Iceberg almost the Size of Lake Winnipegosis breaks off Antarctic ice shelf

theguardian

Satellite data confirms ‘calving’ of trillion-tonne, 5,800 sq km iceberg from the Larsen C ice shelf, dramatically altering the landscape. Story here.

The Larsen ice shelf as it was in 2004. NASA photo.

Parisitic birds use oil and gas infrastructures to prey on prairie songbirds - Study.

Royal Society Open Science 

We're only beginning to find out all the ways in which industrial activity disrupts the ecosystem, and a new bird study gives yet another example of the unexpected ways in which human activity affects the local fauna. Researchers at the University of Manitoba have found that the presence of oil and natural gas infrastructure—such as fences, power lines, and transmitters around oil wells—in Canada's Northern Great Plains helped boost the number of brown-headed cowbirds by four times. Cowbirds are a parasitic species who lay their eggs in other birds' nests, forcing others to raise their brood. The parasitic species uses oil and gas infrastructures as perches, and the availability of perches makes it easier for these birds to find their brood hosts. 

Savannah sparrow. Photo by D. Gordon E. Robertson

Cowbirds' abundance in the area could hurt another grassland bird species, the Savannah sparrow, which often falls victim to the parasitic birds. Researchers have observed a four-fold increase in brood parasitism of sparrows by cowbirds near the oil and gas infrastructure sites.

Melting ice may be making mountains collapse in Greenland

New

Scientist

Greenland. Túrelio

Earthquakes in Greenland are rare. At least, they’re supposed to be. But a few weeks ago, a 4.1 “quake” struck a tiny island off Greenland’s west coast, triggering a massive tsunami that smashed homes, leaving at least four people dead. But what residents – and seismic equipment – initially labelled a quake may be nothing of the sort. Story here.

A rare look at the potentially harmful effects of climate change on terrestrial species in Antarctica

Nature

Much research has been dedicated to studying the effects of climate change and global warming on the Antarctic ice sheet and sea levels; but the same can't be said about the ice-free parts of the region, which cover less than 1% of the continent. 

Australian researchers modelled the potential effect of climate change under two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate-forcing scenarios. Their findings suggest that under the more radical of the two scenarios, the ice-free areas in the Antarctic can expand by as much as 25% by the end of the 21st century. 

Such a drastic increase in surface area can bring about a homogenization of the biome, the extinction of less-competitive species and the spread of invasive species. Though the 

expansion of habitat space can be viewed as a positive outcome, researchers say that sticking to the protocol that aims to reduce global temperature increases will help maintain the current biodiversity in the terrestrial Antarctic regions.
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Editor's summary

Permanently ice-free areas are home to almost all of Antarctica's biodiversity. Jasmine Lee and colleagues model the potential effect of climate change on the extent of ice-free areas in Antarctica over the coming century, under moderate and severe forcing scenarios. Ice-free areas are projected to expand by over 17,000 km² under the strongest forcing scenario. The greatest change can be expected in the Antarctic Peninsula, where a threefold increase in ice-free area is projected. The authors suggest that the expansion and eventual merging of ice-free areas could have harmful consequences for the biodiversity of the continent by facilitating the homogenization of biodiversity across regions.

Make Suncor Clean up Half-a-Billion Litres of Poisonous Tailings Sludge. PLEASE SIGN PETITION!

There are 1.2 TRILLION litres of toxic tailings pond sludge in Alberta. And one tar sands corporation is trying to postpone its share of the clean-up until 2085. We are going to stop this.  Tell Suncor its tailings mess can't wait 70 more years. Clean it up now. SIGN THE PETITION Larry, Right now, the biggest company in the Alberta tar sands is trying to rewrite the rules of how big oil is going to have to deal with toxic tailings waste. Suncor is trying to get the Alberta government to allow it to wait to clean up its tailings until 2085. But it gets worse. Suncor's strategy to "clean up" literally 525 billion litres of poisonous tailings sludge involves dumping it into a hole and capping it with water. That's it.This half-baked plan is nothing more than Suncor’s thinly veiled excuse to avoid cleaning up the after-party of a 50-year fossil fuel extraction binge fest. We have zero guarantees that corporations like Suncor will even be around in three-quarters of a century -- let alone have the resources or motivation to clean their messes up.

The Uninhabitable Earth

New York Magazine

Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think. Story here.

PinP photo

Study warns about the impact of the carp in shallow lakes with high ecological value for the preservation of waterbirds

ScienceDaily

The presence of the carp, a freshwater invasive species spread worldwide, is alarmingly reducing the populations of diving ducks and waterbirds, according to a study. Story here.

One of the carps' victims, the white-Headed Duck. Photo by Ken Billington.