Pricing Nature. At both poles, ice melt is speeding up. U.
LEEDS (UK) / CALTECH (US) — Ice sheet melting has increased over time and, altogether, Greenland and Antarctica are now losing more than three times as much ice as they were in the 1990s. “The rate of ice loss from Greenland has increased almost five-fold since the mid-1990s,” says Erik Ivans of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). “In contrast, while the regional changes in Antarctic ice over time are sometimes quite striking, the overall balance has remained fairly constant—at least within the certainty of the satellite measurements we have to hand,” says Ivans, who led the project with Professor Andrew Shepherd of the University of Leeds.
Today in Science, the researchers show that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has contributed 11.1 millimeters to global sea levels since 1992. This amounts to one fifth of all sea level rise over the survey period. Arctic summer wind shift could affect sea ice loss and U.S./European weather, says NOAA-led study. October 10, 2012 Image from the North Pole webcam shows (July 27, 2010) ponds created by the summer sea ice melt.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA) Changes in summer Arctic wind patterns contribute not only to an unprecedented loss of Arctic sea ice, but could also bring about shifts in North American and European weather, according to a new NOAA-led study published today in Geophysical Research Letters. A research team led by James Overland, Ph.D., of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Wash., examined the wind patterns in the subarctic in the early summer between 2007 and 2012 as compared to the average for 1981 to 2010. Science under pressure as pesticide makers face MPs over bee threat. Fifty years ago, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a stunning revelation of the death of swaths of birds and insects that had been poisoned by pesticides in farmers' fields.
Closing the emissions gap with peatlands on Environmental Expert. Doha, Qatar -- Wetlands International urges action to mitigate CO2 emissions from peatlands, as thousands of delegates flock to the Middle East to negotiate global policies on climate change.
Peatland restoration and conservation action, stimulated by UNFCCC incentives, could significantly contribute to closing the so-called “emissions gap”. The annual conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) takes place against a backdrop of mounting evidence that time is running out to avert dangerous climate change. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has recently highlighted1 the large gap between current greenhouse gas emissions levels and reduction commitments, and the emissions reductions needed to effectively limit global warming to less than 2°C.
To Salvage One Endangered Fish Species, Scientists Consider Breeding It with Another. The Ash Meadows pupfish, which may soon form a hybrid species with its cousin, the Devils Hole pupfish.
The Devils Hole pupfish is an endangered species whose only natural habitat is Devils Hole, a hot spring at the bottom of a hole 500-feet deep which leads to limestone caverns. Northern White Rhino Breeding Plan to Begin with 'Hybrids' All hope for saving the Northern white rhinos from extinction is resting squarely on the shoulders of the ‘Fab Four’ – Sudan, Suni, Najin, and Fatu.
Now that the Northern white rhinos have settled into their new home at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy, experts hope they are in the mood for love – with Southern white rhinos. The initial plans are to produce “hybrid” calves from breeding the Northern white rhinos with the Southern white rhinos. Once sufficient numbers are reached, cross-breeding the hybrid rhinos back with the Northern white rhinos will take place.
More than 3,000 natural gas leaks in Boston. BOSTON U. / DUKE (US) — Scientists have found 3,356 natural gas leaks—six of which with concentrations high enough to cause an explosion—under Boston’s streets.
The city’s aging natural-gas pipeline system is to blame, according to a new study by researchers at Boston and Duke Universities. Their findings appear this week in the journal Environmental Pollution. The new study comes in the wake of devastating fires fueled by natural gas during Hurricane Sandy. Potential damage to gas pipeline pressure regulators, caused by flooding in Hurricane Sandy, has raised ongoing safety concerns in New York and New Jersey. “While our study was not intended to assess explosion risks, we came across six locations in Boston where gas concentrations exceeded the threshold above which explosions can occur,” says Nathan Phillips, associate professor in Boston University’s Department of Earth and Environment and co-author of the study. Source: Boston University. CC bad for blue-greens. Risk Assessment for GM in aquatic environments. Biodiversity loss as bad as CC.
As planet heats up, fertile soil isn’t guaranteed. New study to examine ecological tipping points in hopes of preventing them. Predation by otters keeps urchin populations in check, allowing kelp - a favorite food of urchins - to flourish.
But what if otters were harvested to near extinction for their fur? The resulting overabundance of urchins would decimate the kelp forest, leaving little food or shelter for fish and invertebrates. Scientists pioneer method to predict environmental collapse. Caledonian pinewoods threatened by spread of tree disease. Reduced Snowpacks Allowing Trees to Invade U.S. Mountain Meadows.
05 Nov 2012: Reduced Snowpacks Allowing Trees to Invade U.S.
Mountain Meadows. 20-fold increase in tree pests and pathogens. Wallasea Island nature reserve project construction begins. 17 September 2012Last updated at 00:47 ET Rebecca Morelle visited Wallasea Island to see the construction work under way Construction work has begun on Europe's largest man-made nature reserve, located in Essex.
Talking beluga whale named Noc is revealed. A Beluga whale named Noc learned to warble in a human voice that was so convincing it fooled a diver into thinking someone was shouting at him to get out of the water, US researchers have revealed. Handlers at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego heard mumbling in 1984 coming from a tank containing whales and dolphins that sounded like two people chatting far away. Norway to double carbon tax on oil industry. Norway is to double carbon tax on its North Sea oil industry and set up a £1bn fund to help combat the damaging impacts of climate change in the developing world.
In one of the most radical climate programmes yet by an oil-producing nation, the Norwegian government has proposed increasing its carbon tax on offshore oil companies by £21 to £45 (Nkr410) per tonne of CO2 and a £5.50 (Nkr50) per tonne CO2 tax on its fishing industry. Norway will also plough an extra £1bn (Nkr10bn) into its funds for climate change mitigation, renewable energy, food security in developing countries and conversion to low-carbon energy sources, Environmental Finance reported. It will step up spending on new projects to combat deforestation in developing countries to £44m, taking up its spending overall on forestry programmes to £327m. Previous forestry projects have involved Brazil, Indonesia and Ethiopia. Neither the UK or Scottish government has supported a carbon tax on the oil and gas industry.