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Archive for August, 2012
Antarctic breeding penguins vanishing
Posted by LiveScience: Jeanna Bryner on August 29th, 2012
LiveScience: In the first complete survey of chinstrap penguins' breeding across Deception Island in the Antarctic, scientists have found a significant number of the chic birds have disappeared from the breeding grounds since the 1980s.
The largest colony, called Baily Head on Deception Island, which is located in the Antarctic's South Shetland Islands, saw a drop of more than 50 percent over the past two decades, the researchers added.
The culprit? The scientists point to climate change.
The study,...
With West Nile On The Rise, We Answer Your Questions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 29th, 2012
National Public Radio: This year is on track to be the worst ever for West Nile virus in the United States. Here are the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
1,590 reported cases, nearly 500 more than a week ago for a rise of 44 percent.
889 cases, or 56 percent, involve severe neurological disease.
66 deaths, compared to 41 last week.
Every state except Alaska and Hawaii has reported West Nile virus in people, birds or mosquitoes. "We expect the number of cases will rise through...
Antarctic Methane: A New Factor in the Climate Equation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 29th, 2012
Climate Central: Climate scientists have long fretted about the hundreds of billions of tons of methane frozen under the floor of the Arctic Ocean. If the water warms enough, some of that methane could escape. Nobody knows how soon or how quickly such a release might happen, but since methane is a far more potent heat-trapping gas than the more familiar carbon dioxide, it could add to the temperature increase already under way thanks largely to human emissions from fossil fuel burning.
But frozen Arctic methane...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Antarctic Methane: A New Factor in the Climate EquationSlow-Moving Hurricane Isaac Pummels Louisiana
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 29th, 2012
Climate Central: Although it made landfall more than 12 hours earlier, Hurricane Isaac continued to pummel southern Louisiana Wednesday morning as the huge Category 1 storm stalled in its motion to the northwest.
New Orleans' system of flood-protection levees and canal floodgates, upgraded to the tune of $14.5 billion after the system's catastrophic failure due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, continued to hold against the wall of water pushed onshore by the storm -- a surge that reached 11 feet in Shell Beach, La.,...
Potential methane reservoirs beneath Antarctica
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 29th, 2012
ScienceDaily: The Antarctic Ice Sheet could be an overlooked but important source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, according to research published August 29 in Nature and conducted by an international team led by Professor Jemma Wadham from the University of Bristol's School of Geographical Sciences.
The new study demonstrates that old organic matter in sedimentary basins located beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet may have been converted to methane by micro-organisms living under oxygen-deprived conditions....
Thomas Ball’s best photograph: Canada’s oil sands in Alberta
Posted by Guardian: Sarah Phillips on August 29th, 2012
Guardian: In August 2007 I travelled to northern Alberta in Canada, to photograph the mining of oil sands. The owner of this mine, Syncrude, is the largest and oldest of the oil sands companies, producing more than 350,000 barrels a day. Oil sands release three times more greenhouse gases than conventional oil sources, and the extraction process has turned vast swaths of boreal forest into a desert-like landscape, pockmarked by toxic lakes. I wanted to show how desperate things have become that we are using...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Thomas Ball’s best photograph: Canada’s oil sands in AlbertaVast methane reservoir could be beneath Antarctic ice
Posted by Independent: John Von Radowitz on August 29th, 2012
Independent: A vast reservoir of the potent greenhouse gas methane may be locked beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, a study suggests.
Scientists say the gas could be released into the atmosphere if enough of the ice melts away, adding to global warming.
Research indicates that ancient deposits of organic matter may have been converted to methane by microbes living in low-oxygen conditions.
The organic material dates back to a period 35 million years ago when the Antarctic was much warmer than it is today...
Landslide deaths ‘four times higher than thought’
Posted by SciDev.Net: Helen Mendes on August 29th, 2012
SciDev.Net: A detailed global database has revealed that the number of landslide-related deaths worldwide has been greatly underestimated by previous surveys. The database was compiled by David Petley, a professor of geography at Durham University's International Landslide Centre, in the United Kingdom. Writing in the journal Geology, Petley reports that a total of 2,620 fatal landslides were recorded worldwide in the period 2004 to 2010. These landslides caused 32,322 deaths -- a number over four times higher...
As Temperatures Rise in Sri Lanka, Drought Wreaks Havoc
Posted by Inter Press Service: Amantha Perera on August 29th, 2012
Inter Press Service: - It is a time of extreme heat and anxiety in Sri Lanka. Even the rains last week felt like a sudden burst of cold water on the smouldering asbestos sheets on most Sri Lankan household roofs, creating a blast of cold air before the heat returns once the rains end.
In some regions, like the north-central Pollonaruwa District, temperatures have been hitting highs in the region of 35 Celsius at uncomfortably regular intervals between July and mid-August.
"Temperatures have been rising for some...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As Temperatures Rise in Sri Lanka, Drought Wreaks HavocScientists Suggest Cloud Brightening To Halt Hurricanes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 29th, 2012
Climate Central: As Tropical Storm Isaac batters southeastern Louisiana and nearby coastal areas with surging seas, howling winds, and torrential rainfall, it's nearly impossible to imagine that humans could have done anything to stop such powerful force of nature.
Nearly impossible, but not quite.
A team of atmospheric scientists, writing in the journal Atmospheric Science Letters, has imagined precisely that. They suggest that brightening the clouds that float above hurricane-forming regions could effectively...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Scientists Suggest Cloud Brightening To Halt Hurricanes