The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
With fisheries and aquaculture emerging as transformational forces for African economies, more needs to be done to mitigate the impacts of climate change and illegal fishing on oceans and coastal communities. This was the key message FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva delivered to leaders at the African Ministerial Conference …
Recent salinity changes in the Southern Ocean are among the most prominent signals of climate change in the global ocean, yet their underlying causes have not been firmly established. Here we propose that trends in the northward transport of Antarctic sea ice are a major contributor to these changes. Using …
Mauritius is hosting from 1 to 3 September 2016 the African Ministerial Conference on Ocean Economies and Climate Change which will be held at Westin Turtle Bay Resort & Spa in Balaclava. The conference, organised by the Government of Mauritius and the World Bank, will bring together African countries, development …
Ocean warming may well turn out to be the greatest hidden challenge of our generation. Whilst some may be aware of the challenges a warming ocean presents to coral reefs, few know about the other consequences this holds for the ocean. Ocean acidification emerged as a new story around 2004, …
Seafood fraud is a serious global problem that undermines honest businesses and fishermen that play by the rules. It also threatens consumer health and puts our oceans at risk. As global fishing becomes more expansive and further industrialized, seafood fraud and its related impacts could get even worse.
A World Bank report examining how the transition to a ‘blue economy’ for Caribbean countries could not only generate growth, but also help countries to gain greater resilience to external shocks by better preserving the ocean.
The evolution of industrial-era warming across the continents and oceans provides a context for future climate change and is important for determining climate sensitivity and the processes that control regional warming. Here we use post-AD 1500 palaeoclimate records to show that sustained industrial-era warming of the tropical oceans first developed …
Environmental audit committee calls for ban after hearing that microbeads harm marine life and enter the food chain Cosmetics companies must be banned from using plastic microbeads in scrubs, toothpaste and beauty products because of the marine pollution they are causing, say a group of MPs. Members of the environmental …
Devastated American scientists are probing a sudden, cataclysmic loss of up to half the coral in a section of a Gulf of Mexico marine sanctuary. "To say I'm shocked would be an understatement. I've studied this area for 19 years and I've never seen anything like this," said Emma Hickerson, …
The impact of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems will depend on species capacity to adapt. Recent studies show that the behaviour of reef fishes is impaired at projected CO 2 levels; however, individual variation exists that might promote adaptation. Here, we show a clear signature of parental sensitivity to high …
About the same amount of atmospheric carbon that goes into creating plants on land goes into the bodies of tiny marine plants known as plankton. When these plants die and sink, bacteria feed on their sinking corpses and return their carbon to the seawater. When plankton sink deep enough before …
World's longest laboratory experiment with the single-celled calcifying alga Emiliania huxleyi reveals that evolutionary adaptation to acidification is restricted The most abundant single-celled calcifying alga of the world's oceans, Emiliania huxleyi is basically able to adapt to ocean acidification through evolution. However, the longest evolution experiment that has been conducted …
Researchers are finding that kelp, eelgrass, and other vegetation can effectively absorb CO2 and reduce acidity in the ocean. Growing these plants in local waters, scientists say, could help mitigate the damaging impacts of acidification on marine life. Oregon’s picturesque Netarts Bay has long been known for its oysters. But …
Tropopause temperatures (TPTs) control the amount of stratospheric water vapour, which influences chemistry, radiation and circulation in the stratosphere, and is also an important driver of surface climate. Decadal variability and long-term trends in tropical TPTs as well as stratospheric water vapour are largely unknown. Here, we present for the …
China has begun to build the first Sino-French satellite and plans to launch it in 2018 to improve oceanographical research, according to Chinese space scientists. The development of the prototype of China-France Oceanography Satellite, known as CFOSAT, has finished and production of the satellite has started, said Dong Xiaolong, assistant …
Marine phytoplankton may adapt to ocean change, such as acidification or warming, because of their large population sizes and short generation times. Long-term adaptation to novel environments is a dynamic process, and phenotypic change can take place thousands of generations after exposure to novel conditions. We conducted a long-term evolution …
Ice sheets, deserts, rivers, islands, coasts and oceans -- the features of Earth's surface are wildly different, spread across a vast geography. The same is true for Earth's thin film of atmosphere and the mix of gases it holds, although the details are invisible to human eyes. Pollutants emitted to …
The Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP) has warmed and grown substantially during the past century. The IPWP is Earth’s largest region of warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs), has the highest rainfall, and is fundamental to global atmospheric circulation and hydrological cycle. The region has also experienced the world’s highest rates of …
There was a period during the last ice age when temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere went on a rollercoaster ride, plummeting and then rising again every 1,500 years or so. Those abrupt climate changes wreaked havoc on ecosystems, but their cause has been something of a mystery. New evidence published …
A new study by Trucost finds the environmental cost of using plastics in consumer goods and packaging is nearly four times less than it would be if plastics were replaced with alternative materials. The study is based on natural capital accounting methods, which measure and value environmental impacts—such as consumption …
