Environment

• Saturday, May 24th 2014 - 00:37 UTC

  The California shale bubble just burst

  

  The great hype surrounding the advent of a shale gas bonanza in California may turn out to be just that: hype. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) – the statistical arm of the Department of Energy – has downgraded its estimate of the total amount of recoverable oil in the Monterey Shale by a whopping 96%. Its previous estimate pegged the recoverable resource in California’s shale formation at 13.7 billion barrels but it now only thinks that there are 600 million barrels available.

• Saturday, May 24th 2014 - 00:16 UTC

  Humpback whales in different oceans should be recognized as separate species, says genetic study

  

  A new genetic study has revealed that populations of humpback whales in the oceans of the North Pacific, North Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere are much more distinct from each other than previously thought, and should be recognized as separate subspecies.

• Thursday, May 22nd 2014 - 12:41 UTC

  History of whaling in South Georgia and its impact revealed with DNA samples

  

  Bones that have littered the beaches of South Georgia for a hundred years since the animals were killed by whalers are now being used to establish what species of whale were being hunted, reports South Georgia’s April Newsletter.

• Tuesday, May 20th 2014 - 08:27 UTC

  Hailstorm blankets Sao Paulo: good news for the city was running out of water

  

  An unusually heavy hailstorm in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, has brought residents out onto to the streets to play with the ice it left behind. For many of them, it was the first time they had seen huge ice balls littering the streets of the subtropical city.

• Tuesday, May 20th 2014 - 08:19 UTC

  Antarctica ice sheet loss has doubled since 2010, shows CryoSat satellite

  

  The Antarctic ice sheet has lost ice twice as quickly in the past three years as when it was last surveyed between 2005 and 2010, say scientists. Results from the CryoSat-2 satellite mission, published Monday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, say the largest ice sheet on Earth is now losing 159 billion tons of ice each year.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 09:25 UTC

  YPF defends Chevron partnership; court orders investigation into accord with the US oil giant

  

  Argentine state-controlled oil company YPF on Thursday defended the partnership deal it reached with one of the world's largest energy corporations, Chevron Corp., two days after a court ordered a probe into alleged irregularities associated with the pact.

• Wednesday, May 14th 2014 - 00:15 UTC

  West Antarctica glaciers' melting 'have passed the point of no return', says NASA study

  

  A new study by researchers at NASA and the University of California, Irvine, finds a rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in an irreversible state of decline, with nothing to stop the glaciers in this area from melting into the sea.

• Friday, May 9th 2014 - 06:13 UTC

  Strong commitment to support Marine Protected Areas in Southern Ocean

  

  The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) joined member states of the Antarctic Treaty, along with observer and expert organizations, in Brasilia this week to discuss measures for the protection of the Antarctic environment.

• Wednesday, May 7th 2014 - 06:32 UTC

  “Climate change, has moved firmly into the present”, warns US official report

  

  The Obama administration released on Tuesday an updated report on how a changing climate has touched every corner of the United States, from oyster growers in Washington State to maple syrup producers in Vermont, and said that urgent action is needed.

• Tuesday, May 6th 2014 - 06:46 UTC

  Drought in Brazil hits hydropower and energy rationing is increasingly likely

  

  With less than 40 days remaining before the country takes center stage as host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazilian hydropower power operators are facing a severe drought that makes energy rationing an increasing likelihood.