Environment

Whale watching is known to disturb the animals that tourists come to see. Image Credit - Flickr/spezz CC BY 2.0

27 February 2019

Noisier waters linked to behaviour change, hearing loss in whales

Studies investigating whale-watching boats and the inner ears of marine mammals could soon provide new insight into the effects of noisier oceans on cetaceans – dolphins, whales and porpoises – who depend on their hearing for navigating, finding food and communicating underwater.

The 2017 Chilean wildfires, along with those in Portugal, were confirmation that the new type of fire was here to stay. Image credit - Pablo Trincado, licensed under CC BY 2.0

security | environment

21 February 2019

‘It eats everything’ – the new breed of wildfire that’s impossible to predict

We’re fighting a different kind of wildfire whose behaviour experts are struggling to predict.

Very little is known about how the social behaviours of house sparrows are changing in urban habitats. Image Credit - Flickr/B Balaji, CC BY-NC 2.0

environment

29 January 2019

Bird immune systems reveal harshness of city life

They may peck greedily at feeding tables - and have it easier than country birds do in the warmer urban winters - but city birds, it turns out, are in turmoil on the inside.

Researchers plan to use drones to monitor bridges and tunnels during intense weather events. Image credit - FADA CATEC

security | environment | transport

17 January 2019

Preparing for extreme weather

From high winds and heavy rainfall to droughts and plummeting temperatures, people in Europe have already begun to feel the effects of extreme weather. As we get used to this new reality, scientists are investigating how it will affect how we get around and whether our infrastructure can cope.

Increased maritime traffic raises the risks of oil spills in the Arctic. Image Credit - CC0 Public Domain

environment | transport

17 December 2018

How to protect the Arctic as melting ice opens new shipping routes

Early this year, the Eduard Toll set a record: laden with liquefied natural gas, the tanker was the first commercial vessel to cross the Arctic in winter without an icebreaker.

Better tracking of forest data will make the climate change reporting process easier for countries who want compensation for protecting their carbon stock. Image credit - lubasi, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

environment

13 December 2018

Drones and satellite imaging to make forest protection pay

Every year 7 million hectares of forest are cut down, chipping away at the 485 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) stored in trees around the world, but low-cost drones and new satellite imaging could soon protect these carbon stocks and help developing countries get paid for protecting their trees.

Muostakh Island is part of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf which is the most vulnerable part of the Arctic coastline when it comes to permafrost thaw. Image credit - Prof. Igor Semiletov.

environment

12 December 2018

Arctic permafrost might contain ‘sleeping giant’ of world’s carbon emissions

As temperatures rise in the Arctic, permafrost, or frozen ground, is thawing. As it does, greenhouse gases trapped within it are being released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, leading to previously underestimated problems with ocean acidification and potential mercury poisoning.

Prof. Damien Ernst says current emissions-cutting activities are not working and it's time to consider new strategies. Image credit - University of Liège

interview | energy | environment

11 December 2018

Governments at COP24 should focus on building a global electricity grid – Prof. Damien Ernst

Governments at the COP24 climate change conference in Katowice, Poland, which ends on 14 December, should tackle fossil-fuel reliance by building a global energy grid that connects renewable energy from all around the world - and the best place to start is with a giant wind farm in Greenland, says Professor Damien Ernst, an energy scientist from the University of Liège, Belgium.

Sea ice is affected by water temperature while Greenland responds to atmospheric temperature rises. Image credit - Dr Teodóra Pados

environment

10 December 2018

Why we may be able to save the Greenland ice sheet

Studies of ice melt in the Arctic suggest that the world may have a fighting chance of preventing huge sea level changes that would result from the dramatic collapse of the vast ice sheets that cover Greenland, but that more work is needed to understand the wider effects.

Chemical contaminants can end up in the Arctic and add to the pressure on ecosystems, according to Marianne Kroglund. Image credit - Annette Ekin

interview | environment

03 December 2018

The Arctic faces substantial changes even if we meet climate targets – Marianne Kroglund

Melting sea ice, plastic waste, biodiversity loss – the Arctic is facing unprecedented environmental pressure and will continue to change until 2050 even if we meet targets to limit global warming, according to Marianne Kroglund from the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum addressing the challenges faced by Arctic governments and indigenous peoples.