ConocoPhillips To Pay $266 Million For China Oil Spill
U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips and its partner CNOOC have agreed to pay 1.683 billion yuan ($266.89 million) in compensation for a series of oil spills off the coast of northern China last year.
Japan Sea Sediments Tell of Past Tohoku Quakes
Previous earthquakes that rivalled the March 2011 Tohoku tremor in size may be recorded in sediment samples just recovered from the seafloor off Japan’s coast.
Clean Water Act’s Effects On Coastal Waters in California Reveals Major Successes
Levels of copper, cadmium, lead and other metals in Southern California’s coastal waters have plummeted over the past four decades, according to new research from University of Southern California.
Pollution for the Sake of Economic Growth
Rapid economic growth will continue to be energy-intensive and highly polluting for the foreseeable future, adding to environmental harm on a global scale and having a tremendous impact on ecological systems, according to a study that looked at a decade’s worth of data from 30 Chinese provinces to build a comprehensive model of pollution.
Jellyfish On the Rise in World’s Coastal Ecosytems
Jellyfish are increasing in the majority of the world’s coastal ecosystems, according to the first global study of jellyfish abundance by University of British Columbia researchers.
Antarctic Ice Melting From Warm Water Below
Most glacial ice melting occurs below the sea surface and in regions where ice shelves and icebergs are concentrated, as along the Antarctic coastline. That suggests that future sea levels could rise faster than many scientists have been predicting.
Wind Pushes Plastics Deeper Into Oceans, Driving Trash Estimates Up
After taking samples of water at a depth of 16 feet (5 meters), a researcher at the University of Washington, discovered that wind was pushing plastic particles below the surface. That meant that decades of research into how much plastic litters the ocean, conducted by skimming only the surface, may vastly underestimate the true amount of plastic debris in the oceans.
Maine Regulators Pave Way for US Tidal Power
Maine regulators put three utilities on the path to distribute electricity harnessed from tides at the nation’s eastern tip, a key milestone in a bid to turn the natural rise and fall of ocean levels into power.
GPS Could Speed Up Tsunami Alerts
Global positioning systems (GPS) could provide faster tsunami alerts than current warning set-ups, German researchers said at the European Geosciences Union Conference in Vienna, citing data collected in last year’s deadly Japan earthquake.