Green Options » antarctica

Elephant Seals Recording Climate Change Under Sea Ice

Adam Williams — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:17:41 +0000

Scientists have put elephant seals into action, donning head devices to transmit information about climate change from under Antarctic sea ice in winter. View related photos.

Penguins Washing Up Closer to Equator

Joshua S Hill — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:48:36 +0000

When you think of locations for penguins, Antarctica is probably your first guess. If you know a bit more about penguins, you might point to Patagonia or even down my way, where the Fairy Penguins live at Phillip Island. However I would very much hope that you wouldn’t predict that they could be making their way as far north as Bahia, one of the 26 states of Brazil.

According to Brazilian wildlife authorities on Wednesday, penguins have been “washing up” in far greater numbers this year in areas like Rio de Janeiro, where they are common, but not normally in these numbers.

“This is unheard of. There have even been reports of penguins washing up as far as Aracaju,” said Adelson Cerqueira Silva of the federal environmental agency.

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How Visionary Political Leadership Can Save the Environment for Future Generations

Masimba Biriwasha — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:05:01 +0000

Political leaders have a key role to play in developing and taking action to combat the world environmental degradation, according to a recent survey of 1,350 professionals in position to make or influence large climate-related decisions in their governments, companies, or other organizations across 120 countries.

The performance of key actors - particularly national governments - has been inadequate to date with rhetoric at much feted climatic conferences over-dominating action states the survey.

Respondents in the survey conducted by the GlobeScan for the World Bank, The World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), noted that there is currently little consensus on solutions to climate change.

In many parts of the world, the destruction of the environment is a daily reality in spite of the numerous statements that have been made about the terrible state of the environment.

But visionary political leadership can indeed influence a paradigm shift that can promote better treatment of the environment through requisite legal and policy mechanisms, but most importantly through political text that highlights the urgency of the matter followed by action.

As Kenyan Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai succinctly puts it the generation that destroys the environment may not be the one that pays the prize.

It is the future generations that will confront the consequences of today’s destructive activities of the current generation, she says.

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Will Water Fuel An Armageddon?

Masimba Biriwasha — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:47:26 +0000

There is no consensus among water analysts on whether there will be global wars over water ownership.

According to UNESCO, globally there are 262 international river basins: 59 in Africa, 52 in Asia, 73 in Europe, 61 in Latin America and the Caribbean and 17 in North America — overall, 145 countries have territories that include at least one shared river basin.

UNESCO states that between 1948 and 1999, there have been 1,831 “international interactions” recorded, including 507 conflicts, 96 neutral or non-significant events and, most importantly, 1,228 instances of cooperation around water-related issues.

As a result, some experts argue that the idea of water wars is rather farfetched given the precedent of water cooperation that has been exhibited by many of the countries around the world.

“Despite the potential problem, history has demonstrated that cooperation, rather than conflict, is likely in shared basins,” says UNESCO.

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How Humans Are Killing Life Before “Earth’s Death in 2050 AD”

Sam Aola Ooko — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:38:52 +0000

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a report in 2006 that documented the plunder of natural resources by human activity and warned that the globe itself could be outstripped in its capacity to support life, rendering the earth extinct in under 50 years.

Based on scientific data collected from across the globe, it revealed that more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by human activity in just over the past three decades, because of, among others, increased emissions of green house gases into the ecosystem.

Unless consumption of natural resources was cut and the destruction of vital ecosystems was stopped, human life and that of thousands of other animals and plants would not be sustainable hence the suggestion that the earth itself could be extinct by 2050. In short, the demise of biodiversity will be the death of life on earth, as we know it.

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Can Bicycling Really Damage the Environment?

Masimba Biriwasha — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:53:21 +0000

Contrary to popular opinion, bicycling can potentially damage the environment due to the increased longevity of people engaged in physical activity, says Karl Ulrich, a Wharton Business School professor.

Ulrich argues that the greatest environmental peril society may face is the looming prospect of slowing the aging process, and bicycling potentially contributes to slowing aging.

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Arctic and Antarctica Polar Opposites

Joshua S Hill — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:07:02 +0000

There’s nothing quite as nice as a really catchy title that perfectly sums up your story. If you want to leave it at that, then you’ve probably got the whole of the story. However if you want to know just a bit more about how climate change is affecting our planet’s poles, then keep reading.

Speaking in a telephone briefing last Friday, Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said that the Arctic and Antarctic are exhibiting opposite effects to the climate change affecting our planet.

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Japanese Whale Research Falls Short

Joshua S Hill — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:03:08 +0000

Scientific research is a tough business, and it is always tough to find the right evidence for your research. Gaining access to archaeological sites, genetic testing in animals, evidentiary samples; it’s a tough gig. So when a scientific endeavor falls short, it’s always sad.

Usually.

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10 Top Environmental Headlines of the Week

Gavin Hudson — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:49:25 +0000

In case you missed them the first time around, here are the top 10 international environmental headlines that made news in the blogosphere for the week of March 31 - April 6.

1. Asia — United Nations Climate Change Talks: “Kyoto II” climate talks open in Bangkok

“The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.

‘The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,’ U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,000 delegates from 190 nations gathered in Bangkok.

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10 Top Environmental Headlines of the Week

Gavin Hudson — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:20:43 +0000

The top 10 headlines in international environmental news for the week of March 24 - 30.

1. World — Earth Hour 2008

As the clock struck eight in the evening, people across each time zone turned off their lights on March 29. It’s activism en mass and it’s called Earth Hour. The purpose: to inspire people to take action on climate change and to demonstrate that massive and immediate action is possible.

Earth Hour began as a city-wide voluntary blackout in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. This year, they’ve moved the date ahead two days and invited the world to join in. Even Google’s joined in. People from roughly 35 countries participated in this global event, which has become a yearly call to action. Read more: EcoWorldy, CNN.

2. Asia — Japanese Man Crosses Pacific with Wave-Powered Boat

A Japanese man named Kenichi Horie is attempting to be environmentally friendly by boating across the Pacific without sails and without fossil fuels.

How does he do it? With a wave-powered boat. Wave power has been discussed quite a bit recently, with a lot of applications including traditional grid energy generation. However, Kenichi is taking things to the next level by powering his ocean going vehicle with the very thing it bobs atop. Read more: Gas 2.0.

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Antarctica’s Glaciers Suffer Strong Retraction

Martín Cagliani — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:25:42 +0000

Glaciers are melting. It’s a fact. In terms of global warming, the guilt rests with us. We already saw how many of Switzerland’s glaciers are disappearing. Unfortunately, they are not alone.

Pedro Skvarca, glaciologist from Argentina in Antarctica, witnessed the progressive retreating of glaciers from the White Continent in the last ten years.

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Climate Change in Antarctica

Mark Seall — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:07:11 +0000

Pictures from Torsten Blackwood published by the UK’s Guardian newspaper today graphically reveal just how quickly and how much climate change is affecting the Antarctic. Well worth a look.

Antarctica’s Disintegration Result of Many Factors, Not Just Climate Change

Joshua S Hill — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:19:03 +0000

As the months go past we are getting a clearer picture of just how fragile our environment really is. Many people like to blame every abnormal environmental occurrence on climate change and global warming. However a pattern that seems to be emerging is that global warming was simply the last straw.

I’ve personally reported several times over the past few months focusing on environmental issues that are not entirely man-made. Early in January I looked at a recent study in the journal Nature that indicated that a natural and cyclical increase in the amount of atmospheric energy was part of the cause the Arctic sea-ice so drastically failed to appear.

Three days later I introduced us to recent findings that indicated that the warming of the North Atlantic was also not entirely the result of man-made global warming, but rather a natural and cyclical wind circulation pattern called the North Atlantic Oscillation.

I focus on these now to once again put forth the idea in your minds that Green Options is not about blaming everything on mankind.

But this next study once again helps me to reiterate that while we are not the sole contributor to the problems, we have tipped the balance.

Back between January and March of 2002 we watched as Antarctica’s 3200-square kilometer Larsen B ice shelf broke apart. Many of the scientists blamed this abrupt breakup on climate change, including the previous warm summers and melt ponds – ponds of melted ice that form beneath the ice shelf, helping the shelf slide and break apart – rather than looking for more answers.

“But the picture is much more complicated,” says Neil Glasser of Aberystwyth University in the UK who, along with Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been tracking increased movement of glaciers near where Larsen B used to be.

When the pair reviewed satellite imagery from 1987 onwards, what they saw added another catalyst to the eventual breakup of Larsen B. Giant rifts and crevasses were formed as a result of long-term glaciological processes. And while these alone could not have caused the break up, they didn’t help. Glasser and Scambos believe that once global warming came in to play, thinning the ice, the glaciological stress was too much.

“Had it not got warmer, the shelf would have survived,” says Glasser. “It’s very likely that the warm summers could have been the final trigger.”

Following on with their research, the pair are now turning their attention to the 15,000 square-kilometer Larsen C ice shelf. As Larsen B once did, Larsen C slows the flow in to the sea of nearby glaciers by acting as a giant stopper. If it broke up, the resulting plunge of glaciers in to the ocean could have “a noticeable effect” on sea level, says Glasser.

Photo Courtesy of Pathfinder Linden via Flickr

New Scientist - Natural rifts may have weakened Antarctic ice shelf

Like a ‘Just-This-Once’ Addict

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:04:56 +0000

Never mind the ever-accelerating signs that the Earth is being stressed to multiple tipping (or breaking) points: rising atmospheric carbon dioxide, acidifying oceans, threatened fisheries, dwindling water resources. Like an addict who’s spiraling out of control, the world’s powers-that-be seem hellbent on taking a “just-this-once” approach toward meeting short-term needs rather than achieving long-term solutions.

Arctic becoming the canary in the coal mine for climate change? But oil has briefly hit $100 per barrel and the U.S. economy is tanking. So let’s hold the first-ever oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea … just this once.

Canada’s Boreal Forest a carbon sink twice as powerful as the forests of the tropics? But rising fuel prices have suddenly made it profitable to tap the region’s vast reserves of tar sands … just this once.

Discovering that the coldest, most pristine place on Earth — Antarctica — might also harbor a wealth of oil and gas reserves? Let’s tiptoe around the continent’s edges trying to establish rights to resources below the seabed … just this once.

The list of “just-this-once” announcements from the past few months alone could go on and on, but would make for even more disheartening reading.

For the individual human addict, help sometimes comes in the form of an intervention from friends and loved ones who hope to confront the “just-this-once” behavior before it collapses into outright personal destruction. For an addicted human civilization, though, who will intervene?

Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via Wikimedia Commons.

West Antarctic Ice Loss Grows

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:32:41 +0000

Researchers at the University of Bristol report that the West Antarctic lost 132 billion tons of ice in 2006, compared to 83 billion tons in 1996. “To put these figures into perspective,” said professor Jonathan Bamber, “four billion tons of ice is enough to provide drinking water for the whole of the U.K. population for one year.”

Photo courtesy of Jerzy Strzelecki via Wikimedia Commons

West Antarctica Soon to be under Full Observation

Joshua S Hill — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:16:20 +0000

Antarctica has always been the last frontier for scientists on Earth. It even parallels to space exploration, considering just how inhospitable its lands are. Windy, cold, and for half the year a perpetual night time are not conditions that make for a comfy science exploration.But nevertheless, scientists are hell-bent on getting to know the southernmost continent.

So, in this spirit, for the first time West Antarctica (or the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS)) is to be monitored, 24/7, 365 days a year, to witness the interaction between ice and the earth below. The mission, to be lead by a team from Ohio State University, has just been awarded $4.5 million by the National Science Foundation.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, saw Terry Wilson, leader of the mission entitled POLENET, explained how they would overcome the harsh conditions.

First off is to fly ski-equipped aircraft to remote locations across the WAIS, and plant the instruments – GPS trackers and seismic sensors – on the bedrock that cradles the WAIS. These instruments will send signals back to the United States via satellite, and work year round.

“We’ll be able to do systems-scale science in Antarctica. That wasn’t possible before,” said Wilson, associate professor of earth sciences at Ohio State. “This instrumentation is designed to run and record data year-round, through the dark polar night. Previous instrument deployments have largely operated only for a few months, or less, each year. This allows us to do new science.”

The first expeditions for POLENET began arriving in early December, and by the end of February 2008 the POLENET scientists plan to have 17 new GPS trackers installed across the WAIS, along with about 11 new seismic sensors. By 2010 the network will be complete, and will hopefully record data well in to 2012.

International Polar Year Newswire - Scientists to Monitor West Antarctica 24/7