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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, February 9th 2026 - 07:34 UTC

Environment

  • Wednesday, March 8th 2017 - 13:50 UTC

    Australia's “Angry Summer” breaks more than 200 weather records

    The Climate Council report said the season was defined by intense heat-waves and bushfires in eastern Australia but heavy rain and flooding in the west.

    More than 200 weather records were broken during Australia's most recent summer, a climate group has warned. The Climate Council report, titled “Angry Summer”, said the season was defined by intense heat-waves and bushfires in eastern Australia but heavy rain and flooding in the west.

  • Monday, March 6th 2017 - 10:53 UTC

    UK's Signy Station on South Orkney Islands, hottest place in Antarctica

    The +19.8°C (67.6°F) measured at BAS Signy Research Station on South Orkney Islands on 30 January 1982 is a record for the Antarctic region

    A World Meteorological Organization (WMO) committee of experts announced on March first, new records for the highest temperatures recorded in the Antarctic Region. The results are part of continuing efforts to expand a database of extreme weather and climate conditions throughout the world.

  • Thursday, March 2nd 2017 - 07:31 UTC

    HM Commissioner hosts South Georgia stakeholders on 12-day visit

    The visit takes place on board the Government’s logistics and fishery patrol vessel MV Pharos SG and will have a particular focus on the natural environment.

    HM Commissioner for South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands, Colin Roberts CVO, departed this week for a 12-day visit to the UK Overseas Territory accompanied by representatives of some of South Georgia’s key stakeholder organizations. The information was reported in the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Newsletter.

  • Tuesday, February 28th 2017 - 17:53 UTC

    UN says that action to curb climate change is unstoppable, despite Trump

    Ms Espinosa said it would be more damaging for the US to leave the on-going climate talks process altogether than to stop funding the clean energy program.

    The UN’s new climate chief admits she’s worried about President Donald Trump – but is confident that action to curb climate change is unstoppable. President Trump said he’d withdraw from the UN climate deal and stop funding the UN’s clean energy program. But former Mexican diplomat Patricia Espinosa said that the delay in any firm announcement suggests the issue is still unresolved.

  • Monday, February 27th 2017 - 08:47 UTC

    Torrential rains and mudslides leave 4 million people in Santiago with no drinking water

    The torrential rain that started Saturday prompted mudslides and rubble to surge into the Maipo river which supplies most homes in the capital.

    Just two weeks ago Chile was desperately combating with foreign support thousands of acres of bushfires out of control, but now over the weekend rainstorms and landslides killed four and contaminated a major river, forcing authorities to cut off drinking water to four million people in the capital Santiago, authorities said.

  • Sunday, February 26th 2017 - 09:19 UTC

    Argentine-Chilean Antarctic inspectors check BAS Rothera base

    The bi-national team at Rothera next to the aircraft used for the inspection tour

    A team or Argentine and Chilean experts have visited Czech and British bases in Antarctica as part of the routine inspection of environment and security operations, in the framework of the Antarctic Treaty. The Argentine foreign ministry reported that the inspections took place for the second consecutive year between 19 January and 25 February.

  • Monday, February 20th 2017 - 21:27 UTC

    South Georgia gentoo penguins feed preferably on krill, shows 22 year BAS study

    The team, based at BAS, found that between 1989 and 2010 gentoo penguins ate approximately equal amounts of crustaceans, (mainly Antarctic krill) and fish. (Pic BAS)

    The longest and most comprehensive study to date of what penguins eat is published this month. The study, published in the journal Marine Biology, examines the diets of gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) at Bird Island, South Georgia over a 22 year period and is part of a project investigating the Southern Ocean ecosystem and its response to change

  • Monday, February 20th 2017 - 20:00 UTC

    Summer sea ice in Antarctica is the lowest on record

    This year, sea ice extent contracted to 2.28m sq km on 13 February, according to data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC).

    This year the extent of summer sea ice in the Antarctic is the lowest on record. The Antarctic sea ice minimum marks the day – typically towards end of February – when sea ice reaches its smallest extent at the end of the summer melt season, before expanding again as the winter sets in. This year, sea ice extent contracted to 2.28m sq km on 13 February, according to data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

  • Monday, February 13th 2017 - 09:14 UTC

    Some 200 stranded whales in New Zealand managed to refloat, but 350 have died

    About 350 whales have died, including 20 that were euthanized. Another 100 have been refloated by volunteers and more than 200 have swum away unassisted. (Pic Reuters)

    Some 200 stranded whales in New Zealand managed to refloat themselves overnight and swim away, while volunteers managed to save another 17 whales at high tide. More than 650 pilot whales had beached themselves along Farewell Spit at the tip of the South Island in two separate mass stranding over recent days.

  • Friday, February 10th 2017 - 18:38 UTC

    Greenpeace calls on Mitsubishi not to move salmon farms to Magallanes region in Chilean Patagonia

    “Chile is home to 36% of world's marine mammal diversity, which is why protection of its seas is key and of great relevance to the entire planet”

    Greenpeace has urged Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi to stop expanding its salmon farming operations in Magallanes, as part of its new global campaign focused on protecting the seas of Chilean Patagonia. The launch of the campaign, “Save the seas at the end of the world,” brought together people and activists who gathered in lighthouses along Chile's nearly 4,000 kilometres coastline to claim protection for ecosystems of the southern seas.