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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, May 15th 2025 - 17:50 UTC

Environment

  • 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.”

  • 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.