Coverage levels fall a million square kilometres short of the long-term average, with global heating likely driving losses
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Antarctica’s winter sea ice has peaked at its third-lowest level on record, falling a million square kilometres – or almost 400,000 square miles – short of the long-term average, scientists have confirmed.
Confirmation of the peak meant the four lowest years on record for the continent’s sea ice – a vital component of the planet’s climate and critical for marine life – had all occurred in the past four years.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/29/2026 - 19:00
09/29/2026 - 11:28
Federal workers’ union alleges EPA illegally terminated agreement with the goal of repressing political dissent
The union representing more than 8,000 workers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a lawsuit against the agency and administrator Lee Zeldin on Tuesday alleging the agency illegally terminated the union’s collective bargaining agreement.
The lawsuit, filed by two local unions of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), claims the agency failed to justify the contract’s termination and was motivated by a desire to repress political dissent, a violation of the employees’ first amendment rights.
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09/29/2026 - 10:19
District judge orders record fine for region and says incidents of pollution cannot be tolerated
A water company has been ordered to pay a record fine of almost £8m for hundreds of sewage spills at popular bathing spots and sensitive habitats in Cornwall and Devon.
On one occasion, untreated sewage gushed through a harbour wall on a bank holiday weekend but South West Water (SWW) engineers took 10 hours to attend.
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09/29/2026 - 08:00
Utility disconnections were up 28% in 10 states in July 2026 – the hottest month ever recorded in the US – compared with July 2024, data shows
A record hot summer collided unhappily with rising energy costs for households across the US that struggled to the point where many were disconnected from their electricity supply, even as dangerous heat baked their communities.
In July, the hottest month ever recorded in the US, 173,598 households were shut off from their electric supply by utilities across 10 states, figures provided to the Guardian show. This snapshot of American life points to a worsening problem, with the rate of electricity disconnections surging 28% compared to July 2024.
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09/29/2026 - 07:00
If more cities start regulating outdoor lighting, we humans could make the environment better for all living creatures
Every night, I can turn off the lights in my room – but I can’t do anything about the outdoor lights in the walkway or parking lot that leak through the curtains. Living in Portland, where the night is still illuminated by street lights, porch lights and parking lot glare, I forgot what it actually feels like to sleep in darkness.
I was excited when I realized my travels to a residency in south-east Oregon would show me a sky I hadn’t experienced in decades. In the Oregon outback, part of the International Dark Sky Places network, I would be surrounded by 2.5m acres of unpolluted night in every direction.
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09/29/2026 - 04:28
Amanda Blanc says flooding threat is ‘absolutely increasing’, as she also warns ministers over ‘kite flying’ before budget
Business live – latest updates
The boss of Britain’s biggest insurer has said that homes being built now in England could become uninsurable in the future because they are sited in flood-risk areas.
Amanda Blanc, the chief executive of Aviva, said the flooding threat was “absolutely increasing”.
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09/29/2026 - 01:00
Food and Agriculture Organization urges governments to make forest restoration a national priority
The world faces a “narrowing window” to restore forests essential for food security and resistance to the climate emergency, a United Nations report has warned.
More than 489m hectares (1.2bn acres) of forests have been cleared since 1990, while an even greater area is degraded, the world body said in a call for governments to make forest restoration a national priority.
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09/29/2026 - 00:00
Indigenous communities play crucial role, as ‘genetic bank’ area of wetland offers hope for critically endangered reptile
In the 1990s, conservationists in Cambodia feared the Siamese crocodile had disappeared for good. Fishing and hunting had devastated the species throughout the 20th century, leaving populations across its native south-east Asia on the brink of extinction.
But in villages dotted among the wetlands of the remote Cardamom mountains, Indigenous Chorng communities still reported seeing them. Passing this knowledge to researchers surveying the area in 2000 led to an official recording of the species – and bolstered the mission to revive the population.
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09/27/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 28 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00249-3
The power and potential of blue philanthropy
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | director@thew2o.net +12077011069
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