Oceans

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    2024 Global Average Temperature Was Hottest on Record and First Above 1.5°C

    2024 Global Average Temperature Was Hottest on Record and First Above 1.5°C

    Fueled by the climate crisis, the global average temperature soared above the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold for the first time in 2024, intensifying extreme weather. Experts from the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have confirmed that last year was the planet’s hottest on record, reaching 1.55 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, reported UN […]

    Thailand Bans Plastic Waste Imports in Effort to Curb Toxic Pollution

    Thailand Bans Plastic Waste Imports in Effort to Curb Toxic Pollution

    Following years of campaigning by environmental activists, Thailand has banned foreign imports of plastic waste due to concerns about toxic pollution. Experts warn that the failure to reach an agreement on a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste will have adverse impacts on human health, reported The Guardian. “The ban on imports will help stimulate […]

    Deep-Sea Mining 101: Everything You Need to Know

    Deep-Sea Mining 101: Everything You Need to Know

    Quick Key Facts What Is ‘Deep-Sea Mining’? Deep-sea mining is the process of retrieving mineral deposits from the ocean floor using destructive methods such as dredging, drilling and hydraulic pumps. These methods disrupt and harm marine life and their ecosystems. The seabed is a largely unexplored world of unidentified species and mystery. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone […]

    Right Whales Can Live 130 Years or Longer, Research Finds

    Right Whales Can Live 130 Years or Longer, Research Finds

    Scientists have estimated that bowhead whales — the longest-living whale species — can live more than 200 years. It was once thought that the bowhead’s cousin, the right whale, had an average lifespan of about 70 to 80 years, but new research has revised that estimate to more than 130 years — nearly twice as […]

    A Marine Heatwave Killed 4 Million of Alaska’s Murre Seabirds

    A Marine Heatwave Killed 4 Million of Alaska’s Murre Seabirds

    Beginning in late fall 2014 and lasting into 2016, an anomalous, massive marine heatwave nicknamed “the Blob” developed off the western coast of the U.S., covering all of Alaska’s coastwater and extending as far south as Southern California, raising ocean temperatures by several degrees Celsius. The Blob had an extreme effect on Alaska in particular. […]