Showing posts tagged environment
Study: Andes glaciers vanishing rapidly LiveScience:The glaciers of the Andes Mountains have retreated at an unprecedented rate in the past three decades. More ice has been lost than at any other time in the past 400 years. The retreat is worse in the Andes than average glacier loss around the world, researchers reported Tuesday. Photo: Part of the Pastoruri glacier is seen atop Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, or ”White Mountain Range.” The largest glacier chain in the tropics, the range is melting fast. (Karel Navarro  /  AP file)

Study: Andes glaciers vanishing rapidly

LiveScience:The glaciers of the Andes Mountains have retreated at an unprecedented rate in the past three decades. More ice has been lost than at any other time in the past 400 years.

The retreat is worse in the Andes than average glacier loss around the world, researchers reported Tuesday.

Photo: Part of the Pastoruri glacier is seen atop Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, or ”White Mountain Range.” The largest glacier chain in the tropics, the range is melting fast. (Karel Navarro  /  AP file)

Greenhouse gases hit a record high in 2011 BBC: Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record high in 2011, the World Meteorological Organization reports. In an annual report released Tuesday, the organization said carbon dioxide levels reached 391 parts per million in 2011. The organization estimates that 375 billion tons of carbon have been released into the atmosphere since 1750; half of that amount is believed to remain present in the atmosphere. Photo: WMO and NOAA operate monitoring stations around the world. (SPL)

Greenhouse gases hit a record high in 2011

BBC: Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record high in 2011, the World Meteorological Organization reports. In an annual report released Tuesday, the organization said carbon dioxide levels reached 391 parts per million in 2011.


The organization estimates that 375 billion tons of carbon have been released into the atmosphere since 1750; half of that amount is believed to remain present in the atmosphere.


Photo: WMO and NOAA operate monitoring stations around the world. (SPL)

Study: Half of Great Barrier Reef coral lost in last 27 years BBC: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half of its coral cover in the past 27 years, a study shows. Results from the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, show that coral cover declined from 28% to 13.8% between 1985 and 2012. Researchers attribute the decline to storms, a coral-feeding starfish and bleaching linked to climate change. Photo: A Harlequin Tuskfish shows off its tusks at Heron Island, a popular diving spot in the southern Great Barrier Reef. (Courtesy: Caitlin Seaview Survey) View high resolution

Study: Half of Great Barrier Reef coral lost in last 27 years

BBC: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half of its coral cover in the past 27 years, a study shows. Results from the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, show that coral cover declined from 28% to 13.8% between 1985 and 2012. Researchers attribute the decline to storms, a coral-feeding starfish and bleaching linked to climate change.

Photo: A Harlequin Tuskfish shows off its tusks at Heron Island, a popular diving spot in the southern Great Barrier Reef. (Courtesy: Caitlin Seaview Survey)