By Tony Paterson in BerlinFriday, 23 July 2010 Record summer temperatures, farm fertilisers and a lack of wind have a gigantic carpet of evil-smelling weed covering large areas of the Baltic and threatening both marine life and seaside tourism, scientists warn. The 377,000 sq km of blue-green algae, covering an area the size of […]
The size and number of marine dead zones—areas where the deep water is so low in dissolved oxygen that sea creatures can’t survive—have grown explosively in the past half-century. Red circles on this map show the location and size of many of our planet’s dead zones. Black dots show where dead zones have been observed, […]
By DEBORAH ANDERSON12 Jul 2010 The Firth of Clyde has been so heavily fished it risks being emptied of almost all sea life, according to a new report. Researchers at the University of York have set alarm bells ringing with a warning that the Clyde has become “an ecosystem in meltdown.” Once known for its […]
By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy NewspapersPosted on Sunday, July 4, 2010 WASHINGTON — A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a “fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation” not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major […]
Low oxygen levels found in Gulf waters By Mike Brantley, Press-Register, video and narration by Ben Raines IN THE GULF OF MEXICO — The Press Register sampled oxygen levels on two natural gas platforms off Alabama and then dove on them to survey the fish and other creatures around the structures. While overall fish populations […]
ScienceDaily (June 28, 2010) — University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” is expected to be larger than average, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a $659 million fishery. The 2010 forecast, released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric […]
Time series of (top) atmospheric CO2 and surface ocean pCO2 and (bottom) surface ocean pH at the atmospheric Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) on the island of Hawai‘i and Station ALOHA in the subtropical North Pacific north of Hawai‘i, 1988–2008. Doney, 2010, adapted from Dore et al, 2009. Ocean acidification is documented clearly from ocean time-series […]
Beijing (AFP) June 22, 2010 – A massive floating expanse of green algae is heading towards China’s east coast, potentially threatening wildlife and the region’s tourist industry, state media reported on Tuesday. The algae bloom covered 200 square kilometres (80 square miles) and was about 13 kilometres (eight miles) offshore and floating towards the coastal […]
Dozens of sharks follow fish fleeing oil spill to Alabama shoreline Thursday, June 24, 2010, 2:30 PM It has easily been the most-watched video ever put on al.com by the Press-Register, with 125,722 starts as of early Thursday afternoon. Video footage shot on June 18 by Ben Raines of the Press-Register and uploaded the following […]
By Julie Steenhuysen, editing by Maggie FoxCHICAGOTue Jun 22, 2010 6:58pm EDT Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are “astonishingly high.” Kessler’s crew took measurements of both surface and deep water […]
