From Maine to the Mediterranean, summer seas seem on boil as global oceans smash heat records

October 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Arctic land and seas lock up as much as a fourth of the world's carbon dioxide, so the melting of Arctic ice can potentially alter climate, says a new study. Current levels of global warming could diminish or reverse this vast Arctic sink -- one of the world's biggest -- possibly upsetting expected rates of climate change.

October 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, ecologists estimate that Arctic lands and oceans are responsible for up to 25 percent of the global net sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). In their review paper, David McGuire of the US Geological Survey and the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and his colleagues show that the Arctic has been a carbon sink since the end of the last Ice Age, which over time has accounted for between zero and 25 percent, or up to about 800 million metric tons, of the global carbon sink.

September 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Analysis of a rock type found only in the world's oldest oceans has shed new light on how large animals first got a foothold on the Earth. By analysing the isotopes of chromium in iron-rich sediments formed in the ancient oceans, a scientific team, led by Professor Robert Frei at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, has found that a rise in atmospheric oxygen levels 580 million years ago was closely followed by the evolution of animal life.

August 31st, 2009 NEW YORK - Discussions at the UN General Assembly Monday were aimed at setting up a process for the scientific study of oceans, which cover 70 percent of Earth but are little understood. "The marine environment is facing a multiplicity of challenges," said UN Environment Programme (UNEP) director Achim Steiner, adding that the decline in fish stocks and land-based pollution are persistent factors.

August 20th, 2009 In hot water: World sets ocean temperature recordWASHINGTON — Steve Kramer spent an hour and a half swimming in the ocean Sunday — in Maine. The water temperature was 72 degrees — more like Ocean City, Md., this time of year.

August 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of physicists at the University of Rochester, US, has found evidence that in the last 50 years, the net flow of heat into and out of the oceans has changed direction three times, which correlate well with past climate anomalies. According to the researchers, these shifts in the balance of heat absorbed from the sun and radiated from the oceans correlate well with past anomalies that have been associated with abrupt shifts in the earth's climate.

July 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, scientists have said that there is mounting evidence that human activity is changing the world's oceans in profound and damaging ways. The study was carried out by Professor Mike Kingsford of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University and colleague Dr Andrew Brierley of St Andrews University, Scotland.

July 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has shown strong evidence that as the oceans warm, clouds appear to scatter, indicating that changes in these clouds may increase global warming. The role of clouds in climate change has been a major question for decades.

July 24th, 2009 Spain on alert as fires hit south EuropeMADRID — Spain was placed on maximum wildfire alert Friday as authorities elsewhere in the Mediterranean also battled blazes and braced for a weekend heat wave. Eight large fires raged in eastern Spain.

July 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has suggested that Coralline algae in the Mediterranean Sea lost their tropical element between 5 and 7 million years ago. The international team of researchers studied the coralline algae fossils that lived on the last coral reefs of the Mediterranean Sea between 7.24 and 5.3 million years ago.

June 24th, 2009 RANCHI - The rising temperature coupled with the heat wave has claimed 17 lives in Jharkhand in the last three days. The state has broken all previous weather records and is reeling under intense heat in the second half of June.

June 23rd, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Orissa extended the summer vacation of its schools Tuesday to June 27 due to the unprecedented heat wave gripping many parts of the state, officials said. The summer vacation was extended up to Saturday, June 27.

June 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Wednesday announced extension of summer vacations in schools following the unabated heat wave across the state and an acute drinking water crisis. The education department said in a letter that the school summer vacations, which began April 25 and were scheduled to end June 15, would now be extended till June-end.

June 7th, 2009 TEHRAN - Safe, healthy and productive oceans are integral to human well-being, economic security and sustainable development, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday. In a message on the eve of World Oceans Day June 8, Ban said: The World Oceans Day allows us to highlight the many ways in which oceans contribute to society.

May 14th, 2009 Climate conference urges world to protect oceansMANADO, Indonesia — Rising sea levels, warming waters and spiraling acidity caused by global warming are threatening the world's oceans and the communities they support, governments warned Thursday, as they sought to include protection for the seas in a new U.N. climate treaty.