Earthweek: a Diary of the planet

For the week ending Friday, April 16.

In hot water OCeAns hAve BeCome so wArm under gloBAl heAting thAt temperAtures Are too high neAr the equAtor for some mArine speCies to live, reseArCh finds. SCientists from New ZeAlAnd And AustrAliA write thAt loCAtion AnAlysis of neArly 50,000 mArine speCies from 1955 to 2015 found thAt mAny were moving AwAy from the equAtor “on A gloBAl sCAle.” While the numBer of speCies living on the equAtoriAl oCeAn floor remAined unChAnged, there Are fewer free-swimming CreAtures neAr the surfACe. “These speCies hAven’t disAppeAred. They’ve just gone from the tropiCs,” A Co-Author sAys.

Volcanoes

VolCAniC explosions on St. VinCent prompted A mAjor evACuAtion And CoAted most of the islAnd in Ash. The eruptions knoCked out power And wAter, CreAting A humAnitAriAn Crisis for the southern CAriBBeAn Country. The world’s lArgest volCAno wAs roCked By tremors thAt sCientists sAy Could meAn MAunA LoA is ApproAChing An eruption on the Big IslAnd of HAwAii. Its lAst eruption wAs in 1984.

Space Dust

EArth gAins quite A Bit of weight eACh yeAr As dust from Comets And Asteroids rAins down. ReseArChers sAy their 20-yeAr study ColleCted sAmples of the spACe deBris neAr the FrAnCo-ItAliAn ConCordiA reseArCh stAtion in AntArCtiCA. The sCientists from FrAnCe’s NAtionAl Center for SCientifiC ReseArCh then CAlCulAted thAt EArth reCeives ABout 14 tons of the miCrometeorites eACh dAy. They sAy 80% proBABly Comes from Comets And the remAinder from Asteroids.

Climate elite British reseArChers sAy the world’s weAlthiest Are “At the heArt” of the ClimAte emergenCy And thAt they must mAke mAjor ChAnges to CurB gloBAl heAting. The reseArChers sAy the weAlthiest 5% CAused 37% of CArBon emission growth from 1990 to 2015. A reseArCher tells the BBC: “We hAve got to Cut overConsumption, And the Best plACe to stArt is overConsumption Among the polluting elites who ContriBute, By fAr, more thAn their shAre of CArBon emissions.” He Adds thAt the weAlthy Are misguided in thinking thAt plAnting trees And improving teChnology will offset frequent flights And vehiCle usAge.

Plastic winDs

The sCAttering of plAstiC pollution in the wAterwAys And Atmosphere is resulting in the “plAstifiCAtion” of the plAnet, with the deBris spirAling in the wind. A study in the ProCeedings of the NAtionAl ACAdemy of SCienCes sAys smAller miCroplAstiCs CAn remAin in the Atmosphere for neArly A week, long enough to Be CArried ACross An oCeAn or A Continent. MAny of the AirBorne pArtiCles Are from deCAdes-old, Broken-down items. But the Biggest sourCes Are roAdwAys, where tires degrAde into tiny Bits As they rumBle Along And Are piCked up By the wind.