General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - October 2015

Oct 2015

Nov 21, 2015

Ocean 'Dead Zones' Begot by Warming

A new study has linked low-oxygen 'dead zones' in North Pacific to the past ocean warming.
The study has found a link between abrupt ocean warming at the end of the last ice age and the sudden onset of low-oxygen, or hypoxic, conditions that led to the vast marine dead zones.
This work tackles a long-standing debate about what causes expansion of Oxygen Minimum Zones, also known as dead zones, in the oceans and the results demonstrate a link between warming surface temperatures and dead zones at great depths.

Nov 19, 2015

Ice Cap in Iceland Gaining Mass

According to a glaciologist, the visible snow cover is typical for this time of the year, compared to conditions during the past 15-20 years. Compared to the reference period of 1961-1990, snow cover is almost certainly less than average in the highland and mountain regions above 400 meters in elevation.
The melting of seasonal snow cover accentuates the boundaries of Iceland’s permanent ice caps.
All ice caps in Iceland have been retreating rapidly and losing volume since 1995. In October 2015, scientists showed that the Hofsjökull ice cap had gained mass according to their ground-based measurements.

Penguin Numbers on the Rise

Shrinking glaciers are leading to the birth of more Adelie penguins in the East Antarctica region.
The findings show that in the last 14,000 years, the population of Adelie penguins has seen a 135-fold increase as additional breeding sites become exposed by retreating glaciers.
This population explosion suggests that current environmental conditions are more favourable for Adelie penguins than they were at the end of the last ice age.

Nov 18, 2015

Climate Change Biggest Threat to Polar Bear Survival

According to a new study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, global warming is now the single most important threat to the survival of the polar bear with retreating sea ice set to decimate populations.
The study found a “high probability” that the polar bears will suffer a 30% decline in population by 2050 due to the loss of their habitat, which is disappearing at a faster rate than predicted by climate models.
There is a high risk of extinction and the threat is serious.

Nov 15, 2015

Fast-melting Glacier Can Change World's Coastlines

A new study has revealed that a vast ice sheet in northeast Greenland has begun a phase of speeded-up ice loss, contributing to destabilization that will cause global sea-level rise.
A team of scientists have found that since 2012 warmer air and sea temperatures have caused the Zachariae Isstrom ice sheet to "retreat rapidly along a downward-sloping, marine-based bed.
The Zachariae Isstrom glacier holds enough water to trigger a half-meter rise in ocean levels around the world.

Nov 13, 2015

Collapsing Greenland Glacier

A major glacier in Greenland that holds enough water to raise global sea levels by half a metre has begun to crumble into the North Atlantic Ocean.
The huge Zachariae Isstrom glacier in northeast Greenland started to melt rapidly in 2012 and is now breaking into large icebergs where the glacier meets the sea.
The calving of the glacier into chunks of floating ice will set in train a rise in sea levels that will continue for decades to come.

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