Constantine Alexander's Journal: March 2015

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March 2015

03/31/2015

Sea change: What took decades to destroy in oceans took millennia to recover

Study shows first record of disturbance and recovery of seafloor ecosystem biodiversity in response to abrupt climate change.

A new study reports that marine ecosystems can take thousands, rather than hundreds, of years to recover from climate-related upheavals.Sarah Moffitt examines fossils from a marine core sediment at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. Credit: Joe Proudman/UC Davis.

Ocean ecosystems that experience rapid upheaval because of climate change can take thousands of years to recover, according to an examination of fossilized ocean fauna on the seafloor by the University of California, Davis.

The study, published online March 30 in the Early Edition of the journal PNAS, is the first record of disturbance and recovery of seafloor ecosystem biodiversity in response to abrupt climate change.

The work, led by Sarah Moffitt, a scientist from UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, shows that while climate change and the deoxygenation of seawater can alter ocean ecology very quickly, recovery can be on a 1,000-year scale, not the 100-year scale previously thought.

Moffitt analyzed more than 5,400 invertebrate fossils, from sea urchins to clams, within a sediment core from offshore Santa Barbara. The core, essentially a tube of sediment that covers a period between 3,400 and 16,100 years ago, provides a before-and-after snapshot of what happened during the last major deglaciation.

The deglaciation was a time of abrupt climate warming, melting polar ice caps, and expansion of low oxygen zones in the ocean. This new study documents how long it took for recovery of ecosystems to begin, after a dramatic episode of climate change.

'I cut it up like a cake'

Previous studies reconstructing Earth's climatic history through marine sediments primarily relied upon single-celled organisms called foraminifera, and less so multicellular life, like invertebrates. Moffitt, whose background is in marine ecology, wondered what the invertebrate fossils within the sediments could tell her about the structure of the ocean ecosystem during past periods of climate change.

"After the initial sampling at sea, I took the entire core, which was about 30 feet long," Moffitt said. "I cut it up like a cake, and I sampled the whole thing. Because of that, I had the whole record."

The history lesson told by the sediment core is one of initially abundant, diverse and well-oxygenated seafloor ecosystems, then a period of warming and oxygen loss in the oceans, followed by a rapid loss of diversity. The fossils nearly disappeared from the record during those times of low oxygen.

The study found that oceanic oxygen levels fell by between 0.5 and 1.5 mL/L over a period of less than 100 years, showing that relatively minor changes in oxygen levels could result in dramatic changes and reorganizations for seafloor communities.

'Gritty reality'

The results suggest that future global climate change may result in similar ecosystem-level effects with millennial-scale recovery periods.

"These past events show us how sensitive ecosystems are to changes in Earth's climate -- it commits us to thousands of years of recovery," Moffitt said. "It shows us what we're doing now is a long-term shift -- there's not a recovery we have to look forward to in my lifetime or my grandchildren's lifetime. It's a gritty reality we need to face as scientists and people who care about the natural world and who make decisions about the natural world."

Citation: Sarah E. Moffitt, Tessa M. Hill, Peter D. Roopnarine, and James P. Kennett. Response of seafloor ecosystems to abrupt global climate change. PNAS, 2015 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1417130112.

Contact: Sarah Moffitt
University of California - Davis

Posted at 11:40 PM in Climate Change, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

03/28/2015

Antarctic ice shelves rapidly thinning

New study reveals accelerating losses over two decades.

Eighteen years of change in thickness and volume of Antarctic ice shelves. Rates of thickness change (m/decade) are color-coded from -25 (thinning) to +10 (thickening). Circles represent percentage of thickness lost (red) or gained (blue) in 18 years. The central circle demarcates the area not surveyed by the satellites (south of 81.5ºS). Original data were interpolated for mapping purposes. Background is the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA). Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-03-antarctic-ice-shelves-rapidly-thinning.html#jCp

A new study led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego researchers has revealed that the thickness of Antarctica's floating ice shelves has recently decreased by as much as 18 percent in certain areas over nearly two decades, providing new insights on how the Antarctic ice sheet is responding to climate change.

Data from nearly two decades of satellite missions have shown that the ice volume decline is accelerating, according to a study published on March 26, 2015, in the journal Science and supported by NASA. Scripps graduate student Fernando Paolo, Scripps glaciologist Helen Amanda Fricker, and oceanographer Laurie Padman of Earth & Space Research (a non-profit institute specializing in oceanography research) constructed a new high-resolution record of ice shelf thickness based on satellite radar altimetry missions of the European Space Agency from 1994 to 2012.

Merging data from three overlapping missions, the researchers identified changes in ice thickness that took place over more than a decade, an advancement over studying data from single missions that only provide snapshots of trends.

Total ice shelf volume (mean thickness multiplied by ice shelf area) across Antarctica changed very little from 1994 to 2003, then declined rapidly, the study shows. West Antarctic ice shelves lost ice throughout the entire observation period, with accelerated loss in the most recent decade. Earlier gains in East Antarctic ice shelf volume ceased after about 2003, the study showed. Some ice shelves lost up to 18 percent of their volume from 1994 to 2012.

"Eighteen percent over the course of 18 years is really a substantial change," said Paolo. "Overall, we show not only the total ice shelf volume is decreasing, but we see an acceleration in the last decade."

Schematic diagram of an Antarctic ice shelf showing the processes causing the volume changes measured by satellites. Ice is added to the ice shelf by glaciers flowing off the continent and by snowfall that compresses to form ice. Ice is lost when icebergs break off the ice front, and by melting in some regions as warm water flows into the ocean cavity under the ice shelf. Under some ice shelves, cold and fresh meltwater rises to a point where it refreezes onto the ice shelf. Credit: Helen Amanda Fricker, Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.

While melting ice shelves do not contribute directly to sea-level rise, the researchers indicate that there is an important indirect effect. "The ice shelves buttress the flow from grounded ice into the ocean, and that flow impacts sea-level rise, so that's a key concern from our new study," said Fricker.

Under current rates of thinning, the researchers estimate the ice shelves restraining the unstable sector of West Antarctica could lose half their volume within the next 200 years.

"This work demonstrates the power of satellite observations to understand change in the great polar ice sheets," said Thomas Wagner, Program Manager for Cryospheric Sciences at NASA Headquarters. "And with data spanning decades, we can understand some of the most important changes and their implications for sea-level rise."

Fricker said future studies will concentrate on the causes behind changes in ice shelf volume, including the effects of the atmosphere and ocean.

"We're looking into connections between El Niño events in the tropical Pacific and changes in the Antarctic ice sheet," said Paolo. "It's very far apart but we know that these teleconnections exist. That may ultimately allow us to improve our models for predicting future ice loss."

Citation: Fernando S. Paolo, Helen A. Fricker, and Laurie Padman; Volume loss from Antarctic ice shelves is accelerating; Science, 26 March 2015 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa0940.

Contact: Mario Aguilera
University of California - San Diego

Posted at 12:43 AM in Climate Change, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

03/27/2015

Arctic ice melt affects seabird feeding behaviour

Little auk.

By Science for Environment Policy

Virtually sea ice-free summers since 2005 have forced an important Arctic seabird species to change its foraging grounds and prey, new research shows. The body mass of the little auk — the most abundant seabird in the Atlantic Arctic — has shrunk by 4% in the past 20 years in one of its Russian breeding grounds, the study found. This change may be caused by its new foraging behaviour.

Understanding the impacts of changes in the cryosphere — the Earth's frozen regions — on Arctic biodiversity has been identified as a major scientific challenge by organisations including the Arctic Council. Like polar bears, little auks (Alle alle) are an important Arctic 'sentinel species', this study explains. This means that any changes to this species, such as behavioural or population change, may send advance warning signals to the wider world that the birds' environment is changing.

Globally, there are around 40 million little auks and they play an important role in marine ecosystems, preying on zooplankton. They breed on islands around the Arctic and migrate south in winter to the North Sea.

The researchers studied the species in their most northerly habitat, the remote Franz-Josef Land islands of Russia, during the summer of 2013. They measured the bodies of 108 individuals and assessed foraging behaviour by placing movement monitors on 15 individuals as well as by watching birds' diving behaviour. In addition, 20 adult birds were captured to identify which prey species they had caught and were carrying back in special pouches for their chicks back on land.

The results indicate that the average body mass of the population has shrunk by 4% since 1992, when a similar study was conducted at the same location. In addition, their prey had changed since another earlier study from 1991–1993, also at the same site. In the current study, nearly all prey (97.5%) were copepod species of plankton. In the 1991–1993 study, the auks also ate copepods, but 13% of their diet was a small crustacean called Apherusa glacialis.

Foraging behaviour also differed to the behaviour of little auk populations observed by scientists in other locations. Birds in this study spent much less time flying per foraging trip, because they fed extremely close to their nesting colonies, unlike populations in Greenland and Svalbard (Norway) which feed offshore.

The researchers attribute these results to changes in sea ice cover in recent years. Little auks normally feed on prey species that are found in cold water around the edge of sea ice. However, satellite images show that the region has been almost ice-free in August every year since 2003–2004, because sea ice is melting earlier each year. Previously, between 1979 and 2003, images show that sea ice covered 55–70% of the area every year in August.

Fortunately, the little auk is an adaptable species and has been able to find new, closer foraging grounds in meltwater around a local glacier. This has allowed the birds to maintain chick growth rate, but has led to the decline in adult body mass. The study notes that the glacier has shrunk by 9% since 1994, however, so this feeding option is only available for as long as the glacier survives.

The study's authors conclude that species' adaptable behaviour needs to be considered in computer models that predict the future distributions of species under climate change.

Citation: Grémillet, D., Fort, J., Amélineau, F. et al. (2015). Arctic warming: nonlinear impacts of sea-ice and glacier melt on seabird foraging. Global Change Biology. DOI:10.1111/gcb.1281.

Contact: David Gremillet

Posted at 05:32 AM in Climate Change, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rooftop gardens could grow three quarters of city's vegetables

Elevated Courtyard — This second-story garden helped children grow 1,000 pounds of vegetables last year. Photo: Scott Shigley

By Science for Environment Policy

Rooftop gardens in cities could provide more than three quarters of the vegetables consumed in them, a case study from Bologna, Italy, suggests. If all suitable flat roof space was used for urban agriculture, rooftop gardens in the city could supply around 12 500 tons of vegetables a year whilst also providing a range of ecosystem services, the researchers say.

Any unused roof space in a city represents an opportunity to add to that city's green infrastructure. Urban green spaces and infrastructure, which include rooftop gardens, offer benefits for both wildlife and people. Not only can they produce food for city-dwellers, they can increase urban biodiversity and link together to form green networks, acting as corridors for wildlife. They can also reduce a city's ecological footprint by filtering polluted air, absorbing noise and CO₂ emissions, and controlling temperature by shading.

In 2010, Bologna became the first Italian city to test rooftop vegetable gardens on public buildings, as part of a project led by the local authority, university and a non-profit organisation. Researchers followed the trial over three years between 2012 and 2014.

During this time, rooftop gardeners grew lettuce, black cabbage, chicory, tomato, aubergine, chili pepper, melon and watermelon, either in plastic pipes, recycled pallets filled with compost or on polystyrene panels floating in tanks, also made from recycled pallets.

On average, the recycled pallet system with compost produced the most vegetables for the amount of space used, a third more than the floating system and more than twice that of the pipe system. However, the amount of each type of vegetable produced by each system in each season varied considerably and the pipe system made use of hanging space when surface area was limited.

From the results of the trials, the researchers were able to design an optimal growing system for a 216 m² rooftop garden, which combined elements of each system in order to maximise productivity throughout the year. This included slightly more floating structures than pallets, as well as pipe systems along the railings. The researchers estimate that this hypothetical garden could produce more than three tonnes of vegetables per year.

Next, the researchers estimated the potential productivity of a network of vegetable gardens occupying all suitable flat roof space across the city. They used digital maps and computer-aided design (CAD) software to identify all the unused flat spaces on Bologna's roofs and terraces.

Their calculations suggest that, if all available space (about 0.82 km²) was utilised, rooftop gardens in Bologna could produce around 12,500 tonnes of vegetables. This means that, based on actual consumption data for the city, rooftop gardens could meet 77% of residents' needs for vegetables.

If all the spaces identified in the study were turned into gardens, they could capture an estimated 624 tons of CO₂ each year. The study's authors also mapped the connections between spaces that were within 500 m of each other showing that rooftop gardens could create a network with a total length of 94 km of green corridors for wildlife, including pollinating insects. The 500 m distance was considered appropriate by the researchers because most common bee pollinators have a flight foraging distance of 750–1500 m.

Citation: Orsini, F., Gasperi, D., Marchetti, L., et al. (2014). Exploring the production capacity of rooftop gardens (RTGs) in urban agriculture: the potential impact on food and nutrition security, biodiversity and other ecosystem services in the city of Bologna. Food Security 6(6): 781-792. DOI: 10.1007/s12571-014-0389-6.

Contact: F. Orsini

Posted at 05:17 AM in Environment, Environmental Activism, Environmental Politics, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

Swirling currents deliver phytoplankton carbon to ocean depths

The satellite image, with eddies clearly visible, shows chlorophyll concentration in the North Atlantic during the spring phytoplankton bloom. Scientists have long known that widespread springtime blooms take up enormous quantities of carbon dioxide, creating organic matter and emitting oxygen. The North Atlantic is an especially crucial region, responsible for more than 20 percent of the entire ocean's uptake of human-generated carbon dioxide. Image courtesy of Bror Jonsson, Princeton University, and MODIS satellite data, NASA.

Just as crocus and daffodil blossoms signal renewal and the start of a warmer season on land, a similar "greening" event--a massive phytoplankton bloom--unfolds each spring in the Atlantic Ocean from Bermuda to the Arctic. But, what happens to all that organic material produced in the surface ocean?

In the North Atlantic Bloom, millions of microscopic plants use sunlight and carbon dioxide (CO2) to grow and reproduce at the ocean's surface. When the plants die, or are consumed by marine animals, some of their organic matter is transferred to the deep ocean, removing it from the atmosphere for years to come. This so-called biological pump makes the North Atlantic Ocean efficient at soaking up CO2 from the air. In fact, the North Atlantic is responsible for absorbing more than 20 percent of the entire ocean's uptake of human-generated CO2, making it a crucial factor affecting our climate.

"Much of this particulate organic carbon, especially the larger, heavier particles, sink. But we wanted to find out what is happening to the smaller, non-sinking phytoplankton cells from the bloom. Understanding the dynamics of the bloom and what happens to the carbon produced by it is important, especially for being able to predict how the oceans will affect atmospheric CO2 and climate," says Melissa Omand, who did this study as a postdoctoral investigator in Amala Mahadevan's lab at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Now an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, Omand is the lead author of a paper published March 26 in the journal Science that highlights the significant role that swirling currents, or eddies, play in pushing non-sinking carbon to ocean depths. In addition to Mahadevan, coauthors of the paper are Eric D'Asaro and Craig Lee of the University of Washington, who designed the float and glider measurements, and Mary Jane Perry, Nathan Briggs and Ivona Cetini of the University of Maine, who measured the biology and chemistry of the bloom.

During fieldwork from the research vessels Bjarni Saemundsson and Knorr in 2008, the researchers used a float to follow a patch of seawater off Iceland and observe the progression of the bloom by making measurements from multiple platforms in a way that hadn't been done before. A suite of autonomous gliders outfitted with sensors were used to gather data, such as temperature, salinity and information about the chemistry and biology of the bloom itself --oxygen, nitrate, chlorophyll and the optical signatures of the particulate matter.

Beginning just around the time of onset of the bloom and following its development over a month, the four seagliders gathered 774 profiles to depths of up to 1,000 meters (3281 feet). Analysis of the profiles showed that about 10 percent showed unusually high concentrations of phytoplankton bloom properties at depth, as well as high oxygen concentrations typically found at the surface.

"These profiles were showing what we initially described as 'bumps' at depths much deeper than where phytoplankton can grow," says Omand. "That was the first indicator we had that something interesting was going on, in terms of what was moving this carbon around."

Mahadevan, an oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, uses three-dimensional computer modeling to look at the dynamics of ocean eddies. Using information collected at sea by Perry, D'Asaro and Lee, she modeled the ocean currents and eddies, and their effect on the spring bloom and the phytoplankton it produced.

"What we were seeing was surface water, rich with phytoplankton carbon, being down-welled or transported downward by the currents in filament like features on the edges of eddies," Mahadevan says. "That was somewhat surprising since eddies were not previously thought of as a significant way that organic matter is moved into the deeper ocean. But we've shown through both observations and modeling, that this type of eddy-driven subduction could account for a significant downward movement of small, phytoplankton carbon from the bloom. Furthermore, we have a way to quantify this transport, which can be applied to other regions."

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

"It's been a challenge to estimate carbon export from the ocean's surface waters to its depths based on measurements of properties such as phytoplankton carbon," says David Garrison, program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences. "This paper describes a mechanism for doing that."

In related work published in 2012 in Science, the research team found that eddies act as early trigger of the North Atlantic bloom. Before the sun begins to warm the ocean, eddies help keep phytoplankton in shallower water where they can get plenty of sunlight to fuel photosynthesis and growth, which contributes to the oceanic uptake of carbon dioxide.

In future work, the scientists hope to better quantify the transport of organic matter from the surface to depth in other regions and times, and to relate this to variables that can be measured, including the physical attributes and the productivity of the phytoplankton. It remains to be seen whether what was learned from the North Atlantic bloom in 2008, is in fact widespread.

The researchers say that learning more about eddies and the underlying physical mechanisms of the annual blooms will allow these to be represented more accurately in global models of the oceanic carbon cycle and improve the models' predictive capability.

Citation: Melissa M. Omand, Eric A. D’Asaro, Craig M. Lee, Mary Jane Perry, Nathan Briggs, Ivona Cetinić, and Amala Mahadevan; Eddy-driven subduction exports particulate organic carbon from the spring bloom; Science (26 March 2015); DOI: 10.1126/science.1260062.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment.

Posted at 12:43 AM in Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

US Coastal property values could erode if nourishment subsidies end

Beachfront homes could drop 17 to 34 percent if federal beach nourishment subsidies suddenly ended.

Connecticut, USA.

The value of many oceanfront properties on the East Coast could drop dramatically if Congress were to suddenly end federal beach nourishment subsidies, a new study by researchers at three universities finds.

In beach nourishment, new sand, often dredged from nearby inlets or the offshore sea floor, is added to an eroding beach to widen it and help prevent future erosion.

"The expectation that the federal government will continue to provide subsidies for erosion-control measures has significantly inflated property values in many coastal communities," said Dylan E. McNamara, associate professor of physics and physical oceanography at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. "If these subsidies were suddenly removed, our model suggests values could experience a rapid and dramatic adjustment downward."

"Values could erode by as much as 17 percent in towns with high property values and almost 34 percent in towns with low property values," said Martin D. Smith, professor of environmental economics at Duke University. "This would be analogous to the bursting of a bubble."

Researchers from the UNCW, Duke and The Ohio State University published their findings today in the open-access peer-reviewed journal PLOS One.

Alarming as the new numbers are, the researchers caution that their findings should not be viewed as the last word on the issue nor should they be interpreted as a policy recommendation to continue the federal subsidies.

"This analysis doesn't include all the factors that affect coastal property values, but the erosion-related factors we examine are important ones, and the model is grounded in hard empirical data," said A. Brad Murray, professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke. "We expect our model's predictions to be close to what could actually happen."

To assess the effect federal beach nourishment subsidies have on property values -- and what the impact might be if subsidies abruptly ended -- the researchers incorporated historic and current resale values of oceanfront homes on nourished beaches and un-nourished beaches in North Carolina into a specially designed stochastic dynamic optimization model. They also incorporated three types of erosion that commonly affect beach width and stability in the state: chronic background erosion caused by rising sea levels or differences in alongshore sediment transport; sporadic erosion of nourished beaches from storms; and temporary increases in erosion that can occur as beaches adjust to recent nourishment.

By analyzing the data, the model clearly showed that "if the beach is being protected from erosion by nourishment, a large part of the value of the house comes from that protection," said Sathya Gopalakrishnan, assistant professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at Ohio State.

Though the model is based on North Carolina data, its findings are broadly applicable, said Gopalakrishnan. "It lines up well with the range of property values and environmental parameters found on most other East Coast sandy shorelines with the exception of a few urban areas like Atlantic City," she said.

Between 1995 and 2002, the federal government spent $787 million on beach nourishment and has historically subsidized two-thirds of the total nourishment costs incurred by coastal communities. In recent years, however, some legislators have called for deep cuts in federal spending on nourishment or ending the subsidies outright.

"It's a complicated issue, especially at a time when rising sea levels and increased storminess are projected." said Smith. "No one wants to foot the bill for unnecessary subsidies. But if you don't pay for defensive nourishment and end up having to pay more in disaster relief, it doesn't make economic sense."

Said McNamara, "Our results suggest that if nourishment isn't a long-term strategy the federal government wants to use to manage eroding coastlines, a gradual removal is more likely to smooth the transition to more climate-resilient coastal communities."

Citation: Dylan E. McNamara, Sathya Gopalakrishnan, Martin D. Smith and A. Brad Murray; Climate Adaptation and Policy-Induced Inflation of Coastal Property Value; PLOS One, 2015 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121278.

Funding for the study came from the National Science Foundation.

Contact: Tim Lucas
Duke University

Posted at 12:25 AM in Climate Change, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

The European Business Awards for the Environment adapts to an evolving policy context

The European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) aim to reward businesses which successfully combine innovation and economic viability with the protection of the environment.

The European Commission is committed to enhancing competitiveness and innovation as factors of economic growth. In this context, the capacity to turn sustainable consumption and production patterns into profitable business opportunities is crucial if we want to improve the state of our environment and make a successful transition to a more resource efficient and circular economy.

Through EBAE, the European Commission promotes outstanding economic and environmental performances from the business world; the innovation capacity of entrepreneurs; and the effective use of instruments for the provision of reliable and comparable information such as the Eco-Management Audit Scheme (EMAS) and the European Ecolabel.

A growing number of businesses realise that protecting the environment and making the transition to a circular economy will provide a significant contribution to maintaining Europe’s competitiveness. They understand that our competitive edge will be improved by facing challenges like resource scarcity; learning to use materials and energy efficiently; and by producing smarter goods that can be re-used, repaired and recycled.
EBAE aims to recognise and reward inspirational models, which demonstrate how to modernise the economy with innovative and resource-efficient solutions.

From 2015, EBAE will adapt to the evolving policy context. The 7th Environment Action Programme calls for a more coherent policy framework for sustainable consumption and production to enable a circular economy. In line with the priorities of the new Commission, increased efforts are necessary to support the innovation and competitiveness of EU businesses. In this context, voluntary instruments increase in importance because they help compliance with environmental legislation. The provision of accountable and transparent information on the characteristics and sustainability features of products and services therefore becomes an important marketing tool.

The awards reflect this new direction by taking into consideration voluntary schemes such as EMAS and Ecolabel, together with other comparable instruments, as elements which demonstrate the commitment of the candidate to develop and apply sustainable management practices. This is planned to be reflected in both the Management and the Product & Services categories from the 2016 edition of the EBAE.

Green Banking Products and Services

A decade ago, Piraeus Bank realised the importance of focusing on the various emerging sectors of the environmental economy. In particular, it was the bank’s strategic decision to actively support investment and entrepreneurial efforts in the sectors of renewable energy sources (RES), energy-saving; alternative waste & water management; green chemistry; green transportation; organic farming; eco-tourism; and agro-tourism.

The necessary know-how was developed by the bank, with support from qualified experts. As a result, the bank has developed a constantly-expanding suite of green banking products and services. This commitment has been exemplified in their management decisions; and is reflected in the bank’s organisational restructure (through the creation of the Environmental Banking Sector) in 2009. In addition to the creation and promotion of green banking products, the Sector provides advice and networking services to the group’s customers on environmental economy issues; coordinates and trains the bank’s branch network; and evaluates green investments.

The results of this effort are already visible in an impressive increase in their green funding portfolio over recent years. By December 2013, Piraeus Bank had financed green projects amounting to €1.6 billion, supporting a total of €3 billion of investments. In addition, over 17,000 green (full-time equivalent) jobs have been generated by Piraeus Bank’s green financing.

All this was recognised in the national European Business Awards for the Environment 2013 -2014 in Greece, when Piraeus Bank won the Product Category award for its green banking products & services, with PASEPPE(Hellenic Association of Environmental Protection Companies) evaluating the entries.

During the national awards ceremony in Greece, Elena Primikiri, Head of Green Banking Operations said: “This award reflects the unrelenting commitment and support of Piraeus Bank to the development and promotion of products and services tailored to the needs of green entrepreneurship.”

The EBAE Stand at European Green Week.

The European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) will be present at European Green Week from 3-5 June at the Egg Conference Centre in Brussels. This year Green Week focus is on "Nature capital" and business opportunities stemming from protecting our natural resources.

Posted at 12:04 AM in Environmental Politics, Environmental Project Financing, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

03/26/2015

Brussels Briefing on Energy

In this Brussels Briefing on Energy, leading journalist Hughes Belin provides an overview of the latest EU energy policy developments.

Energy topped the agenda of the last European Council meeting on 19-20 March. EU leaders adopted conclusions on:

The Energy Union strategy, signalling that they want to ensure energy supply security rather than achieve an energy transition.
In a blow to the Commission, EU leaders watered down Vice-President Sefcovic’s proposal for more transparency on international energy agreements.
Sanctions against Russia will be extended to the end of 2015, and linked to the full implementation of the Minsk II agreement.

Other important developments related to:

Trilateral talks between EU, Ukraine and Russia took place on 20 March in Brussels to negotiate new conditions for Russian gas exports to Ukraine.
On 16 March, EU and Turkey launched a High Level Energy Dialogue to reinforce energy cooperation.
The next Informal Energy Council will take place in Riga on 14-15 April.

Posted at 11:35 PM in Environmental Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shell-shocked: Ocean acidification likely hampers tiny shell builders in Southern Ocean

Microscopic coccolithophores like this species, Emiliania huxleyi, among the ocean's most common phytoplankton, appear to be declining in the Southern Ocean, a possible result of a changing climate. Image courtesy Alison Taylor, University of North Carolina Wilmington Microscopy Facility/Wikimedia Commons

A University of Colorado Boulder study shows a ubiquitous type of phytoplankton -- tiny organisms that are the base of the marine food web - appears to be suffering from the effects of ocean acidification caused by climate change.

According to the study authors, the single-celled organism under study is a type of "calcifying" plankton called a coccolithophore, which makes energy from sunlight and builds microscopic calcium carbonate shells, or plates, to produce a chalky suit of armor. The researchers used satellites tuned to observe the amount of calcium carbonate present in the surface of the Southern Ocean produced by Emiliania huxleyi, one of the most common species of coccolithophores in the region.

The coccolithophore E. huxleyi is important in the marine carbon cycle and is responsible for nearly half of all calcium carbonate production in the ocean, said lead study author Natalie Freeman, a doctoral student in the CU-Boulder's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC). The new study indicates there has been a 24 percent decline in the amount of calcium carbonate produced in large areas of the Southern Ocean over the past 17 years.

The researchers used satellite measurements and statistical methods to calculate the calcification rate - the amount of calcium carbonate these organisms produced per day in surface ocean waters. Across the entire Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, there was about a 4 percent reduction in calcification rate during the summer months from 1998 to 2014. In addition, the researchers found a 9 percent reduction in calcification during that period in large regions of the Pacific and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean.

"This is the first study to use satellites to measure the change in the amount of calcium carbonate and the calcification rates of the Southern Ocean," said Freeman. "Both have decreased in large portions of the Southern Ocean basin, which is what one might expect considering the ongoing acidification of the world's oceans."

A paper on the subject by Freeman and CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Nicole Lovenduski of ATOC was published online in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded the research.

The new study also includes data collected from ships to show that the observed decline in calcification occurs simultaneously with a loss in the amount of carbonate ions. Carbonate ions, a key ingredient in coccolithophore shells, are being significantly depleted via ocean acidification when the world's oceans absorb atmospheric CO2.

The Global Carbon Project, an international environmental organization, estimates roughly 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide from factories, cars, power plants and other human sources were absorbed in 2013 by the world's oceans. NOAA scientists have estimated that global oceans have become up to 30 percent more acidic since the Industrial Revolution.

"While we generally expect acidification to negatively impact coccolithophore calcification and growth, other environmental stressors such as warming may have influenced these processes," said Lovenduski. The two researchers, who also are affiliated with CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, used data collected by the SeaWiFS and MODIS satellite instruments.

"These results suggest that large-scale shifts in the ocean carbon cycle are already occurring and highlight organism and marine ecosystem vulnerability in a changing climate," wrote the CU-Boulder researchers in GRL.

The Southern Ocean and the North Atlantic absorb more human sourced CO2 from the atmosphere than other oceans, and the Southern Ocean is particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification because of its naturally low numbers of carbonate ions. "This study has implications for how sensitive these coccolithophores are to a changing climate, and how their calcification might influence the marine carbon cycle."

In a changing climate, the response of these organisms and the ecosystems they support is still unknown. But all signs suggest that acidification will likely place these organisms under increased pressure, threatening them in different ways, including the ability of some cocolithophores to build and maintain a shell, according to the CU-Boulder researchers.

Citation: Natalie M. Freeman and Nicole S. Lovenduski; Decreased calcification in the Southern Ocean over the satellite record; Geophysical Research Letters, 2015; DOI: 10.1002/2014GL062769.

Contact: Natalie Freeman
University of Colorado at Boulder

Posted at 02:51 AM in Climate Change, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

A mile deep, ocean fish facing health impacts from human pollution

Humpback anglerfish (Melanocetus johnsonii).

Deep-water marine fish living on the continental slopes at depths from 2,000 feet to one mile have liver pathologies, tumors and other health problems that may be linked to human-caused pollution, one of the first studies of its type has found.

The research, conducted in the Bay of Biscay west of France, also discovered the first case of a deep water fish species with an "intersex" condition, a blend of male and female sex organs. The sampling was done in an area with no apparent point-source pollution, and appears to reflect general ocean conditions.

The findings have been published in Marine Environmental Research, by scientists from Oregon State University; the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in the United Kingdom; and other agencies. It was supported by the European Union.

The research is of particular interest, OSU researchers said, when contrasted to other studies done several years ago in national parks of the American West, which also found significant pollution and fish health impacts, including male fish that had been "feminized" and developed eggs.

"In areas ranging from pristine, high mountain lakes of the United States to ocean waters off the coasts of France and Spain, we've now found evidence of possible human-caused pollution that's bad enough to have pathological impacts on fish," said Michael Kent, a professor of microbiology in the OSU College of Science, co-author on both these research projects and an international expert on fish disease.

"Deep in the ocean one might have thought that the level of contamination and its biological impact would be less," Kent said. "That may not be the case. The pathological changes we're seeing are clearly the type associated with exposure to toxins and carcinogens."

However, linking these changes in the deep water fish to pollution is preliminary at this time, the researchers said, because these same changes may also be caused by naturally-occurring compounds. Follow up chemical analyses would provide more conclusive links with the pathological changes and man's activity, they said.

The testicle from a male trout which contains a developing egg is an example of "intersex" conditions that can result from pollution. Image courtesy of Oregon State University.

Few, if any health surveys of this type have been done on the fish living on the continental slopes, the researchers said. Most past studies have looked only at their parasite fauna, not more internal biological problems such as liver damage. The issues are important, however, since there's growing interest in these areas as a fisheries resource, as other fisheries on the shallower continental shelf become depleted.

As the sea deepens along these continental slopes, it's been known that it can act as a sink for heavy metal contaminants such as mercury, cadmium and lead, and organic contaminants such as PCBs and pesticides. Some of the "intersex" fish that have been discovered elsewhere are also believed to have mutated sex organs caused by "endocrine disrupting chemicals" that can mimic estrogens.

In this study, the health concerns identified were found in black scabbardfish, orange roughy, greater forkbeard and other less-well-known species, and included a wide range of degenerative and inflammatory lesions that indicate a host response to pathogens, as well as natural cell turnover. The fish that live in these deep water, sloping regions usually grow slowly, live near the seafloor, and mature at a relatively old age. Some can live to be 100 years old.

Partly because of that longevity, the fish have the capacity to bioaccumulate toxicants, which the researchers said in their report "may be a significant human health issue if those species are destined for human consumption." Organic pollutants in such species may be 10-17 times higher than those found in fish from the continental shelf, the study noted, with the highest level of contaminants in the deepest-dwelling fish.

However, most of those contaminants migrate to the liver and gonads of such fish, which would make their muscle tissue comparatively less toxic, and "generally not high enough for human health concern," the researchers wrote.

The corresponding author on this study was Stephen Feist at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in Weymouth, England.

In the previous research done in the American West, scientists found toxic contamination from pesticides, the burning of fossil fuels, agriculture, industrial operations and other sources, which primarily found their way into high mountain lakes through air pollution. Pesticide pollution, in particular, was pervasive.

Together, the two studies suggest that fish from some of the most remote parts of the planet, from high mountains to deep ocean, may be impacted by toxicants, Kent said.

Citation: S.W. Feist , G.D. Stentiford, M.L. Kent, A. Ribeiro Santos and P. Lorance; Histopathological assessment of liver and gonad pathology in continental slope fish from the northeast Atlantic Ocean; Marine Environmental Research, May 2015.

Contact: Michael Kent
Oregon State University

Posted at 02:38 AM in Environmental Disasters, Fisheries, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

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