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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, November 27th 2024 - 09:37 UTC

Environment

  • Monday, November 14th 2016 - 08:48 UTC

    Supermoon, the closest since 1948, and won't be repeated until 2034

    The moon travels in an oval-shaped orbit around Earth, but on average, the natural satellite is about 384,400 kilometers away, according to NASA.

    This month's bright supermoon — the closest full moon in 68 years — is expected to light up the sky early Monday morning, NASA has reported. Every year, scientists and sky watchers welcome the supermoon, which is the closest full moon of the year. But this year, the supermoon is receiving extraordinary attention.

  • Monday, November 14th 2016 - 08:36 UTC

    Chile connects Latin America's largest solar plant to the national grid

    The El Romero Solar plant in Chile features 776,000 photovoltaic modules.

    Spanish clean energy company Acciona Energía has connected the 246MW El Romero solar plant in Atacama desert, Chile to the county’s Interconnected Central System (SIC), becoming Latin America's largest. The US$343m El Romero Solar plant features 776,000 polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, spread across 280ha area in the municipality of Vallenar, 645km north of the Santiago.

  • Monday, November 14th 2016 - 07:06 UTC

    Hundreds of aftershocks follow major earthquake and tsunami in New Zealand; thousands flee to high ground

    “It was the most significant shock I can remember in Wellington,” Prime Minister John Key told reporters at a dawn news conference

    A strong new earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 rattled New Zealand's South Island on Monday, hours after a more powerful quake killed at least two people, damaged roads and buildings and sent thousands fleeing to higher ground. Emergency response teams were already flying by helicopter to the region at the epicenter of the original 7.8 magnitude quake, which struck just after midnight some 91 km northeast of Christchurch in the South Island, amid reports of injuries and collapsed buildings.

  • Saturday, November 12th 2016 - 21:19 UTC

    US Secretary of State Kerry approaches climate change in Antarctica

    As Trump has different views on environmentalism, Secretary of State Kerry takes on the issue in Antarctica

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Antarctica Friday, in preparation for an international climate-change conference to be held in Marrakesh next week, at a time the world foresees different environmental policies under Trump.

  • Friday, November 4th 2016 - 22:13 UTC

    Earthquake hits central Chile but no tsunami alert

    Chile hit but another earthquake, but no tsunami is in sight

    An earthquake measuring 6.4 points in the Richter scale was felt in central Chile on Friday afternoon, hitting the Santiago Metropolitan Area, O'Higgins and Maule, but no tsunami likely to hit shores.

  • Thursday, November 3rd 2016 - 07:25 UTC

    Uruguayan pulp mill passes pollution tests - Gualeguaychú not quite

    Controversial pulp mill not as polluted as Argentine side of the river

    An Argentine-Uruguayan commission took 50 samples of effluent from the pulp mill off Fray Bentos and as many in the Gualeguaychú mouth of the river in Entre Rios. Botnia passes test. The reports from the samples collected on the Argetine side recorded more polluting than those found off Fray Bentos. The plant's formal name is “Orion” but is widely known for its original Finnish name Botnia.

  • Wednesday, November 2nd 2016 - 11:25 UTC

    Storms cause damage and power outages in several parts of Paraguay - orange alert still on in Uruguay

    Storm causes power cuts in Paraguay

    Various locations within the country, Central, Asunción and the metropolitan area have been area without power for several hours, even in places that were not hit directly by the adverse weather. But service had to be interruped nonetheless as several destructions were reported.

  • Tuesday, November 1st 2016 - 14:21 UTC

    Gentoo penguins proving to be the sturdiest in Antarctica

    Chinstraps have been in steady decline while gentoos have undergone a series of population fluctuations…although their over trend is upwards

    A forty year study on a remote Antarctic island shows that while populations of two penguin species are declining, while a third is increasing. Analysis of census data from Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands reveals that, between 1978 and 2016, the number of chinstrap penguin pairs declined by nearly 70%.

  • Tuesday, November 1st 2016 - 04:59 UTC

    Squall hits Piriapolis - all of Uruguay under metheorological orange alert

    Maldonado Mayor Enrique Antia taking action in the face of severely adverse weather

    From 6 am till Tuesday midnight, according to Inumet. Montevideo, Colonia and other key cities are code yellow. Some experts also speak of tornadoes.The Mayor of Maldonado, Enrique Antia, moved to Piriápolis to see first hand the consequences left by the squall that reached 180 kilometers per hour on Monday, and affected several parts of the city.

  • Friday, October 28th 2016 - 13:47 UTC

    Major victory for protection of the Southern Ocean

    The Antarctic Ocean Alliance applauds the momentous agreement by Members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to safeguard 1.55 million km2 of the Ross Sea in the Southern Ocean.