By Michael Marshall / NewScientist As Arctic sea ice breaks apart, massive amounts of methane could be released into the atmosphere from the cold waters beneath. High concentrations of the greenhouse gas have been recorded in the air above cracks in the ice. This could be evidence of yet another positive feedback on the warming … Continue reading Methane hydrates melting due to climate change, releasing potent greenhouse gases→
By ENews Park Forest Without help, more than 50 coral species in U.S. waters are likely to go extinct by the end the century, primarily because of ocean warming, disease and ocean acidification, a government report said today. The National Marine Fisheries Service released a status review of 82 corals that are being considered for … Continue reading 56 coral species may go extinct this century due to climate change and ocean acidification→
By Craig Welch / The Seattle Times Researchers said Wednesday they have conclusive evidence that ocean acidification is at least partly responsible for killing oysters on the West Coast. It’s been eight years since baby oysters started dying by the billions at an Oregon hatchery and in Washington’s Willapa Bay. In 2009, top scientists drew … Continue reading Ocean acidification responsible for deaths of billions of baby oysters in Pacific Northwest→
By Karrie Gillett / Press Association Sixty-nine oil and chemical spills in the North Sea have been reported in three months. Eighteen companies were named in a table published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. The most recent incident was a gas leak at Total’s Elgin platform on 25 March. Professor Andrew Watterson, … Continue reading In 2012, North Sea has been suffering oil and chemical spills more than five days a week→
By New Zealand Herald The death of about 3000 dolphins on a stretch of Peruvian coast in recent months is being blamed on a controversial oil exploration technique. However other experts are not convinced, and believe a virus or pathogen may be responsible for one of the largest dolphin die-offs recorded. So far this year, … Continue reading Oil exploration technique probable cause for 3,000+ dolphin deaths off coast of Peru→
By Agence France-Presse Radioactive iodine was found in kelp off the US West Coast following last year’s earthquake-triggered Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, according to a new study. It was already known that radioactive iodine 131 (131-I), carried in the atmosphere, made it across the Pacific within days of the March 11, 2011 tsunami disaster, albeit … Continue reading Researchers find “significant levels of radioactive iodine” in kelp off US west coast→
By Jeremy Hance / Mongabay In 1872 the HMS Challenger pulled out from Portsmouth, England to begin an unprecedented scientific expedition of the world’s oceans. During its over three year journey the HMS Challenger not only collected thousands of new species and sounded unknown ocean depths, but also took hundreds of temperature readings—data which is … Continue reading Scientific records show that oceans have been heating up for more than a century→
By Peter Beaumont / The Guardian A new study of dolphins living close to the site of North America’s worst ever oil spill – the BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe two years ago – has established serious health problems afflicting the marine mammals. The report, commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], found that … Continue reading Diseased dolphins, contaminated zooplankton, and dead coral: the legacies of the BP oil spill→
By Agence France-Presse Greenhouse gases are likely to result in annual costs of nearly $2 trillion in damage to the oceans by 2100, according to a new Swedish study. The estimate by the Stockholm Environment Institute is based on the assumption that climate-altering carbon emissions continue their upward spiral without a pause. Warmer seas will … Continue reading Scientists say climate change would incur $2 trillion worth of damage annually to oceans→