Blogging the End of the World™
The 18,000-year-old glacier in Bolivia that provided the world with its highest ski run has just finished completely drying up, thanks to our old pal climate change. And of course, it’s taken the run with it. Now, thrill-seeking skiers will no longer be able to bomb down the slopes at 17,785 ft–but far worse, […]
By TANALEE SMITH, Associated Press Writer ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Sam the koala, who gained worldwide fame and sympathy when she was rescued during Australia’s devastating wildfires this year, was euthanized Thursday after a veterinarian found the cysts that threatened her life were inoperable. The 4-year-old koala had developed the cysts associated with urogenital chlamydiosis, […]
Without drastic cuts in emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of the Arctic’s most powerful currents and a key disperser of pollutants, is likely to disappear because of global warming by Kate Ravilious WITHIN 60 years the Arctic Ocean could be a stagnant, polluted soup. Without drastic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of […]
The eastern seaboard’s longest continuous shark-targeted survey (UNC), conducted annually since 1972 off North Carolina, demonstrates sufficiently large declines in great sharks to imply their likely functional elimination. Declines in seven species range from 87% for sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus); 93% for blacktip sharks (C. limbatus); up to 97% for tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier); 98% […]
ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2009) — As global warming whips up more powerful and frequent hurricanes and storms, the world’s coral reefs face increased disruption to their ability to breed and recover from damage. That’s one of the findings from a new scientific study of the fate of corals in the wake of large climate-driven bleaching […]
ScienceDaily (Aug. 5, 2009) — Rhino poaching worldwide is poised to hit a 15-year-high driven by Asian demand for horns, according to new research. Poachers in Africa and Asia are killing an ever increasing number of rhinos—an estimated two to three a week in some areas—to meet a growing demand for horns believed in some […]
Though Brazil has pledged to slow Amazon deforestation, and several groups are making headlines trying to tackle the leading cause of that deforestation, cattle ranching, AFP reports new data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research that shows the area of trees chopped down in June was four times that of May: In June some […]
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer ISLAMORADA, Fla. – Boat captain Tad Burke looks out over Florida Bay and sees an ecosystem that’s dying as politicians, land owners and environmentalists bicker. He’s been plying these waters for nearly 25 years, and has seen the declines in shrimp and lobster that use the bay as a […]
Cumulative (a) specific and (b) total mass balances of glaciers and ice caps, calculated for large regions [Dyurgerov and Meier, 2005]. Specific mass balances signalize the strength of the glacier response to climatic change in each region. Total mass balances indicate each region’s contribution to sea level. G. Kaser, J. G. Cogley, M. B. Dyurgerov, […]
Warming water and melting land ice have raised global mean sea level 4.5 centimeters (1.7 inches) from 1993 to 2008. But the rise is by no means uniform. This image, created with sea surface height data from the Topex/Poseidon and Jason-1 satellites, shows exactly where sea level has changed during this time and how quickly […]
