Environment news

• Is tropical storm Harvey linked to climate change?

  29-08-2017 22:08 via theguardian.com
  At least 14 people have died and tens of thousands evacuated as Houston is battered by catastrophic rainfall. Our environment editor unpicks the facts behind the disasterTropical storm Harvey – live updates
  A tropical storm that is on course to break the US record for the heaviest rainfall from a tropical system. Meteorologists say the 120cm-mark set in 1978 could be surpassed on Tuesday or Wednesday. Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change and Harvey: your questions answered

  29-08-2017 22:08 via theguardian.com
  At least 14 people have died and tens of thousands evacuated as Houston continues to be battered by catastrophic rainfall. Can we decode the disaster?Tropical storm Harvey – live updates
  A tropical storm that is on course to break the US record for the heaviest rainfall from a tropical system. Meteorologists say the 120cm-mark set in 1978 could be surpassed on Tuesday or Wednesday. Continue reading...
  
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• Photosynthesis Discovery Could Lead to Design of More Efficient Artificial Solar Cells

  29-08-2017 21:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  A natural process that occurs during photosynthesis could lead to the design of more efficient artificial solar cells, according to researchers at Georgia State University.During photosynthesis, plants and other organisms, such as algae and cyanobacteria, convert solar energy into chemical energy that can later be used as fuel for activities. In plants, light energy from the sun causes an electron to rapidly move across the cell membrane. In artificial solar cells, the electron often returns to
  
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• Bahamian Songbirds Disappeared During Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition

  29-08-2017 21:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Two species of songbirds that once made a home in the Bahamas likely became extinct on the islands because of rising sea levels and a warmer, wetter climate, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Florida, Gainesville. The study, which was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, presents a historical view of how climate change and the resulting habitat loss can affect Earth’s biodiversity.
  
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• NASA Gets an Infrared View of Tropical Cyclone Sanvu

  29-08-2017 21:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA's Aqua satellite used infrared light to gather cloud top temperature data from the newest tropical cyclone in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Tropical Depression Sanvu formed just north of the Northern Marianas islands.The Atmospheric Infrared or AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared data on the eastern side of Tropical Cyclone Sanvu on Aug. 28 at 0253 UTC (Aug. 27 at 10:53 p.m. EDT). Infrared data provides temperature information to scientists. Cloud top temperatur
  
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• Climate Change Could Cause Fish to Shrink in Size

  29-08-2017 20:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  In the coming decades, warming ocean temperatures could stunt the growth of fish by as much as 30 percent, according to a new study in the journal Global Change Biology.The main driver behind this decline in size is that warmer water contains less oxygen. As Nexus Media explains, fish are cold-blooded animals and therefore cannot regulate their own body temperatures. So as oceans heat up, a fish’s metabolism accelerates to cope with the rising temperatures and they
  
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• Algae Fortifies Coral Reefs in Past and Present

  29-08-2017 20:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Great Barrier Reef, and most other large reefs around the world, owe their bulk in large part to a type of red algae that grows on corals and strengthens them. New research led by Anna Weiss, a Ph.D. candidate at The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences, has found that ancient coral reefs were also bolstered by their bond with red algae, a finding that could help scientists better understand how reefs will respond to climate change.“Coral reefs as we know them to
  
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• Campaigners launch last-ditch appeal to stop fracking in Lancashire

  29-08-2017 19:32 via theguardian.com
  Protesters hope appeal court will uphold council’s decision to reject planning consent for Cuadrilla, which was overturned by Sajid JavidA last-ditch legal challenge to prevent fracking in Lancashire is being launched at the court of appeal.The case brought by anti-fracking protesters, to be heard on Wednesday and Thursday, seeks to overturn planning consent that was granted to Cuadrilla by the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, last October. Continue reading...
  
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• Toxic cloud on Sussex coast may have come from ship, say sources

  29-08-2017 19:27 via theguardian.com
  Haze that led to 150 people seeking treatment caused a pollution spike and ‘might have been caused by a ship venting’Authorities investigating the cause of Sunday’s chemical cloud are working on the assumption that it came from a ship in the Channel after environmental monitoring sites picked up a localised spike in pollution levels. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is working with the Environment Agency to establish the source of the cloud, which left 150 people seeking medi
  
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• NREL, Swiss Scientists Power Past Solar Efficiency Records

  29-08-2017 18:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  Collaboration between researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) shows the high potential of silicon-based multijunction solar cells.
  
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• NREL Analysis Identifies Where Commercial Customers Might Benefit from Battery Energy Storage

  29-08-2017 18:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Commercial electricity customers who are subject to high demand charges may be able to reduce overall costs by using battery energy storage to manage demand, according to research by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
  
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• Welcoming Haitian refugees to Canada isn’t about generosity but justice | Martin Lukacs

  29-08-2017 18:36 via theguardian.com
  Canada has a hand in the misery Haitians are fleeing. Asylum should serve as reparationsThe minders of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s brand are surely displeased. He’s spent two years cultivating an image of Canada’s refugee system as the political equivalent of airport hugs and teddy-bears. And now the pressure is on him to act like that were remotely the truth.The image of the country as a welcome haven was pitched to win the support of millions of people in Canada who rightly
  
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• Potential Tropical Cyclone 10 Soaks Mid-Atlantic

  29-08-2017 18:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  NOAA's GOES East satellite provided an image of Potential Tropical Cyclone 10 as it continued moving north along the U.S. East Coast.The system is still not a tropical cyclone and the chances for the system to become a tropical cyclone appear to be decreasing. Regardless, National Hurricane Center noted that tropical-storm-force winds and heavy rains are expected over portions of North Carolina later today, Aug. 29.A Tropical Storm Warning was in effect from north of Surf City to Duck, North Car
  
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• How Harvey – and climate change – could change American real estate

  29-08-2017 18:30 via theguardian.com
  Floridians have long recognised the threat of climate change to their homes. Amid the latest disaster, home buyers may increasingly look to higher groundTropical storm Harvey – live updates
  If Florida gleaned anything from Hurricane Andrew, the intensely powerful storm that tore a deadly trail of destruction across Miami-Dade County almost exactly 25 years to the day that Hurricane Harvey barrelled into the Texas coastline, it was that living in areas exposed to the wrath of Mother Nature
  
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• How climate change could turn US real estate prices upside down

  29-08-2017 18:30 via theguardian.com
  Floridians have long recognised climate’s threat to their homes. Amid the disaster wrought by Harvey, home buyers may look to higher groundTropical storm Harvey – live updates
  If Florida gleaned anything from Hurricane Andrew, the intensely powerful storm that tore a deadly trail of destruction across Miami-Dade County almost exactly 25 years to the day that Hurricane Harvey barrelled into the Texas coastline, it was that living in areas exposed to the wrath of Mother Nature can come
  
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• NASA Calculates Tropical Storm Harvey's Flooding Rainfall

  29-08-2017 17:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, an analysis of Hurricane Harvey's tremendous rainfall was created using eight days of satellite data.NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM or IMERG product is used to make estimates of precipitation from a combination of space-borne passive microwave sensors, including the GMI microwave sensor onboard the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite GPM core satellite, and geostationary IR (infrared) data. 
  
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• Smelly clue to bird navigation skills

  29-08-2017 16:33 via bbc.co.uk
  Birds rely on smell to find their bearings when land is out of sight, according to a study.
  
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• Finkel clean energy target too weak for Paris climate goal, analysis shows

  29-08-2017 16:01 via theguardian.com
  Target will transfer pressure to other sectors of the economy to reduce their emissions, research showsThe clean energy target recommended by Australia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel, won’t deliver Australia’s obligations under the Paris agreement and will only transfer pressure to other sectors of the economy to reduce their emissions, according to new analysis.The new research comes as the Coalition’s difficult internal deliberations over the Finkel review are set to re
  
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• If Donald Trump won't tackle climate change, then Chicago will | Rahm Emanuel

  29-08-2017 15:38 via theguardian.com
  Across the US, towns and metropolises like mine are united to meet the Paris climate agreement’s targets and protect our residents and businessesWhile the Trump administration is dropping the mantle of leadership on climate change, American cities from coast to coast are picking it up. From small towns to metropolises and from the coasts to the heartland, Republican and Democratic mayors are united in common cause to curb emissions, shrink our carbon footprints and fight for a greener futu
  
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• Why are the crucial questions about Hurricane Harvey not being asked? | George Monbiot

  29-08-2017 15:33 via theguardian.com
  This is a manmade climate-related disaster. To ignore this ensures our greatest challenge goes unanswered and helps push the world towards catastropheIt is not only Donald Trump’s government that censors the discussion of climate change; it is the entire body of polite opinion. This is why, though the links are clear and obvious, most reports on Hurricane Harvey have made no mention of the human contribution to it.In 2016 the US elected a president who believes that human-driven global war
  
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• Record-low salmon monitoring

  29-08-2017 15:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is not monitoring enough spawning streams to accurately assess the health of Pacific salmon, according to a new study led by Simon Fraser University researchers Michael Price and John Reynolds.The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, reveals that the DFO does not have enough data to determine the status of 50 per cent of all managed salmon populations along B.C.’s north and central coasts.
  
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• Methane can naturally contaminate groundwater, researchers find

  29-08-2017 15:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  A team of researchers from the University of Windsor and the University of Saskatchewan have discovered that methane can naturally migrate upwards through shale over millions of years and reach groundwater without any industry influence.“Upward migration of methane through low-porosity zones raises awareness that groundwater wells can be naturally contaminated by deeper sources of methane,” says Scott Mundle, an assistant professor of chemistry in the Great Lakes Institute for Enviro
  
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• Turkey's 12,000-year-old Hasankeyf settlement faces obliteration

  29-08-2017 13:01 via theguardian.com
  Work on clearing site for the controversial Ilisu dam on Tigris river threatens collapse of ancient monument famed for thousands of manmade cavesThe destruction of Turkey’s 12,000-year-old Hasankeyf settlement and ancient citadel has moved a step closer as authorities have begun to collapse cliff faces around the ruins of the settlement.The move, linked to the construction of a highly controversial dam about 50 miles downstream, is also expected to damage the rich ecosystem of the Tigris r
  
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• Turkey's 12,000-year-old Hasankeyf citadel faces obliteration

  29-08-2017 13:01 via theguardian.com
  Work on clearing site for the controversial Ilisu dam on Tigris river threatens collapse of ancient monument famed for thousands of manmade cavesThe destruction of Turkey’s 12,000-year-old Hasankeyf citadel has moved a step closer as authorities have begun to collapse cliff faces around the ruins of the settlement.The move, linked to the construction of a highly controversial dam about 50 miles downstream, is also expected to damage the rich ecosystem of the Tigris river basin. Continue re
  
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• A river runs through it: the global movement to 'daylight' urban waterways

  29-08-2017 12:08 via theguardian.com
  Rivers have been forced to flow underground as cities have developed over time, but Sheffield is the latest to join a global movement to recover these lost waterwaysTucked away in a corner of Sheffield’s cultural quarter, among the graffiti and red-brick housing blocks and a derelict industrial site, lies a green oasis. Porter Brook is a “pocket park” – a small amphitheatre, sloping down to the banks of the river Porter, where wild trout spawn in spring and students from
  
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• Trump's rollback of flood protections risks further Houston-style calamity

  29-08-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Houston has some of the most lax building regulations in potential flood zones – and the president wants to spread that policy across the US• Tropical storm Harvey – live updatesAfter all the furore, it’s hard to remember now that Donald Trump’s combative press conference earlier this month was supposed to be about infrastructure. Holding two flowcharts, the president explained how his latest executive orders would slash the time it takes to get new buildings improve
  
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• Is hearing loss in farmed fish a price worth paying for aquaculture’s meteoric rise?

  29-08-2017 11:27 via theguardian.com
  A study finds that accelerated growing conditions on some fish farms are causing hearing impairments in salmon. It’s a reminder that aquaculture’s own accelerated rise needs to be closely managedTo grasp the wide-ranging impacts of our industrial food systems, take a peek inside a salmon’s ear. That’s what marine biologist Tormey Reimer did when, in 2013 at the University of Melbourne, she began to investigate deformities that were developing on the structures that salmon
  
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• Under pressure: the story behind China's ivory ban

  29-08-2017 11:25 via theguardian.com
  This year, China’s government enacted a ban on ivory sales and started closing down carving workshops, despite ivory carving being seen as an ‘intangible cultural heritage’. How did such an astonishing U-turn come about? For years Chinese government officials were followed around the world, at every meeting, by a single issue: the scores of dead elephants across Africa, and the international community that blamed China for this “ivory “holocaust”.Even the Chin
  
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• Tattooed avocados and shampoo bars: the businesses curbing plastics waste

  29-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Excess or unnecessary packaging is being shunned by forward-thinking firms. Here are some examples of progressPlastic-wrapped bananas and the ‘kiwi spoon’: your packaging peevesThe first global analysis of all mass–produced plastics refers to the “near-permanent contamination of the natural environment with plastic waste”.From shops offering individually-wrapped bananas to apples packaged in tubes, plastic is everywhere. And news that fish are mistaking plastic debr
  
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• Is the UK really menaced by reckless cyclists?

  29-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The anti-cycling backlash in the media in the aftermath of Charlie Alliston trial suggests roads and streets overrun by dangerous cyclists, but is this true?
  When cycling reaches newspaper front pages it’s usually the sporting kind. The last couple of weeks have been an exception, with blanket coverage of the trial of Charlie Alliston, convicted last week over the death of Kim Briggs after he struck her on his bike.This piece isn’t about the facts of this very tragic case. It’s
  
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• Swallows swirl in the joyous rhythms of late August

  29-08-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Claxton, Norfolk Lined up on the telephone wires, they stretch, preen and snooze, riding the tide swell of air The view from my office includes a junction box where five telephone wires converge at the top of a pole. For several years, it has been a favourite gathering place for the season’s young swallows and they wreathe this banal technology in the joyous rhythms of their movements and sounds.The immatures are separable by pale fringes to their wing feathers, but also by the downturned
  
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• Koala takes a ride in a canoe to escape rising river – video

  29-08-2017 05:25 via theguardian.com
  La Trobe University Bendigo student Kirra Coventry filmed her group of outdoor and environmental education classmates helping a koala that had become stranded by rapidly rising water in the Murray river. The students were learning to be river guides when they saw the koala on the edge of Ulupna Island. The students told associate lecturer Chris Townsend it was low in a tree and seemed to be trying to find dry land. They pushed an empty canoe out to it and it climbed aboard, took a seat, then dis
  
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• Sea Shepherd says it will abandon pursuit of Japanese whalers

  29-08-2017 02:33 via theguardian.com
  Captain Paul Watson accuses ‘hostile governments’ in the US, Australia and New Zealand of being in league with TokyoThe anti-whaling vessel Sea Shepherd will not contest the Southern Ocean against Japanese whalers this season, Captain Paul Watson has announced, accusing “hostile governments” in the US, Australia and New Zealand of acting “in league with Japan” against the protest vessel.Sea Shepherd has been obstructing Japanese whaling vessels in the Southern
  
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