Latest news with #marineheatwave
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Morning Mail: nations ‘have duty to curb fossil fuels', Epstein files furore continues, inside Gaza's starvation crisis
Morning everyone. After years of campaigning by Pacific activists and the Vanuatu government, the world's top court has ruled that countries could be made to pay reparations if they fail to take action on the climate crisis. We have a full report, plus scientists warn that the ongoing marine heatwave will hit wildlife as badly as the black summer fires. In other news, house prices are up in all eight capital cities. We have a heartbreaking dispatch from the frontline of Gaza's starvation crisis, and the latest on the Epstein files furore in the US. Ocean 'superhighway' | A global study of deep sea creatures called brittle stars shows linked ecosystems on a 'superhighway' reaching from southern Australia to the north Atlantic. Big bet | The bookmaker Betr generated more than half of its gambling profits from just 20 customers in January, according to a rival company which is the target of a takeover by Betr. Algal augury | Scientists warn the wildlife impacts of a marine heatwave that has driven a catastrophic algal bloom off South Australia are likely to be equivalent to those from the black summer bushfires. Capital gains | Australia's eight state and territory capital cities have posted simultaneous house price rises for the first time in four years. Freedom stalled | The Centre for Public Integrity has accused the Albanese government of having a poorer record than the Morrison government for producing documents for public scrutiny. 'Gaza is starving' | Our reporter in Gaza, Malak A Tantesh, writes today about the desperate situation in the territory as skeletal children fill hospital wards amid a worsening starvation crisis. 'These cases haunt me, they never leave my mind,' says one paediatrician. The head of the World Health Organization said the crisis was 'man-made' and aid organisations urged Israel to allow more aid into the territory. Dozens of former UK diplomats have urged the country's government to recognise the Palestinian state. Fossil fuel 'duty' | States have a legal duty to stop the production and consumption of fossil fuels, the world's top court has ruled, and could be ordered to pay reparations. The case follows years of campaigning by a group of Pacific island law students and the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Epstein block | A US judge on Wednesday denied a justice department bid to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in south Florida. Newly uncovered photos and video footage published by CNN show more links between the notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, including Epstein at Trump's wedding to Marla Maples in 1993. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Trump's name appears in the Epstein files 'multiple times'. Macron suit | Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron are suing the rightwing American commentator Candace Owens for claims that the French president is controlled by the CIA and his wife is a man. UK | A surgeon from Cornwall who carried out hundreds of amputations has appeared in court accused of lying over how he lost his own legs and encouraging another man to remove the body parts of others. The many controversies of Mark Latham Chief political correspondent Tom McIlroy speaks to Reged Ahmad about how the latest controversy around Mark Latham has sparked a debate about whether his portrait should still hang in Parliament House. Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen $ A federal government program that gives a 30% subsidy on home batteries has sparked an 'off the charts' surge in installations with households on track to have 10,000MW of battery capacity by 2030 – equal to half of the current coal generation capacity, Graham Readfearn reports. One analyst says the boom 'completely destroys the business case for a gas turbine and also the high evening prices that coal generators rely on'. Six authors are in the running for the Miles Franklin book award, to be announced today. Joseph Steinberg runs the rule over the contenders, which include Julie Janson's sequel to her dramatisation of the lives of her Indigenous ancestors, murder stories by Fiona McFarlane, and Michelle de Kretser's novel Theory and Practice, set in 1980s Melbourne. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Cricket | India made a solid start to the fourth Test in Manchester, ending the day on 264-4 after being put into bat – but their progress was marred by a broken foot for Rishabh Pant. Cycling | Jonathan Milan won a rain-soaked sprint finish in Valence to take his second stage win in this year's Tour de France as the backlash against 'arrogant' race leader Tadej Pogacar gathered momentum. Football | Spain and Germany battled it out for the right to play England in the final of the Women's Euros. Catch up with the action here. Labor branches are in revolt over the government's failure to take a tougher line on Israel, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The Australian claims only three New Zealanders have enlisted in the ADF since people from the Five Eyes partners were invited to join. The man behind Brisbane's huge Queens Wharf development has been tasked with delivering 17 Olympic venues, the Courier Mail reports. Business | The board of Macquarie Bank faces a possible shareholder revolt over pay when its annual general meeting starts in Sydney at 10.30am. Sydney | Federal court judgment in Qatar strip-search case. Economy | Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock will face questions about rate policy. If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland. And finally, here are the Guardian's crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- Science
- The Guardian
Effects of marine heatwave driving ‘foreseeable' SA algal bloom could rival black summer fires, scientists warn
Scientists are warning the wildlife impacts of a marine heatwave that has driven a catastrophic algal bloom off South Australia are likely to be equivalent to those from the black summer bushfires, and demand a similar response from governments. Experts from five Australian universities say 'one of the worst marine disasters in living memory' requires rapid investigation by federal and state governments to identify any at-risk species and fund emergency interventions if necessary. In a report by the Biodiversity Council, an independent expert group founded by 11 universities, the scientists called on governments to commit to seven actions to respond to the 'foreseeable and even predicted' event and to prepare for 'an increasingly dangerous and unstable future'. As expected, the federal Senate on Wednesday nightestablished an inquiry into the disaster that has killed thousands of marine animals off SA. The Coalition senator Anne Ruston earlier accused the federal and SA governments of being too slow to act on the 'significant environmental issue', 'allowing it to massively escalate into a serious ecological disaster'. While she welcomed this week's assistance packages – with federal and state governments each announcing $14m – she said it seemed 'manifestly inadequate to deal with the impact on the affected communities'. 'It fails to recognise the magnitude of the response needed to both address the problem and deal with the clean-up,' the senator for SA said. 'At a national level this marine heatwave is likely to have an equivalent impact on wildlife as the black summer bushfires, once we consider not just this harmful algal bloom, but also the extensive coral bleaching and mortality on both east and west coasts,' said Prof Gretta Pecl, a Biodiversity Council member from the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. She noted that governments had previously 'mobilised significant funds' for natural disasters, 'as we saw with the $2bn National Bushfire Recovery Fund, which included over $200m for wildlife recovery measures'. Sign up: AU Breaking News email The federal MP for the SA seat of Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie, said the federal government needed to commit more. 'With respect, if this was happening at Bondi beach, for example, I'm sure we'd be seeing a much larger slice of commonwealth funding,' she said, echoing recent comments from the Greens senator for SA Sarah Hanson-Young. 'Although there's nothing we can do to stop the current bloom, we need additional investment for monitoring and research..' Actions called for by the Biodiversity Council include an immediate investment of at least $10m to start research into the impact of the algal bloom, establishment of a long-term monitoring program of southern reefs – modelled on the $40m 10-year Great Barrier Reef monitoring program – and rapid work to investigate at-risk species, including giant cuttlefish, which have a mass winter breeding event off Whyalla. The council said the government assistance package was a 'welcome start' but was likely insufficient to support and compensate affected communities and businesses and address 'immediate and longer term biodiversity needs'. Pecl said the impact of the event would 'massively exceed the actual boundaries of the physical bloom itself', with cascading consequences for other Australian regions because of the connectivity of oceans and their food webs. 'This harmful algal bloom is just one of the major consequences of the marine heatwave ringing Australia, which has also caused extensive coral bleaching on both east and west coasts with high rates of coral mortality,' she said. The report said the crisis was a 'human-mediated disaster' enabled by the extended marine heatwave and likely fed by a large pulse of nutrient-rich flood water and coastal upwelling. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Scientists said the event had likely been exacerbated by the 'widespread loss of marine ecosystems that once provided natural water filtering and resilience against natural as well as human threats'. They called on governments to accelerate Australia's decarbonisation efforts, saying minimising ocean warming was 'the most important step in preventing harmful algal blooms' along all Australian coastlines. The report proposed further actions including more work to identify and reduce sources of nutrient and dissolved carbon pollution and restoration and protection of marine ecosystems. A federal government spokesperson said the health and resilience of Australia's oceans were a priority and the government was 'deeply concerned by the widespread marine species mortalities caused by this extreme event'. 'The Albanese Government will continue to work constructively with the South Australian Government when it comes to the devastating SA algal bloom,' they said. 'That's why we have contributed half of the $28m funding package with the South Australian government to support science and research to boost resilience and planning, industry support and clean up efforts.' The Biodiversity Council director, James Trezise, said: 'Alongside rapidly reducing emissions, Australia needs to be better prepared for environmental disasters such as this. 'We should all accept that this is likely to just be the tip of the iceberg for what our future looks like with unmitigated climate change and rapid biodiversity loss,' he said. The Senate inquiry is expected to hand down its report in late October.
Forbes
a day ago
- Science
- Forbes
Ocean Warming Throws Angelshark Mating Out Of Sync
As seas heat up, female angelsharks are prioritizing survival over reproduction, leaving their male ... More counterparts waiting alone at breeding sites. getty In the warming waters of the Canary Islands, female angelsharks are making a difficult choice: either skip the mating season, or risk overheating. New research reveals that rising ocean temperatures are disrupting the natural mating patterns of these Critically Endangered sharks, potentially jeopardizing the future of the species. The study, led by scientists from Lancaster University and the Angel Shark Project: Canary Islands, used acoustic tracking to monitor the movements of more than 100 individual angelsharks between 2018 and 2023. Over those five years, researchers consistently found both males and females gathering in the La Graciosa Marine Reserve off Lanzarote each November and December. But 2022 broke the pattern. It was in this year that an extreme marine heatwave pushed sea surface temperatures above 74.8°F (23.8°C), with conditions staying hotter than 72.5°F (22.5°C) nearly three times longer than usual. This heatwave overlapped with the angelsharks' entire breeding season, which typically kicks off in late autumn when waters are cooler. The result? While male presence peaked on schedule, female sightings were scarce. In fact, females largely abandoned the species' traditional mating grounds, and the data showed a strong link between female angelshark activity and cooler water, suggesting that 72.5°F (22.5°C) may be close to their upper thermal limit. Dr David Jacoby, Principal Investigator from Lancaster University, likened these marine heatwaves to 'wildfires of the ocean,' with far-reaching impacts that are only beginning to be understood. Why does this matter? Angelsharks, like most sharks, are ectothermic, meaning their body temperature depends on the surrounding water. Unlike males, who seemed determined to find a mate regardless of conditions, females may be more sensitive to temperature spikes due to the energy demands of reproduction. Carrying and developing young requires a lot of metabolic regulation, and excess heat may push their physiology past a safe threshold. Faced with the choice between reproduction and self-preservation… the females appear to be choosing the latter. Jacoby noted that the observed behavioral differences between sexes during extreme temperature events could have serious implications for the species, and lead author of the study Dr. Lucy Mead, a researcher at ZSL's Institute of Zoology and Lancaster University, agreed: 'The fact that environmental extremes are driving differing male and female arrival times at coastal mating sites is of particular concern for this Critically Endangered species.' Squatina squatina, commonly known as the angelshark, is a Critically Endangered species of shark ... More that looks more like a ray due to its flattened body and broad pectoral fins. It's a bottom-dwelling species once commonly found along the northeast Atlantic coast, from Scandinavia to northwest Africa, including the Mediterranean Sea. Today, it's vanished from much of its former range. getty The Canary Islands represent one of the last strongholds for angelsharks ( Squatina squatina ), which were once widespread across European coasts but have now vanished from much of their former range. Here, adults and juveniles are still regularly seen, and the species has become a flagship for the local diving tourism industry. But even in this refuge, sightings are becoming less reliable. In just a few years, the number of hot days in the region has steadily increased from 30 days above 72.5°F (22.5°C) in 2019 to 85 such days in 2022. These elevated temperatures now extend well into what used to be the cooler season, narrowing the window when mating can safely occur. 'Our concern is that key areas may become inhospitable for females,' Mead said. 'These findings have important implications for how we conserve this highly threatened species in a warming world.' The team believes conservation strategies must begin factoring in these behavioral shifts, especially as climate extremes become more frequent and severe. And co-lead Eva Meyers from the Leibniz Institute stressed that this research underscores why long-term monitoring of critical habitats like the Canary Islands is so vital. 'These findings are a reminder of how climate extremes are already reshaping the behaviour of threatened marine species,' Meyers stressed, calling for more urgent protection of these areas, not only for angelsharks but for the broader marine ecosystems they support. Angelsharks are ambush predators that help maintain balance in coastal food webs, so if their populations collapse, the effects could ripple outward in unpredictable ways. 'It's important to understand how changes in the ocean's physicochemical conditions can affect the [all] species that inhabit coastal ecosystems,' agreed Dr. David Jiménez Alvarado of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 'These environmental shifts may alter the habitat use and behaviour of key predatory species that play a crucial role in maintaining trophic balance. Since many of these species are already globally threatened, studying how climate-related stressors impact their ecological function is essential for developing effective conservation and management strategies.' For threatened marine species like the angelshark, which are already teetering on the brink, even small shifts in behavior can have large consequences. As the world focuses on land-based climate impacts, it's easy to overlook what's happening beneath the waves. But the ocean is warming too — and quickly. The choices angelsharks are making now, between mating and survival, reflect a sinister truth: marine life is adapting… but not always in ways that ensure its future. If we're serious about conserving ocean biodiversity, we need to pay attention to these warning signs and act before more species are pushed past their limits.
The Herald
2 days ago
- Climate
- The Herald
Toxic algal bloom off South Australia devastates marine life, tourism
The toxic bloom has been caused by overgrowth of the Karenia mikimotoi algal species, which affects fish gills and sucks oxygen out of the water as it decomposes, the state's environment department said. Contributing to its growth was a marine heatwave that started in 2024, when sea temperatures were about 2.5°C warmer than usual. The bloom has affected tourism and forced oyster and mussel farms to temporarily shut due to a waterborne toxin caused by the algae, local media said. More than 13,850 dead animals, including sharks, rays and invertebrates, have been recorded by the public on the iNaturalist app. Federal environment minister Murray Watt said on Monday the algal bloom was a 'serious environmental event', but stopped short of declaring it a national disaster, which would allow greater federal support. Reuters
BBC News
12-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Intense Mediterranean Sea heatwave raises fears for marine life
Warmer water at the seaside might sound nice for your holiday dip, but recent ocean heat in the Mediterranean Sea has been so intense that scientists fear potentially devastating consequences for marine temperature of the sea surface regularly passed 30C off the coast of Majorca and elsewhere in late June and early July, in places six or seven degrees above probably warmer than your local leisure centre swimming has been the western Med's most extreme marine heatwave ever recorded for the time of year, affecting large areas of the sea for weeks on end. The heat appears to be cooling off, but some species simply struggle to cope with such prolonged and intense warmth, with potential knock-on effects for fish give you some idea of these temperatures, most leisure centre swimming pools are heated to roughly 28C. Competitive swimming pools are slightly cooler at 25-28C, World Aquatics pools are a bit warmer, recommended at 29-31C or 30-32C for babies, according to the Swimming Teachers' balmy temperatures might sound attractive, but they can pose hidden threats. Harmful bacteria and algae can often spread more easily in warmer seawater, which isn't treated with cleaning chemicals like your local pool. Sea temperatures of 30C or above are not unprecedented in the Med in late they are highly unusual for June, according to data from the European Copernicus climate service, Mercator Ocean International, and measurements at Spanish ports."What is different this year is that 30C sea temperatures have arrived much earlier, and that means that we can expect the summer to be more intense and longer," said Marta Marcos, associate professor at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain."I grew up here, so we are used to heatwaves, but this has become more and more common and intense." "We're all very, very surprised at the magnitude of this heatwave," added Aida Alvera-Azcárate, an oceanographer at the University of Liege in Belgium."It's a matter of high concern, but this is something we can expect to be happening again in the future." Marine heatwaves are becoming more intense and longer-lasting as humanity continues to release planet-warming gases into our atmosphere, principally by burning coal, oil and fact, the number of days of extreme sea surface heat globally has tripled over the past 80 years, according to research published earlier this year."Global warming is the main driver of marine heat waves… it's essentially transferring heat from the atmosphere to the ocean. It's very simple," said Dr Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable because it's a bit like a bathtub, largely surrounded by continents rather than open means water cannot escape easily, so its surface heats up quickly in the presence of warm air, sunny skies and light winds - as happened in June. For that reason, the Med is "a climate change hotspot" said Karina von Schuckmann of Mercator Ocean International, a non-profit research heat peaked as June turned to July, after which stronger winds allowed deeper, cooler waters to mix with the warm surface above and bring temperatures temperatures remain above average and there could be consequences for marine life that we don't yet know about. Most life has a temperature threshold beyond which it can't survive, though it varies a lot between species and sea creatures can also suffer from prolonged heat exposure, which essentially drains their energy through the summer to a point where they can no longer cope."I remember four years ago diving in September at the end of summer, we found skeletons of many, many, many populations," said Emma Cebrian, an ecologist at the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes in and seagrasses act a bit like the forests of the Mediterranean Sea, home to hundreds of species, as well as locking up planet-warming carbon dioxide."Some of them are well adapted to typical Mediterranean warm temperatures, but actually they often cannot withstand marine heatwave conditions, which are becoming more extreme and widespread," said Dr Cebrian. The heat can also cause what ecologists call "sub-lethal effects", where species essentially go into survival mode and don't reproduce."If we start to see ecological impacts, there will almost certainly be impacts on human societies [including] losses of fisheries," warned Dan Smale, senior research fellow at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth."We'll have to wait and see, really, but because the temperatures are so high this early in the summer, it is really alarming."The fast-warming Med is "a canary in the coal mine for climate change and marine ecosystems," he ocean heat can also supercharge extreme seas mean extra evaporation, adding to the moisture in the atmosphere that can fuel extreme other conditions are right, that can lead to devastating flooding, as happened in Libya in 2023 and Valencia in 2024. And warmer waters can reduce the cooling effect that coastal populations would usually get from the sea could make things very uncomfortable if there's another heatwave later in the summer, Dr Marcos warned."I'm pretty sure that's going to be horrible." Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.
