ecosystem disruption – Page 9

Russia tree cover loss, 2001-2021. The rate of loss in in boreal forests reached unprecedented levels in 2021, increasing by 29 percent over 2020. An unprecedented fire season in Russia drove much of this increase. Russia experienced the worst fire season since record-keeping began in 2001, with more than 6.5 million hectares of tree cover loss in 2021. While fires are a natural part of boreal forest ecosystems, larger, more intense fires are worrying. Hotter, drier weather related to climate change has led to fire-prone conditions, drier peatlands and melted permafrost. Siberia’s vast peatland area — the largest in the world — stores massive amounts of carbon, which is released into the atmosphere when peat dries up. Melting permafrost also releases stored carbon and methane. These conditions may represent a new normal, impacting people living in Siberia and creating a feedback loop in which increasing fires and carbon emissions reinforce each other and lead to worsening conditions. Graphic: WRI

May 8, 2022

Vast forest losses in 2021 imperil global climate targets, report says – “We’re seeing fires burning more frequently, more intensively and more broadly than they ever would under normal conditions”

By Jake Spring 28 April 2022 SAO PAULO, April 28 (Reuters) – The world lost an area of forest the size of the U.S. state of Wyoming last year, as wildfires in Russia set all-time records and Brazilian deforestation of the Amazon remains high, a global forest monitoring project report said on Thursday. Global Forest Watch, which […]

Fires burn and smoke pours into the night sky at the scene of an explosion at an illegal crude oil bunkering site at Abaezi forest, in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state, Nigeria, 23 April 2022. More than 100 people lost their lives. Photo: REUTERS

April 24, 2022

“National disaster”: Blast at illegal Nigerian oil refinery kills more than 100 people – Nigerian President vows to clamp down on illegal refineries after “catastrophe”

YENAGAO, Nigeria, April 24 (Reuters) – Charred bodies were left scattered among burnt palms, cars and vans on Sunday after a weekend explosion which killed more than 100 people at an illegal oil refining depot on the border of Nigeria’s Rivers and Imo states. Flip flops, bags, and clothing belonging to those who died littered […]

Anti-solar supporters pose for a portrait at the Johnson County BOCC public hearing on the solar amendments recommended by the Planning Commission in Olathe, Kansas, U.S., 4 April 2022. Photo: Arin Yoon / REUTERS

April 9, 2022

U.S. solar expansion stalled by rural land-use protests – “It’s pretty obvious that, if there’s a climate urgency, we’re not behaving that way”

By Nichola Groom 7 April 2022 (Reuters) – The Solar Star project in California is among the largest solar energy facilities in the world, boasting 1.7 million panels spread over 3,000 acres north of Los Angeles. Its gargantuan scale points to an uncomfortable fact for the industry: a natural gas power plant 100 miles south […]

Antarctic sea ice extent for 25 February 2022, was 1.92 million square kilometers (741,000 square miles). The orange line shows the 1981 to 2010 average extent for that day. Graphic: National Snow and Ice Data Center

April 3, 2022

WMO: Antarctic heat, rain, and ice prompt concern – “This event is rewriting record books and our expectations about what is possible in Antarctica”

1 April 2022 (WMO) – Record high temperatures, rain and the collapse of an ice shelf in East Antarctica have prompted questions and concern about the possible role of climate change in the coldest and driest part of the world. Record high temperatures, rain and the collapse of an ice shelf in East Antarctica have […]

An octopus is pictured “stilt-walking” with a variety of collected trash. A new study crowdsourced hundreds of images, including this one, that observed octopuses using human garbage for a variety of tasks. Photo: Serge Abourjeily

April 3, 2022

Octopuses are using human garbage as shelter, camouflage and more, study finds – “It’s becoming so common that they’re using these items to protect themselves with instead of their natural shelters, such as seashells, which are becoming scarce in the ocean”

9 March 2022 (CBC Radio) – A new study suggests it’s becoming increasingly common for octopuses to use bottles, cans and other human trash to shelter themselves, camouflage their dens and even house their young. “We believe this is because of the high abundance of these artificial items — you know, the litter item — […]

This photo from 7 March 2022 shows coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef experienced its sixth massive bleaching event in 2022 as climate change has warmed the ocean, raising concerns over whether one of the world’s natural wonders is nearing a tipping point. Photo: Glenn Nicholls / AFP / Getty Images

March 27, 2022

Global warming deals another blow to the Great Barrier Reef – “This is a first mass bleaching event during a La Niña”

By Darryl Fears 26 March 2022 (The Washington Post) – Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its sixth massive bleaching event as climate change has warmed the ocean, raising concerns over whether one of the world’s natural wonders is nearing a tipping point. Reef managers confirmed Friday that aerial surveys detected catastrophic bleaching on 60 […]

$Changes in Amazon vegetation resilience since the 1990s and from 2003. (a) A map of the Kendall τ values of individual grid cells from 2003. (b) Histogram of the Kendall τ values for the Amazon rainforest, considering data from 2003 onwards. Of the grid cells, 76.2 percent have a positive Kendall τ value from 2003 onwards and 77.8 percent have this for the full time series. (c) Mean Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD) AR(1) time series (solid line) along with ±1 s.d. (dotted lines) created from grid cells that have BL fraction ≥80 percent in the Amazon basin and also contain no human land use (main text and Methods). The full AR(1) time series from 1991 (grey) has a Kendall τ value of 0.589 (P = 0.006) and from 2003 (black), a value of 0.913 (P$

March 20, 2022

The Amazon Rainforest is approaching a tipping point beyond which it would become savannah – “When it will be observable, it would likely be too late to stop it”

By Eric Shank 14 March 2022 (Salon) – A vast expanse of unique biological diversity hangs in the balance as the “lungs of the world” approach a tipping point from which there is no recovery. The Amazon Rainforest is losing its ability to regenerate, reported a peer-reviewed study, Monday, in Nature Climate Change. For 10% of all known species on […]

Aerial view of an area in the Amazon deforested for the expansion of livestock, in Lábrea, Amazonas state. The Amazon is still covered in smoke and torn by criminal and unrestrained destruction, according to overflights produced by the Amazon in Flames Alliance, organized by Amazon Watch, Greenpeace Brazil and the Brazilian Climate Observatory. The expedition took place between September 13th and 17th 2021, in the cities of Porto Velho (Rondônia state) and Lábrea (southern Amazonas state). Photo: Victor Moriyama / Amazônia em Chamas / Greenpeace

March 15, 2022

Brazil detects record Amazon deforestation in January and February 2022 – Forest destruction rate in 2021 was highest in ten years

By David Biller 11 March 2022 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Detected deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached a record high for the month of February following a similar record the prior month. Satellite alerts of deforestation in February corresponded to 199 square kilometers (77 square miles), the highest indicator for that month in seven […]

Fisherman Walter de la Cruz sits on the shore of the oil-stained Cavero Beach, unable to fish after a spill in the Ventanilla district of Callao, Peru, 21 January 2022. De la Cruz, 60, is one of more than 2,500 fishermen whose livelihoods have been cast into doubt as a result of a large crude-oil spill by the Spanish-owned Repsol oil refinery on 15 January 2022. Photo: Martin Mejia / AP Photo

March 14, 2022

Peru’s “worst ecological disaster” slams small-scale fishing – “I saw the fruits of my livelihood destroyed. It’s like if you have a store and someone comes and sets it on fire.”

By Franklin Briceño 13 March 2022 CIUDAD PACHACUTEC, Perú (AP) – Walter de la Cruz scrambled down a large sand dune in the fog to reach a rock overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where he has fished for three decades. He cast a hook into the waters off Peru’s coast several times, with no luck. One […]

Map showing the Spring First Leaf Index Anomaly in the United States in 2022. In parts of California and Arizona, this year's spring leaf out is the earliest in the 40-year record. Graphic: National Phenology Network

March 12, 2022

Spring 2022: In parts of California and Arizona, spring leaf out is earliest on record – In parts of Texas, spring bloom is latest on record

9 March 2022 (National Phenology Network) – Spring leaf out continues to progress across the country. Our spring leaf anomaly compares the arrival of spring leaf out this year to a long-term average of 1991-2020. After a slow start to spring across much of the Southeast, spring is progressing more rapidly, arriving a few days […]

Desdemona Despair

Category: ecosystem disruption