Warming 'pause' gives thought for scientists, sceptics

Google – AFP, Richard Ingham (AFP), 24 Sep 2013

Remains of dead trees, due to rising sea levels, are pictured on May 7,

2013, on the beach in northern Senegal (AFP/File, Seyllou)

PARIS — A slowdown in warming that has provided fuel for climate sceptics is one of the thorniest issues in a report to be issued by UN experts on Friday.

Over the past 15 years, the world's average surface temperature rose far slower than many climate models have predicted.

According to projections, global warming should go in lockstep with the ever-rising curve of heat-trapping carbon emissions.

But in recent years, warming has lagged. So, where has the missing heat gone?

For climate sceptics, the answer is clear. Either the computer models used to project temperature rise are flawed, or man-made global warming is just a green scam, they say.

Swedish Environment Minister Lena Ek,

 Thomas Stocker and Dahe Qin of the

 IPCC in Stockholm, Sweden, 

September 23, 2013 (AFP/File,

Bertil Enevag Ericson)

The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will confirm warming has recently slowed.

The document, being debated line-by-line in Stockholm, is the first volume of a vast trilogy that will be released by the Nobel-winning group over the coming months, and only its fifth overview in a quarter of a century.

Over the past 50 years, the mean global temperature rise was 0.12 degrees Celsius (0.2 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade, slowing to an average 0.05 C (0.09 F) per decade over the past 15 years.

Half of the slowdown could be attributed to volcanic eruptions, whose particles reflect sunlight, and a bigger-than expected drop in heat from the Sun's changing activity cycle, said a summary of the report.

The other half is attributed to a "cooling contribution from internal variability".

Laurent Terray with the French computer modelling agency Cerfacs said the term is used to explain a shift in the way heat is distributed between land, sea and air.

Still unclear is what causes the variation or determines its duration.

"We know that this kind of episode, of a decadal length or thereabouts, can occur once or twice a century," said Terray.

"If it (the present one) continues for two more decades, we may start to think that the computer models are underestimating internal variability."

New research by Britain's Met Office suggests the "missing" heat, or some of it, is being transferred from the ocean surface to the deeps.

Temperatures at depths below 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) have been rising since the 1990s, implying a source of heat-trapping today will contribute to warming tomorrow.

A massive ash clouds rise from the crater

 of the Mount Sinabung volcano during

 a fresh eruption on September 17,

2013 (AFP/File, Ade Sinuhaji)

Governments, which have the right to vet and amend the summary but not the main text on which it is based, are looking with concern at the brief section on the warming pause.

This reflects jitters after the IPCC's last big report in 2007 was shown to contain several background errors, denting the agency's credibility.

The panel's main conclusions were not affected but the mistakes were a windfall for sceptics.

Together with the 2008 financial crisis and the disastrous 2009 Copenhagen UN climate summit, this almost sent global warming into political limbo.

In comments of the IPCC summary draft, China, India and Norway want to know why the section dealing with the warming pause fails to refer to the role of the deep ocean.

Others complain the text is dangerous gobbledegook.

"This is an example of providing a bunch of numbers, then leave them up in the air without a concrete conclusion," says an angry US objection seen by AFP.

"(...) [T]he way it is written, it may set itself up for misleading conclusions."

Some countries take the opposite line.

Hungary says an anomaly that has lasted 15 years -- a blink of an eye on the geological timescale -- is too short and laden with unknowns to even rate a mention.

Illustration: a slowdown in global warming

 has led sceptics to say the theory of

 man-made global warming is a scam

(AFP/File, Giuseppe Cacace)

The controversy touches on the sensitive issue of scientific uncertainty.

To scientists, admitting to uncertainty is not merely honest but entirely legitimate -- something to be acknowledged and debated, to be rejected or overcome.

But admitting to uncertainty is often misunderstood by the outside world and, says Andreas Levermann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) near Berlin, exploited by sceptics.

"They can't stop physical reality, but they are slowing down" tougher action on carbon emissions, he said in a phone interview.

Alden Meyer, with the US environment group the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), urged the IPCC draft to spell out what is known about the warming pause.

"Otherwise, the denialists will claim that the IPCC's silence on this issue shows that global warming isn't as serious as scientists thought," he said in an email.

"The recent slowdown in temperature increases isn't unprecedented, and should be seen as a 'speed bump' on the way to a warmer world."

Related Articles:

Why has global warming stalled?

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one." 

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

“… So now we've refreshed that which we have said before, a review. You are in the middle of a cycle that will bring cooling to the planet. It is not a heat cycle, but rather a cooling cycle. But it always starts with a short heat cycle. It has been here before. It will come again. It is a long cycle - one generation plus five years. That's how long it's going to last. It starts with the melting of the ice caps, which is far more than any of you have seen in your lifetime or those of your ancestors. It is a cycle whose repetition is thousands of years long, but one that has not yet been recorded to the books of Human record. But it's definitely been recorded in the cores of the ice and in the rings of the trees.

Thousands of years old, it is, and it happens in a cyclical way. It's about water. It starts with that which is the melting of the ice caps to a particular degree, which has a profound effect on the planet in all ways. You can't have that happen without seeing life change as well as Gaia change and you've seeing it already. What happens when you take that which is heavy on the poles [ice] and you melt it? It then becomes cold water added to that which is a very, very gentle and finite balance of temperature in the seas of the planet (1). The first thing that happens is a redistribution of the weight of water on the thin crust of the earth from ice at the poles to new water in the seas. The results become earthquakes and volcanoes, and you're seeing them, aren't you? You are having earthquakes in places that are not supposed to have earthquakes. Volcanoes are coming to life in a way that you've not seen before on a regular basis. There will be more. Expect them.

Is it too much to ask of a Human Being that if you live by a volcano that you know might erupt, maybe you ought to move? Yet there will be those who say, "It hasn't erupted in my lifetime or my parents' lifetime or my grandparents' lifetime; therefore, it won't." You may have a surprise, for all things are changing. That is what is happening to Gaia. ….“

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version) 

"...The Weather... Again

My partner has been "against the grain" in the past years, giving you what I have channelled about the weather. Is it global warming? No. Is it going to get better? No. This is a two-generation cycle. There will continue to be earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and storms. This is a recalibration of life in the ocean, and humanity must go through this in any way they can. This is a cycle, a known and expected one, but since you haven't gone through it in modern times, it's not well understood yet. ..."

Arctic ice melt slows down: NASA

Google – AFP, 22 Sep 2013

Arctic sea ice pack roughly northeast of the New Siberian Islands

(NASA/AFP/File)

WASHINGTON — Arctic sea ice melted less this summer and continued to cover a greater expanse than last year's record minimum, NASA data shows.

Following unusually cold summer temperatures in the northernmost latitudes, the US space agency said Friday that the sea ice extent shrunk to 1.97 million square miles (5.10 million square kilometers).

The analysis was based on September 13 data by NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

On September 16, 2012, Arctic sea ice shrunk to its smallest surface ever recorded by satellite at 1.32 million square miles, about half the size of the average minimum in the previous two decades.

Over the long term, Arctic sea ice surface has dropped 12 percent per decade since the end of the 1970s, a decline that accelerated after 2007, according to the NSIDC.

"I was expecting that this year would be higher than last year," said Walt Meier, a glaciologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"There is always a tendency to have an uptick after an extreme low; in our satellite data, the Arctic sea ice has never set record low minimums in consecutive years."

But the remaining Arctic sea ice cover is much thinner overall compared to the previous decades by as much as 50 percent. Scientists say thinner seasonal ice is replacing older, thicker ice as it melts away.

"Thinner ice melts completely at a faster rate than thicker ice does, so if the average thickness of Arctic sea ice goes down, it's more likely that the extent of the summer ice will go down as well," said Goddard senior scientist Joey Comiso.

"At the rate we're observing this decline, it's very likely that the Arctic's summer sea ice will completely disappear within this century."

820kg of dolphin meat seized from Taiwan fisherman's fridge

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-09-20

Huang was found in possession of bottlenose and Risso's dolphin meat,
as well as other prohibited species including shark and seal. (Photo/
ROC Coast Guard)

Some 820 kilograms of dolphin meat was seized by Taiwan's coast guard at the home of a fisherman named Huang in Yunlin county on the country's western coast on Sept. 17, reports our sister paper China Times.

The sale of dolphin meat is illegal and can be punished with a fine of between US$10,000-$50,000 under Taiwanese law.

Huang told authorities that he and his wife began to sell dolphin to local restaurants two years ago lured by the money to be made from strong demand for dolphin sausage around the time of the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

Huang had been under surveillance by the authorities for four months and the haul of 820 kilograms consisted of both bottlenose and Risso's dolphin.

The authorities also found the meat of other protected marine species including shark and seal in Huang's refrigerator. Huang said he bought the dolphin meat from a supplier in northern Taiwan at a price of US$5 per catty (600g) and resold it for US$8 per catty.

On this occasion Huang had bought a total of 1,000 kilograms of dolphin meat in total and had shifted 180 kg in just two days.

Rubber Duck attracts 200,000 admirers on first day in Kaohsiung

Want China Times, CNA 2013-09-20

Rubber Duck in Kaohsiung, Sept. 19. (Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung
City Government)

Some 200,000 spectators flocked to Kaohsiung's harbor Thursday for a peep at the world-famous Rubber Duck sculpture, despite the threat of an approaching typhoon.

No ordinary bath toy, this duck comes in at 18 meters tall and 1,000 kilograms in weight, making it the largest of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's Rubber Duck series to nest in Asia.

Due to expected inclement weather brought by Typhoon Usagi, however, the duck will have to be temporarily put back to coop.

Kaohsiung Information Bureau chief Lai Jui-lung said that Rubber Duck will be deflated and flattened by Friday afternoon for safe storage until the storm passes.

Construction teams are equipped with lighting so they can work through the night in case of a need to get the duck to roost quickly if the wind picks up, he said.

Hofman spoke at the duck's unveiling earlier in the day, where he said he was moved by the passion of the Taiwanese and praised the quality of the duck, which was manufactured locally.

Kaohsiung is the first leg of Rubber Duck's migration around Taiwan, which will see it nest in Taoyuan and Keelung in the north.

The southern city predicts an influx of some 3 million visitors and around NT$1 billion (US$33.7 million) for local businesses, many of which have hatched duck-themed products and services.

Since 2007, Hofman's duck sculptures have visited 15 cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Sydney and Hong Kong.

Greenpeace activists arrested in Arctic

Sailors aboard Arctic Sunrise, protesting against Gazprom drilling, boarded by Russian coastguard and arrested at gunpoint

The Guardian, John Vidal, Thursday 19 September 2013

Link to video: Greenpeace activists attempt to scale Russian oil rig

Armed Russian military have stormed a Greenpeace ship protesting against oil exploitation in remote Arctic waters. According to the last communications from the Arctic Sunrise before all contact was cut at around 4.30pm BST, the Russians dropped guards on to the deck of the vessel by rope from a helicopter, rounded up the Greenpeace crew and broke into the wheel house and communications rooms.

Tweets from three people who locked themselves into a secure area on the ship said: "This is pretty terrifying. Loud banging. Screaming in Russian. They're still trying to kick in the door". Another said: "Crew are sitting on their knees on the helipad with guns pointed at them."

Frank Hewetson, British action coordinator on the vessel, later said that 29 of the crew were being held under armed guard in the canteen.

"About 10 commandoes boarded by a soviet era helicopter. They pushed us aside and ordered us to lie flat out on the deck. They then smashed their way onto the bridge.

"Our engines have been turned off and they have isolated the captain Pete Wilcox. We have no idea what is happening."

The crew includes six British people as well as 10 other nationalities. No-one has been reported injured.

The dramatic moves 60km north of the Russian coast near the island of Nova Zemlya, was described by Greenpeace executives in London as "an illegal act in international waters". "We have a right to be there. This was an entirely peaceful protest", said Arctic campaigner Ben Ayliffe.

But Russian diplomats accused the environmental group of "aggressive and provocative" actions this week after shots were fired by Russian coastguard and two activists from the Arctic Sunrise were arrested on Wednesday after scaling the Gazprom-owned Prirazlomnaya platform which is drilling for oil in the area. The activists have been detained on the Russian coastguard ship Ladoga.

"The intruders' actions … had the outward signs of extremist activity that can lead to people's death and other grave consequences," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

According to Reuters, Russia summoned the Dutch ambassador asking him to ensure it was not repeated. The Arctic Sunrise is registered in Holland.

Gazprom plans to start production from the Prirazlomnaya platform next year 2014, according to Greenpeace, raising the risk of an oil spill in an area that contains three nature reserves protected by Russian law.

Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said: "This illegal boarding of a peaceful protest ship highlights the extreme lengths that the Russian government will go to keep Gazprom's dangerous Arctic drilling away from public scrutiny. We ask President Putin to restrain the Coast Guard and order them to holster their guns and withdraw. We are a peaceful organisation and our protest has done nothing to warrant this level of aggression."

Figures released this week suggest that the extent of Arctic sea ice has shrunk to its sixth lowest level on record, prompting scientists to warn that manmade climate change was bringing the days of an ice-free Arctic closer.

Related Article:

Greenpeace calls protests after Russian guards detain activists on ship

Former Halliburton employee faces charges for destroying oil spill evidence

Company's 2010 cementing technology director charged for deleting data related to the deadly BP oil spill

theguardian.com, Associated Press in New Orleans, Thursday 19 September 2013

Halliburton pled guilty to a misdemeanor related to the charge against
Badalamenti and will pay a $200,000 fine. Photograph: Karen Bleier/
AFP/Getty Images

A former Halliburton employee was charged Thursday with destroying evidence following BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Anthony Badalamenti, who had been the cementing technology director for Halliburton Energy Services, was charged in federal court Thursday with instructing two other employees to delete data during a post-spill review of the cement job on BP's blown-out well.

Halliburton was BP PLC's cement contractor on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf in April 2010, killing 11 workers and triggering the largest offshore oil spill in US history.

The 61-year-old Badalamenti of Katy, Texas, is charged in a bill of information, which typically signals that a defendant is cooperating with prosecutors.

Also on Thursday, a federal judge accepted a plea agreement that calls for the Houston-based company to pay a $200,000 fine for conduct related to the charge against Badalamenti.

US District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo said she believes the plea agreement is reasonable and agreed with prosecutors and the company that it "adequately reflects the seriousness of the offense."

Unlike BP and rig owner Transocean Limited, Halliburton was not charged with a crime related to the causes of the disaster. The charge to which it agreed to plead guilty – a misdemeanor count of unauthorized destruction of evidence – involved a post-spill review of the cement job on BP's blown-out Macondo well.

BP resolved a Justice Department criminal probe of its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster when it pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter charges for the deaths of the rig workers and agreed to pay a record $4bn in penalties. Transocean pleaded guilty in February to a misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act and agreed to pay $400m in criminal penalties.

Prosecutors said that in May 2010, Badalamenti directed a senior program manager to run computer simulations on centralizers, which are used to keep the casing centered in the wellbore. The results indicated there was little difference between using six or 21 centralizers. The data could have supported BP's decision to use the lower number.

Badalamenti is accused of instructing the program manager to delete the results. The program manager "felt uncomfortable" about the instruction but complied, according to prosecutors.

A different Halliburton employee also deleted data from a separate round of simulations at the direction of Badalamenti, who was acting without the authorization of the company, prosecutors said.

Halliburton notified investigators from a Justice Department task force about the deletion of data.

Hong Kong Bans Shark Fin at Official Banquets

Jakarta Globe – AFP, September 18, 2013

In this file picture taken on January 2, 2013 shark fins drying in the sun
cover the roof of a factory building in Hong Kong. (AFP Photo/Antony Dickson)

Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s government said Friday it would stop serving shark fin at official functions as “a good example,” following years of lobbying by conservation groups.

The southern Chinese city is one of the world’s biggest markets for shark fin, which is viewed by many Asians as a delicacy and is often served as a soup at expensive Chinese banquets.

Along with shark fin, bluefin tuna will also fall under the ban, which was prompted by what authorities called “conservation concerns.”

“The exclusion of these… items from official menus is a start and also serves as an example of raising public education and awareness on sustainability,” a government spokesman said in a press release.

“The government is determined to take the lead and set a good example on this front,” he said.

Trade in shark fin is not regulated in Hong Kong except for three species — basking shark, great white shark and whale shark — where the trade is restricted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), to which Hong Kong is a signatory.

More than 70 million sharks are killed every year, with Hong Kong importing about 10,000 tonnes annually for the past decade, according to environmental group WWF. Most of those fins are then exported to mainland China.

Shark conservationists applauded the government’s move saying it was a step towards ending the trade globally.

“Today’s decision is another important milestone towards ending shark mortality globally,” Program Manager at Hong Kong Shark Foundation Emma Kong said in a statement, adding shark conservation momentum in the city had been building for years.

“After almost a decade of advocacy in the form of petitions, protest marches, letter writing and media campaigns, the Hong Kong government has finally seen fit to do the right thing — for which we applaud them,” Alex Hofford, the executive director of Hong Kong-based marine conservation group MyOcean, told AFP.

“We hope the citizens of Hong Kong can follow suit and finally lay this abhorrent tradition to rest,” Hofford said.

“The announcement is particularly significant as Hong Kong is the world’s largest shark fin market, representing approximately 50 percent of the global trade” said Joshua Reichert, the executive vice president of the Pew Charitable Trusts said.

Reichert also said populations of Pacific bluefin had declined around 96 percent, according to a recent study.

Campaigners say the trade has left up to a third of open-water species on the brink of extinction.

Marine conservationists expressed outrage in January after images emerged of a factory rooftop in Hong Kong covered in thousands of freshly sliced shark fins.

They estimated there were 15,000 to 20,000 fins being laid to dry on the rooftop on Hong Kong island ahead of an anticipated surge in demand over Lunar New Year in the following month of February.

In January last year, luxury hotel group Shangri-La said it would stop serving shark fin at its properties worldwide to protect the marine predators, following the example of Hong Kong-based Peninsula Hotels group, which said it would stop serving shark fins in 2011.

Shangri-La said it would also phase out Bluefin tuna and Chilean sea bass, which are under threat of extinction.

The city’s flag-carrier Cathay Pacific Airlines in September last year followed suit, saying it was “the right thing to do” in no longer carrying unsustainably sourced shark products on its cargo flights.

In 2011, almost 80 percent of Hong Kongers said considered it socially acceptable to leave shark fin soup off the menu for a wedding banquet, a survey by a shark conservation group said.

Agence France-Presse

Costa Concordia upright after unique salvage bid

Google – AFP, Laure Brumont (AFP), 17 Sep 2013

The wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship was turned upright

near Giglio island on September 17, 2013 (AFP/File, Andreas Solaro)

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy — The Costa Concordia cruise ship was hoisted upright from its watery grave off Italy's Giglio island on Tuesday following the biggest-ever salvage operation of its kind, 20 months after it ran aground.

The 290-metre (951-foot) long, 114,500-ton vessel -- longer than the Titanic and more than twice as heavy -- emerged from the sea as horns sounded across the water in celebration, mixing with applause and cheers from onlookers in the port -- the climax to a 19-hour operation.

One side of the ship had lain underwater since the January 2012 tragedy in which 32 people died, and emerged a rusty brown contrasting with the brilliant white on the exposed side.

Nick Sloane, the South African salvage master who gave the orders from a control room on a barge next to the ship, said his team was "proud to have risen to such a challenge, all the more so because many people thought it couldn't be done.

"Without the shipbuilders and all the equipment which was delivered in time, we wouldn't be here today," the 52-year-old said, kissing his wife, who handed him a South African flag to celebrate a triumphant end to more than a year's work.

After final checks to secure the ship, the search will begin for two bodies that are still missing.

Franco Gabrielli, head of the civil protection agency and project overseer, said the search for the corpses of Indian waiter Russell Rebello and Italian passenger Maria Grazia Trecarichi would start "in the next few days at the latest".

"When the ship toppled, corridors became deep wells. Now she is upright, we can get to areas previously off limits," he said, adding that there would likely "still be areas it is difficult to access and search."

The missing victims' loved ones were expected on Giglio later Tuesday.

Trecarichi's husband Elio Vincenzi said: "I am still hoping to find my wife. This is a tense wait for me and for my daughter."

Gabrielli said the newly exposed side of the ship, with hundreds of crushed balconies, would require "major repairs" before it can be towed.

Removal of the doomed vessel to an Italian port for scrapping is planned only for the spring of next year at the earliest.

Local residents and survivors spoke of an eerie feeling as the ship rose, saying it reminded them of the way it looked on the night of the disaster.

Senior salvage master, Nick Sloan (C),

 speaks to journalists following the

successful raising of the Costa Concordia

(AFP, Andreas Solaro)

"Seeing it re-emerge is emotional for me," said Luciano Castro, a survivor who travelled to the picturesque Tuscan island to witness the salvage.

"I could not miss it. That ship could have been my end and instead I am here to tell the story," he said.

The salvage is the biggest ever undertaken for a passenger ship and the position of the hulk posed unique challenges for the 500-person international salvage team.

They also had to take special care since Giglio is in the heart of one of Europe's biggest marine sanctuaries.

The ship was dragged up with 36 cables across the hull and tanks the size of 11-storey buildings welded on the side of the ship which were filled with water to act as ballast.

It is now sitting on a vast underwater steel platform and the next step will see tanks fitted to the side of the ship which was on the rocks.

Water will then be drained from the tanks on both sides in order to float the ship.

The project has so far cost 600 million euros ($800 million) and insurers estimate it could run to $1.1 billion once it is completed.

Twin images of the Costa Concordia as it lays stricken and after being pulled

upright on September 17, 2013 (AFP, Vincenzo Pinto)

"I'm relieved. It was a bit of a rollercoaster," Sloane said as he was mobbed by dozens of journalists and well-wishers in the port before a celebratory drink.

"The scale of it was something we've never seen before," he said.

The Costa Concordia struck rocks just off Giglio after veering sharply towards the island in a bravado sail-by allegedly ordered by its captain, Francesco Schettino.

Dubbed "Captain Coward" and "Italy's most hated man" in the tabloids for apparently abandoning ship while passengers were still on board, Schettino is currently on trial.

Four crew members and the head of ship owner Costa Crociere's crisis unit have already been handed short prison sentences for their roles in the crash.

The ship had 4,229 people from 70 countries on board.

The order to abandon the vessel was delayed and problems with launching lifeboats saw some people forced to jump into the freezing water.

Related Article:

Jail terms for Concordia disaster in plea deals

Pentland Firth tidal turbine project given consent

BBC News, 15 September 2013

Each of MeyGen's AR1000 turbines stands 22.5m (73ft) tall and
weighs 1,500 tonnes

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Work is to begin on the largest tidal energy project in Europe after the Scottish government granted permission.

MeyGen is to install the tidal array in stages in the Pentland Firth, between Orkney and the Scottish mainland.

It will begin with a 9MW demonstration project of up to six turbines, with construction expected to take place on a phased basis until 2020.

When fully operational, the 86MW array could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 42,000 homes.

That is the equivalent of 40% of homes in the Highlands, the Scottish government said.

It will be the first commercial deployment of tidal turbines in Scottish waters.

Scottish-registered company MeyGen is a joint venture between investment bank Morgan Stanley, independent power generator International Power and tidal technology provider Atlantis Resources Corporation.

Its tidal energy project is located in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth off the north coast of Caithness.

The firm has agreed a 25-year lease with the Crown Estate for an area encompassing about 1.4 square miles (3.5 square kilometres) of fast flowing water between the island of Stroma and the north easterly tip of the Scottish mainland.

Its AR1000 turbine is claimed to be the world's most powerful single-rotor tidal device.

Each of the devices, which stand 22.5m (73ft) tall, weigh 1,500 tonnes and have a rotor diameter of 18m (59ft), could generate up to 1MWt of power.

Phase one of the plan would see 86 turbines deployed, with MeyGen hoping a second phase would eventually see up to 400 submerged turbines at the site.

'Climate change'

Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: "Today we have granted consent to MeyGen Limited to develop the largest tidal turbine array in Europe and the first commercial project off these shores.

"This is a major step forward for Scotland's marine renewable energy industry.

"This exciting development in the waters around Orkney is just the first phase for a site that could eventually yield up to 398MW."

Speaking before the Scottish Renewables Marine Conference got under way in Inverness, Mr Ewing also announced that developers Aquamarine Power Limited and Pelamis Wave Power are to share a slice of a £13m wave "first array" support programme.

The award is part of the Scottish government's Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund.

Mr Ewing said the tide was turning for the wave sector.

He added: "We must tackle climate change. We need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels through better and more efficient uses of energy.

"Marine energy - a home-grown technology with huge potential - is part of the solution."

The announcement was welcomed by environmental group WWF Scotland.

Director Lang Banks said: "This is a significant announcement and a major boost for the marine renewable industry in Scotland.

"However, as there is little point in generating huge amounts of marine renewable energy on Scotland's islands if it cannot also be got to the mainland, we now need UK and Scottish ministers to find a way forward that enables us to harness the full potential of this clean energy source.

"Alongside energy saving measures, marine renewables will have a critical role to play in helping Scotland reduce climate emissions as we phase out polluting fossil fuels and nuclear power.

"With careful planning we can harness Scotland's huge wave and tidal energy to help cut our climate emissions, while safeguarding the nation's tremendous marine environment."

'Fraught with difficulty'

The Carbon Trust has estimated that wave and tidal resources could provide 20% of the UK's electricity if fully developed.

And the Scottish government believes the country's technological expertise in marine energy makes it extremely well placed to capitalise on domestic and overseas markets.

Scotland has been described as a Saudi Arabia of renewable energy potential, but developing power from offshore tidal streams is fraught with difficulty.

The harsh environment and extreme weather conditions make building, deploying and managing a fleet of tidal machines a treacherous challenge, as the BBC discovered when reporting on the emerging industry last year.

Related Article:

Giant tidal turbine 'performing well' in tests off Orkney

British Columbia salmon return one of largest seen in region

BBC News, 12 September 2013

Pink salmon, shown in a file photograph, have a lifespan of two years

An estimated 26 million pink salmon have crowded British Columbia's waterways, nearly three times more fish than expected, officials have reported.

Roughly 17 million of the fish, which have a two-year life cycle, returned from the ocean in 2011.

This month's salmon run is one of the largest ever seen in north-west British Columbia, officials have said.

Researchers were uncertain what caused the increase but said the pink salmon's survival conditions must have improved.

Officials had anticipated only nine million fish.

"It is a really good return this year, and we're quite pleased to see it," Les Jantz, area director for the British Columbia Interior, told the BBC.

"It is a bit of a surprise... Hopefully it will be a sign of improved ocean conditions in the future."

Mr Jantz said large pink salmon returns had been reported in the US state of Alaska, which could foreshadow significant sockeye salmon returns after a low season.

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U.S. seafood catch reaches 17-year high
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“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....The Prediction: The Renewal of the Life Cycle

When you change the temperature strata of the oceans of the earth, things start to change, for the life cycle of the food in the ocean depends upon that which is the smallest. The plankton of the planet survive in certain temperatures, and that's changing. Throw away what you think you know about how it's all supposed to work, and instead think "renewal" or "how did it begin." This will serve you to understand what is happening now. This cycle is built to replenish the ocean with life and not always by sustaining the kind that was there.

Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth.

Within this process, there will be the extinction of certain plants and animals, birds and fish. My advice to you, especially to those environmentalists, is to understand the cycle of life so that you may relax with what nature has always done. It puts life on the planet to serve the planet for a time. When certain life no longer serves the planet in the ways it used to, it takes it away. The extinction of life, especially through weather change, is normal for Gaia. It is honored, appropriate and normal, even if you don't think so. Don't try to save all the disappearing animals, fish and birds! Some are supposed to go away. And, dear ones, don't assign all this activity to something you did to cause it!

The red people are stressing. The purple is here, and they are trying to figure out what they did wrong. They don't know they are in the Rainbow Room. They think they are in the RED ROOM. This is what the Rainbow Room does; it changes colors. So as the room does what it has always done, the red people are sitting there in fear trying to figure out what it is that they did that possibly could have caused the purple to appear.

The Rainbow Room is beautiful. The color purple is significant. Going from red to purple has metaphysical significance within this parable, but I'll let you figure it out. For those who are into colors, there's a reason why I gave those two. The earth is becoming more sacred than it's ever been before. Gaia is with you in this. It's cooperating in ways you never thought it could, in the way biologists said it would not. You think you're killing it? Instead, it's giving birth to an altered ecological system. ...."

Pacific nations agree to cut bluefin tuna catches

Google – AFP, 5 Sep 2013

Fishmongers inspect bluefin tuna at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on

January 5, 2013 (AFP/File, Yoshikazu Tsuno)

TOKYO — Asia-Pacific fishing nations and territories agreed on Thursday to cut catches of young bluefin tuna by 15 percent, with an agreement environmentalists said would not stop overfishing.

Nine economies, including the United States, China, South Korea and Taiwan, concluded a four-day meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Fukuoka, western Japan.

The participants agreed to reduce the amount of bluefin tuna aged three years or younger in 2014 by 15 percent of the average between 2002 and 2004, a Japanese fisheries agency official said.

The United States had proposed a 25-percent reduction, but a majority of participants, concerned about the impact on local fishing industries, agreed on the 15-percent cut proposed by Japan, the official said.

The accord will be endorsed at the commission's annual assembly in December in Australia, the official added.

Greenpeace immediately denounced the reduction, saying only a total ban on catching bluefin tuna -- at least until a sign of clear recovery of the species can be confirmed -- was enough.

Greenpeace also called on Japan -- the world's biggest consumer of tuna -- to take the lead in adopting effective measures "to assure the sustainability of fishing bluefin tuna in the Pacific".

Environmentalists say industrial-scale fishing that takes large amounts of young tuna from the ocean before they are old enough to breed is destroying the population of a fish highly-prized in Japan's sushi restaurants.

The WCPFC was formed in 2004 based on a UN treaty to conserve and manage tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks across the western and central areas of the Pacific.

Shark fin decline linked to China corruption crackdown

Google – AFP, 1 Sep 2013

A worker packs shark fins in a plastic containeer at a processing

factory in Japan on March 12, 2013 (AFP/File, Toshifumi Kitamura)

MAJURO, Marshall Islands — Conservationists have attributed a dwindling demand for shark fins to China's crackdown on corruption which has forced a decline in lavish banquets.

"We are seeing a reduction in demand from China. Hong Kong is also showing a significant decline in consumption," Angelo Villagomez, a shark specialist with US-based conservation group the Pew Charitable Trusts, said Sunday.

Villagomez was in the Marshall Islands to discuss shark sanctuaries with leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum, the annual summit of Pacific heads of state.

However, he said the decline in shark fin demand over the past year was not directly linked to increasing shark protection by Pacific island governments.

A shark fin is displayed infront of a

 restaurant in the Chinatown area of 

Bangkok on March 6, 2013 (AFP/File,

Nicolas Asfouri)

Instead, it was related to the Chinese leadership's crackdown on graft and opposition to extravagance.

"It's not to do with conservation. It's related to a Chinese government anti-graft crackdown, which has cut back on dinners where shark fin soup was featured on the menu," Villagomez said.

"The culture is (also) changing in Asia among younger people. They aren't eating shark fin soup as much."

Historically, high demand in the Asian market has fuelled shark-finning by fishermen on commercial tuna vessels in the Pacific.

But finning is slowly being shut down as the number of islands legislating shark sanctuaries grows.

Villagomez will be meeting this week with Pacific leaders to discuss extending the number of shark sanctuaries.

"The Pacific is leading the world in shark conservation," he said.

"Pew is working with islands that have sanctuaries on enforcement, implementing best practices, and conducting research."

The nearly 300 purse seine fishing boats now plying tuna grounds in the Pacific are required to have independent observers on board and with "100 percent observer coverage, enforcement of shark bans is as good as it will get," Villagomez added.

"The islands now have eyes on the water and in the ports."

Since banning shark fishing in its waters in 2011, the Marshall Islands has arrested two foreign vessels for having shark fins on board and fined them more than $100,000.

"During the next two years, our goal is to create a united Pacific front on sharks," Villagomez said.