Global Warming

The most thorough assessment of land and marine mammals in 12 years, just published in Science, says that a quarter of the world's wild mammal species are at risk of extinction.

It took nearly 2,000 experts in more than 100 countries five years to complete the research. In other words: this one's big, and ought to be paid some serious attention.

While land mammals are most threatened by habitat loss and hunting, marine mammals are more in danger from bycatch, ship strikes and pollution.

The volume of Arctic sea ice may be at its thinnest and most critical point in human history.

Despite recent headlines touting no new records for this year (it's looking like there will be slightly more sea ice this year than the 2007 record low) sea ice conditions overall are worse than ever before.

The Arctic sea ice is thinner and newer than it has been since scientists first set out to monitor sea ice extent in the 1970s. Since 1985, the Arctic has experienced a 56 percent decline in sea ice older than five years and the oldest ice has already vanished.

Not breaking records in this case is a good thing; however, with such a persistent yearly loss of older, thicker sea ice, don't be fooled, trends in the Arctic are dire.

For more on climate change, see http://oceana.org/climate.

News from Miriam at the Oyster's Garter: There's a new documentary about ocean acidification coming in early 2009.

A Sea Change follows "retired educator and concerned grandfather Sven Huseby back to stunning ancestral sites (Norway, Alaska the Pacific Northwest) where he finds cutting-edge ocean research underway. His journey of self-discovery brings adventure, surprise and revelation to the hard science of acidification."

Ocean acidification is one of those climate change nasties that most people have a general idea about. But when it comes to its long-term consequences, they're blissfully ignorant, which is why a documentary like this has the potential to be a great thing, in my opinion (and if Al Gore has anything to say about it.) Watch the trailer below:

Greenland holds the world's second largest amount of ice, second only to Antarctica. Ice covers four-fifths of Greenland's surface and reaches depths of almost two miles at its thickest spots. The island's large glaciers get the most attention and are attentively monitored while the smaller glaciers go largely unobserved. But a new study reports that it's actually these small coastal glaciers that are more significant, in terms of melting and contribution to sea level rise, than the larger glaciers.

Can climate change cause animals to shrink in body size over time? Ecologists say yes, but that it is not likely to occur for years to come. Ecologists have long understood that animals living in warmer climates are generally smaller than those inhabiting colder climates. Since smaller animals have more surface area relative to the volume of their bodies, they can radiate heat more efficiently than larger animals so they can cope better in warm climates.

Due to global warming fueling an Arctic meltdown, the Northwest and Northeast Passages may possibly be concurrently free of ice for the first time in about 125,000 years. Scientists at the University of Bremen pieced together NASA satellite image maps of the sea ice, which revealed a startling image of a possible Arctic "island".

A circumnavigable Arctic would allow commercial ships to shorten trip times by navigating through the Arctic. However, increased ship traffic in the Arctic would lead to more precarious conditions for Arctic ecosystems and wildlife. Allowing large shipping vessels, and prospectors seeking oil and gas, easier access to once hard to reach areas would increase the potential for oil spills, ship strikes with marine life, and increased pollution from ships, including black carbon, a potent Arctic warmer.

For more on climate change see http://oceana.org/climate.

As global warming is rapidly melting glaciers and causing sea water to thermally expand, scientists are working hard to make realistic predictions on the extent of sea level rise that could occur by the end of the 21st century.

In a 2007 report, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), predicted a rise of 0.6-2 ft by 2100 and now researchers are estimating an even greater increase. A new report published in Science provides a new estimate of sea level rise: As much as 2.6-6.6 ft (0.8-2 m) by 2100, based on the rate of possible future glacier melt.

A Japanese zoo's efforts to be green turned its polar bears, well, green.

Three bears in the zoo got the eco dye job because of their pond's algae overgrowth, a result of high temperatures in July and August and less-frequent water changes due to the zoo's conservation efforts.

...would you be so kind as to spare the sea turtles? We'd appreciate it.

As Tropical Storm Hanna hurtles toward the Carolinas, ETA this weekend, with feisty-sounding Ike chasing along right behind her, let's hope they have mercy on the turtles (and humans) in their path.

I'm particularly concerned about this season's storms because an upcoming project of mine hinges on them. What's this mysterious project, you ask? Well, I was going to keep it a secret, but I've never been too good at that. So here's the news: the week of September 13-20, I'll be heading to my home state of North Carolina to follow around the folks at the Bald Head Island Conservancy in their efforts to protect loggerhead sea turtles. And I'll be blogging about it, too.

The idea, of course, is to catch a glimpse of some sea turtles peek out of their shells and make the perilous waddle to the sea. But as these storms swirl closer, I'm fretting that my chances of seeing turtle hatchlings are fading with my suntan.

Turtle nests are often wiped out by the storms. And the strongest storms, according to a new study, are made even stronger as a result of climate change.

And aside from getting washed away by storms, turtles are affected by climate change in other ways. For example, as beaches get warmer, a higher percentage of female turtles are born, setting off change in the population's sex ratio. Plus, climate change affects ocean currents, which in turn affects turtles' migration patterns.

I hate to do this to y'all, but...

BBC has more bad news about Arctic ice loss, just a few days after I wrote about it on Friday.

Seems as though there's about to be another broken record on this front... and I'm going to start sounding like one.

So here's a little something to momentarily cheer you up.