Study finds massive flux of gaseous hydrocarbons, in addition to liquid oil, at BP well blowout in Gulf

Paper has implications for oxygen depletion, provides photographic evidence of plumes By Sam Fahmy, sfahmy@uga.eduFeb 13, 2011, 13:04 Athens, Ga. – A new University of Georgia study that is the first to examine comprehensively the magnitude of hydrocarbon gases released during the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil discharge has found that up to 500,000 […]

Graph of the Day: Capture Fisheries Production in the Atlantic Ocean, 1970-2008

Note: NEI = not elsewhere included. Global production of marine capture fisheries reached a peak of 86.3 million tonnes in 1996 and then declined slightly to 79.5 million tonnes in 2008, with great interyear fluctuations. In 2008, the Northwest Pacific had the highest production of 20.1 million tonnes (25 percent of the global marine catch), […]

Graph of the Day: Total Additional Radioactivity After the Chernobyl Release for Six Radionuclides

Total additional radioactivity (in petabequerels) in the global environment after the Chernobyl catastrophe: (1) Am-241, (2) Pu (239 + 240), (3) Pu-241, (4) Sr-90, (5) Cs-137, (6) I-131. Mulev, 2008 As a result of the catastrophe, 40% of Europe was contaminated with dangerous radioactivity. Asia and North America were also exposed to significant amounts of […]

Freshwater scarcity crisis looms in Pakistan

VIENNA, Feb 10 (IPS) , 2011 (IPS) – Pakistan is still reeling from flooding that caused one of the world’s costliest natural disasters in 2010, with millions of people lacking shelter, infrastructure in ruins and donations falling short of appeals. But worse may come. The United Nations’ disaster coordination agency announced on Jan. 24 that […]

Graph of the Day: Indicators of a Warming World

By John Cook30 December 2010 I’ve added another pic to the high-rez Climate Graphics. This one is a graphic  summary of just some of the evidence for global warming. When someone tells you global warming isn’t happening, this serves as a visual reminder that you need to consider all the evidence to understand what’s happening […]

Scientists find reduced brain size in Chernobyl birds

By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News 5 February 2011 Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5% smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background radiation. The finding comes from a study of 550 birds belonging to 48 different species living in the region, published in the journal PLoS One. […]

Graph of the Day: Global Trends in World Marine Stocks, 1974-2008

The proportion of stocks estimated to be underexploited or moderately exploited declined from 40 percent in the mid-1970s to 15 percent in 2008. In contrast, the proportion of overexploited, depleted or recovering stocks increased from 10 percent in 1974 to 32 percent in 2008. The proportion of fully exploited stocks has remained relatively stable at […]

World food prices reach new historic peak – 3.4 percent surge in January 2011

3 February 2011, Rome – World food prices surged to a new historic peak in January, for the seventh consecutive month, according to the updated FAO Food Price Index, a commodity basket that regularly tracks monthly changes in global food prices. The Index averaged 231 points in January and was up 3.4 percent from December […]

Graph of the Day: The World in Carbon Dioxide Emissions

By Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk Monday 31 January 2011 10.40 GMT  The deepest recession since the 1930s has failed to reverse rising global carbon emissions, as plummeting industrial output in the west was offset by the continuing rapid expansion of China and a handful of other emerging economies, new statistics for 2009 show. While […]

Record wave height of 9.5 meters recorded off Queensland coast

10.16pm There’s been record wave height – 9.5m – this afternoon off Townsville. “This is the highest that has ever been recorded since measurements began in 1975,” Premier Anna Bligh said. Similarly in Cardwell we are planning for a storm surge of over 7m over the high tide mark, Lucinda Beach 4m and at Cairns […]

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