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Archive for April 5th, 2010
China rejects Mekong dam claims
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2010
BBC: China has rejected claims that its dams on the Mekong River are to blame for record low water levels in downstream nations. Speaking at a summit in Thailand, China's vice foreign minister said drought and not hydropower was to blame for the reduced river flow. More than 60m people from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam depend on the Mekong River for their livelihoods. Parts of the river are at their lowest levels in 50 years. Further downstream drought, salt ...
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NASA slated to receive billions to study Earth
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2010
National Public Radio: NASA, the agency known for exploring space, will be spending a lot more time studying Earth in the next few years. The Obama administration has proposed a budget for NASA that includes billions of dollars for satellites and other tools to help scientists investigate Earth-bound problems, especially climate change. That represents a major turnaround for NASA's Earth Science Division, which had been allowed to languish during much of the 1990s. Back then, the division had ...
Arctic thaw frees overlooked greenhouse gas: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2010
Reuters: Thawing permafrost can release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, a contributor to climate change that has been largely overlooked in the Arctic, a study showed on Sunday. The report in the journal Nature Geoscience indicated that emissions of the gas surged under certain conditions from melting permafrost that underlies about 25 percent of land in the Northern Hemisphere. Emissions of the gas measured from thawing wetlands in Zackenberg in eastern Greenland leapt 20 ...