water its salty taste and the white colour of salt pans in deserts.

In animal life, sodium is known to regulate heart activity and metabolism. Sodium is also used in technology, such as in the sodium-vapour street lights, where it produces yellow-orange light.

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What will happen when our sun dies?

Abell 39, the 39th entry in a catalog of large nebulae discovered by George Abell in 1966, is a beautiful example of a planetary nebula. It was chosen for study by George Jacoby (WIYN Observatory), Gary Ferland (University of Kentucky), and Kirk Korista (Western Michigan University) because of its beautiful and rare spherical symmetry. This picture was taken at the WIYN Observatory's 3.5-m (138-inch) telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, AZ, in 1997 through a blue-green filter that isolates the light emitted by oxygen atoms in the nebula at a wavelength of 500.7 nanometers. The nebula has a diameter of about five light-years, and the thickness of the spherical shell is about a third of a light-year. The nebula itself is roughly 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules.

Scientists agree the sun will die in approximately 10 billion years, but they weren't sure what would happen next...until now.

A team of international astronomers, including Professor Albert Zijlstra from the University of Manchester, predict it will turn into a massive ring of luminous, interstellar gas and dust, known as a planetary nebula.

A planetary nebula marks the end of 90% of all stars active lives and traces the star's transition from a red giant to a degenerate white dwarf. But, for years, scientists weren't sure if the sun in our galaxy would follow the same fate: it was thought to have too low mass to create a visible planetary nebula.

To find out the team developed a new stellar, data-model that predicts the lifecycle of stars. The model was used to predict the brightness (or luminosity) of the ejected envelope, for stars of different masses and ages.

The research is being published in Nature Astronomy on Monday 7th May.

Prof Zijslra explains: "When a star dies it ejects a mass of gas and dust -- known as its envelope -- into space. The envelope can be as much as half the star's mass. This reveals the star's core, which by this point in the star's life is running out of fuel, eventually turning off and before finally dying.

"It is only then the hot core makes the ejected envelope shine brightly for around 10,000 years -- a brief period in astronomy. This is what makes the planetary nebula visible. Some are so bright that they can be seen from extremely large distances measuring tens of millions of light years, where the star itself would have been much too faint to see."

The model also solves another problem that has been perplexing astronomers for a quarter of a century.

Approximately 25 years ago astronomers discovered that if you look at planetary nebulae in another galaxy, the brightest ones always have the same brightness. It was found that it was possible to see how far away a galaxy was just from the appearance of its brightest planetary nebulae. In theory it worked in any of type galaxy.

But whilst the data suggested this was correct, the scientific models claimed otherwise. Prof Zijlstra adds: "Old, low mass stars should make much fainter planetary nebulae than young, more massive stars. This has become a source of conflict for the past for 25 years.

"The data said you could get bright planetary nebulae from low mass stars like the sun, the models said that was not possible, anything less than about twice the mass of the sun would give a planetary nebula too faint to see."

The new models show that after the ejection of the envelope, the stars heat up three times faster than found in older models. This makes it much easier for a low mass star, such as the sun, to form a bright planetary nebula. The team found that in the new models, the sun is almost exactly the lowest mass star that still produces a visible, though faint, planetary nebula. Stars even a few per cent smaller do not.

Professor Zijlstra added: "We found that stars with mass less than 1.1 times the mass of the sun produce fainter nebula, and stars more massive than 3 solar masses brighter nebulae, but for the rest the predicted brightness is very close to what had been observed. Problem solved, after 25 years!

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Less is more when it comes to developing bigger brains

The superior size and complexity of the human brain compared to other mammals may actually originate from fewer initial starting materials, new research has suggested.

A team from the University of Oxford and Cardiff University have used mathematical models to re-enact the complex process of brain development that occurs as initialising cells, otherwise known as progenitor cells, start to grow and begin to differentiate into more specialist cells at various points in time.

By applying this experimentally realistic model to mice, monkeys and humans, all of which use roughly the same type of raw materials to develop a brain, the team identified the different brain development strategies that separates each of the three mammals.

In particular, the equations looked at the ability of progenitor cells to divide either into more progenitor cells or into neurons. The equations were then linked to real-life experimental data from mice, monkeys and humans and used to predict the original population of progenitor cells before the brains started to develop.

The results showed that the human brain may develop from fewer raw materials compared to both mice and monkeys, which is surprising given that a human brain is much more complex than that of a mouse.

Indeed, the cerebral cortex in the human brain, which is accountable for high cognitive functions such as language, memory and movement, contains approximately 16 billion neurons -- the cerebral cortex of a mouse contains around 14 million neurons.

Similarly, the brain of a mouse weighs around 400 mg whereas a human brain weighs roughly 1,500,000 mg.

Interestingly when comparing the brain of a monkey to a mouse, the results showed that the monkey brain is developed from more initial cells, leading to the creation of a larger brain.

The team have proposed that as the human brain has been formed and sculpted through more than 500 million years of evolution, it has been able to develop more strategic ways of creating complex structures with fewer cells.

In further studies the team hope to use their mathematical models to shed more light on how these strategies may have advanced through evolution and, potentially more importantly, understand diseases where it may well be that different brain strategies are realised, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy and Zika-virus induced microcephaly.

Dr Thomas E. Woolley of Cardiff University's School of Mathematics said: "This project has really brought together the complementary strengths of the mathematicians and biologists. In particular, the mathematics has highlighted the next most important experimental steps."

Dr Noemi Picco, from the University of Oxford, said: "To produce a larger brain we can either stretch development over a longer period of time or adopt an altogether different developmental program to produce neurons more efficiently within the time available.

"It seems plausible that humans adopted the first solution as our gestational period is much longer than a mouse's, rather than starting off with more raw material."

"While this argument is only speculative, this research produced an alternative testable hypothesis, setting the basis for future experimental studies."

Professor Zoltán Molnár of Oxford's Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics said: "The modelling helped us to realise just how little we currently know about the comparative aspects of cerebral cortical development.

Some of the data we have are not sufficient to start modelling more complex issues of brain development and evolution. We are planning to assemble an international collaborative team to feed in the numbers for future models"

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Temperature swings to hit poor countries hardest

Relative changes (%) of standard deviation of monthly temperature anomalies from pre-industrial conditions to the end of the 21st century, averaged over 37 climate models.

Temperature fluctuations that are amplified by climate change will hit the world's poorest countries hardest, new research suggests.

For every degree of global warming, the study suggests temperature variability will increase by up to 15% in southern Africa and Amazonia, and up to 10% in the Sahel, India and South East Asia.

Meanwhile, countries outside the tropics -- many of which are richer countries that have contributed most to climate change -- should see a decrease in temperature variability.

The researchers, from the universities of Exeter, Wageningen and Montpellier, discovered this "unfair pattern" as they addressed the difficult problem of predicting how weather extremes such as heat waves and cold snaps might change in a future climate.

"The countries that have contributed least to climate change, and have the least economic potential to cope with the impacts are facing the largest increases in temperature variability," said lead author Dr Sebastian Bathiany, of Wageningen University.

Co-author Professor Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter, added: "The countries affected by this dual challenge of poverty and increasing temperature variability already share half of the world's population, and population growth rates are particularly large in these countries."

"These increases are bad news for tropical societies and ecosystems that are not adapted to fluctuations outside of the typical range."

The study also reveals that most of the increased temperature fluctuations in the tropics are associated with droughts -- an extra threat to food and water supplies.

For their investigation, the team analysed 37 different climate models that have been used for the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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