Earthweek: a diary of the planet

For the week ending Friday, March 3.

Premature spring

Climate change is causing spring to arrive in the Arctic almost a month earlier than normal, scientists say. Writing in Biology Letters, U.S. researchers detail a study that found some plant species in Greenland are stirring and budding 26 days earlier than they did just a decade ago. This was the greatest increase in early spring emergence that researchers have ever seen in the Arctic. The study links the changes in the growing season to the shrinking sea ice cover around the North Pole.

On the brink Fiery eruption

Sicily’s Mount Etna spewed lava for the first time this year, punctuating a two-year period during which it was mainly dormant. The long flow of lava gave off a bright orange glow. No more than 30 miniature porpoises with cartoonlike features are left in the northern Gulf of California, where experts are now considering keeping some in sea pens to prevent the marine mammals from going extinct. Since 2011, 90 percent of the snub-nosed vaquita population has fallen victim to Asian appetites for an endangered fish called the totoaba.

Whale ‘scratchathon’

A leading British marine biologist says that he has found that sperm whales gather in groups as large as 70 to engage in a mass “scratchathon,” during which they exfoliate their outer skin. Luke Rendell of the University of St. Andrews was studying the social life of the whales when he made the discovery. “The shedding of skin is part of a natural antifouling mechanism to stop them being encrusted with other marine animals and parasites,” Rendell said.

Bird flu alarm

The World Health Organization warns that the H7N9 strain of avian influenza remains “a persistent and significant threat to public health.” While the bird virus is infecting and killing people in China, WHO says the risk of transmission between humans is low. Authorities in China caution that H7N9 is developing a resistance to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, leaving doctors with one fewer tool to deal with human infections.

Ocean cleanup

The U.N. has launched a campaign to clean up plastics from the world’s oceans, asking governments, companies and consumers to curb the amount that makes its way into the water. The campaign urges nations to enforce regulations to cut plastics in packaging.