Environment news

• Arctic Sea Ice Is at Near Record Lows, NASA Says

  28-03-2016 23:33
  The ice covering the Arctic is at near record lows this year, and this icy deficit may impact weather around the world, NASA reports. Every March, the Arctic's sea ice reaches its maximum cover, both in area and thickness, before it recedes to its yearly minimum in September. Live Science spoke with NASA scientist Walt Meier yesterday (March 25) to learn more about the low sea-ice level and what it means for the rest of the planet.
  
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• Jets v the jet stream

  28-03-2016 22:30
  
  Flights from Britain to the US could take longer in future because of climate change. The jet stream is expected to become more powerful as the climate warms, and that means flights to America battling against fiercer headwinds.Flights from New York to London, on the other hand, will probably speed up as they ride on the faster jet stream, although this won’t balance the slower flights and a round trip will still be longer. That means more fuel used by the aircraft, more air pollution and
  
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• Arctic sea ice reaches new record low mark for wintertime

  28-03-2016 22:21
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal scientists say the winter maximum level of Arctic sea ice was the smallest they've seen, thanks to extraordinarily warm temperatures.
  
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• Arctic sea ice extent breaks record low for winter

  28-03-2016 22:13
  
  With the ice cover down to 14.52m sq km, scientists now believe the Arctic is locked onto a course of continually shrinking sea iceA record expanse of Arctic sea never froze over this winter and remained open water as a season of freakishly high temperatures produced deep – and likely irreversible – changes on the far north.Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre said on Monday that the sea ice cover attained an average maximum extent of 14.52m sq km (5.607m sq miles) on
  
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• Oil edge lower in thin holiday trade; banks warn of $30 levels

  28-03-2016 21:19
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures edged lower for a second straight session on Monday in thin trade as European markets observed the Easter holiday and as hedge funds and other big speculators were still hesitant to wager on a two-month long price rebound amid hefty crude inventories. Sentiment in Brent and U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures remained soft with investment banks, such as Barclays and Macquarie, warning that market fundamentals were weak enough to
  
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• Oil down in thin holiday trading; banks warn of $30 levels

  28-03-2016 19:12
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude futures steadied on Monday as European markets observed the Easter break but sentiment in oil was generally soft with data showing hedge funds and other big speculators slow in building long positions despite a two-month long price rebound. Brent and U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures traded at under $40 a barrel as investment banks such as Barclays and Macquarie warned that market fundamentals were weak enough that prices could possi
  
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• Sea level rise and its potential impact to Norfolk, Virginia studied by Sandia Labs

  28-03-2016 18:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  In Norfolk, Virginia, an East Coast city that’s home to the world’s largest naval station and important seaports, catastrophic flooding could damage more than homes and roads. A new study from Sandia National Laboratories assesses how much the city, its region and the nation would suffer in damages to national assets and lost economic activity if it does nothing to address rising sea levels.In partnership with the City of Norfolk’s Resilience Office and 100 Resilient Citie
  
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• A new Titanic? US and Canada prepare for worst as luxury Arctic cruise sets sail

  28-03-2016 17:32
  
  Coast guard officials are training for catastrophe as melting sea ice opens up Northwest Passage allowing liner to cruise with 1,700 from Alaska to New YorkOn 13 April, coast guard officials from the US and Canada will train for a cruise ship catastrophe: a mass rescue from a luxury liner on its maiden voyage through the remote and deathly cold waters between the Northwest Passage and the Bering Strait.The prospect of just such a disaster occurring amid the uncharted waters and capricious weathe
  
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• We’re stuffing ourselves with battery chicken. And it’s stuffing the souls of the workers, too

  28-03-2016 16:32
  
  The poultry industry is set to self-regulate, which obviously won’t work. We should just eat a bit less chicken – and worry more about the conditions in which it’s producedHorribly depressing news – the poultry industry is to set its own guidance. It already sends in its own inspectors, and it hasn’t done very well policing itself in the past. Even if you don’t give a toss about chickens, it hasn’t done us much good either – remember salmonella, an
  
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• Azerbaijan frees human rights advocate from jail

  28-03-2016 15:44
  Azeri human rights activist and lawyer Intigam Aliyev was freed from jail on Monday, his lawyer said. Azerbaijan pardoned 148 prisoners including journalists, rights activists and political opponents this month in an apparent move to deflect Western criticism of the ex-Soviet republic's human rights record. Analysts say President Ilham Aliyev has included some political prisoners in amnesties in recent years to avoid complaints over crackdowns on free speech in Azerbaijan, a major oil and natura
  
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• Fourteen years a bachelor – meet the loneliest soul in Britain | Patrick Barkham

  28-03-2016 15:06
  
  The greater mouse-eared bat in Sussex should have up to five females in a harem, but his species was declared extinct a quarter of a century ago. Who’d be him?He’s large, big-eared and must be the loneliest creature in the country. For 14 long years, a greater mouse-eared bat has spent each winter in hibernation in Sussex, the only known representative of a species officially declared extinct in Britain in 1990.What’s even sadder is that this small mammal is naturally polygamou
  
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• The past, present and future of African dust

  28-03-2016 14:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  So much dust is scattered across the planet by the winds of the Sahara that it alters the climate. However, the emission and transport of this dust, which can reach the poles, fluctuate considerably. Although many hypotheses have been put forward to explain this phenomenon, no unambiguous relationship between this dust and the climate had been established until now. According to research carried out by a French-US team of researchers from LATMOS(CNRS/UVSQ/UPMC), CNRM(CNRS/Météo-Fra
  
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• Stirling turns to Green Investment Bank for 16,000 LEDs

  28-03-2016 14:00
  
  Stirling Council looks set to reduce energy consumption in the city by 63% after securing a loan from the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), which will see LEDs retrofitted in 12,000 lamps and 4,000 lamposts.
  
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• Oil prices edge higher in thin holiday trading

  28-03-2016 13:18
  By Ahmad Ghaddar LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed slightly in thin Easter holiday trading on Monday, adding to gains in recent weeks as optimism holds that a production freeze among major producers may be implemented. Oil prices have risen about 50 percent from multi-year lows hit in January on glut worries.
  
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• Local authorities pick up £250m cost of winter floods

  28-03-2016 13:00
  
  Councils across the UK need more financial support from the Government to enable local authorities and their communities to recover from the winter flooding, according to a new report from the Local Government Association (LGA).
  
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• New survey finds a growing climate consensus among meteorologists | John Abraham

  28-03-2016 12:00
  
  96% of AMS members realize climate change is happening, and most understand humans are responsible
  There have been multiple scientific studies that all concur: scientists know that climate change is happening and it is largely caused by humans. I recently wrote about this here, where I reviewed the studies. It turns out that the more scientists know about climate change, the more they are convinced that humans are warming the planet. In fact, the consensus is extraordinarily strong. But it isn&r
  
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• Factbox - Oil producers to take part in Doha's April meeting

  28-03-2016 11:33
  Qatar has invited all OPEC members and major producers from outside the exporting group to attend talks on April 17 on a deal to freeze output at January levels to support the global oil market, Qatar's energy ministry said. The ministry had said that around 15 OPEC and non-OPEC producers, accounting for about 73 percent of global oil output, are supporting the initiative.
  
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• Japan opens radar station close to disputed isles, drawing angry China response

  28-03-2016 11:13
  The new Self Defence Force base on the island of Yonaguni is at the western extreme of a string of Japanese islands in the East China Sea, 150 km (90 miles) south of the disputed islands known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. China has raised concerns with its neighbours and in the West with its assertive claim to most of the South China Sea where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.
  
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• Hyundai races past records for hydrogen fuel range

  28-03-2016 11:00
  
  Hyundai has broken two world records in an attempt to showcase the capabilities of its hydrogen fuel cell, in the same week that fellow South Korean carmaker KIA announced one of its electric vehicles will travel 2,500 miles across England and Ireland in a single journey.
  
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• Liam the robot and Disney World powered by tomatoes: the best green innovations of the week

  28-03-2016 10:30
  
  After a week that saw the Energy and Climate Change Committee's (ECCC) embark on a new exploration into innovation in the energy sector, edie rounds up the latest low-carbon technologies and innovations that could accelerate the global green industrial revolution.
  
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• One of the last big solar farms launches under Renewables Obligation

  28-03-2016 10:00
  
  Developers of a new solar farm in Hampshire that reached completion this week have warned the site may be the last utility-scale solar park built in the UK for a long time, due to impending subsidy changes.
  
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• Indian Point nuclear plant reeks of troubled history but village is conflicted

  28-03-2016 10:00
  
  As New York’s governor and other critics wage an ongoing campaign to shut the facility down citing leaks and old age, nearby residents explain complicated taleOutside the Westchester Diner in Peekskill, New York, about 40 miles from New York’s Central Park, a reactor dome crests the trees behind an overpass like a giant’s bald head.It’s one of two at Indian Point Energy Center, at the bank of the Hudson River in neighboring Buchanan, among the oldest nuclear power plants
  
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• Indian Point nuclear plant reeks of troubled history

  28-03-2016 10:00
  
  As New York’s governor and other critics wage an ongoing campaign to shut the facility down citing leaks and old age, nearby residents explain complicated taleOutside the Westchester Diner in Peekskill, New York, about 40 miles from New York’s Central Park, a reactor dome crests the trees behind an overpass like a giant’s bald head.It’s one of two at Indian Point Energy Center, at the bank of the Hudson river in neighboring Buchanan, among the oldest nuclear power plants
  
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• Pictures of the day: 28 March 2016

  28-03-2016 09:59
  
  Today: A Baltic sunrise, a hawk on the hunt for food and breakdancers
  
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• Heaven up here: the joy of urban tree climbing

  28-03-2016 09:30
  
  Glued to your phone? Need a sense of perspective? One veteran tree-climber argues we should seek salvation in the branches – and reveals his five favourites in LondonTree climbing is a curious form of travel. Ascending, we cross the divide between two worlds, and the people passing beneath us become as separate as fish in an aquarium. Discovering a trunk with a clear path to the crown is enticing as finding a ladder to the moon; this is the essence of climbing, a method of passing between
  
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• Oil prices rise in thin Asian trade after break

  28-03-2016 08:35
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday after a three-day break, adding to gains in recent weeks as optimism holds that a production freeze among major producers may be implemented, but volumes were thin as a number of markets remain on holiday for Easter. Oil prices have risen about 50 percent from multi-year lows hit in January on glut worries. "The market is going to be held in suspense for a few weeks," said Victor Shum, senior oil and gas analyst at IHS in Singapore.
  
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• Japan opens radar station close to disputed isles in move bound to rile China

  28-03-2016 07:28
  By Nobuhiro Kubo and Tim Kelly YONAGUNI (Reuters) - Japan on Monday switched on a radar station in the East China Sea, giving it a permanent intelligence gathering post close to Taiwan and a group of islands disputed by Japan and China, a move bound to rile Beijing. The new Self Defence Force base on the island of Yonaguni is at the western extreme of a string of Japanese islands in the East China Sea, 150 km (90 miles) south of the disputed islands known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the
  
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• Bison to return to Montana after 140 years in the Canadian wilderness

  28-03-2016 06:43
  
  Herd ‘coming home’ under treaty between North American tribes that seeks to return bison from Canada to MontanaDescendants of a bison herd captured and sent to Canada more than a century ago will be relocated to a Montana Native American reservation next month, in what tribal leaders bill as a homecoming for a species emblematic of their traditions.The shipment of animals from Alberta’s Elk Island National Park to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation follows a 2014 treaty among tri
  
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• To the power of Severn

  28-03-2016 06:30
  
  Brean, Bristol Channel As we walked the sand towards Burnham, we made out a strange, black shape in the bayEarlier in the year, our church meeting had to be moved from a farm out on the marsh to higher ground in the village because of flooding. But, generally speaking, we in southeast Somerset, unlike folk down on the watery levels or up on the bleaker Mendips, are fortunate not to be too often seriously threatened by the weather or reminded of the force of the elements.But Brean, on the shore o
  
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