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 …
The Earth's atmosphere and the Earth's magnetic field protects local life by shielding us against Solar particle flows, just like the sun's magnetic field deflects cosmic particle radiation. Generally, magnetic fields can affect terrestrial life such as migrating animals. Thus, terrestrial life is connected to astronomical interrelations between different magnetic …
The decarbonisation of energy sources requires additional investments in renewable technologies, including the installation of onshore and offshore wind farms. For wind energy to remain competitive, wind farms must continue to provide low-cost power even when covering larger areas. Inside very large wind farms, winds can decrease considerably from their …
Future extreme sea levels (ESLs) and flood risk along European coasts will be strongly impacted by global warming. Yet, comprehensive projections of ESL that include mean sea level (MSL), tides, waves, and storm surges do not exist. Here, we show changes in all components of ESLs until 2100 in view …
• Oil giant Shell is to launch a bid to leave the 10 vast concrete legs of three oil rigs standing in the North Sea for up to 500 years after the platforms have been decommissioned. • The company’s proposals also include the controversial suggestion that oil mixed with sediment …
European continental shelf seas have experienced intense warming over the past 30 years. In the North Sea, fish have been comprehensively monitored throughout this period and resulting data provide a unique record of changes in distribution and abundance in response to climate change. We use these data to demonstrate the …
One purpose of wind turbines is to provide pollution-free electric power at a reasonable price in an environmentally sound way. In this focus issue the latest research on the environmental impact of wind farms is presented. Offshore wind farms affect the marine fauna in both positive and negative ways. For …
European Union fisheries ministers hammered out a 2013 quota deal on Thursday which they said struck a compromise between protecting over-exploited stocks such as haddock and plaice and safeguarding fishermen's livelihoods. Ministers agreed to limit the cuts to catches proposed by the European Commission in several North East Atlantic fisheries …
Scotland's bid for independence bets on meeting ambitious renewable energy goals as much as on the dwindling riches of North Sea oil and gas. An estimated 90 percent of Britain's oil and gas is in Scottish territory, but output is dwindling fast and with it any prospect that it alone …
Fines issued for only seven of 4,123 oil spills since 2000, with no company having to pay more than £20,000 Oil companies operating in the North Sea have been fined for oil spills on just seven occasions since 2000, even though 4,123 separate spills were recorded over the same period, …
The future of carbon capture and storage in Europe has been thrown into doubt after £800m was wiped off the value of a prize fund for developing the technology. The NER300 fund was supposed to encourage firms across the continent to build commercially viable CCS projects in return for about …
Tough new limits on the maximum sulphur content of shipping fuels will come into effect in Europe at the end of the decade, after EU governments agreed on draft legislation on Wednesday. Air pollution from marine fuels with a high sulphur content is estimated to cause 50,000 premature deaths a …
Scotland's University of Edinburgh on Wednesday opened a centre to research the use of carbon to retrieve oil otherwise hard to extract from reservoirs, a method which could unlock three billion barrels of trapped North Sea oil worth 190 billion pounds ($300 billion). A number of developers of carbon capture …
Over a beer or two, Danes like to tell a story that goes like this: One night the energy ministers of the countries around the North Sea got together to divide up its oil and gas wealth. The Danish minister got very drunk, but the Norwegian managed to stay sober. …
The ongoing gas leak at Total's Elgin platform in the North Sea has not contaminated fish in the area with hydrocarbons, the Scottish government said on Tuesday, confirming findings made after a fish tasting test in mid-April. Chemical analysis of fish samples collected by government research group Marine Scotland just …
Britain's North Sea has the potential to lead the world in offshore wind and carbon capture and storage technology, British Prime Minister David Cameron said as over 20 companies signed a deal to turn the region into a major renewable energy hub. Major utilities such as Britain's Scottish Power and …
The ongoing North Sea gas leak at Total's Elgin platform has not directly contaminated the marine environment, the Scottish government said on Wednesday citing the results of tests of water and sediment. "All data gathered to date continues to demonstrate that the effects on the marine environment of the Elgin …
The Elgin drilling platform in the North Sea, off the east coast of Scotland, has been leaking natural gas since 25 March, 2012. As New Scientist went to press, Total, the company in charge, was still considering ways to stem the flow.
The natural gas leak at French oil group Total's Elgin platform in the North Sea is not having a major impact on the environment, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Total said a surveillance aircraft had spotted a sheen on the water near the platform estimated at about …
Legislators in the European Parliament backed plans on Thursday to limit the maximum sulfur content of shipping fuels to 0.1 percent in some cases, meaning ships would need to switch fuels or be fitted with exhaust filters. "Urgent action is needed to stem the rapid growth in pollution from shipping, …
If Europe is to achieve its renewable energy goals, its power grid will have to grow accordingly. New studies point to a need for expansion on land and at sea. The greatest challenge lies in coordination between governments.
