Showing posts with label Antarctica. Show all posts

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Wellness Update: Antarctica: Polar explorer to take students to Antarctica

gulfnews : Polar explorer to take students to Antarctica:

"As Swan pursued his childhood dream of becoming an adventurer and environmentalist, 20 years later he is on a mission to create sustainability champions focusing on youth in various countries, including the Middle East, India and China.

'On those journeys 20 years ago, I walked under a hole in the ozone layer in the South Pole and my eyes burnt out… when I walked to the North Pole all the ice caps were melting and I made a decision back then that my job would be to inspire young people. I took up the role of being the Indiana Jones of environment for young people globally.'

Adventures with youngsters

In September he will take a group of schoolchildren, who won the Shell Better Environment Award 2011 in collaboration with Shell and the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, on a trip on his yacht to Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
This comes after a series of recent school visits to encourage students to participate in programmes supporting the UAE environment and urging them to heighten their interest in health, safety and the environment.

The Shell Better Environment Awards 2011 were launched in November 2010 to raise awareness and inspire the younger generation to contribute in addressing key challenges concerning the environment, health and safety."

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wellness Update; Antarctica: Ozone Hole A Surprise Rainmaker : Discovery News

Ozone Hole A Surprise Rainmaker : Discovery News: "The idea that losing ozone in the cold stratosphere over the South Pole could affect weather in the lower atmosphere all the way to the warm equator means Earth's changing climate system is even more complicated than most everyone thought.

The modeling study, published in the recent online issue of the journal Science, revealed that thinning of the ozone layer prompts severe cooling in the lower stratosphere over Antarctica. This cooling causes the lower level troposphere to rise and leads to a poleward shift in a strand of strong winds known as the westerly jet. Moving this jet stream pulls the storm track and other atmospheric circulation features farther south.

In the latter half of the 20th Century, observations tracked the southerly migration of the band of sinking air over the dry Subtropics and the rising air over the Tropics. The changing atmospheric patterns brought more rainfall, especially in summer, to subtropical regions that were previously dry, including eastern Australia."

Thursday, April 14, 2011

WELLNESS UPDATE IN ANTARCTICA: Antarctic krill harvest under scrutiny after penguin study

Antarctic krill harvest under scrutiny after penguin study: "Most abundant

The shrimp-like Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is one of the globe’s most abundant species found in densities of up to 30,000 creatures in a cubic-metre of seawater. Rich in phospholipids and omega-3s, they are harvested by companies such as Aker Biomarine and Neptune to make omega-3 products.

The British Antarctic Survey said the research underlined the need to monitor krill populations. The organization’s Simeon Hill told NutraIngredientsUSA: “This is a very welcome piece of research which illustrates that krill is a key part of a complex ecosystem. There are many causes of change in this ecosystem, including fluctuations in the climate and long term changes in the balance of species in the foodweb.

“These changes to penguin populations are a useful reminder of the need to continue to monitor and carefully regulate the krill fishery to ensure that it does not become an additional source of pressure on vulnerable populations.”

Last month, Hill told an omega-3 conference in Bruges, Belgium that the annual krill harvest ot 210,000 tonnes was 34 percent of the limit of 620,000 tonnes set to minimize environmental risk."

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Ozone layer faces record loss over Arctic - Yahoo! News

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Ozone layer faces record loss over Arctic

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press – Tue Apr 5, 5:47 am ET

GENEVA – The depletion of the ozone layer shielding Earth from damaging ultraviolet rays has reached an unprecedented low over the Arctic this spring because of harmful chemicals and a cold winter, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday.

The Earth's fragile ozone layer in the Arctic region has suffered a loss of about 40 percent from the start of winter until late March, exceeding the previous seasonal loss of about 30 percent, the World Meteorological Organization said.

The Geneva-based agency blamed the loss on a buildup of ozone-eating chemicals once widely used as coolants and fire retardants in a variety of appliances and on very cold temperatures in the stratosphere, the second major layer of the Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere.

Arctic ozone conditions vary more than the seasonal ozone "hole" that forms high in the stratosphere near the South Pole each winter and spring, and the temperatures are always warmer than over Antarctica.

Because of changing weather and temperatures some Arctic winters experience almost no ozone loss while others with exceptionally cold stratospheric conditions can occasionally lead to substantial ozone depletion, U.N. scientists say.

This year the Arctic winter was warmer than average at ground level, but colder in the stratosphere than normal Arctic winters. U.N. officials say the latest losses — unprecedented, but not entirely unexpected — were detected in observations from the ground and from balloons and satellites over the Arctic.

Atmospheric scientists who are concerned about global warming focus on the Arctic because that is a region where the effects are expected to be felt first.

Ozone scientists have said that significant Arctic ozone depletion is possible in the case of a cold and stable Arctic stratospheric winter. Ozone losses occur over the polar regions when temperatures drop below -78 degrees Celsius (-108 Fahrenheit), when clouds form in the stratosphere.

Average temperatures in January range from about -40 to 0 C (-40 to 32 F), while average temperatures in July range from about -10 to 10 C (14 to 50 F).

"The Arctic stratosphere continues to be vulnerable to ozone destruction caused by ozone-depleting substances linked to human activities," said WMO secretary-general Michel Jarraud. "The degree of ozone loss experienced in any particular winter depends on the meteorological conditions."

The loss comes despite the U.N. ozone treaty, known as the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which has resulted in cutbacks in ozone-damaging chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons, halons and other, that were used in the making of refrigerators, air conditioners, fire extinguishers and even hairspray.

The 196-nation ozone treaty encourages industries to use replacement chemicals less damaging to ozone, the atmospheric layer that helps protect against the sun's most harmful rays.

But because these compounds have long atmospheric lifetimes, it takes decades for their concentrations to subside to pre-1980 levels as was agreed in the Montreal Protocol.

U.N. officials project the ozone layer outside the polar regions will recover to pre-1980 levels sometime between 2030 and 2040.

Monday, April 4, 2011

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News - UPI.com

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Study: Southern Ocean under human threat

SOUTHAMPTON, England, March 31 (UPI) -- The native fauna and ecology of the Southern Ocean, the vast body of water around the Antarctic continent, is under threat from human activity, researchers say.

"Although Antarctica is still the most pristine environment on Earth, its marine ecosystems are being degraded through the introduction of alien species, pollution, overfishing, and a mix of other human activities," said Sven Thatje of the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science at the U.K. National Oceanography Center.

That conclusion is based on an extensive review by U.K. and U.S. researchers of the impacts of a wide range of human activities on the ecosystems of Antarctica, an NOC release said Thursday.

The Antarctic Treaty system, which includes environmental and fisheries management, provides an effective framework for the management and protection of the continent, but some of the threats are not being fully addressed, researchers said.

Some impacts such as pollution can be relatively localized, they said, but global climate change caused by human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has the potential to affect the entire Antarctic region for decades.

"Simultaneous action at local, regional and global scales is needed if we are to halt the damage being done to the marine ecosystems of the Southern Ocean," Richard Aronson, a paleoecologist at the Florida Institute of Technology, said.