Exotic Henslow crabs invading North Sea

(PhysOrg.com) — Climate change has led to masses of bizarre swimming crabs to invade the North Sea – hundreds of miles from their usual home, new research has revealed. The exotic Henslow swimming crabs have moved from the warm seas off Portugal to the increasingly comfortable waters off Britain’s east coast. Experts made the discovery […]

Graph of the Day: Ocean Heat Content, 1955–2008

This figure shows changes in ocean heat content between 1955 and 2008. Ocean heat content is measured in joules, a unit of energy, and compared against the long-term average, which is set at zero. • In three different data interpretations, the long-term trend shows that ocean heat content has increased substantially since 1955. • Although […]

Extreme weather events will increase for several decades, even if carbon emissions are curbed

By Jessica Shankleman, BusinessGreen17 Jun 2010 British businesses need to invest in adaptation measures to cope with flooding and drought in the coming decades even if substantial reductions in greenhouses gas emissions are achieved. That is the stark warning from the insurance industry today after a new report from the Met Office warned that global […]

Peruvians paint a mountain white, hoping to restore a glacier

By Dan CollynsBBC News, Ayacucho Slowly but surely an extinct glacier in a remote corner of the Peruvian Andes is being returned to its former colour, not by falling snow or regenerated ice sheets, but by whitewash. It is the first experimental step in an innovative plan to recuperate Peru’s disappearing Andean glaciers. But there […]

Kuwait heat wave: A humid 126 degrees

The Associated Press CAIRO — Temperatures in Kuwait have dropped slightly from the record 126 degrees Fahrenheit earlier this week – a record surge of heat that had pushed the tiny OPEC nation’s power grid to the brink. Kuwait’s meteorological agency said the temperature in the shade in Kuwait City on Thursday was hovering around […]

Graph of the Day: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration, 10,000 BC – 2009 AD

Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and certain manufactured greenhouse gases have all risen substantially in recent years. • Before the industrial era began around 1780, carbon dioxide concentrations measured approximately 270–290 ppm. Concentrations have risen steadily since then, reaching 387 ppm in 2009—a 38 percent increase. Almost all of this increase […]

Climate changes in the Atlantic can affect drought in distant regions

(University of Haifa) Cyclical changes in atmospheric pressure and sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic Ocean affect drought in the Sahel region on the southern Sahara rim. This has been revealed in an international study carried out by researchers from the University of Haifa, the French National Meteorological Service, Columbia University and the University […]

Drought edict turns farmers against Thai government

By BEN DOHERTYJune 12, 2010 Farmers in Thailand’s drought-stricken north have been told by the government they cannot plant any more rice, further fuelling anti-Bangkok sentiment in the Red Shirt-loyal region. Thailand is the world’s largest rice exporter, shipping more than 9 million tonnes offshore each year, but the worst drought in nearly 20 years […]

Vital river is withering, and Iraq has no answer — ‘This used to be paradise’

By STEVEN LEE MYERSPublished: June 12, 2010 SIBA, Iraq — The Shatt al Arab, the river that flows from the biblical site of the Garden of Eden to the Persian Gulf, has turned into an environmental and economic disaster that Iraq’s newly democratic government is almost powerless to fix. Withered by decades of dictatorial mismanagement […]

Dmitry Orlov: Checkmate

By Dmitry OrlovTuesday, June 15, 2010 In all of the descriptions of perilous situations that I have studied, arising during adventures on the high seas or in the high mountains, or during armed conflict, a single mistake rarely proves fatal. More often than not, death comes as a result of a sequence of bad choices […]

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