Duck for cover: Popular artwork shields KMT in Keelung

Want China Times, Lin Sih-huei, Chen Wen-hsin and Staff Reporter 2013-12-31

Bathtime for Rubber Duck in grimy Keelung on Dec. 28. (Photo/Chen Chih-yuan)

It is a truism that in Taiwan there is political mileage to be gained from anything you might care to mention. Yet the hugely popular Rubber Duck floating art installation has proved remarkably immune to politicization. An opposition Democratic Progressive Party deputy secretary general was even advised not to use any issue related to the Rubber Duck as a means of attack as it would be more likely to backfire.

Rubber Duck is currently on show in the harbor of the northern city of Keelung, its third and final port of call in Taiwan. It was initiated in Keelung by the city council's chairman Huang Ching-tai but the city quickly came under the scrutiny of local media after the artwork's creator Florentijn Hofman criticized the "commercial circus" that had sprung up around his work and accused event organizer Jerry Fan of breach of contract for selling unauthorized duck-related merchandise at an exhibition hall close to the installation.

Keelung has long been in the hands of the Kuomintang, with which Huang is affiliated. But there has been increasing dissatisfaction with the party's performance among locals, and the city has been ranked as the place in Taiwan where people feel their quality of life is the lowest. This has given the DPP confidence of scoring a coup — but also goes to explain why Rubber Duck has given locals a bit of much-needed cheer.

Keelung has not been kind to Rubber Duck, however. Poor weather and dirt from nearby docking ships saw the installation coated in a visible layer of grime just days after its unveiling on Dec. 21. The DPP reportedly intended to use this as a metaphor to attack the KMT's grubby rule over the harbor city and to suggest that corruption will continue in the city if its government does not change.

But the party eventually stayed its hand amid fears that criticism of Rubber Duck could hurt the feelings of locals and damage tourism. Although it would represent a small victory at the city council, using the duck as a weapon could ultimately harm the DPP more than its opponent.

An election staff member at the KMT admitted that Huang is vulnerable to negative news reports about him and the city, but found that it was difficult for people to relate Rubber Duck to politics.

The KMT predicts the next election in the city will be decided by fewer than 10,000 votes. The party is relying on three trump cards: Rubber Duck, the party primary and the National Museum of Marine Science & Technology, while the DPP's campaign pledge is to build a rapid transit system like the Taipei metro.

As of press time, the duck had reportedly exploded unexpectedly on Tuesday afternoon. The political ramifications of this dramatic new development are yet to be seen.

The Rubber Duck reappears at the Keelung port, Jan 3. 

(Photo/Teng Po-jen)

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A series of photos capture the moment Rubber Duck split down one side
and rapidly deflated on Dec. 31. (Photo/CNA)

Several injured as fire breaks out on DFDS ferry to IJmuiden

DutchNews.nl, Sunday 29 December 2013

The ship is due to the fire returned

to Newcastle (NOS/BBC)

Several people have been taken to hospital after fire broke out on board Saturday night’s Newcastle to IJmuiden ferry.

Six people - two passengers and four crew - were airlifted to hospital by British army helicopters with smoke-related injuries. Several others were treated onboard.

The fire started a couple of hours after the DFDS ferry had left the northern English port and was extinguished within 15 minutes, a company spokesman said. The ferry later returned to the port.

In total the 1,000 plus people on board were ordered to remain on the ship to await police questioning. According to some reports, one person has been detained in connection with the fire.

Cabin

Police spokesman Andrew Dixon told the BBC the coastguard had contacted them around 23.00 local time and said a passenger was ‘believed to have set fire to a cabin’.

‘As a result of this incident, the person suspected of causing the fire, or the person from the cabin where the fire occurred - be it deliberate or accidental - has been detained by ship staff,’ he told the broadcaster.

One Dutch eye witness told the BBC: ‘there was a lot of smoke. You could smell it’

It is not yet clear how the passengers now stranded in Newcastle are to reach the Netherlands or how today’s IJmuiden Newcastle service will operate, Nos television said.

Were you on board? Email your stories and photos to editor@dutchnews.nl

More on this

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Sixty hurt in Argentina piranha attack

Google – AFP, 26 December 2013 

Piranhas eat fish in a tank at an amusement park in Jakarta on May 31,

2007 (AFP/File, Adek Berry)

Buenos Aires — Piranhas on a Christmas Day feeding frenzy injured some 60 people in the Argentine city of Rosario, officials said Thursday.

Those injured in the attack Wednesday by the ferocious fish included a girl who lost part of a finger, Health Undersecretary Gabriela Quintanilla told reporters.

Quintanilla said the attack occurred Wednesday off the coast of Rosario, some 310 kilometers (200 miles) north of Buenos Aires.

A medical official, Gustavo Centurion, said the attack which began at mid-morning on Christmas Day was "very aggressive."

"There were some people that the fish literally had torn bits of flesh from," he said.

The region has been hit by a heat wave with temperatures soaring to some 38 degrees Celsius (more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit) prompting thousands to seek relief in the waters of the Parana River, which is packed with carnivorous fish.

Officials said the unusually warm weather also was apparently responsible for the fish congregating on the river's surface before the attack.

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Kryon Q&A

Question (2002): Dear Kryon, A friend and I are meditating on the recent shark attacks and feel that it has to do with the planetary changes. We just can’t understand why they have become aggressive. What is the message the sharks are bringing? Why is this happening?

—Thank you,

Maryann

Answer: Indeed there are changes with the environment and also with biology regarding the 12-year grid change. I will first give you what was happening in general: What you are seeing are mammals, amphibians, insects, and even fish that are in areas that are new to them. Every life-form that migrates is effected by magnetics. All life forms that follows certain feeding scenarios and are “following the food” have the potential to be affected. This is due to the changing of the magnetic ley lines of the earth as we have stated before.

The areas where you can see in the ocean most clearly are within those migration patterns closest to the land. Where the ocean interfaces with the land, there are challenges for all these creatures for at least one of their generations. Whales will beach themselves by following old magnetics headings that now “drive” them into peninsula’s and other land areas that were marginally on the edge of their old paths. Birds, amphibians, and insects will be seen to do odd things for awhile.

So these shark fish may be in greater numbers in these coastal areas than in the past, but the increased aggressive behavior was actually something else: There was a tremendous “release” of energy due to the Sept. 11 event. Much like the energy of earthquakes and other earth movement, much of the environment “feels it” coming. We have spoken about how the Sept. 11 event was not a surprise to the earth. [See Lee’s article “Did Kryon give us hints”] So, some of the new actions of these fish were due to an actual energy buildup of coming events... of which you now understand.

If you are paying attention, therefore, you might ask, “Does this mean that Human consciousness issues affect the actual earth?” Yes they do! Finally you may begin to see how global consciousness is tied into the environment, and even to basic physics and reality. They are not separate, and never were. The indigenous knew it, and now the “modern” world is beginning to wonder.

Blessed is the Human Being who understands that what they think, do, and intend, actually drives the reality of the dirt of the planet!

Help sought for mangroves, nature's dams

Deutsche Welle, 26 December 2013

Mangroves provide the tropics with protection from the increasing incidence of storms and flooding caused by taiphoons and tsunamis. But the coastal forests are in decline. Efforts are underway to bring them back.

A green forest, rising out of the ocean, hugging the coastline like a green lifebelt - mangroves live only in tropical areas. They need warm conditions and a mixture of salt and fresh water. Their branches and web of aerial roots are home to numerous bird species. The waters around their base are alive with fish, the sediment crawling with crabs.

But since the 1980s, mangroves have declined by around 35 percent for various reasons. They often have to make way for harbors, airports or housing. Even more of the mangroves have been sacrificed for shrimp ponds that feed international demand for the small crustaceans, Ulrich Saint-Paul of the University of Bremen's Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology, told DW.

Mangroves provide rich pickings
for fishermen

By destroying mangroves, tropical countries are paying a high price to consumers in other parts of the world who want cheap shrimp.

"[Mangroves] are not only important breeding areas for crabs and fish. They also protect the coast. They act as barriers against storms. And they play a major role in regulating the world's climate as a CO2 sink," explained Saint-Paul. Long-term objectives such as coastal protection, maintaining ecosystems or protecting the climate are being sacrificed for short-term profits, he added.

Building dams and diverting of rivers also poses a threat to mangroves.

"They need fresh water as well as salty," Rene Capote, who monitored mangroves in his native Cuba while working with the University of Bonn told DW. "Even if you are far inland and you divert or block a freshwater source, the water will stop reaching mangroves and kill them."

Mangroves also filter much of the sediment coming from the land side, keeping the sea water clean in many areas. "That is very important for tourism in beach areas, and for the health of related ecosystems like coral reefs," both important economic factors, said Capote.

Natural wave-breakers

In the case of extreme weather events, mangroves act as protective barriers in several different ways: by absorbing large amounts of water, reducing flooding after heavy rain and by breaking the power of wind and waves.

Mangrove roots absorb water
and filter sediment

The aerial roots and numerous branches of the mangroves obstruct the flow of the water, explained Femke Tonneijck, a manager at Mangrove Capital, a partnership between Wetlands International, the Nature Conservancy and several other organizations in Indonesia.

During Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in November, mangroves could have reduced the impact of the storm surge.

A study by Wetlands International shows that every kilometer of mangroves can reduce the height of the water by up to half a meter. Even the smallest abatement can save lives. Tonneijck stressed that the trees also provide firewood and building material in the aftermath of an extreme weather event.

"But to really reduce a whole storm surge, you would need very wide greenbelts," she cautioned. For that reason, she advocates a combination of natural and man-made measures in threatened tropical areas where the mangroves have disappeared. "For example you could have a dike with a mangrove belt in front of it to protect the dike."

"Building with nature" in Indonesia

Traditional measures

Replanting the tidal forests can also help reclaim land that has eroded away. Tonneijck's group is working in an area of central Java where mangroves were replaced by aquaculture ponds for shrimp and fish, contributing to the erosion of hundreds of meters of coastline.

Restoration often fails in areas that suffer from erosion because the sediment balance is disturbed. Sediment can be trapped through "building with nature," using engineering techniques in combination with natural processes, says Tonneijck.

The project in Indonesia uses permeable dams made of local materials like bamboo and brushwood in front of the coastline. These structures mimic the function of mangrove roots and branches, as they dissipate waves and trap sediment. Once the sediment is stable, mangroves will naturally recolonize and form a new protective barrier. This method has been applied with salt marshes along the coasts of the Netherlands and Germany for centuries.

Bremen's Ulrich Saint-Paul says organizations like the World Bank are investing considerable amounts of money in projects to restore mangroves. "But in my view they always make one mistake: They plant the mangroves in monocultures, just like pine or fir plantations in Europe. This fails to take account of natural biodiversity, which lends a forest a far higher degree of ecological stability." 

Replanting mangroves helps if
conditions are right

Capote stressed the need for careful long-term planning and continual monitoring. "More frequently than not, after a few years all the planting effort has been lost, because the survival rate of the mangroves is low due to a lack of proper initial assessment and follow-up," he added.

Sustainable shrimp culture

Capote argues for a sustainable approach to existing mangroves as well as restoration projects. "You can have sustainable aquaculture in the sense that only a portion of the mangrove area is used and restored afterward, on a rotational basis."

Reducing pollution from shrimp feed is another important factor. "There is a limit to how many shrimps can be nursed in a mangrove area," Capote said. "You can either have very high short-term profits that end when all the mangrove area has been killed. Or you can have a longer-term approach, with lower profits, when mangroves are given time to recover naturally."

Awareness of the value of mangroves rises after every catastrophic extreme weather event in tropical areas. But it doesn't last long, says Ulrich Saint-Paul.

"We need a long-term education program, especially in schools and adult education, to make it clear to people in mangrove regions how important the forests are and why we need to protect them."

Antarctic expedition stranded as ship gets stuck in ice

Scientists and explorers on Spirit of Mawson voyage will spend Christmas and Boxing Day awaiting rescue

theguardian.com, Australian Associated Press, Wednesday 25 December 2013

The MV Akademik Shokalskiy in the Antarctic. Photograph: The Guardian

Explorers are stranded near Antarctica after their ship became wedged in by thick sheets of sea ice.

The Spirit of Mawson voyage, which includes scientists, explorers, tourists and the Guardian journalists Alok Jha and Laurence Topham, is trapped in Antarctic ice floes and awaiting rescue.

But with the nearest ship with ice-breaking abilities at least two days away, the crew will spend Christmas and Boxing Day stuck about 1500 nautical miles south of Hobart.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority received a distress call on Christmas morning, notifying the rescue co-ordination centre that the ship was trapped and would need help.

A spokeswoman on Wednesday said three ships had been sent to assist but it would take at least two days to reach them.

"It's in quite a remote part of the world," she said. "But we have everyone safe. The vessel isn't in any immediate danger."

It is not known how long the ship has been unable to break free from the ice.

The Russian-built ship, the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, left New Zealand in late November and has about 50 passengers and 20 crew members.

The voyage is part of a research expedition to commemorate the centenary of Douglas Mawson's exploration.

The Australasian Antarctic Expedition leader, Chris Turney, wrote on Twitter: "Heavy ice. Beautiful; light wind. Only -1degC. All well. Merry Xmas everyone from AAE."

Crew emerge from the Chinese helicopter that arrived at the trapped

Antarctic expedition ship. Photograph: Laurence Topham/Guardian

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IceCube detector tracks cosmic neutrinos

Deutsche Welle, 23 December 2013

IceCube - the largest particle detector in the world - is located directly on the South Pole. Now, its has measured "cosmic neutrinos" for the fist time - opening the door to a new kind of astronomy.

Neutrinos are probably the strangest of all elementary particles. Quick as light, unimaginable numbers of them race through space. But they rush through like ghosts, without leaving a mark on everyday life. Researchers now want to make use of the tiny particles - for a new type of telescope.

The decisive breakthrough came during an experiment at the South Pole, where the "IceCube" detector is embedded in Antarctica's eternal ice. The huge machine has for the first time actually tracked neutrinos in the universe, thus providing evidence that the concept of a neutrino telescope works.

IceCube was finished in 2010. Then, physicists cut 86 holes in the ice with a hot water drill, each 2.5 kilometers deep. A long steel cable was lowered into each hole. Attached to these were basketball-sized glass globes, like beads on a string. More than 5,000 of such lines were spread throughout one cubic kilometer. Acting as highly sensitive light sensors, these pick up the signals of the neutrinos that get "stuck" in the Antarctic ice sheet.

Rare flashes of light

"Because of their ghostly essence, most neutrinos rush through our detector and leave no trace," says Christian Spiering, a physicist at DESY in Zeuthen near Berlin. He's a member of the 250-strong IceCube team. "But very, very rarely, one of the particles encounters an atomic nucleus," Spiering continues. This produces bluish flashes of light, which the glass beads are able to snap up.

IceCube has already registered more than 100,000 neutrinos since 2010. Bu the catch is that these neutrinos come from the earth's atmosphere, where they are created through constantly bombardment by cosmic rays from space into the air surrounding our planet. "We're actually searching for a different kind of neutrino," says Spiering. "Particles that have not been generated in the earth's atmosphere, but were created further away, in outer space," he says.

Ice-cold research laboratory in the Antarctic

Volatile witnesses

"Cosmic neutrinos" is what experts call these ghostly outer space particles. They result from cosmic acts of violence, such as when a black hole pulls matter towards itself through its unimaginable gravity, and then swallows it. Or when a star explodes at the end of its life, with such tremendous force that it becomes a supernova.

If it were possible to measure the resulting neutrinos, completely new details - for example, about black holes and supernovas - could be revealed. Conventional telescopes cannot offer that kind of information.

IceCube could now have picked up the first cosmic neutrinos, 28 in number - a breakthrough for physicists. "We have opened a new observation window into the cosmos," says Christian Spiering. Now experts hope to learn new details about the most extreme phenomena in space. Researchers are also looking into possible conclusions that could already be drawn from the 28 neutrinos that IceCube has already picked up, for example if multiple neutrinos came from the same direction.

More data needed

Indeed, the researchers registered a slightly larger amount of neutrinos having arrived from the direction where the center of the Milky Way lies. "But that is not significant yet," says Spiering. "The possibility that these are only statistical outliers is still quite large. To get clarity, we have to wait for another year or two and gather more data," he adds.

But Spiering and his colleagues are ready to celebrate now. They're relieved that IceCube is actually able to detect cosmic neutrinos - something that was not necessarily guaranteed. "At one point, we had given up hope," Spiering admits. "The fact that it has actually worked is of course a reason to open the champagne bottles."

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"Recalibration of the Universe"– Jan 25, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text Version)

“… The entire galaxy revolves as one plate, in a very counter-intuitive way. The stars and the constellations do not orbit within the rules of Newtonian physics that you are used to seeing all around you in your own solar system. For the stars and clusters in your galaxy, distance from the center does not matter. All the stars rotate as one. This is because the galaxy is entangled with the middle of itself. In that state, there is no time or distance. The change of consciousness on this planet has changed the center of the galaxy. This is because what happens here, dear one, is "known" by the center.

It's interesting to us what your reaction to all this is scientifically. You saw that the "creative event" of your Universe is missing some energy in order for it to have formed as it did. In addition, the unusual way the galaxy rotates, as I just stated, was also noted. So you have calculated that for all this to be in place, there has to be missing 3D matter, and you have given it a name - dark matter. How funny! Did you ever think that there could be a multidimensional effect going on that you now can observe and calculate - that has immense power, but can't be seen? It's not "matter" at all and it's not 3D. It's quantum energy.

Let me tell you something about physics. Yet again, I'll make it simple. Everything your scientists have seen in physics happens in pairs. At the moment, there are four laws of physics in your three-dimensional paradigm. They represent two pairs of energy types. Eventually, there will be six. At the center of your galaxy is what you call a black hole, but it is not a single thing. It is a duality. There is no such thing as "singularity". You might say it's one energy with two parts - a weak and a strong quantum force. And the strangest thing is it knows who you are. It is the creator engine. It's different in other galaxies than this one. It's unique.

The very physics of your galaxy is postured by what you do here. The astronomers can look into the cosmos and they will discover different physics in different galaxies. Could it be that there's something going on in the other galaxies like this one? I'm not going to answer that. 

“… By the way, what happens to the solar system when the magnetics shift? Now you start to see where astrology will begin to shift as well. There are those who will start to apply the quantum filter to astrology. It's happening now. What is your quantum sign? It's different than the three-dimensional sign. Oh, there'll come a day, dear ones, in science, where the scientists will be able to apply what I will call a quantum filter to alter what they see. This will be a filter developed for telescopes that involves a super-cooling of the filter itself. Astronomers will be able to look out into the cosmos and, for the first time, see quantum attributes.

The first thing they'll notice is two things in the center of the galaxy, not one. The next thing will be the colors around the Human Being. And science will start a whole new section called "The Study of the Human Auric Energy." All of these are coming.  …”

"The Interdimensional Universe" – Nov 15, 2003 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

"... There's more. I just took you on a trip to the center of a simple atom and told you that there's far more there for you to see than how it appears in 4D. Let me give you a prediction: Scientists will begin to understand this on a grander scale as they continue to look at the Universe. There's something missing within the energy measurement of "everything that should be there" for the motion and scope to exist as you see it. So what's missing? Why can't you see it? Already scientists are postulating the possibility of dark matter. This would be matter you can't see, but which must exist to enable the energy equation to be balanced. No one has said anything about interdimensionality yet, but they will. They have to, for the elegance of the math eventually will show them very clearly that perhaps what's going on in the Universe is interdimensional in its scope. What's missing in their energy computations is very real interdimensional matter.

Who said that the cosmic lattice was linear? Who said that the energy that you can't see follows the same paradigm as what you can see? Oh, before this channel is over, I'm going to give you some puzzles. So here's another prediction: Science will begin to look for missing dimensions to explain missing energy! And it's about time. And that's the way of it. So it's time to reveal the shape of the Universe, and the push/pull action within dimensional shifts that cause your Universe to do what it does, and show you what it does. Many of the things that you continually observe are hints of it, but they're misinterpreted.

In four dimensions, your physics makes a lot of sense. When you step out of 4D and become interdimensional, however, all those logical rules of physics change. We even told you the last time we were here that when you get small enough, the laws of basic physics changes, too. It also changes when you get very large. It also changes with time frames. Stay with me here, for this will be simplified in a moment. ...."

"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous Remission, Religion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)

"THE NEXT 18 YEARS"–  Dec 2, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: You are looking  at a Quantum event, clearing a filter - Portal pineal , Higher self to step forward and communicate to You, Still remains in 3D but exposure to multi dimensions, Evolution of humanity, Intent, Mayan Calendar, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, 26.000 Years, Milky Way, Nostradamus, 1987, Beginning to a New Time, Channellers/Teachers, Center of Galaxy – Black hole, Bridge of Swords, Pleiadians, Children, Inventions – The discoveries (e.g. : Airplanes - Medicines – Radio .. ): These new Discoveries were given all over the planet when Human consciousness was ready for it. New Inventions are coming, the timing depends on how the middle East problems are solved, Biology reaction of quantum energy; new radio of the future, seeing quantum energy, when it is revealed all science books will have to be rewritten, This will be an AHA moment – be possible to communicate with the rest of Galaxy, NASA, Church/Religion will be effected the most by these discoveries, The quantum discovery will see the grid, life, gardens and will redefine life, DNA (3 billion pieces) evolving piece DNA are chancing, Gaia/Humanity are linked, new instruments will start to reveal the DNA variance, Evolution revealed: Autistic children have born with the removal of their 3D structure in the brain, Gaia/Spirit are testing these quantum beings  (Evolved DNA), Universe central clock = Rifs,  Globally there will be only 5 currencies, Wars on earth will be declared barbaric, Middle East, Global Unity, .. etc.)

Vast water store beneath Greenland's ice

Google – AFP, Richard Ingham (AFP), 22 December 2013

This NASA Earth Observatory image released May 3, 2012 shows a photo captured 

during an IceBridge flight, of a glacier in eastern Greenland flowing through a long and

narrow valley? carved by the movement of ice (NASA/AFP/File)

Paris — A vast store of water equivalent in area to Ireland lies beneath Greenland's icesheet, and it may provide answers to one of the big riddles of climate change, scientists reported on Sunday.

In 2011, US scientists crossed the southern Greenland icesheet on an expedition to drill ice cores, a benchmark of annual snowfall.

They were stunned when they drilled into a layer of compressed snow called firn -- for instead of piercing an icy sponge at a depth of 10 metres (33 feet) as expected, they encountered liquid water and ice granules instead.

They carried out another drilling a few kilometres (miles) away, and got the same result when they reached the firn layer at 25 metres (81 feet).

Seeking an answer to the liquid mystery, a NASA plane with terrain-mapping radar was brought in to fly over the zone, as well as ground-penetrating radar towed by a snowmobile.

Radar returned bright reflections pointing to the presence of a vast reservoir of water beneath the ice.

Extending down Greenland's southeastern flank, the hidden water covers a whopping 70,000 square kilometres, or 27,000 square miles. It is found at depths beneath the ice that range from five to 50 metres (16 to 160 feet).

World's biggest snow cone?

The store is believed to hold melted snow from the previous summer, according to the paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

It works similarly to an aquifer below the ground, which is a spongey rock that holds water in its air spaces.

In this case, the air spaces in the firn are occupied by water, resulting in something akin to the crushed-ice soft drink called a snow cone.

"The surprising fact is the juice in this snow cone never freezes, even in the dark Greenland winter," said Rick Forster, a professor of geography at the University of Utah, who led the mission.

"Large amounts of snow fall on the surface later in the summer and quickly insulates the water from the sub-freezing air temperatures above, allowing the water to persist all year long."

The secret store appears to have been around for some time and was not initiated by man-made global warming, the scientists believe.

But, they add, it could provide insights into the fate of the icesheet, a key question in climate science.

A mighty slab of ice averaging 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) in thickness, Greenland is suffering unprecedented melt as global warming accelerates.

In 2012, the icesheet lost a record 250 cubic kilometres (60 cubic miles) in volume, making it the biggest single contributor to the rise in world sea levels, said Forster.

If the icesheet completely melted, it would drive up sea levels by around seven metres (21 feet).

This is a doomsday scenario that most scientists discount, but even the loss of a large fraction would still drown vulnerable coastal cities.

The discovery of a year-round sub-glacial reservoir sweeps away computer simulations that have tried to calculate this runoff.

The simulations usually have water flowing into rivers, lakes or sub-glacial streams that eventually run into the sea, or else runs into the ice sheet through crevasses and gets frozen.

The next step is to determine whether the reservoir helps or hinders the survival of Greenland's icesheet.

"It might conserve the meltwater flow and thus help slow down the effects of climate change," said Forster.

"But it may also have the opposite effect, providing lubrication to moving glaciers and exacerbating ice velocity and (iceberg) calving, increasing the mass of ice loss to the global ocean."

Study links BP oil spill to dolphin deaths

US government scientists have for the first time found direct evidence of toxic exposure in the Gulf of Mexico

theguardian.com, Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, Wednesday 18 December 2013

A dolphin is seen swimming through an oil sheen from the Deepwater Horizon
 oil spill off East Grand Terre Island, where the Gulf of Mexico meets Barataria Bay,
on the Louisiana coast, July 31, 2010. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

US government scientists have for the first time connected the BP oil disaster to dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico, in a study finding direct evidence of toxic exposure.

The study, led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found lung disease, hormonal abnormalities and other health effects among dolphins in an area heavily oiled during the BP spill.

An Institute for Marine Mammal Studies veterinary technician examines a dead
 bottlenose dolphin that was found on Ono Island. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

The diseases found in the dolphins at Barataria Bay in Louisiana – though rare – were consistent with exposure to oil, the scientists said.

"Many disease conditions observed in Barataria Bay dolphins are uncommon but consistent with petroleum hydrocarbon exposure and toxicity," the scientists said.

Half of the dolphins were given a guarded prognosis, and 17% were expected to die of the disease, the researchers found.

"I've never seen such a high prevalence of very sick animals – and with unusual conditions such as the adrenal hormone abnormalities," Lori Schwake, the study's lead author, said in a statement.

The scientists caught, examined and released about 30 bottlenose dolphins from Barataria Bay in 2011, one year after the disaster. The area was one of the most heavily oiled areas following the April 2010 blowout of BP's deepwater well, that killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf.

Government scientists and conservation groups had been concerned from the outset about the effects on marine life of the vast amounts of oil that entered the water.

But Wednesday's study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology, produced the strongest evidence to date of the effects of the spill on marine life.

"The severe disease documented by this study and the continued elevation of mortalities raise significant concerns regarding both short-term and long-term impacts on the Barataria Bay dolphin population," the study said.

Jacqueline Savitz, senior campaign director of the Oceana conservation group, said the findings confirmed her fears at the time that the oil spill would take a high toll on dolphins, whales and other marine life in the Gulf.

"After the spill I saw dolphins swimming in and out of oil slicks, breathing air at the surface that I knew contained hydrocarbons from the spill since I could smell them myself," Savitz said. "The dolphins were likely exposed to the oil in other ways as well, by swallowing water, and through their food. While we have seen an unusual number of dolphin deaths during and after the spill, this report verifies that the oil took a larger toll on dolphins."

Few of the symptoms in the Barataria Bay dolphins were reported among wild dolphin populations in Sarasota Bay, Florida, which was not oiled during the spill, the scientists said.

BP has in the past disputed any connection between the oil spill and a mysterious spike in dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico that was first reported three months before the oil spill.

"The agency still has not provided BP with any data demonstrating that the alleged poor health of any dolphins was caused by oil exposure," Jason Ryan, a company spokesman, said.

He said the symptoms observed in the study had been seen in other wild dolphin populations exposed to other contaminants, and that there had been a number of unexplained die-offs of dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico over the years.

Sea Shepherd sets out to confront Japan whalers on high-seas

Google – AFP, 18 December 2013

The Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker (R) and the Japanese whaling fleet fuel

 tanker the San Laurel collide in icy waters off Antarctica, February 25, 2013

(Institute Of Cetacean Research/AFP/File)

Sydney — Sea Shepherd campaigners left for their tenth annual campaign to prevent Japan's slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean on Wednesday, with three vessels departing Australia for Antarctic waters.

The Bob Barker, which was once a Norwegian to harass the Japanese fleet as they harpoon the giant animals, and prevent them from taking their full quota.

Captain Peter Hammarstedt said it was his ninth campaign protecting whales, which have at times included high-seas clashes between the conservationists and the Japanese.

"The Japanese whaling fleet intends to kill 1,035 whales of which 50 are endangered fin whales and 50 are endangered humpback whales, the very same whales that frequent the shores here off Australia," he said.

"Our intention is to once again intercept the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary and to do everything that we can."

Sea Shepherd Australia said its two other boats the Steve Irwin and Sam Simon left Melbourne on Wednesday for the annual campaign it took over from the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in late 2012.

The Australian government, which strongly opposes Japanese whaling, is expected to announce later this week that a Customs vessel will monitor the hunt.

"The government's commitment to monitoring in the Southern Ocean remains undiminished," a spokesman for Environment Minister Greg Hunt said in an email.

But the left-leaning Greens said the purpose-built Customs vessel that would be used was nowhere near the Southern Ocean, instead in waters north of Australia on a border protection mission.

"It is purpose-built for the Antarctic, it is ice-rated, it is sitting off topical waters on Christmas Island," said Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson.

"I've got a photo of it during the week sitting in tropical waters. What's it doing there?"

Australia wants Japan's annual whale hunt in the southern hemisphere summer to stop and has taken the matter to the UN's top court the International Court of Justice. A decision is expected in early 2014.

Japan says it conducts vital scientific research using a loophole in an international ban on whaling, but makes no secret of the fact that the mammals ultimately end up as food.

Graphic on minke whales, main target of Japan's annual whale hunt (AFP)