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Drought: The Unlikely Solution to Cleaner Beaches
Posted by Nature World: None Given on May 22nd, 2014
Nature World: Ironically, one upside to the recent California drought is that it has resulted in cleaner and healthier water for beachgoers, a new report says.
Some 95 percent of California beaches earned A or B grades for water quality during the summer of 2013 - a 2 percent improvement from the previous year - according to the annual Beach Report Card released Thursday by the environmental group called Heal the Bay.
SFGate reported that the record-low rainfall means less dangerous bacteria and other pathogens...
Colorado River Meets Gulf of California for First Time in 16 Years
Posted by Nature World: None Given on May 16th, 2014
Nature World: For the first time in 16 years, the Colorado River met the Gulf of California on Thursday, restoring water flow to a long barren area.
Water conservationists led the artificially induced "pulse flow" as part of a flood experiment to help the Colorado River reach the sea, News Tonight Africa (NAT) reported. The water traveled nearly 100 miles from a barren delta at the Morelos Dam just south of where California, Arizona and Mexico meet.
The project was made possible by a bi-national agreement...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Colorado River Meets Gulf of California for First Time in 16 YearsMethane Emissions Increase with Global Warming
Posted by Nature World: None Given on March 27th, 2014
Nature World: The amount of methane released from microorganisms dwelling in lakes and freshwater beds will increase severalfold for each degree Celsius the Earth's temperature rises, according to a new study.
While much attention is given to climate change-linked rises in carbon dioxide, methane is roughtly 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas, and as temperatures rise, methane output from freshwater sources - the primary methane emissions source - will will outpace carbon dioxide output.
In freshwater...
Invasive Weeds Threaten Ireland’s Waterways as Warming Temperatures Set Stage for More Growth
Posted by Nature World: None Given on March 26th, 2014
Nature World: Rising global temperatures threaten to cause a resurgence of invasive water weeds that will threaten biodiversity and hamper tourism in Europe, according to a new study.
Queen's University Belfast researchers report that a number of invasive weeds which have previously been killed off due to lower winter temperatures will thrive as global temperature increases.
Writing in the journal Diversity and Distributions, the researchers predict that over the next 70 years these invasive water weeds...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Invasive Weeds Threaten Ireland’s Waterways as Warming Temperatures Set Stage for More GrowthGlobal Warming Not Slowing Down, 2013 was Sixth Hottest on Record
Posted by Nature World: None Given on March 24th, 2014
Nature World: Global temperatures in 2013 were the sixth warmest on record, the World Meteorological Organization reported Monday in its annual climate statement. The year was marked by a multitude of climate events and instances of extreme weather, including Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Philippines, one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, extreme heatwaves in the Southern Hemisphere, drought in Africa and southern China and record high sea levels.
The temperature record for last year ties 2007...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global Warming Not Slowing Down, 2013 was Sixth Hottest on RecordWarmer Temperatures Push Malaria to Higher Elevations
Posted by Nature World: None Given on March 6th, 2014
Nature World: Researchers are reporting the first hard evidence that malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that infects more than 300 million people each year, creeps to higher elevations during warmer years and falls back down to lower altitudes when temperatures cool.
"Traditionally, we think of malaria as a disease with limited prevalence in highland regions, but we are now seeing a shift due to climate change. Our latest research suggests that with progressive global warming, malaria will creep up the mountains...
After Four Centuries, Southwest US Irrigation System Faces Decline
Posted by Nature World: None Given on February 14th, 2014
Nature World: Dwindling snowmelt runoff, combined with social and economic factors favoring modernism over tradition, has lead to the decline of communal irrigation systems known as acequias that have sustained farming villages in the arid southerwestern US for centuries, according to a Dartmouth College study.
The study, which appears in the journal of Global Environmental Change, reflects similar changes seen around the world in which isolated communities become integrated into a larger economy. This integration...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on After Four Centuries, Southwest US Irrigation System Faces DeclineAtmospheric Pollutants Being Underreported at Tar Sands Operations in Alberta
Posted by Nature World: None Given on February 3rd, 2014
Nature World: Tar sands in Canada's Alberta Province are emitting more hazardous air pollutants than official reports suggest, according to new research from the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Frank Wania, a professor of environmental chemistry, and his PhD candidate Abha Parajulee report that carcinogenic pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are being underreported.
"When dealing with chemicals that have such...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Atmospheric Pollutants Being Underreported at Tar Sands Operations in AlbertaGreenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier is Moving 10 Miles Per Year, Recording-Breaking Speed
Posted by Nature World: None Given on February 3rd, 2014
Nature World: The massive Arctic glacier believed to be responsible for calving the iceberg that sunk the Titanic is moving from the Greenland ice sheet and into the ocean at record speeds, according to a study in the journal The Cryosphere.
Jakobshavn Glacier is moving at a speed that appears the be the fastest ever recorded, researchers from the University of Washington and the German Space Agency (DLR) report.
"We are now seeing summer speeds more than four times what they were in the 1990s on a glacier...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier is Moving 10 Miles Per Year, Recording-Breaking SpeedWest Virginians Enter Third Day of Widespread Water Supply Contamination
Posted by Nature World: None Given on January 11th, 2014
Nature World: Two nights since a chemical spill in a West Virginia river left residents and businesses in nine counties unable to use their tap water for anything other than flushing the toilet, hundreds of thousands remain affected and several have been hospitalized after complaining of symptoms like nausea and vomiting.
Saturday began the third day since about 300,000 people were told not to use their tap water for drinking, bathing, cooking or washing clothes or dishes after a chemical foaming agent seeped...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on West Virginians Enter Third Day of Widespread Water Supply Contamination