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Saudi Researcher Plants Cotton in Al-Makhwah’s Shada Mountain

Cotton cultivation requires minimal irrigation and care, similar to other agricultural crops, and the trees can grow up to 4 meters high and produce all year round - SPA
Cotton cultivation requires minimal irrigation and care, similar to other agricultural crops, and the trees can grow up to 4 meters high and produce all year round - SPA
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Saudi Researcher Plants Cotton in Al-Makhwah’s Shada Mountain

Cotton cultivation requires minimal irrigation and care, similar to other agricultural crops, and the trees can grow up to 4 meters high and produce all year round - SPA
Cotton cultivation requires minimal irrigation and care, similar to other agricultural crops, and the trees can grow up to 4 meters high and produce all year round - SPA

Al-Baha region is one of the rich agricultural areas in the Kingdom due to its natural resources, favorable climate, fertile soil, and abundant groundwater.
Thanks to the unlimited support from the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, successful agricultural experiments have emerged among farmers in various provinces.
“Some may think that cotton trees only grow in Egypt and other producing and exporting countries,” Nasser Al-Shadwi, a historical researcher and environmental activist, told the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
However, cotton trees actually grow naturally in some mountains in the south of the Kingdom, Al-Shadwi said, adding that the production of these trees is abundant in this area.
Al-Shadwi said his decision to revive cotton farming in the Shada Mountain, Al-Makhwah governorate, was influenced by his grandmother's stories about their cultivation of cotton trees on a farm in front of their house and spinning cotton during that time.
Al-Shadwi decided to reattempt cotton farming, which proved to be remarkably successful.
The cultivation of cotton, coffee, and other agricultural crops is an eye-catcher for tourists and visitors to the mountains, representing the beautiful aspects of rural life and enhancing the region’s identity.

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Scientists Drill Nearly 2 Miles Down to Pull 1.2 Million-year-old Ice Core from Antarctic

An international team of scientists announced successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet - The AP
An international team of scientists announced successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet - The AP
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Scientists Drill Nearly 2 Miles Down to Pull 1.2 Million-year-old Ice Core from Antarctic

An international team of scientists announced successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet - The AP
An international team of scientists announced successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet - The AP

An international team of scientists announced Thursday they’ve successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet, penetrating nearly 2 miles (2.8 kilometers) to Antarctic bedrock to reach ice they say is at least 1.2 million years old.

Analysis of the ancient ice is expected to show how Earth's atmosphere and climate have evolved. That should provide insight into how Ice Age cycles have changed, and may help in understanding how atmospheric carbon changed climate, they said, The AP reported.

“Thanks to the ice core we will understand what has changed in terms of greenhouse gases, chemicals and dusts in the atmosphere,” said Carlo Barbante, an Italian glaciologist and coordinator of Beyond EPICA, the project to obtain the core. Barbante also directs the Polar Science Institute at Italy's National Research Council.

The same team previously drilled a core about 800,000 years old. The latest drilling went 2.8 kilometers (about 1.7 miles) deep, with a team of 16 scientists and support personnel drilling each summer over four years in average temperatures of about minus-35 Celsius (minus-25.6 Fahrenheit).

Italian researcher Federico Scoto was among the glaciologists and technicians who completed the drilling at the beginning of January at a location called Little Dome C, near Concordia Research Station.

“It was a great a moment for us when we reached the bedrock,” Scoto said. Isotope analysis gave the ice's age as at least 1.2 million years old, he said.

Both Barbante and Scoto said that thanks to the analysis of the ice core of the previous Epica campaign they have assessed that concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, even during the warmest periods of the last 800,000 years, have never exceeded the levels seen since the Industrial Revolution began.

“Today we are seeing carbon dioxide levels that are 50% above the highest levels we’ve had over the last 800,000 years," Barbante said.

The European Union funded Beyond EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) with support from nations across the continent. Italy is coordinating the project.

The announcement was exciting to Richard Alley, a climate scientist at Penn State who was not involved with the project and who was recently awarded the National Medal of Science for his career studying ice sheets.

Alley said advancements in studying ice cores are important because they help scientists better understand the climate conditions of the past and inform their understanding of humans’ contributions to climate change in the present. He added that reaching the bedrock holds added promise because scientists may learn more about Earth’s history not directly related to the ice record itself.

“This is truly, truly, amazingly fantastic,” Alley said. “They will learn wonderful things.”