Category: Environment

{{The world is getting warmer, as greenhouse gases reach historic highs and Arctic sea ice melts, making 2013 one of the hottest years on record, international scientists said Thursday.}}

The annual State of the Climate report 2013 is a review of scientific data and weather events over the past year, compiled by 425 scientists from 57 countries.

“These findings reinforce what scientists for decades have observed: that our planet is becoming a warmer place,” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrator Kathryn Sullivan.

Global temperatures were among the warmest on record worldwide, with four major datasets showing 2013 ranked between second and sixth for all-time heat.

“Australia observed its warmest year on record, while Argentina had its second warmest and New Zealand its third warmest,” said the report.

Sea surface temperatures also rose, making last year among the 10 warmest on record.

The Arctic marked its seventh warmest year since records began in the early 1900s.

Arctic sea ice cover was the sixth lowest since satellite observations began in 1979.

On average, global sea levels also rose, keeping pace with a trend of adding about three millimeters per year over the past two decades, it said.

Methane, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that come from burning fossils fuels “continued to rise during 2013, once again reaching historic high values,” said the report.

For the first time, the daily concentration of C02 in the atmosphere exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm), as measured by the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, a year after observational sites in the Arctic observed C02 at 400 ppm in spring 2012.

The report, published in the peer-reviewed Bulletin of the American Meterological Society, offers a “detailed scientific snapshot of what’s happening in our world,” said the group’s executive director Keith Seifer.

wirestory

Researchers are to investigate a giant mysterious hole that has appeared in one of Russia’s most isolated northernmost regions, state television reported.

It was unclear what had caused the gaping crater, about 100 meters in diameter, filmed from the air in Yamal, which means ‘the end of the Earth’ in the local Nenets language, where temperatures plummet to -50 degrees Celcius and the sun barely rises in winter.

An expedition to collect soil and water samples from the site was planned for Thursday with two researchers from the Siberian-based Centre for the Study of the Arctic and a scientist from Russia’s Academy of Science, state news outlet Vesti reported.

TV Zvezda, broadcast by the Defense Ministry, reported the person who shot the video footage as saying the hole appeared to have been caused from below and that the darker soil around its top indicated the effect of high temperatures.

Yamal, inhabited by indigenous reindeer herders, is one of Russia’s richest regions in natural gas. The hole was found near the Bovanentsky gas field, leading to speculation that it could have been caused by an underground explosion.

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{{The fossilised remains of the largest flying bird ever found have been identified by scientists.}}

This creature would have looked like a seagull on steroids – its wingspan was between 6.1 and 7.4m (20-24ft).

The find is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The 25m-year-old fossil was unearthed 30 years ago in South Carolina, but it has taken until now to identify that this is a new species.

Daniel Ksepka, curator of science at the Bruce Museum in Connecticut, said: “This fossil is remarkable both for the size, which we could only speculate on before the discovery, and for the preservation.

“The skull in particular is exquisite.

“And given the delicate nature of the bones… it is remarkable that the specimen made it to the bottom of the sea, became buried without being destroyed by scavengers, fossilised, and then was discovered before it was eroded or bulldozed away.”

The researchers believe this huge bird surpasses the previous recorder-holder, Argentavis magnificens – a condor-like bird from South America with an estimated wingspan of 5.7-6.1m (19-20ft) that lived about six million years ago.

Scientists have called the new giant Pelagornis sandersi. They believe it would have been twice the size of the wandering albatross, the largest living bird.

Like the albatross, it was a seabird, spending most of its time swooping above the ocean, preying on fish and squid.

Despite its scale, it would have been an elegant flier.

While theoretical models suggest that it would be tricky for a bird of this size to stay airborne by flapping its wings, researchers believe it used air currents to soar above the ocean.

Its long, slender wings and light, hollow bones would have made it a powerful glider.

“It would have been fast and very efficient,” said Dr Ksepka.

“Computer models suggest that it had high lift-to-drag ratios, which would allow it to glide for a very long distance for every unit of altitude it could attain.

“It could likely glide at speeds over 10m per second – faster than the human world record for the 100m dash.”

On land, though, the seabird was probably far less graceful.

“The long wings would have been cumbersome and it would have probably spent as little time as possible walking around,” Dr Ksepka explained.

Taking off would also have been an ungainly affair.

Computer models reveal that the bird could not have taken off by simply standing still and flapping its wings.

Instead, scientists think P. sandersi might have had to waddle downhill and hope to catch a gust of air.

Huge birds like this were once common, but they vanished about three million years ago.

Scientists do not yet understand why these giants of the skies died out.

BBC

{{The dumping of plastic waste into the world’s oceans is causing at least $13 billion a year of damage, threatening marine life, tourism and fisheries, the United Nations warned Monday at the launch of a global environment conference.}}

“Plastics have come to play a crucial role in modern life, but the environmental impacts of the way we use them cannot be ignored,” said UN Environment Programme (UNEP) chief Achim Steiner said.

“The key course of action is to prevent plastic debris from entering the environment in the first place, which translates into a single powerful objective: reduce, reuse, recycle.”

Scientists have found tiny plastic fragments trapped in sea ice in polar regions, while plastic waste has killed marine life, whether it be eaten by sea creatures such as turtles, tangled up dolphins and whales, or caused “damage to critical habitats such as coral reefs,” the report read.

“There are also concerns about chemical contamination, invasive species spread by plastic fragments, and economic damage to the fishing and tourism industries in many countries-by, for example, fouling fishing equipment and polluting beaches,” it added.

While much of the plastic waste ends up in vast mid-ocean rubbish patches where marine currents converge, micro-plastics — tiny fragments less than five millimetres in diameter — have had a growing impact that is particularly worrying, UNEP said.

“Their ingestion has been widely reported in marine organisms, including seabirds, fish, mussels, worms and zooplankton,” the report added.

“Transported by ocean currents across great distances, these contaminated particles eventually become a source of chemicals in our food,” Steiner added.

Some of the tiny fragments are caused by the breakdown of plastics, but one emerging issue is the increasing use of directly created “micro beads” of plastic in toothpaste, gels and facial cleansers.

“These micro plastics tend not to be filtered out during sewage treatment, but are released directly into rivers, lakes and the ocean,” the report added.

Companies should take responsibility, with experts arguing they could also boost their business savings through greater recycling efforts.

“The research unveils the need for companies to consider their plastic footprint, just as they do for carbon, water and forestry,” said Andrew Russell, chief of the Plastic Disclosure Project, a UNEP backed organisation.

The UNEP report was released at its headquarters in Kenya as it opened its first week-long conference bringing together over 1,200 delegates and experts to discuss a raft of environment challenges.

The UNEP conference runs until Friday, tackling a range of subjects including sustainable consumption and production, and financing the “green economy”.

{wirestory}

{{African ministers in charge of meteorology on Friday adopted a plan to fast-track the continent’s move to the implementation of bold solutions in tackling the consequences of climate change.}}

The implementation plan for the Integrated African Strategy on Meteorology (Weather and Climate Services) maps out ways for programmes and initiatives which position management of climate-related disasters as a priority in sustainable development policies.

The strategy is a key operational document of AMCOMET, a body set up jointly by the African Union and the World Meteorological Organisation to serve as a framework for cooperation and guidance on climate issues across Africa.

The plan agreed on in Harare sets out broad objectives by outlining a number of flagship programmes to be rolled out in time.

A key feature of the proposals underlines the need to integrate weather and climate services into development policies at regional and national levels.

The document agrees on a damning fact: climate change is here to stay. The way to tackle its consequences is not to vainly try to prevent them but to adapt to them, which raises a number of questions: How to live with the prospects of tsunamis in the Indian Ocean?

How to survive droughts and floods? How can doctors make use of weather and climate data to mitigate outbreaks of certain diseases? How can the skies be made safer for air traffic?

Experts who worked on the plan say adequate adaptation requires the strengthening of weather and climate institutions — national meteorological authorities. That would enable them to deliver appropriate services for the use of various sectors such as the aviation, the marine, agriculture and health.

Speaking shortly after the plan was endorsed, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation, Michel Jarraud, hailed the outcome of the deliberations.

“The adoption of the plan is an important achievement,” he said. “As early as the next meeting of AMCOMET, the first progress assessment will be in order.”

With this ambitious plan, Africa has made headways on an issue that has proved to be a bone of contention at the international stage. But the main challenge is getting the money to roll out the plan.

“33 out of the 54 African countries are classified as least-developed countries with limited financial resources and with competing needs,” the document says.

To make up for this obvious scarcity of funding sources, the implementation plan comes complete with a clear outline for how to find the money and to get the job done.

It proposes for efforts to be targeted at government funding through national budget allocations, regional and multi-level development financing mechanisms.

Another path to funding is what the plan calls “climate financing instruments”, a reference to special trusts that can come to be known under different denominations — Adaptation Fund, Climate Investment Funds, Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund.

At the start of the discussions, Saviour Kasukuwere, Zimbabwean Minister of Environment, Water and Climate who chaired the conference, stressed the need for domestic and innovative sources for both the sustainability of AMCOMET and the implementation of the Integrated African Strategy.

“Resource mobilisation should begin with internal or domestic sources. After all, there is a donor fatigue. We should discourage donor dependency as this usually attracts conditionalities, some of which are not related to the aspirations and objectives of AMCOMET,” Saviour Kasukuwere said.

Africa has been experiencing firsthand the consequences of disasters resulting from climate change. The Sahel region is plagued with recurrent droughts. Rising levels of the sea has been threatening the small islands in the Indian Ocean. Agricultural seasons are on a cycle of disruptions in East and Horn of Africa.

“Those who are still debating whether climate change is an issue or not, don’t experience it firsthand,” said Dominique Kontuic, who is in charge of climate disaster management for the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). “In Africa, we no longer debate over the issue, because the consequences of climate change are a reality for us.”

Experts from the African Union and the World Meteorological Organisation say a better understanding of weather and climate-phenomena through ground and air observation schemes offers a key to empowering populations to adapt.

For the sake of optimising the gathering of meteorological data, and of reducing dependency on current foreign providers of such data, the AMCOMET conference approved a draft African Space Programme that will be discussed at the third meeting of African Ministers in charge of meteorology.

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