* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    The SBA’s live-entertainment bailout was supposed to end two years ago. We still don’t know how $1.5 billion was spent. – Yahoo Home

    $1.5 Billion Live-Entertainment Bailout: Two Years Later, Where Did the Money Go?

    Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, Boyd – CDC Gaming

    Top Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, and Boyd Take Center Stage

    Micro wrestling coming to NE Ohio – Cleveland.com

    Get Ready, NE Ohio: Micro Wrestling Is Making Its Exciting Debut!

    League City seeking proposals for 53-acre entertainment district on sportsplex land – galvnews.com

    League City Invites Proposals to Transform 53-Acre Sportsplex into Vibrant Entertainment District

    Top 5 entertainment news: Sandeep Reddy Vanga regrets trimming Animal’s runtime by 7-8 minutes, Akshay Ku – Times of India

    Top 5 Entertainment Highlights: Sandeep Reddy Vanga Reveals Why He Trimmed Animal’s Runtime by 7-8 Minutes, Plus Akshay Ku Updates

    Cote de Pablo reveals how Michael Weatherly used his soap opera roots to put her at ease in “NCIS” love scene – yahoo.com

    Cote de Pablo Reveals How Michael Weatherly’s Soap Opera Background Made Their “NCIS” Love Scene Easier

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    More than just a hockey player – Rochester Institute of Technology Athletics

    Beyond the Ice: The Inspiring Journey of a Remarkable Athlete from Rochester Institute of Technology

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    AI’s race in the dark with China – Axios

    The High-Stakes AI Race: Innovation and Competition in the Shadows

    Eagle Unveils Revolutionary X-Ray Technology at Pack Expo

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    The SBA’s live-entertainment bailout was supposed to end two years ago. We still don’t know how $1.5 billion was spent. – Yahoo Home

    $1.5 Billion Live-Entertainment Bailout: Two Years Later, Where Did the Money Go?

    Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, Boyd – CDC Gaming

    Top Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, and Boyd Take Center Stage

    Micro wrestling coming to NE Ohio – Cleveland.com

    Get Ready, NE Ohio: Micro Wrestling Is Making Its Exciting Debut!

    League City seeking proposals for 53-acre entertainment district on sportsplex land – galvnews.com

    League City Invites Proposals to Transform 53-Acre Sportsplex into Vibrant Entertainment District

    Top 5 entertainment news: Sandeep Reddy Vanga regrets trimming Animal’s runtime by 7-8 minutes, Akshay Ku – Times of India

    Top 5 Entertainment Highlights: Sandeep Reddy Vanga Reveals Why He Trimmed Animal’s Runtime by 7-8 Minutes, Plus Akshay Ku Updates

    Cote de Pablo reveals how Michael Weatherly used his soap opera roots to put her at ease in “NCIS” love scene – yahoo.com

    Cote de Pablo Reveals How Michael Weatherly’s Soap Opera Background Made Their “NCIS” Love Scene Easier

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    More than just a hockey player – Rochester Institute of Technology Athletics

    Beyond the Ice: The Inspiring Journey of a Remarkable Athlete from Rochester Institute of Technology

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    AI’s race in the dark with China – Axios

    The High-Stakes AI Race: Innovation and Competition in the Shadows

    Eagle Unveils Revolutionary X-Ray Technology at Pack Expo

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

This year’s cherry blossom peak bloom was a warning sign

March 27, 2024
in Science
This year’s cherry blossom peak bloom was a warning sign
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

First, the green bud appears, sprouting from a tree branch like a fledgling peering skyward from its mother’s nest. 

The florets show up next, extending from the branch’s center like a petal unfurling to bask in the sun. This is followed by the elongation of a smattering of flower stalks, from which a handful of puffy cherry blossoms finally open in a dazzling bloom. 

Lured by the spellbinding visual and the chance to catch a whiff of the flowers’ almond-like scent, Kyoto’s blooming cherry blossoms—or sakura—draw crowds from across the world. But around when the delicate buds that adorn Kyoto’s cherry trees bloom in springtime has advanced by nearly two weeks from when they used to emerge in 1850. 

Cherry blossoms in bloom in Kyoto.An old historical text with Japanese script from which researchers have gathered phenological data.

Researcher Yasuyuki Aono of Osaka Metropolitan University has searched for and collected cherry blossom flowering dates from diaries and chronicles written by emperors, aristocrats, governors, and monks in Kyoto dating back to the 9th century. It’s the longest known such data set in the world. 

That timing is one of the most valuable benchmarks for scientists tracking the impacts of climate change on flowering plants. “We are now blowing by any experienced climate that we’ve ever seen as human beings,” said Elizabeth Wolkovich, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia who studies plant communities and climate change. 

Global warming, largely driven by fossil fuel combustion, propelled temperatures so high in 2023 that it became the hottest year in history, followed by the warmest January and February on record.

“To me, the cherry blossom record really captures how extreme these changes are,” she said. A co-organizer of the International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition, Wolkovich says that anthropogenic climate change is driving earlier springs, which is leading to early-blooming cherry blossoms in locations like Kyoto.

“We haven’t experienced anything like this,” said Wolkovich. “It really dwarfs the Little Ice Age or the Medieval warm period…it’s a new world that we are heading into.” 

Peak bloom arrives early

Warmer springs triggering earlier blooms is a phenomenon not just isolated to Kyoto’s renowned sakuras, but something scientists are also observing elsewhere—including in Washington D.C. 

On March 17, the signature cherry trees in the nation’s capitol saw their second-earliest peak bloom on record—emerging almost a week before they were expected to, tying with the year 2000, per data from the EPA.  

(The Little Ice Age was brutal. How did people survive?)

A cherry blossom in bloom over a view of a bridge with people walking across it. Hills line the horizon.

Passersby walk over a bridge framed by cherry blossoms in full bloom in Arashiyama, Kyoto.

Peak bloom, or the point at which nearly two-thirds of a tree’s blossoms open, typically lasts at least a week, but varies depending on weather conditions and species. Sometime between the end of March and beginning of April has historically been when the Yoshino Cherry, the type of tree found throughout D.C., experiences peak bloom—but scientists believe that’s changing in response to the planet’s rapidly warming temperatures. 

Although flowering times vary annually, the long-term trend shows earlier blooming in D.C., according to Patrick Gonzalez, a climate change scientist and forest ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley. 

“In D.C., the advance in blooming is consistent with, but not scientifically attributed to, human-caused climate change,” said Gonzalez. This means that while scientists have detected a change that is statistically different from natural variation, they haven’t yet attributed it to anthropogenic climate change. Other possible causal influences include the urban heat island effect, he noted. 

That’s where the research in Kyoto is critical. The city’s sakura records go back more than 1,200 years—offering up a treasure trove of historical weather data that has been described as likely the longest annual record of phenology, or the study of biological life cycles, anywhere on Earth. 

And unlike in D.C., research on earlier blooms in Kyoto “has been both detected and attributed to human-caused climate change,” said Gonzalez. 

In 2020, 2021, and 2023, Kyoto’s sakura saw record-early blooms—the earliest dates ever recorded, reported the BBC. A 2022 study found that anthropogenic climate change is the primary reason behind an earlier spring ushering in the “peak bloom” flowering period in Kyoto, pushing that season forward by roughly 11 days. 

Under a medium-emissions scenario, the research estimates that Kyoto’s cherry blossoms’ earlier arrival would push forward by almost another week by 2100. To some, this pattern should be viewed with a sense of alarm.

“This is one of the most visible signs to people of the impacts of excessive human carbon pollution,” said Gonzalez, adding that continued climate change could advance cherry tree blooming even further under a “worst case” emissions scenario. “It really signals how seriously we need to cut our carbon pollution to reduce the most drastic impacts of climate change.” 

Two hands cupping cherry blossoms against black.Swooping down branches of cherry blossoms.

Climate change is causing earlier springs, triggering early-blooming cherry blossoms in locations like Kyoto. Trees need to spend a certain amount of time in cold weather in order to properly produce flowers. This makes shorter winters concerning for tree health.

Why early blooms matter 

The early onset of spring and subsequent accelerated cherry tree blooms can result in ecological disruptions that include blossoms mismatching with their pollinators and an increased cold snap vulnerability afflicting the trees themselves. 

While they may not produce edible fruit, the impacts of climate change on cherry blossom trees also provide a fitting example of what other crop-producing trees—such as apples and peach blossoms—are simultaneously undergoing, according to Lewis Ziska, a plant physiologist and associate professor at Columbia University.

A pink cherry blossom tree in bloom in Kyoto.

For those who haven’t had the opportunity to stroll under a canopy of blooming cherry blossom trees, researcher Lewis Ziska at Columbia University says the experience is akin to “walking through a church or cathedral.” 

“A spiritual feeling”

Not only are cherry trees a tool for scientists to understand changing temperatures, but the trees’ flowering also represents a “very visible” historical and cultural symbol for people to celebrate the onset of spring, said Soo-Hyung Kim, a plant ecophysiologist and professor at the University of Washington. 

(Nature is out of sync—and that’s reshaping everything, everywhere)

“The arrival of spring is a feeling…there’s just warmth around it,” said Kim, adding that the “spectacular” experience isn’t limited to Kyoto and D.C. A grove of flowering cherries in Seattle, which also recently hit peak bloom, is among the dozens of sites where the blossoms’ splendor can be witnessed nationwide—a list that includes everywhere from a botanical garden in St. Louis, Missouri to an annual festival in Macon, Georgia. 

For those who haven’t had the opportunity to stroll under a canopy of blooming cherry blossom trees, Ziska says the experience is akin to “walking through a church or cathedral.” 

“You can imagine colors. Pinks of all shades, reds of all shades, and the blue sky behind them. And at some point the words don’t apply…there are not words to describe it,” said Ziska. “It’s a spiritual feeling. It touches a part of your soul that can’t be reached any other way.” 

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : National Geographic – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/cherry-blossom-peak-bloom-climate-change

Tags: CherryscienceYears
Previous Post

Suki Waterhouse and Robert Pattinson welcome first child: report

Next Post

Inside the 124-year-old observatory that birthed modern astrophysics

Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

July 30, 2025
SAVING COLLEGE SPORTS – The White House (.gov)

SAVING COLLEGE SPORTS – The White House (.gov)

July 30, 2025
Oxygen & nutrients in Puget Sound – Department of Ecology – State of Washington (.gov)

Essential Oxygen and Nutrient Levels in Puget Sound: What You Need to Know

July 29, 2025
What U.S. science stands to lose without international graduate students and postdoctoral researchers – The Transmitter

What U.S. science stands to lose without international graduate students and postdoctoral researchers – The Transmitter

July 29, 2025
Pacific Science Center announces short-term closure to dismantle exhibit – The Seattle Times

Pacific Science Center Temporarily Closes to Dismantle Popular Exhibit

July 29, 2025
You can slow cognitive decline as you age, large study finds. Here’s how – CNN

You can slow cognitive decline as you age, large study finds. Here’s how – CNN

July 29, 2025
Artlogic and ArtCloud Merge in Bid to Shape Art World’s Digital Backbone – ARTnews.com

Artlogic and ArtCloud Join Forces to Transform the Digital Future of the Art World

July 29, 2025
Culture-Native Wallets Are Next: Inside Luffa’s Fan-Economy Operating System – The Defiant

Culture-Native Wallets Are Next: Inside Luffa’s Fan-Economy Operating System – The Defiant

July 29, 2025
The SBA’s live-entertainment bailout was supposed to end two years ago. We still don’t know how $1.5 billion was spent. – Yahoo Home

$1.5 Billion Live-Entertainment Bailout: Two Years Later, Where Did the Money Go?

July 29, 2025
Public Health spraying for mosquitoes in Dayton, Vandalia – Spectrum News

Public Health spraying for mosquitoes in Dayton, Vandalia – Spectrum News

July 29, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (745)
  • Economy (769)
  • Entertainment (21,649)
  • General (16,179)
  • Health (9,806)
  • Lifestyle (777)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (771)
  • Politics (778)
  • Science (15,982)
  • Sports (21,267)
  • Technology (15,750)
  • World (752)

Recent News

Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

July 30, 2025
SAVING COLLEGE SPORTS – The White House (.gov)

SAVING COLLEGE SPORTS – The White House (.gov)

July 30, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version