SCIENCE | ENVIRONMENT
Antarctic milestone
Atmospheric carbon dioxide has for the first time exceeded 400 parts per million in Antarctica, prompting atmospheric scientists to warn that it is further evidence that the accumulating greenhouse gas poses a threat to the entire world.
Japanese scientists recorded a CO2 level of 400.06 ppm on May 14 at Syowa Station, located on an island just off Antarctica.
“The fact that an atmospheric CO2 concentration over 400 ppm was observed at Syowa implies that anthropogenic (human) activities are definitely affecting the Antarctic region, even though Antarctica is far from the Northern Hemisphere, where the population is concentrated,” said researcher Daisuke Goto of Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research.
Earthquakes
Quake-weary central Italy was ravaged again, this time by a 6.6-magnitude quake that toppled historic buildings and even caused damage to some of the oldest parts of the Vatican, 100 miles from the epicenter. Seismologists say the ground shifted 27.5 inches during the temblor, which injured several people but caused no fatalities.
• Earth movements also were felt in northern Thailand, northeastern New Zealand, western North Carolina, northern Oklahoma and Southern California’s Coachella Valley.
Wild appetite
Humans are eating about 300 species of wild mammals into extinction across parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, according to a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
“Terrestrial mammals are experiencing a massive collapse in their population sizes and geographical ranges around the world,” the study warned.
Populations of more than 100 primates, including gorillas and snub-nosed monkeys, as well as dozens of hoofed animals from oxen to antelope, are being ravaged by hunting.
Poisonous air
The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund warned that air pollution is a contributing factor in the deaths of about 600,000 children per year worldwide.
“Pollutants don’t only harm children’s developing lungs — they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains — and, thus, their futures,” said Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, in a statement.
‘Medicane’
A freak tropical storm formed over the Mediterranean, where water temperatures are 5 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. The officially unnamed storm was dubbed “Iona” by some because it formed over the Ionian Sea.
Winged invaders
A colorful bird native to South America is steadily colonizing Madrid and other Spanish cities, raising complaints that the interlopers are disturbing the peace with their shrill squawks, and disrupting the local ecology.
Monk parakeets, also known as quaker parrots, first arrived in Spain as pets.
But since escaping their cages, their numbers have exploded to around 20,000.
Antarctic reserve
Cooperation among 24 countries and the European Union approved the world’s largest marine reserve, located in the Ross Sea off Antarctica.
When established next year, the new reserve will be home to a third of the world’s Adelie penguins, a quarter of its emperor penguins and large populations of Antarctic petrels, Patagonian toothfish (Chilean sea bass) and Weddell seals.