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Archive for July, 2015
Too few specialists to track loss of Himalayan glaciers
Posted by Climate News Network: Nivedita Khandekar on July 13th, 2015
Climate News Network: Studying ice loss in the vast, inhospitable region of the Himalayas can be a very tricky business as most glaciers are found above 12,000 feet. While much of the data is derived from satellite surveys, reliable field data is also vital - but skill shortages mean that only four of the approximately 9,500 glaciers spread across the Indian section of the Himalayas are being studied in detail. Gathering field data involves a combination of skills that include high-altitude mountaineering. Weather restricts...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Too few specialists to track loss of Himalayan glaciersStudy: Most California Fracking Waste Left Unlined Pits
Posted by San Francisco Chronicle: David R. Baker on July 13th, 2015
San Francisco Chronicle: More than half of the wastewater from fracked oil wells in California is disposed of in open, unlined pits and could contaminate groundwater, according to a state-mandated study of hydraulic fracturing issued Thursday.
The California Council on Science and Technology study presents a cautious assessment of fracking in the state. And it’s not likely to defuse the political fight over fracking, with both the oil industry and its opponents on Thursday claiming vindication in its findings.
The...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Study: Most California Fracking Waste Left Unlined PitsCalif. Regulators Have Limited Power to Punish Farmers in Drought, Court Rules
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2015
Associated Press: A judge ruled Friday that California regulators violated some farmers’ rights by telling them to stop diverting from rivers and streams, but the state said it can still punish those who illegally take water during the drought. The temporary restraining order by Judge Shelleyanne Chang of Sacramento Superior Court blocked the state from punishing farmers who ignored a state notice issued earlier this year to stop diverting water. The ruling applies to dozens of farmers in the Central Valley and the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Calif. Regulators Have Limited Power to Punish Farmers in Drought, Court RulesResilience: A New Conservation Strategy for a Warming World
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Jim Robbins on July 13th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: The San Francisco Bay was once one of the richest estuaries in North America. Almost completely enclosed and protected from the open ocean, and with more than 200 freshwater creeks feeding into it, it was a fertile refuge for young salmon, halibut, sturgeon, anchovy, and smelt. It was lined with some 200,000 acres of tidal marsh, and the connected Sacramento Delta doubled that, creating a region so rich and productive it was known as the Everglades of the West. By the middle of the 20th century,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Resilience: A New Conservation Strategy for a Warming WorldFarming is driving force drying soil in Northern China
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2015
ScienceDaily: An important agricultural region in China is drying out, and increased farming may be more to blame than rising temperatures and less rain, according to a study spanning 30 years of data. A research team led by Purdue University and China Agricultural University analyzed soil moisture during the growing season in Northern China and found that it has decreased by 6 percent since 1983. The optimal soil-moisture level for farmland is typically 40 percent to 85 percent of the water holding capacity,...
Climate change muddies algae solutions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2015
Toledo Blade: In 2013, leading Great Lakes scientists convinced a state task force that western Lake Erie’s annual onslaught of toxic algae could be reversed — in only a year or two — if the vast Maumee River watershed across northwest Ohio and into Michigan and Indiana could achieve an ambitious 40 percent reduction in phosphorus loading.
Most of that load comes from agriculture, in the form of animal manure and commercial fertilizer that escapes fields after heavy rains.
Now, just as that lofty goal is...
Global Sea Levels Could Soon Rise 20′ as Climate Warms
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on July 12th, 2015
Environment News Service: Global sea levels have risen at least six meters, or about 20 feet, above present levels many times over the past three million years, finds a new review analyzing three decades of research on melting polar ice sheets.
What worries scientists the most is the fact that amount of melting was caused by an increase of only one to two degrees Celsius in global mean temperatures, the increase that Earth is experiencing now.
When past temperatures were similar to or slightly higher than the present...
Wildfires in Washington state threaten homes, prompt evacuations
Posted by Reuters: Kevin Murphy on July 12th, 2015
Reuters: Two lightning-sparked wildfires roared largely unchecked for a third day on Sunday in north-central Washington state, threatening more than two dozen homes and prompting the evacuation of about 300 dwellings, officials said. The flames have charred nearly 20,000 acres (80 square km) since erupting on Friday in the grass- and brush-covered hills of Douglas County, authorities said. One of the two fires grew out of four separate blazes that later merged into one. No injuries have been reported, but...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wildfires in Washington state threaten homes, prompt evacuationsANOTHER Mass Extinction?! Compelling Proof of Past Mass Die-off
Posted by Nature World News: Brian Stallard on July 12th, 2015
Nature World News: As far as scientists know, there have been a grand total of five mass extinctions over the last 500-million years - world-changing events during which the great majority of Earth's life was eliminated to make way for new organisms and evolutionary paths. However, for several decades, some experts have suspected that a 6th mass extinction existed among these "Big Five." Now researchers are claiming to have found extremely compelling proof of its existence. It has long been known that 252 million...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ANOTHER Mass Extinction?! Compelling Proof of Past Mass Die-offTropical fish in WA Kimberley facing extinction from climate change, researchers say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 11th, 2015
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Entire species of tropical fish could be wiped out by climate change, according to a research team that has spent months carrying out a study in Western Australia's north.
The team from the University of Melbourne is looking at how sensitive freshwater species are to small increases in water temperatures.
PhD student Matthew Le Feuvre said the results were cause for concern.
"We're finding a lot of species are living potentially very close to their maximum thermal limit, so these species...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tropical fish in WA Kimberley facing extinction from climate change, researchers say