Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Graph of the Day: Groundwater Storage Loss in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Basins, October 2003 – March 2009

In the 66-month period analyzed, the water stored in the combined Sacramento and San Joaquin Basin decreased by more than 31 cubic kilometers, or nearly the volume of Lake Mead. Nearly two-thirds of this came from changes in groundwater storage, primarily from the Central Valley. NASA Data Reveal Major Groundwater Loss in California’s Heartland Technorati […]

Ethiopia dam to destroy crucial Kenya lake

By Staff WritersNairobi (AFP) Jan 20, 2010 The livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Kenyans around the world’s largest desert lake will be wrecked by an Ethiopian dam on the lake’s main tributary, conservationists said Wednesday. “The Ethiopian dam project is going to bring nothing but tragedy and harm to Kenya,” warned renowned archeologist and […]

Pacific's rising acid levels threatening marine life

A sweeping 15-year study of pH levels in the Pacific Ocean confirmed that upper reaches of the sea are becoming increasingly more acidic. By Sandi Doughton, Seattle Times science reporter The most extensive survey of pH levels in the Pacific Ocean confirms what spot measurements have suggested: From Hawaii to Alaska, the upper reaches of […]

Video: Melting glaciers on the roof of the world

On Thinner Ice Technorati Tags: glacier,deglaciation,Himalayas,Asia,global warming,climate change

Graph of the Day: NW India Groundwater Depletion, 2002-2008

GRACE measures groundwater level variations, including groundwater depletion in northwest India. Since 2002, groundwater has been lost from that region at a rate of 17.7 km3 per year, largely due to pumping for irrigation. GRACE Can Monitor Human-induced Groundwater Depletion Technorati Tags: freshwater depletion,drought,agriculture,India,GRACE

Time runs out for the Thames eel

Once plentiful eel disappears from London’s river By Paul Eccleston, Jan 21st 2010 The eel is fast disappearing from London’s River Thames and may soon be gone completely. New research by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) shows that numbers have crashed by 97 per cent in the past five years. In 2005 1500 eels […]

Mountain plants unable to withstand onslaught from invasive species

ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2010) — An international research team has studied the distribution of plant species in mountainous environments. The study shows that mountain plant communities are not particularly resistant to invasion by exotic species. The scientists also warn that these may become more aggressive as global warming gets a grip. In 2005, scientists from […]

Winters less icy by century's end: Finland Meteorological Institute

Freezing weather could be a thing of the past in parts of Finland by the end of the century as climate change leads to rising temperatures, Finland’s Meteorological Institute said Tuesday. “Due to climate change, cold winters will become increasingly rare,” the agency said in a statement, referring to data from a project it is […]

Most of UAE underwater with sea level rise

By Silvia Radan, 15 January 2010 ABU DHABI — Based on a report on ‘Climate Change – Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation in UAE’ published recently, the Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) has come up with recommendations of measures to be taken in order to deal with changes that could be brought about by climate […]

Killer funnel-web spiders invade Sydney

Several residents already bitten by the plague of poisonous arachnids By Kathy Marks in SydneyThursday, 21 January 2010 Forget sharks and crocodiles: the real menace at this time of year, at least for surburban Sydneysiders, is a backyard spider whose bite can kill you in the space of two hours. Insect experts have warned that […]

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