3 April 2016 (ABC News) – The Queensland Government has approved mining leases for the $21.7 billion Carmichael coal mine and rail project in the Galilee Basin. State Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham on Sunday approved the three individual mining leases about 160 kilometres north-west of Clermont for Indian company Adani. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said […]
By Daniel Cressey13 April 2016 (Nature) – Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is undergoing the most severe bleaching event in its history, as corals along the reef expel the symbiotic algae that provide them both with their rich colours and food. Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James […]
By Michelle Innis 9 April 2016 SYDNEY, Australia (The New York Times) – Kim Cobb, a marine scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, expected the coral to be damaged when she plunged into the deep blue waters off Kiritimati Island, a remote atoll near the center of the Pacific Ocean. Still, she was stunned […]
By Seth Borenstein6 April 2016 (ABC News) – The coral on the sea floor around the Pacific island of Kiritimati looked like a boneyard in November — stark, white and lifeless. But there was still some hope. This month, color returned with fuzzy reds and browns, but that’s not good news. Algae has overtaken the […]
By Tim Stelloh 4 April 2016 (Associated Press) – A federal judge in New Orleans granted final approval Monday to an estimated $20 billion settlement, resolving years of litigation over the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The settlement, first announced in July, includes $5.5 billion in civil Clean Water Act penalties […]
By Kipp Robertson3 April 2016 (MyNorthwest.com) – That oceanic “blob” that has been at least partially to blame for Washington’s warmer weather is real, and recent research shows it could return more frequently. A paper co-authored by Hillary Scannell, a University of Washington oceanographer and doctoral student, notes that the “blobs” are not as rare […]
By Charlotte Eve Davies28 March 2016 (The Conversation) – Global climate change is altering the world’s oceans in many ways. Some impacts have received wide coverage, such as shrinking Arctic sea ice, rising sea levels, and ocean warming. However, as the oceans warm, marine scientists are observing other forms of damage. My research focuses […]
By Peter McCutcheon28 March 2016 (ABC News) – An aerial survey of the northern Great Barrier Reef has shown that 95 per cent of the reefs are now severely bleached — far worse than previously thought. Professor Terry Hughes, a coral reef expert based at James Cook University in Townsville who led the survey team, […]
By Tara Martin and James Watson 11 February 2016 (The Conversation) – When we think about adapting humanity to the challenges of climate change, it’s tempting to reach for technological solutions. We talk about seeding our oceans and clouds with compounds designed to trigger rain or increasing carbon uptake. We talk about building grand structures […]
CORVALLIS, Oregon, 11 February 2016 (OSU) – A study at Oregon State University has concluded that significant outbreaks of viruses may be associated with coral bleaching events, especially as a result of multiple environmental stresses. One such event was documented even as it happened in a three-day period. It showed how an explosion of three […]
