By Richard Luscombe, The Guardian Harmful algae bloom off south-west coast blamed for deaths of marine life and poses threat to beaches. Algal blooms from satellite for south-west Florida. Photograph: National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Environmentalists in Florida are calling on the governor, Ron DeSantis, to declare an emergency as a worsening …
Major SoCal storm triggers evacuation orders in LA County amid flood threats
By Rebecca Falconer, Axios K-rail set up on Palisades Drive on Wednesday to prevent possible mudslides and debris flow from the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades. Photo: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images A powerful atmospheric river-linked storm that began slamming Southern California on Wednesday prompted evacuation orders in Los Angeles County …
Earth saw record-high greening in 2020: What’s at the root?
Phys.Org Satellite-based leaf area index (LAI), a measure of leaf abundance at the surface, illustrates changes in vegetation greenness from 2003 to 2020. Credit: Remote Sensing of Environment (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114494 As pandemic lockdowns forced humans into isolation, Earth’s vegetation was thriving. The year 2020 was the greenest in modern satellite records …
Temperatures at north pole 20C above average and beyond ice melting point
By Ajit Niranjan, The Guardian Scientists say unusually mild temperatures linked to low-pressure system over Iceland directing strong flow of warm air towards north pole. Scientists say they expect the Arctic Ocean to lose sea-ice cover in summer for the first time over the next two decades. Photograph: Jose Luis Stephens/Alamy …
Produce in home gardens near PFAS plant in US contain dangerous levels of chemicals
By Tom Perkins The Guardian Research provides more evidence that food is a potentially overlooked exposure route to toxic ‘forever chemicals’ Produce grown in home gardens around a North Carolina PFAS plant contain dangerous levels of the chemicals, new research has found, providing more evidence that food is a potentially overlooked exposure …
Ice stupas of the Ladakh desert: an ingenious solution to water scarcity – a picture essay
By Ciril Jazbec, The Guardian The giant 33.5-metre tall Shara Phuktsey ice stupa in Ladakh, 80km south-east of the regional capital, Leh, stored about 7.5m litres of water and helped irrigate fields in four villages Farmers in the northern Indian region used to rely on snow and glacier meltwater, but …
‘Awe-inspiring and harrowing’: how two orcas with a taste for liver decimated the great white shark capital of the world
By Jack Cooper, The Guardian Orcas attack a great white shark in Mossel Bay, about 190 miles east of Gansbaai on the Western Cape, South Africa. Photograph: Drone fanatics SA A decade ago, up to 1,000 of the apex predators lived in one South African bay. Now they have gone, fleeing …
High fertiliser use halves numbers of pollinators, world’s longest study finds
By Phoebe Weston, The Guardian Even average use of nitrogen fertilisers cut flower numbers fivefold and halved pollinating insects. Using high levels of common fertilisers on grassland halves pollinator numbers and drastically reduces the number of flowers, research from the world’s longest-running ecological experiment has found. Increasing the amount of …
Invasive pike use marine corridors to colonize new Alaska territory
By Jeff Richardson, Phys.Org Invasive northern pike are displayed after being caught in Vogel Lake on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Credit: Rob Massengill, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Northern pike are moving through salt water to invade freshwater habitats in Southcentral Alaska, according to a recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE. …
Shrinking trees and tuskless elephants: the strange ways species are adapting to humans
By Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian A tuskless African elephant in Gorongosa national park, which saw heavy poaching during Mozambique’s civil war. As elephants were killed for their ivory, the genes for large tusks were removed from the population and many adults, especially females like this one, now have no tusks …