Wildlife still exposed to Exxon Valdez oil 20 years after disaster

Scientists in Alaska have discovered that lingering oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill is still being ingested by some wildlife more than 20 years after the disaster. The research, published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, uses biomarkers to reveal long-term exposure to oil in harlequin ducks and demonstrates how consequences of oil spills are […]

Massive Arctic ice cap is shrinking — Rate accelerating since 1985

Warmer summers are accelerating the rate at which the Devon Island ice cap is losing mass, according to new research. The study’s authors say that although the extent and depth of the cap have been declining since measurements began in 1961, the trend has increased since 1985. A paper published in the March edition of […]

Graph of the Day: Arctic Sea Ice Change, 1981-2010

These images show the change in ice age from fall 2009 to spring 2010. The negative Arctic Oscillation this winter slowed the export of older ice out of the Arctic. As a result, the percentage of ice older than two years was greater at the end of March 2010 than over the past few years. […]

Graph of the Day: Monthly Arctic Sea Ice Extent, March 1979 – 2010

The average ice extent for March 2010 was 670,000 square kilometers (260,000 square miles) higher than the record low for March, observed in 2006. The linear rate of decline for March over the 1978 to 2010 period is 2.6% per decade. Sea ice reached its maximum extent for the year on March 31, the latest […]

Rapidly warming Arctic causing bizarre bird deaths

By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor posted: 07 April 2010 08:10 am ET Like scenes out of Gary Larson’s “Far Side” comic strip, scientists have discovered a tragicomedy playing out in deaths of Arctic seabirds. Some crash into each other in heavy fog. Others perish when heavy winds slam them into cliffs. Still others simply […]

Arctic thaw frees overlooked greenhouse gas

Editing by Philippa Fletcher OSLO (Reuters) – Thawing permafrost can release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, a contributor to climate change that has been largely overlooked in the Arctic, a study showed on Sunday. The report in the journal Nature Geoscience indicated that emissions of the gas surged under certain conditions from melting […]

East Siberian Arctic Shelf releases 8 teragrams of methane per year

(AFP) Recently a team from Russia, the US, and Sweden found that the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) is releasing around 8 teragrams of methane from subsea sediments each year. Now team member Natalia Shakhova and colleague Dmitry Nicolsky have come up with a new model for the Dmitry Laptev Strait region of the shelf […]

Ocean acidification threatens Alaska fisheries

KUCB News (2010-03-26) UNALASKA, AK (kucb) – The cold waters and currents of the North Pacific Ocean make the ecosystems around the Aleutians more susceptible to ocean acidification. Brad Warren with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership spoke about the issue at the Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference Thursday. “It’s a cross cutting threat to food webs […]

Worst ice conditions ever recorded kill Canada seals before hunters can

CHARLOTTETOWN, Prince Edward Island, Canada, March 26, 2010 (ENS) – Thousands of harp seal pups are presumed dead in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence and starving pups are being found abandoned on the beaches of Prince Edward Island, victims of the worst ice conditions ever recorded in the region. Environment Canada said March 16 that […]

A year’s worth of Desdemona traffic

As you know, Desdemona loves data, of all sorts, and this makes Google Analytics especially fun to use. So here are all the visits to Desdemona Despair for the last year. Here are some statistics to go with that graph. Looks like the trend is generally upward, which pleases Desdemona.   Here are the top ten […]

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