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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, November 27th 2024 - 09:44 UTC

Environment

  • Friday, November 25th 2016 - 16:03 UTC

    Hurricane Otto southernmost on record to hit Central America

    After Otto, is South America the next stop for the hurricane season?

    Otto was by Thursday a dangerous Category 2 hurricane on a sparsely populated stretch of the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, while heavy rains from the storm were blamed for three deaths in Panama this week.

  • Tuesday, November 22nd 2016 - 09:21 UTC

    Merciless Pacific “ring of fire” hits Japan with a massive quake and tsunami

    U.S. Geological Survey measured the earthquake at magnitude 6.9, while Japan’s Meteorological Agency placed it at magnitude 7.3 and at a depth of 6.2 miles.

    Japan’s east coast, near Fukushima - the very site that witnessed the devastating 2011 earthquake, followed by a tsunami that claimed closed to 19,000 lives - was jostled by yet another massive quake on Tuesday morning. The U.S. Geological Survey has measured the earthquake at magnitude 6.9, while Japan’s Meteorological Agency placed the earthquake at magnitude 7.3 and said it occurred at 6 am local time and was measured at a depth of 6.2 miles.

  • Tuesday, November 22nd 2016 - 07:52 UTC

    No end in sight for Bolivia's drinking water emergency

    Bolivians without drinking water, a nightmare for President Evo Morales

    Due to an unprecedented drought and to other man-caused factors, the country is suffering from water scarcity in five of its nine departments. La Paz's three main dams are almost dry and the city's residents have seen their taps go dry for up to 60 consecutive hours.

  • Monday, November 21st 2016 - 11:57 UTC

    Earthquake in San Juan rattles Argentina, Chile

    Earthquake hits San Juan in Argentina, shakes up vast region

    A strong earthquake with its epicenter located 19 km southwest of the city of San Juan reaching 6.5 degrees on the Richter scale took place Sunday afternoon. No casualties were reported but it was sensed as far s in Buenos Aires

  • Saturday, November 19th 2016 - 21:29 UTC

    Texas holds the largest oil and gas deposit ever discovered in United States

    The amount of oil in the Wolfcamp shale formation is nearly three times the amount of petroleum products used by the entire United States in a year.

    The U.S. Geological Survey says it has found the largest continuous oil and gas deposit ever discovered in the United States. A swath of West Texas known as the Wolfcamp shale contains 20 billion barrels of oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas which makes it nearly three times more petroleum than the agency found in North Dakota's Bakken shale in 2013.

  • Saturday, November 19th 2016 - 12:02 UTC

    European scientists in Antarctica trying to locate the oldest ice on Earth

    Dr Robert Mulvaney from BAS is involved in the site survey at Little Dome C

    A team of European scientists heads to East Antarctica this month to locate the oldest ice on Earth. The team is part of an EU-funded research consortium from ten European countries whose aim is to search for a suitable site to drill an ice core to capture 1.5 million years of Earth’s climate history.

  • Friday, November 18th 2016 - 11:13 UTC

    Argentina pledges to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 million by 2030

    Minister Bergman voices Argentina's commitment to making a difference on environmental issues

    Argentina will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from 570 to 483 million tonnes by 2030, Environment Minister Sergio Bergman announces in Marrakesh.Argentina's Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development Sergio Bergman said Thursday at the United Nation's 22nd Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakesh (COP 22) that his country was working on a plan to achieve “zero deforestation,” the recovery of degraded lands and the change of energy matrix.

  • Friday, November 18th 2016 - 08:41 UTC

    2016 is set to be the world’s hottest year on record and an anticipation of current trend

    Global temperatures continue to rise at a rate of 0.10-0.15°C per decade, and over five years from 2011 to 2015 they averaged 0.59°C above the 1961-1990 average.

    According to the World Meteorological Organization preliminary statement on the global climate for 2016, global temperatures for January to September were 0.88°C above the long-term (1961-90) average, 0.11°C above the record set last year, and about 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels. While the year is not yet over, the final weeks of 2016 would need to be the coldest of the 21st century for 2016’s final number to drop below last year’s.

  • Wednesday, November 16th 2016 - 11:31 UTC

    Small island nations fear they will cease to exist due to climate change

    Voices from Marrakesh - Climate change threatens the survival of small island countries

    Delegates from the Alliance of Small Island Nations (AOSIS) underscore the need to fight global warming and adapt to its effects as UN's 22nd Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change unfolds in Marrakesh.

  • Wednesday, November 16th 2016 - 09:27 UTC

    Argentina plans to cull 100.000 beavers devastating Tierra del Fuego woodlands

    The plague of big-toothed rodents has struck in the Tierra del Fuego province, a far southern region known as “the End of the World.”

    Argentina will cull 100,000 beavers which are devastating southern woodlands by gnawing down huge trees, officials said this week. The plague of big-toothed rodents has struck in the Tierra del Fuego province, a far southern region known as “the End of the World.”