Environment news

• Great Barrier Reef suffers unprecedented second year's bleaching

  10-03-2017 21:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists say there hasn't been enough time for the corals to recover from damage in 2016.
  
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• NASA Sees Wind Shear Affecting Tropical Cyclone 11S

  10-03-2017 20:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tropical Cyclone 11S appeared elongated in NASA satellite imagery as a result of the storm being battered by wind shear.When NASA's Terra satellite flew over Tropical Cyclone 11S on March 10 at 0515 UTC (12:15 a.m. EST) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument took a visible light picture of the storm. The image revealed that the storm has been stretched out by moderate vertical wind shear.
  
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• Earth's oceans are warming 13% faster than thought, and accelerating | John Abraham

  10-03-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our new study improves estimates of the rate of ocean warming - a critical component of climate change
  New research has convincingly quantified how much the Earth has warmed over the past 56 years. Human activities utilize fossil fuels for many beneficial purposes but have an undesirable side effect of adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at ever-increasing rates. That increase - of over 40%, with most since 1980 - traps heat in the Earth’s system, warming the entire planet.But how fast
  
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• Volcano Breath: Measuring Sulfur Dioxide from Space

  10-03-2017 19:58 via feedproxy.google.com
  There is no mint that can take the edge off sulfurous emissions from volcanoes, but researchers can use remote sensing to better understand volcanic breathing.Volcanoes erupt, they spew ash, their scarred flanks sometimes run with both lava and landslides. But only occasionally. A less dramatic but important process is continuous gas emissions from volcanoes; in other words, as they exhale. A number of volcanoes around the world continuously exhale water vapor laced with heavy metals, carbon dio
  
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• Fukushima catastrophe unfolds ... key facts and figures for an unhappy sixth anniversary

  10-03-2017 19:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  The 2011 Fukushima catastrophe is an ongoing disaster whose end only gets more remote as time passes. The government is desperate to get evacuees back into their homes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but the problems on the ground, and in the breached reactor vessels, are only getting more serious and costly, as unbelievable volumes of radiation contaminate land, air and ocean.
  
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• Measurements by school pupils paved way for key research findings

  10-03-2017 19:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  With their measurements and samples, nearly 3,500 schoolchildren have assisted a research study on lakes and global warming, now published in an academic journal. The results show that water temperatures generally remain low despite the air becoming warmer. This helps to curb the outflow of greenhouse gases.
  
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• Carbon-based Approaches for Saving Rainforests Should Include Biodiversity Studies

  10-03-2017 19:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  Conservationists working to safeguard tropical forests often assume that old growth forests containing great stores of carbon also hold high biodiversity, but a new study finds that the relationship may not be as strong as once thought, according to a group of researchers with contributions from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and other organizations. Tropical forests are exceptionally rich in both carbon and biodiversity, but the study recently published in the journal S
  
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• Energy crop production on conservation lands may not boost greenhouse gases

  10-03-2017 19:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Growing sustainable energy crops without increasing greenhouse gas emissions, may be possible on seasonally wet, environmentally sensitive landscapes, according to researchers who conducted a study on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land.Debasish Saha, postdoctoral scholar in plant sciences, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, and colleagues measured the amount of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, emanating from plots of biofuels-producing switchgrass — a native
  
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• Spare a thought for the poor old mole | Letters

  10-03-2017 19:13 via theguardian.com
  
  All of the methods of catching moles described in your article (The long read, 8 March) rely on the violent crushing of a sentient creature. Society wouldn’t tolerate killing a dog in this way, yet moles have a nervous system similar to dogs’ (and humans’), which strongly suggests they are capable of feeling pain and thus suffering. As the article indicates, the total cost of mole “damage” is very low but as it is part of the routine, casual cycle of killing practis
  
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• NASA's Aerial Survey of Polar Ice Expands Its Arctic Reach

  10-03-2017 18:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  For the past eight years, Operation IceBridge, a NASA mission that conducts aerial surveys of polar ice, has produced unprecedented three-dimensional views of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, providing scientists with valuable data on how polar ice is changing in a warming world. Now, for the first time, the campaign will expand its reach to explore the Arctic’s Eurasian Basin through two research flights based out of Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the northern Atlantic Ocean.
  
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• Rapid Blood Pressure Drops In Middle Age Linked to Dementia in Old Age

  10-03-2017 18:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  Temporary episodes of dizziness or light-headedness when standing could reduce blood flow to the brain with lasting impacts.
  
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• Why Are Giant Pandas Black and White?

  10-03-2017 18:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  The giant panda’s graphic pattern has stumped biologists for years … now they have an answer.
  
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• High price of rhino horn leaves bloody trail across the globe

  10-03-2017 18:14 via theguardian.com
  
  The recent killing of a rhino in a Paris zoo marks a shocking new development in this ruthless global trade but rhino experts remain optimistic that the situation can be reversedOn the black market it is reputedly worth more than its weight in gold or cocaine, and this week the lure of rhino horn brought the bloody business of poaching to a zoo near Paris. There, in the dead of night, criminals broke in, shot a white rhino called Vince three times in the head and then hacked off its eight-inch h
  
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• Wildlife poaching, snow leopards and climate change denial – green news roundup

  10-03-2017 17:16 via theguardian.com
  
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• New 'observatory' to uncover energy-efficiency improvements in Sheffield

  10-03-2017 17:12
  
  The University of Sheffield will enlist sensors, thermal cameras, drones and balloons to scan the surrounding city for ways to monitor environmental impacts, improve energy savings and reduce heat loss.
  
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• Tesla and Apple facilitate innovative solar projects

  10-03-2017 16:37
  
  Apple and Tesla, two companies in the vanguard of the renewables revolution, have unveiled their links to new solar projects aimed at bringing clean energy that maximises land use in areas of Japan and the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
  
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• Research shows ocean acidification is spreading rapidly in the Arctic

  10-03-2017 14:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Ocean acidification is spreading rapidly in the western Arctic Ocean in both area and depth, potentially affecting shellfish, other marine species in the food web, and communities that depend on these resources, according to new research published in Nature Climate Change by NOAA, Chinese marine scientists and other partners.
  
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• Ebola vaccine shows promise for gorillas and chimps

  10-03-2017 14:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A trial suggests that an Ebola vaccine could protect gorillas and chimps from the deadly disease.
  
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• Business encouraged to go 'above and beyond' packaging legislation through new checklist

  10-03-2017 13:55
  
  The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the Industry Council for research on Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN) have partnered together to launch a new "sustainability checklist" to help companies optimise their packaging systems.
  
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• Buy ingredients from producers to see the true value of food | Opinion

  10-03-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Community supported agriculture (CSA), where you can buy directly from farms near where you live, is a natural remedy to food waste – but are we ready to embrace it?As a mozzarella-shaped adolescent, I was sent off to university with a bag of muesli so enormous that, for at least the first term and a half, my flatmates used it as a chair. There was also a 10kg bag of rice, so many tinned tomatoes that I had to start stacking them under my bed (where, incidentally, I found the previous tena
  
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• Russia's rare snow leopards find protection in camera traps

  10-03-2017 12:55 via theguardian.com
  
  In the remote Altai mountains, cameras traps are shedding light on the secret lives of these elusive animals, enabling researchers to identify individual leopards in the first ever nationwide censusThe snow leopard is so rare and elusive that it’s commonly known as the “ghost of the mountains”. But researchers in the Altai mountains, where the borders of Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China converge, are increasingly coming face to face with this endangered animal through a g
  
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• World Bank unveils first green bonds linking business actions to SDGs

  10-03-2017 12:40
  
  The World Bank has issued its first ever set of green bonds that directly link financial returns to companies performing to the standards and aims on the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  
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• Statoil vows to slash carbon emissions by a fifth

  10-03-2017 11:48
  
  Just one day after it was revealed that eight of the world's largest fossil fuel companies were responsible for pollution levels equal to that of the US, Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil has pledged to reduce its own emissions by three million tonnes by 2030.
  
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• British-owned cruise ship wrecks one of Indonesia’s best coral reefs

  10-03-2017 11:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Ship ran aground at Raja Ampat, one of the country’s most popular dive sites that has been likened to an underwater Amazon, reports Mongabay
  One of the main coral reefs at Raja Ampat, an Indonesian island chain home to perhaps the world’s richest marine biodiversity, was severely damaged last week when a Bahamian-flagged cruise ship smashed into it at low tide, according to an official report.The 90-meter Caledonian Sky, owned by tour operator Noble Caledonia, ran aground in an uncha
  
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• Fukushima evacuees face 'forced' return as subsidies withdrawn

  10-03-2017 08:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands who fled 2011 disaster must choose between financial hardship or return to homes they believe are unsafeThousands of people who fled the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant six years ago will soon lose their housing subsidies, forcing some to consider returning despite lingering concerns over radiation in their former neighbourhoods.The measure, condemned by campaigners as a violation of the evacuees’ right to live in a safe environment, will affect an estimated
  
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• Fukushima disaster evacuees told to return to abandoned homes

  10-03-2017 08:52 via theguardian.com
  
  People who fled after March 2011 nuclear meltdown face losing housing subsidies if they do not go back, despite radiation fearsThousands of people who fled after the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant six years ago have been told they must return to their homes or lose housing subsidies, despite lingering concerns over radiation in their former neighbourhoods.The instruction, condemned by campaigners as a violation of the evacuees’ right to live in a safe environment, wi
  
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• A Brittany eco-home with extra gîte and yurt – in pictures

  10-03-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A geobiologist has built this complex of buildings out of eco-friendly materials around a wooden main house, with scope for tourist rentalsContinue reading...
  
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• Ptarmigan in camouflage – a daunting quest

  10-03-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Cairngorms National Park We’ve tried to spot this mountain dwelling grouse in its white-feathered finery, but it’s elusiveEvery birder has a “bogey bird”, a species they have repeatedly failed to encounter. For my father and me, this bird is the winter-plumaged ptarmigan. We have made numerous visits to the Cairngorms in the hopes of seeing this mountain dwelling grouse – Lagopus mutus – in its white-feathered finery. But it has proved to be frustratingly elus
  
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• Elon Musk: I can fix South Australia power network in 100 days or it's free

  10-03-2017 06:04 via theguardian.com
  
  The Tesla founder says he can build a 100MW battery storage farm within 100 days or provide the system free of charge Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of electric car giant Tesla, has thrown down a challenge to the South Australian and federal governments, saying he can solve the state’s energy woes within 100 days – or he’ll deliver the 100MW battery storage system for free.On Thursday, Lyndon Rive, Tesla’s vice-president for energy products, told the AFR the company c
  
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• 'It's a tragedy,' Clive Hamilton says of Turnbull's climate transformation | Graham Readfearn

  10-03-2017 05:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Former Climate Change Authority member reveals what went on before he quit and offers a withering assessment of the PMClive Hamilton has been at the pointy end of public discourse on climate change for more than 20 years.Among lots of other things, he’s written challenging books on the science, founded a progressive thinktank and had a failed crack at being an MP for the Greens. Continue reading...
  
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• While governments dither, companies step up with environmental targets

  10-03-2017 04:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Businesses and cities are taking up the slack left by government policy, aligning environmental goals with climate scienceEach year, Investa Office Management releases its corporate sustainability report. In 2016, it announced that electricity use was down by 43% since 2004, gas use had fallen 38% over the same time, and water use had also being curtailed. This sounds impressive but how meaningful are those proclamations? And what difference do they make in the wider context? Now an internationa
  
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• Rex Tillerson won't work on Keystone pipeline issues due to ExxonMobil links

  10-03-2017 02:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Greenpeace argued that ExxonMobil, where secretary of state was CEO, would ‘directly and predictably’ benefit from approval of multibillion-dollar pipelineThe US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has recused himself from issues related to TransCanada Corp’s application for a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, the state department said in a letter on Thursday to the environmental group Greenpeace. “He has not worked on that matter at the Department of State, and will pl
  
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• Clean air design

  10-03-2017 02:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Russian architect Alexei Umarov thinks his HyperFilter building could be a pollution solution.
  
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• Can city 'smellfies' stop air pollution?

  10-03-2017 02:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Could smelly maps linked to the odours of a city play a role in fighting dirty air? Our environment correspondent Matt McGrath follows his nose.
  
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• Great Barrier Reef bleached for unprecedented second year running

  10-03-2017 02:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Reef authority says findings of aerial surveys show enough to confirm another mass coral bleaching event, after last year’s dramatic death rateA mass bleaching event is taking its toll on the Great Barrier Reef for an unprecedented second year in a row, a Queensland government agency has confirmed.The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has declared widespread damage from an underwater heatwave after a single day of aerial surveys between Cairns and Townsville on Thursday. Continue re
  
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• Machines v hackers

  10-03-2017 01:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Security could increasingly rely on smart machines that spot cyber threats rather than on humans.
  
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