Antarctic Hunger
A researcher from the British Antarctic Survey warned in the
journal Nature that global warming and the resulting disappearance
of sea ice is causing a food shortage that could threaten whales,
seals and penguins around the frozen continent.
Antarctic Hunger
A researcher from the British Antarctic Survey warned in the journal Nature that global warming and the resulting disappearance of sea ice is causing a food shortage that could threaten whales, seals and penguins around the frozen continent.
Marine biologist Angus Atkinson said analysis of data from the last 40 winters shows the number of Antarctic krill, a shrimp-like creature that is a major maritime food source in the region, has declined to only one-fifth the level of 1975.
Krill feed on algae under the ice sheets that have extended outward from the Antarctic continent. But a gradual warming that has seen a rise of more than 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 50 years has also caused the ice sheets to diminish. “We’re already seeing some effects in certain penguin species at several sites in this area where krill are declining so much,” Atkinson warned.
Mediterranean Swarms
Cyprus began aerial spraying of insecticide to combat advancing swarms of red locusts, which blew into the Mediterranean island on hot desert winds from North Africa.
Three waves of the destructive insects arrived on Cyprus in as many days, with some swarms continuing on to Lebanon and becoming the first locusts to invade that country since World War I.
While some crop damage was reported in parts of Cyprus, Professor Nasri Qaawar of the American University of Beirut assured Lebanon’s agriculture minister that the locusts had arrived too late in the season to pose a serious threat there. Locusts ravaged Lebanon between 1914 and 1918, causing a famine that sparked a wave of emigration to North and South America.
Volcanoes
A volcano beneath Iceland’s largest glacier erupted with plumes of black ash that disrupted aviation across the North Atlantic and northern Europe.
Vulcanologists believe the eruption was caused by an expansion of a lake beneath the Vatnajokull glacier. “The water is under extreme pressure from the glacier. We believe it could open a part of the Grimsvotn Mountain, causing the release of some magma,” said Oli Thor Arnarsson at Iceland’s Meteorological Office.
• The Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert level at Taal Volcano, calling on visitors to the volcanic island to be vigilant in the wake of a marked increase in tremors. Taal is located in the middle of a caldera lake about 35 miles south of Manila.
Earthquakes
Western Japan was rocked by strong aftershocks of earthquakes that killed at least 39 people in Niigata prefecture late last month. No additional damage or fatalities were reported from the latest shakings.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern parts of Vancouver Island, southern Greece, northern Pakistan, the Russian Far East and the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Heat and Storms
Northern and central parts of Italy baked in a stretch of record hot temperatures, which were accompanied by severe storms that swamped the lagoon city of Venice for more than a week. Rome started the month of November with the hottest temperatures for the date since records began almost 150 years ago.
Flood of Records
More than 10 inches of rain falling within 24 hours near Hawaii’s famed Waikiki Beach unleashed a wave of floodwater 8 feet deep that rushed through the University of Hawaii’s main research library.
Flash flooding destroyed irreplaceable documents and even forced some students to break a window to escape. Several cars were carried downstream when Manoa Stream overflowed its banks, and a school and church that were due to serve as polling stations for the U.S. election were also damaged.
Wayward Herd Crisis
A tragic string of elephant raids, deaths and mourning has resulted from angry Bangladesh villagers erecting electrified nets to protect their crops from a herd of invading elephants.
The animals wandered across the border from neighboring India two years ago, but bureaucratic delays by both countries in repatriating the pachyderms have left them to destroy crops and kill dozens of humans on the Bangladesh side of the border. The latest tragedy began when one elephant was electrocuted by a fence set up to protect crops.
A second elephant was electrocuted by the same fence the following day when it returned with a herd of more than 30 to find and dig up the body of the first elephant, which had been buried by forestry staff.
“They were mourning the death of their beloved mate. It’s a very sad thing, but it shows the strong tie of friendship among those wild animals,” said divisional forest officer Abdul Latif Mia.
– By Steve Newman
