Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World

For the week ending Friday, Sept. 11

Arctic CO2 surge

Carbon emissions from wildfires raging across part of the arctic this summer have been a third higher than those of last summer’s record conflagrations in the region. The european copernicus atmospheric monitoring service points to “zombie fires” that smoldered beneath the ground through the winter for causing even higher emissions.

Plastic soils

Research finds that microplastic pollution is causing harm to tiny creatures living in the ground. writing in the journal proceedings of the royal society, scientists say the assault is occurring in soil-dwelling mites, larvae and other creatures that are crucial to the fertility of the land. they play an important role in recycling carbon and nitrogen, and they break down organic material.

Baby boom

Deep in their tropical forest habitats of uganda, five baby gorillas have been born within six weeks of each other, offering hope that conservation efforts are paying off. in total, seven babies have been born this year, compared with only three in 2019. There are about 400 mountain gorillas living in the country’s bwindi national park, and they are under constant threat of poaching.

Arctic polluters

An increasing number of polluting ships are now sailing across the siberian coastal stretch of the arctic ocean because of the more open waters that have resulted from record melting sea ice. A reuters analysis found that traffic through the icy waters’ busiest routes along the coast of siberia increased 58% from 2016 to 2019.

Singing dogs

A rare species of dog that can sing — or, more accurately, yodel — has been rediscovered in the wild in the remote highlands of the indonesian part of new guinea. the howls of the canines have been compared to the calls of humpback whales. There are about 200 captive descendants of the eight dogs that were gathered in the 1970s.