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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, March 26th 2026 - 22:33 UTC

Environment

  • 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.

  • Saturday, February 4th 2017 - 06:24 UTC

    British supermarkets rationing vegetables; adverse weather conditions in Europe

    “Due to continued weather problems in Spain there is a shortage of iceberg lettuce”, a notice in a Tesco store read.

    British supermarkets have begun rationing vegetables, as adverse weather conditions in Europe have led to a shortage of products in UK stores. On Friday Tesco said customers will be limited to buying a maximum of three iceberg lettuces per visit, adding bad weather in Spain had triggered “availability issues”, although it added suppliers were looking to resolve the issue.

  • Friday, February 3rd 2017 - 11:10 UTC

    Chile creates new 11.000 km2 marine eco-region in Juan Fernandez Island

    The area comprises more than 11,000 square kilometers around the archipelago located 670 kilometers from Valparaiso

    The alfonsin, the orange roughy and the cod, as well as a variety of species of fragile environments, are part of the ecosystem that is now located in the new Coastal Marine Protected Area of Multiple Uses (AMCP-MU) called “Mar de Juan Fernandez”, placed in the archipelago of the same name.

  • Monday, January 30th 2017 - 14:57 UTC

    Oil industry threatens the 1.000 km long coral reef system where the Amazon meets the ocean

    The Amazon Reef is a 9,500 sq km system of corals, sponges and rhodoliths, Greenpeace says. The reef is 1,000km long where the Amazon meets the Atlantic

    The first pictures of a huge coral reef system discovered in the Amazon last year have been released by environmental campaigners. The Amazon Reef is a 9,500 sq km system of corals, sponges and rhodoliths, Greenpeace says. The reef is almost 1,000 km long, and is located where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

  • Monday, January 30th 2017 - 11:36 UTC

    Chile arrests 43 people suspected of stoking some of the forest fires

    For nearly two weeks, fires have raged across seven regions in south and central Chile, devastating more than 400,000 hectares, president Bachelet said

    Authorities in Chile have detained 43 people suspected of stoking some of the deadly forest fires that have killed 11 people and destroyed large swaths of land, according to President Michelle Bachelet.

  • Monday, January 30th 2017 - 09:55 UTC

    New Antarctica record for a cruise vessel

    The World is currently undertaking a 22-day expedition of the Ross Sea, including 12 days in Antarctica assisted by EYOS Expeditions led by Rob McCallum.

    The residential ship, The World, has broken the record for the most southerly navigation reaching 78°43•997´S and 163°41•421´W at the Bay of Whales in Antarctica’s Ross Sea. The World recorded this polar record at 10:41hrs ship’s time on Saturday. Commanded by Captain Dag H. Saevik this is the furthest south any vessel has ever sailed.

  • Tuesday, January 24th 2017 - 12:10 UTC

    Ushuaia out off internet: beavers cut the optic fiber to build dens

    Beavers are invasive to Tierra del Fuego and are considered a damaging and harmful species

    Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego in the extreme south of Argentina was left without internet and cellular phone communications most of last Friday because beavers had bitten pieces of the optic fiber for their dens.

  • Monday, January 23rd 2017 - 18:32 UTC

    State of emergency in Chile because of wildfires; smoke cloaked Santiago

    The largest has consumed 24,000 hectares in and around Pumanque, a rural area some 140 kilometers south of the capital Santiago, near some of Chile's vineyards.

    Chile declared a state of emergency on Friday as more than a dozen wildfires that have scorched nearly 50,000 hectares threatened to encroach on towns, factories and vineyards. Firefighters, forestry service personnel and members of the military are battling 18 separate blazes in the center and south of the country that have been fueled by strong winds and a heat wave.