Source: The Cooperative Bank
The Cooperative Bank has become the 7th international bank to single out deep-sea mining in its exclusion list, on the grounds that it would “contribute to global climate change” and “the destruction of ecosystems”.
Continue reading The Cooperative Bank says no to deep-sea mining
Source: Eco Business
Author: Jessica Cheam
Oceanographer Dr Sylvia Earle speaks to Eco-Business in this exclusive podcast about the irreversible damage deep sea mining will cause, the link between the oceans and our global climate, and the role that we can all play in ‘being at peace’ with nature.
Source: Esri blog
Author: Dawn Wright
It would be nice to focus on the heartening growth of marine protected areas (MPA) on this Earth Day. However, upcoming United Nations talks on global seabed mining provide a more urgent topic.
We’ve barely finished mapping this biodiversity-rich terrain, and already there’s an effort to exploit it. Research shows that seabed disturbances heighten emissions; estimates by conservationist Enric Sala and colleagues suggest ocean trawling releases one gigaton of CO2 every year. That’s more than the global aviation industry.
Continue reading Upping Ocean Protection and Putting a Pause on Seabed Mining
Source: IPCC
The IPCC WGII Sixth Assessment Report published today has highlighted the risks posed by human activities in the deep-sea in the context of climate change.
Continue reading New IPCC report issues warning on human activities in the deep
Source: Bloomberg
Author: Todd Woody
As the threat of seabed mining looms ever larger for the deep ocean, scientists have discovered that seafloor sediments are home to vast populations of previously unknown organisms that may play a crucial role in carbon sequestration and marine food webs.
Continue reading Deep-Ocean Creatures May Help Combat Climate Change
Source: Medium
Author: Louisa Casson
Greenpeace Campaigner Louisa Casson explores the parallels between the latest blockbuster from Netflix, Don’t Look Up, an American climate satire, and the emerging, risky deep-sea mining industry.
Source: Science News
Author: Maria Temming
Things are heating up at the seafloor.
Thermometers moored at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean recorded an average temperature increase of about 0.02 degrees Celsius over the last decade, researchers report in the Sept. 28 Geophysical Research Letters. That warming may be a consequence of human-driven climate change, which has boosted ocean temperatures near the surface (SN: 9/25/19), but it’s unclear since so little is known about the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean.
Continue reading Even the deepest, coldest parts of the ocean are getting warmer
Source: Hakai Magazine
Author: Judith Lavoie
In the northeast Pacific, the upper 3,000 meters of water has lost 15 percent of its oxygen over the past 60 years, and the top 500 meters is simultaneously becoming more acidic at an unprecedented rate, a study by Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists has found.
Continue reading British Columbia’s Seamounts Are Becoming Uninhabitable
Source: ScienceDaily
Even though the deeper layers of the ocean are warming at a slower pace than the surface, animals living in the deep ocean are more exposed to climate warming and will face increasing challenges to maintain their preferred thermal habitats in the future.
Continue reading There is no escaping from climate change, even in the deep sea
Source: Science Daily
Author: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
Large quantities of the greenhouse gas methane are stored in the seabed. Fortunately, only a small fraction of the methane reaches the atmosphere, where it acts as a climate-relevant gas, as it is largely degraded within the sediment. This degradation is carried out by a specialized community of microbes, which removes up to 90 percent of the escaping methane. Thus, these microbes are referred to as the “microbial methane filter.” If the greenhouse gas were to rise through the water and into the atmosphere, it could have a significant impact on our climate.
Continue reading Observing the development of a deep-sea greenhouse gas filter
