Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island in Antarctica down by two-thirds since 2011, probably due to climate crisis The world’s largest penguin colony has declined by two-thirds since 2011, most likely because of the climate crisis, a study has revealed. Scientists said the rapid demise of chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski, the northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands in Antarctica, increased the risk of a wider ecosystem collapse. Continue reading...

Pennon slashes dividend and launches £550m cash call ‘to drive improved outcomes for customers and communities’ The owner of embattled South West Water has slashed its dividend and launched a cash call to investors as it attempts to fund infrastructure investment, days after it was hit by a record £7.9m fine for hundreds of sewage spills. London-listed Pennon said on Wednesday it would tap investors for £550m, as part of a £1bn investment “to drive improved outcomes for customers and communities”. Continue reading...

A farm labor contractor exposed laborers on H-2A agricultural visas to heat-related health hazards, but is still bringing hundreds of migrant farm workers to North Carolina It was 4pm and 90F (32C) when Carlos Vargas Moreno and other farm workers set out to weed a watermelon field in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on 19 July 2022. The work day had begun at 7am and included two 15-minute breaks and a one-hour lunch eaten outdoors. The heat index – what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature – was 98.3F. It was the kind of day that a heat safety app created by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) defined as “hazardous” for outdoor workers. Continue reading...

Guardian reporters Jonathan Watts and Gabrielle Canon are online answering your questions on climate and extreme weather from what to expect this winter in the UK to the increasing risk of natural disasters. saltybacon asks: Doesn’t the hype, as in “Godzilla-level” just turn a lot of people off the whole issue? Why do the warnings always have to be so over top? And what will be said if very little actually happens away from the norm? Keeping in mind the norm has always been wildfires, floods and storms since time began. Gabby says: I hear you - the names can be a little much. These colloquialisms aren’t coming from scientists who are still describing this El Niño as a “very strong” event. But I think what people who use these terms - whether they are journalists or emergency managers or others in communication roles - are trying to convey is the startling leap we are seeing in the numbers this year. It’s a challenge to balance putting that into perspective, without causing either undue alarm or contributing to messaging fatigue. But here’s what we know: this El Niño is well on its way to being off the charts and it’s expected to strengthen over the next few months. An El Niño is classified by how many degrees Celsius monthly sea surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific warm. El Niño is declared after that region rises 0.5C above normal. As of 21 September, the daily anomaly in that region reached over 3C - setting a new record. This is alarming because temperatures are exceptionally high - and still climbing. There is of course some nuance needed here. Scientists have had to create a new system to measure these temperatures in recent years because overall the oceans are warmer. Jon says: The UK Met Office has warned this El Niño will be the largest in memory and probably the biggest since the 19th century. The impacts will be strongest around its peak, which is expected in November or December. “We expect the influence of El Niño to start to increase the chances of wetter, stormier conditions for northwest Europe, including the UK, in the coming autumn and early winter. But the Met Office has distanced itself from some of the wilder headlines, such as “El Niño to smash Brits with polar vortex of snow and storms in dire warning.” Rather more cautiously, its meteorologists observe: “El Niño can increase the likelihood of wetter, stormier and generally milder conditions in the UK during late autumn and early winter. Later in winter, following the peak of El Niño, the stratospheric polar vortex can become weaker. This may raise the chance of Sudden Stratospheric Warming events, which can increase the potential for cold weather. These are shifts in probability rather than guarantees. El Niño does not determine individual weather events, and the current forecast does not support the suggestion that the UK is about to be “smashed” by widespread snow associated with changes to the polar vortex.” Continue reading...