Scientists from the University of Stockholm have detected gigantic methane plumes escaping from the sea floor of the Laptev continental slope. It is believed that this is due to the melting of methane hydrates that have been frozen on the floor of the ocean. They are now melting and releasing the gas because the Arctic Ocean, along with the rest of the arctic, is warming rapidly.
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Mass extinctions have happened periodically throughout Earth’s history for a variety of different reasons, with the usual culprits being either asteroid hits or climate change. The Eocene extinction was originally thought to have been caused by climate induced issues, but recent evidence has suggested that the changes in the weather occurred due to a meteor strike, now believed to be the one that created the Popigai crater in Siberia. The resulting "impact winter" was caused by tiny particles blanketing the Earth and reflecting the sun’s heat, creating a global temperature drop that wiped out most of the Earth’s species.
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An important new report released this week has revealed that the United States is being severely affected by human-induced climate change across the whole of the nation.
The report, entitled the National Climate Assessment, was compiled by a large panel of experts who were selected to represent a fair cross section of the American population, including scientists and oil company delegates. Two similar reports have been composed over the past fourteen years, but this latest version is the most earnest in its warnings of impending climatic catastrophe.
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Many vertebrate species (that category includes us) would have to evolve about 10,000 times faster than they have in the past to adapt to the rapid climate change expected in the next 100 years.
Scientists analyzed how quickly species adapted to different climates in the past, using data from 540 living species from all major groups of terrestrial vertebrates, including amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. They then compared their rates of evolution to rates of climate change projected for the end of this century.
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