Antarctic ice melt reveals exotic creatures

Antarctic ice melt reveals exotic creatures - CNN.com

Spindly orange sea stars, fan-finned ice fish and herds of roving sea cucumbers are among the exotic creatures spied off the Antarctic coast in an area formerly covered by ice, scientists reported Sunday.

This is the first time explorers have been able to catalog wildlife where two mammoth ice shelves used to extend for some 3,900 square miles over the Weddell Sea.

At least 5,000 years old, the ice shelves collapsed in two stages over the last dozen years. One crumbled 12 years ago and the other followed in 2002.

Global warming is seen as the culprit behind the ice shelves' demise, said Gauthier Chapelle of the Polar Foundation in Brussels.

"These kind of collapses are expected to happen more," he said. "What we're observing here is probably going to happen elsewhere around Antarctica."

Melting ice shelves are not expected to directly contribute much to global sea level rise, but glaciologists believe these vast swaths of ice act like dams to slow down glaciers as they move over the Antarctic land mass toward the coast. Without the ice shelves, glaciers may move over the water more quickly, and this would substantially add to rising seas.

Since 1974, 5,213 square miles of ice shelves have disintegrated in the Antarctic Peninsula.

But the collapse of the ice shelves gave the scientists a unique opportunity to see what had been hidden beneath them; before the collapse, researchers could only peer through holes drilled deep into the ice.

Chapelle and other scientists from 14 nations traveled to the area aboard the icebreaking vessel Polarstern in a 10-week voyage to investigate underwater wildlife along the Antarctic peninsula, the part of the southern continent that curves up toward South America.

Looking down 2,800 feet into the icy water -- a comparatively shallow depth -- they found fauna usually associated with seabeds about three times that deep, in places where the creatures must adapt to scarcity to survive.

There were blue ice fish, with dorsal fins like ribbed fans and blood that lacks red cells, an adaptation that makes the blood more fluid and easier to pump through the animal's body, conserving energy at low temperatures.

Long-limbed sea stars, some with more than the usual five appendages, mingled with the ice fish, and groups of sea cucumbers were observed moving together, all in one direction.

The explorers also found thick settlements of fast-growing animals called sea squirts, which look like gelatinous bags, which apparently started colonizing the area only after the ice shelves collapsed.

Among the hundreds of specimens collected, the scientists identified 15 possible new species of shrimp-like amphipods, and four possible new species of cnidarians, organisms related to coral, jellyfish and sea anemones, the scientists said in a statement.

These specimens will be analyzed to determine whether they in fact are newly discovered species.

Climate change will hurt more than environment

The Border Mail - Climate change will hurt more than environment

Climate change will hurt more than environment

CLIMATE change is one of the great challenges we face as a nation because it is much more than simply a threat to our environment.

What we know from the many expert scientific and economic research reports done on the impact of climate change is that failing to take real action now will hurt the Australian economy and cost jobs.

The scientists have spoken. If we fail to take action now, unpredictable changes to our climate will intensify. There will be longer and more intense droughts, sea levels will rise due to melting ice caps and there will be more extreme weather events. This will hurt our economy.

The easiest way to understand the devastating impact climate change could have on the Australian economy is to consider the relationship between climate change and drought.

Climate change will mean drier and longer droughts, which means more lost agricultural production.

Sadly the Howard Government has failed to act on climate change for 10 long years. Many senior ministers in the Howard Government, including the Prime Minister himself, are still sceptics.

We cannot solve drought and the national water crisis if we don't have a plan for climate change. And we cannot fix climate change with a government full of sceptics.

Of course it is not just droughts and the farmers who live through them who will be affected by climate change. Changes in sea temperatures will significantly alter available fish stocks and marine life in our rivers and fisheries, and rising sea levels pose a serious threat to our costal communities.

As a nation we face a fork in the road on climate change. We can go Mr Howard's way of inaction, or we can go the federal Labor way of tackling the climate change challenges that lie ahead.

If we are elected to government later this year, Labor will take real action to address climate change now. Not in five years, or 10 years or 15 years — a Rudd Labor government will take action on day one.

Labor will start by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. John Howard and George Bush are the only western leaders in the world who have not ratified this protocol.

Without a global system to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will continue to accelerate the threat to Australia's economy.

The Kyoto Protocol is the only truly global initiative capable of co-ordinating a global response to climate change.

Labor is also committed to introducing a national emissions trading scheme. This will create a market for carbon emissions that will give companies a financial incentive to reduce the amount of carbon emissions they produce.

Everyone agrees that there will be a cost associated with reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

A national emissions trading scheme ensures that cost is distributed by the market itself.

Finally Labor will significantly increase Australia's mandatory renewable energy target. Renewable energies, including wind and solar power will be a significant part of Australia's long-term response to climate change.

Labor will never resort to building 25 nuclear power stations across Australia.

In recent weeks, I announced that Labor will convene a national climate change summit in Canberra this year.

I have decided to bring together some of the nation's best business and science brains for a summit that will shape a national consensus on the best way forward for Australia over the next decade.

Invitations will be extended to Mr Howard and his ministers; premiers, chief ministers and their opposition counterparts; representatives of local government; and, senior government officials. Invitations will also be extended to other community leaders, labour movement leaders and non-government organisations.

The summit will certainly shape Labor's existing and prospective plans for dealing with the climate change challenge over the next decade.

Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming

Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming

Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming

Global warming is a dramatically urgent and serious problem. We don't need to wait for governments to solve this problem: each one of us can bring an important help adopting a more responsible lifestyle: starting from little, everyday things. It's the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too late.

Here is a list of 50 simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of them are at no cost, some other require a little investment but can help you save a lot of money, in the middle-long term!

0. Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
   CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

0. Install a programmable thermostat
   Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.

0. Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
   Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has more tips for saving energy on heating and cooling.

0. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
   Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

0. Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
   Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most efficient models available.

0. Do not leave appliances on standby
   Use the "on/off" function on the machine itself. A TV set that's switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.

0. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
   You'll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 50°C.

0. Move your fridge and freezer
   Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers.

0. Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly
   Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their predecessors.

0. Don't let heat escape from your house over a long period
   When airing your house, open the windows for only a few minutes. If you leave a small opening all day long, the energy needed to keep it warm inside during six cold months (10ºC or less outside temperature) would result in almost 1 ton of CO2 emissions.

0. Replace your old single-glazed windows with double-glazing
   This requires a bit of upfront investment, but will halve the energy lost through windows and pay off in the long term. If you go for the best the market has to offer (wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission glass and filled with argon gas), you can even save more than 70% of the energy lost.

0. Get a home energy audit
   Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find an energy specialist.

0. Cover your pots while cooking
   Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!

0. Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
   If you need to use it when it is half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.

0. Take a shower instead of a bath
   A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximise the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort.

0. Use less hot water
   It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot.

0. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible
   You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year.

0. Insulate and weatherize your home
   Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25% of your home heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and weather-stripping can save another 1,700 pounds per year. Energy Efficient has more information on how to better insulate your home.

0. Be sure you're recycling at home
   You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates. Earth 911 can help you find recycling resources in your area.

0. Recycle your organic waste
   Around 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions through the methane is released by decomposing bio-degradable waste. By recycling organic waste or composting it if you have a garden, you can help eliminate this problem! Just make sure that you compost it properly, so it decomposes with sufficient oxygen, otherwise your compost will cause methane emissions and smell foul.

0. Buy intelligently
   One bottle of 1.5l requires less energy and produces less waste than three bottles of 0.5l. As well, buy recycled paper products: it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.

0. Choose products that come with little packaging and buy refills when you can
   You will also cut down on waste production and energy use!

0. Reuse your shopping bag
   When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.

0. Reduce waste
   Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in one or another way, e.g. during production and distribution. By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of a disposable one, you save the energy needed to produce new lunch boxes.

0. Plant a tree
   A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. The Arbor Day Foundation has information on planting and provides trees you can plant with membership.

0. Switch to green power
   In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean, renewable sources such as wind and solar. The Green Power Network is a good place to start to figure out what's available in your area.

0. Buy locally grown and produced foods
   The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.

0. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen
   Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

0. Seek out and support local farmers markets
   They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer's market in your area at the USDA website.

0. Buy organic foods as much as possible
   Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we'd remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!

0. Eat less meat
   Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

0. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible
   Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area.

0. Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates
   Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free national service connecting commuters and travelers.

0. Don't leave an empty roof rack on your car
   This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight - removing it is a better idea.

0. Keep your car tuned up
   Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.

0. Drive carefully and do not waste fuel
   You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead of the pedal brake when possible and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless for more than one minute. By readjusting your driving style you can save money on both fuel and car mantainance.

0. Check your tires weekly to make sure they're properly inflated
   Proper inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!

0. When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle
   You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid! You can find information on fuel efficiency on FuelEconomy and on GreenCars websites.

0. Try car sharing
   Need a car but don't want to buy one? Community car sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and insurance. Many companies – such as Flexcar - offer low emission or hybrid cars too! Also, see ZipCar.

0. Try telecommuting from home
   Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive every week. For more information, check out the Telework Coalition.

0. Fly less
   Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. You can also offset your air travel by investing in renewable energy projects.

0. Encourage your school or business to reduce emissions
   You can extend your positive influence on global warming well beyond your home by actively encouraging other to take action.

0. Join the virtual march
   The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to bring people concerned about global warming together in one place. Add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of other people urging action on this issue.

0. Encourage the switch to renewable energy
   Successfully combating global warming requires a national transition to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. These technologies are ready to be deployed more widely but there are regulatory barriers impeding them. Take action to break down those barriers with Vote Solar.

0. Protect and conserve forest worldwide
   Forests play a critial role in global warming: they store carbon. When forests are burned or cut down, their stored carbon is release into the atmosphere - deforestation now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Conservation International has more information on forests and global warming.

0. Consider the impact of your investments
   If you invest your money, you should consider the impact that your investments and savings will have on global warming. Check out SocialInvest and Ceres to can learn more about how to ensure your money is being invested in companies, products and projects that address issues related to climate change.

0. Make your city cool
   Cities and states around the country have taken action to stop global warming by passing innovative transportation and energy saving legislation. 194 cities nationwide representing over 40 million people have made this pledge as part of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Find out how to make your city a cool city.

0. Tell Congress to act
   The McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would set a firm limit on carbon dioxide emissions and then use free market incentives to lower costs, promote efficiency and spur innovation. Tell your representative to support it.

0. Make sure your voice is heard!
   Americans must have a stronger commitment from their government in order to stop global warming and implement solutions and such a commitment won't come without a dramatic increase in citizen lobbying for new laws with teeth. Get the facts about U.S. politicians and candidates at Project Vote Smart and The League of Conservation Voters. Make sure your voice is heard by voting!

0. Share this list!
   http://globalwarming-facts.info/50-tips.html style=' color:#9b0e0e; font-weight:400; font-style:normal; font-family:"Lucida Grande", "Trebuchet MS", Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:14px; background-color:transparent; background-repeat:repeat; background-attachment:scroll; padding-bottom:0px; padding-left:0px; padding-right:0px; padding-top:0px; left:auto; right:auto; top:auto; bottom:auto;'>Send this page via e-mail to your buddies, digg it, add it to your favourite bookmark site (like reddit); and if you're a blogger, blog it: the more people you will manage to enlighten, the greater YOUR help to save the planet will be (but please take action on first person too)!

International - Melting ice shelves reveal secret life

Scotsman.com News - International - Melting ice shelves reveal secret life

REMARKABLE images of newly discovered marine creatures have been released by scientists who found a unique ecosystem after the collapse of ice shelves, which had covered the Antarctic ocean bed for thousands of years.

Secrets unlocked by the disintegration of the two shelves on the edge of the polar ice cap include a giant prawn and a 12-legged starfish. They were among 1,000 species collected by the international team of researchers from the US-based Census of Marine Life (CoML).

CoML scientist Dr Ron O'Dor said the team on the polar research ship Polarstern had discovered a previously unimagined ecosystem living under the ice and had also been able to observe the colonisation of the opened up area by creatures moving in from deeper water beyond what had been the edge of the ice shelf.

Dr O'Dor added: "It's big news that there was anything at all under the ice.

"There was lots of stuff living down there, species which people had never seen before.

"What we are seeing is a unique ecosystem under there, which has been living on food brought in under the ice by ocean currents.

"Nature has done a giant-scale experiment for us and we were able to take advantage of it using a very sophisticated research vessel."

He added: "It's every scientist's dream to see something like this. It's a wonderful opportunity to look at what was there before and what has happened since."

Two massive sheets of ice - the Larssen A and B ice shelves - fell into the sea 12 and five years ago respectively.

The disintegration of the shelves were two of the biggest collapses of ice ever recorded.

Now scientists have discovered colonies of deep sea lilies, sea cucumbers and sea urchins, normally found in much deeper water.

It's believed that, because the creatures normally live at depths where food was scarce, they were able to adapt to life under the ice shelf. The researchers also found that giant prawns, measuring 100mm long, unique ice fish and the bizarre 12-legged starfish had started moving in from deeper waters.

Other finds include 15 shrimp-like creatures and four organisms closely related to coral, jellyfish and sea anemones.

One of the anemones lives on the back of sea snails, offering the anemone transport and the sea snail protection from predators.

A remote submarine also captured video of clamshells on the ocean floor, thought to have been colonies living in warmer micro-systems created by the seepage of methane and sulphide from the ocean floor, known as deep sea seep.

Dr O'Dor said that the process of collapse may have caused the release of gases and when the ice went, the habitat died as well.

And he warned that evidence of meltwater working its way under the remaining ice may contribute to further collapses in the future.

He added: "This expedition is a very powerful tool for understanding how future changes as a result of global warming will impact on the eco-system."

He added that the effects of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide was also affecting the seas because, as well as going into the atmosphere, it dissolved in water.

Dr O'Dor said: "That is making the ocean more acidic, which will have major implications for coral reefs in tropical waters and for other marine life.

"The general public is undoubtedly going to benefit from this new level of understanding."

He added that some climate models predicted the shutting down of the Gulf Stream, which warms northern Europe, including Britain.

Dr O'Dor said: "If dramatic changes are going to happen, people need to be warned."

Japan turns down Greenpeace help on whaling ship

Japan turns down Greenpeace help on whaling ship - Boston.com
 

Japan has turned down an offer from Greenpeace to tow a whaling ship that caught fire off the Antarctic coast, recalling that activists of the conservation group had boarded the same vessel almost a decade ago.

The fire broke out the Nisshin Maru, the 8,000 ton flagship of the Japan whaling fleet, on Thursday, sparking fears that it could spill oil or chemicals.

Japan's Fisheries Agency said in a statement that the fire had killed at least one Japanese seaman on board.

Maritime authorities said anti-whaling protesters in the Southern Ocean, which clashed with the whalers earlier in the week, were not involved.

"The fire has almost been extinguished," Hideki Moronuki, a Japanese Fisheries Agency official in Tokyo, told Reuters on Saturday. "But it will take a while before we can go into the engine room and see whether the engines are okay and the ship can sail on its own."

Greenpeace had offered on Friday to tow the stricken boat with its converted salvage ship Esperanza as the Nisshin Maru wallowed without power less than 100 nautical miles from the world's largest Adelie penguin colony.

"We would appreciate their offer, but I don't think we will accept such an offer," Moronuki said, recalling that the vessel had been boarded by Greenpeace activists in New Caledonia in 1998 as it lay in port after another fire.

He said that if the ship failed to set sail on its own, Japan would ask for help from a Japanese tanker sailing close by.

Moronuki denied news reports that the ceiling of the engine room had burned down and there was a threat of sea pollution.

"These are malevolent reports. The Nisshin Maru is not carrying chemicals at all, except for fuel, and the ceiling of the engine room was not burned down," he said.

"There has been no oil leak and there will be no oil leak."

The fire, fueled in part by whale oil, burned in a factory area above the engine room and below the ship's bridge.

Maritime New Zealand spokesman Lindsay Sturt said on Friday that fears were easing of an oil or chemical leak spill after the crew managed to pump off excess water and correct the list to the ship.

Stricken Japan whaler tied to ships to clear ice

Stricken Japan whaler tied to ships to clear ice | Reuters

A stricken Japanese whaling ship on fire off the Antarctic coast was lashed between two other ships on Friday to avoid drifting into ice as its crew worked to contain a blaze below deck.

Fire teams were unable to get to the fire on the black-hulled Nisshin Maru, the 8,000 ton flagship of the Japan whaling fleet, despite it having lost some of its intensity in freezing conditions, emergency officials said.

"There are still hot spots and they still cannot get down beneath the deck," Maritime New Zealand spokesman Lindsay Sturt told Reuters, adding the ship had been lashed alongside a fleet supply vessel and another whaling ship.

"Because they haven't got any power, there are icebergs and all sorts of stuff, so they don't want it just floating around. The plan is to move the ship north where it will be safer."

Fears were easing of an oil or chemical leak spill after the crew managed to pump off excess water and correct the list to the ship, Sturt said.

"They are trying to starve the fire as much as they can. Once they get in there they can start to search for the missing crewman and assess the damage," he said.

The fire broke out on Thursday. Maritime authorities said anti-whaling protesters in the Southern Ocean, which clashed with the whalers on Monday, were not involved.  Continued...