Global warming documentary Chasing Ice to show at Princeton film festival
Houses swept away by floodwaters; record drought, wildfire and hurricanes; melting ice caps and the hottest summer on record – how can anyone doubt global warming? Photographer James Balog, once a skeptic, sets out to prove it through his Extreme Ice Survey, capturing photographic evidence of melting, disappearing glaciers. Filmmaker Jeff Orlowski documents the lengths to which Balog goes to prove his point – including kicking off his boots to plunge into the icy water for one chilling shot in Chasing Ice. Despite a bum knee, Balog hikes ice caps in Alaska, Iceland and Greenland, placing specially developed cameras that will endure ...
Deep sea expedition reveals Mediterranean secrets
During most of August, Ballard's research team on board the EV Nautilus have concentrated on the unique geological makeup of the Eratosthenes Seamount, one of the largest features on the eastern Mediterranean seafloor. Ballard shot to fame after 'discovering' the Titanic in 1985 “We have found a lot of fascinating things," Ballard told DW, on board the Nautilus. "You have to realize that when you go where no one has gone before on planet earth, you are not really sure what you're going to find.” “We've been making some real biological discoveries, and we've also been mapping two Ottoman war galleys which sank ...
Pollution Playing A Major Role In Sea Temperatures
The Atlantic Ocean, especially the North Atlantic, is peculiar: Every few decades, the average temperature of surface water there changes dramatically. Scientists want to know why that is, especially because these temperature shifts affect the weather. New research suggests that human activity is part of the cause. Scientists originally thought that maybe some mysterious pattern in deep-ocean currents, such as an invisible hand stirring a giant bathtub, created this temperature see-saw. And that may be part of it. But there's a new idea: The cause isn't in the water; it's above it — a kind of air pollution called aerosols. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="590" ...
Marine Scientists Discover New Chemosynthesis Process In “Mussel Power”
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology and the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) have discovered a third form of energy that powers the likes of certain mussels, shrimp, and worms found in the surroundings of hydrothermal vents. Earlier discoveries of chemosynthesis at the vents included sulfur oxidation and methane oxidation systems, but now it appears that the creatures oxidize hydrogen too - and a lot of it! Hydrothermal vents spew hot minerals into the sea from newly formed crusts in the earth: © MARUM Discovered some 30 years ago, hydrothermal vents are created at the depths of the ...
Greenland Ice Sheet Experiences Record Melt
The Greenland ice sheet, a vast body of ice covering 80% of the country, experienced a record melt in 2010. The remote island of Greenland is at the coal face of global warming. The Greenland ice sheet makes up around one-twentieth of the worlds ice. In 2010 much of Greenland experienced unusually warm weather, extending the annual melting season by 50 days. Research published by the City College of New York's Cryospheric Processes Laboratory shows that since 1979 the area subject to melting in Greenland has been increasing at a rate of 17,000 kilometers square each year. This means that an area ...
Preserving sandy beach ecosystems – the way forward
European Commission DG ENV, Science for Environment Policy Environment News Alert Service Special Issue 8, Sept 2008 The combined impacts of climate change and increasing population pressures on coastal areas for living and recreation have placed beach ecosystems under severe pressure. New research suggests efforts to preserve the biodiversity of sandy beach ecosystems should be undertaken within the framework of Integrated Coastal Management(1). The aim is to integrate the physical protection of coastlines with the conservation of threatened ecosystems. As key recreational sites, sandy beaches are of prime social, cultural and economic importance and dominate the world's coastlines. They also provide critical and ...
Protecting Our Habitats
USDA announces major water quality effort in Florida
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $100 million in financial assistance...
South Florida Farmers Achieve Record Year in Water Quality Success
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 11, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ — Farmers in the...
San Diego Mayor Limits City’s Use of Single-Use Plastic Water Bottles, Plastic Foam Products
San Diego Coastkeeper applauds the action, which stems from the organization’s...
Read More ArticlesWater Quality Issues
For ocean critters, plastic packs double whammy
Products made from the particular plastic used to make water bottles (polyethylene...
NRDC: Defending Communities
QA with Kate Sinding, NRDC senior attorney and deputy director of the New York urban...
New Zealand, China and Cook Islands Join to Improve Water Quality
On the 31st of August 2012 a new partnership was set between New Zealand, China and...
Read More ArticlesOcean Energy
Feds approve license for wave-energy park
REEDSPORT — A wave energy company that plans to build a 30-acre ocean energy power station off Reedsport has received a green light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Last week, FERC granted Ocean Power Technologies the first license for a wave power station in the United States. If completed, OPT’s 10-buoy park will be the first... [Read more of this review]
Ocean Place Getting Energy Efficient Upgrades
From Ocean Place Resort and Spa: Lime Energy Co. announced this month that Ocean Place has signed a partnering agreement under the NJ Clean Energy’s Pay for Performance (P4P) to help identify and implement energy reduction and conservation measures to help reduce the resort’s consumption by a minimum of 15 percent. Consisting of 254 guest rooms... [Read more of this review]
Marine Scientists Discover New Chemosynthesis Process In “Mussel Power”
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology and the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) have discovered a third form of energy that powers the likes of certain mussels, shrimp, and worms found in the surroundings of hydrothermal vents. Earlier discoveries of chemosynthesis at the vents included sulfur oxidation... [Read more of this review]
Philippines set to have first ocean energy plant by 2018
Philippine Daily Inquirer The Department of Energy (DoE) expects the Philippines’ first ocean energy facility to start commercial operations by 2018. Data from the National Renewable Energy Plan book showed that the first project to go into operation will be the 10-megawatt Cabangan ocean energy thermal conversion (Otec) project in Zambales. The... [Read more of this review]
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