After the Floods in Colorado, Deluge of Worry About Leaking Oil

By: Jack Healy 

The state of Colorado has been experiencing floods throughout the areas because of major storms. In result of these flooded areas, oil storage tanks were toppled. These waters flooded into Colorado's drilling centers, which then broke pipes and big oil tanks were thrown and pushed around different areas. (Healy 1) "The state has counted a dozen "notable" spills stemming from the catastrophic floods this month" (Healy 1). Now the waters are starting to spread throughout different areas and has caused debates over the West's new resource rush. Reporters have said that about 20, 000 oil and gas wells have traveled throughout Weld County. In addition, these floodwaters have spread and gotten to communities, after going down from mountains and traveling across the plains  (Healy 1). 

It has been said that 37,380 gallons of oil have spilled throughout the county so far. It was very lucky that the wells did not stop working because that would result in damages of storage tanks, contamination, or any other spills. The water has been tested for contaminated soil and researchers say that rivers, streams, and soil could have been taken over by oil (Healy 1).  Mr. Hickenlooper, a former oil geologist said, "Given the power of this flood, the fact that there hasn't been that much leakage is incredible". At this point, it has been about two weeks and this community still has a lot of clean up to do and lot of work to make up. There were 18,000 homes that were ruined or destroyed in this flood and ten people are dead because of this. In addition, it is still very difficult to get around in this area, with roads and bridges being closed. "Environmental activists say they still have multitude of unanswered questions about the extent of the damage here in drilling county- and they hope the spills will refocus attention on the environmental cost of energy drilling" (Healy 1). Overall, this flood was devastating and they hope help these towns in Colorado to get back up on their feet. 



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/us/after-the-floods-a-deluge-of-worry-about-oil.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&ref=earth&adxnnlx=1380488546-PKw48ce+g/t4X0F30MAwfw

Dig This: Decline of Australian Digging Mammals Impact Entire Ecosystems 

By: John R. Platt 

A bandicoot, which only weighs about 1.4 kilograms, has been impacting the Australian ecosystems, because of it's digging. Bandicoots dig about 3.9 metric tons of soil each year. The digging of the bandicoot is from digging for food and creating nests. Who knew that these small animals would be impacting and affecting the ecosystems so much. "This digging provides a critical role for Australian ecosystems by turning soil, increasing nutrient cycling, creating avenues for water absorption, and burying plant seeds" (Platt 1). 

Overall, Australia's mammals are having some major problems. "In fact, of Australia's 29 species of digging marsupials and monotremes (egg-laying mammals), six have gone extinct, three are critically endangered and another nine are endangered or threatened" (Platt 1). Their habitats are being destroyed, which then results in more digging of soil from these animals. These are major effects and will stay with them in the future. There has been a report of no bandicoots, which then brings down other forests's ecosystems in Australia. This also results in higher tree mortality rates and a decrease of plant species variety in these ecosystems. (Platt 1) Many research also looks at how climate change has been affecting these mammals and has turned into a major study at the Center of Excellence for Climate Change, Woodland and Forest Health. This diagram shows five ecosystem functions: 

 

In this case, these species burrow. These species end up digging extremely deep. The soil in Australia does not contain many nutrients and is lacking because its it not absorbing new components of nature, like leaves, plants, fungi, and animal feces. (Platt 1) Overall, bandicoots can really have a long-term effect on these ecosystems and the soil in Australia. 

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/2013/09/25/australian-digging-mammals/

Scientists Deploy Underwater Observatory to Track Warming, Acidification 

By Coleen Jose and ClimateWire

Scientists from the United States and Japan have created a machine that observes and takes measurements of many different things. This machine is used to measure temperature, physical, chemical, and biological data in the Pacific Ocean. This machine sits off the coast of Japan in Okinawa. The goal of creating this machine was to help understand and monitor the temperatures and better understand the aquatic wildlife in our pacific ocean. Scientists are trying to improve the machine, in order to monitor more miles of the Pacific Ocean. (Jose 1)

This machine was named the OceanCube. The OceanCube is located off the coast of Motobu Peninsula and is sits two miles from the shore. At a depth of 72 feet, this spot is great to explore the coral reefs, animals, plants, and the two major currents throughout the whole Pacific Ocean. Scott Gallager from WHOI had said, "The location is a highly diverse area for coral reef fish and for corals themselves. The idea is that we can quantify materials in a sample of water that will give us a base line of how the ocean responds to climate change and ocean acidification". This one of only a couple kind of monitoring machine in the world. Some characteristics of the OceanCube include, twice as big as a air conditioning machine, plastic and steel was used, and many cables to send information to the labs in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. Plastic was used with this machine to help better protect it and the ten cameras, throughout the machine. These cameras make up a three-dimensional image and map of the environment underwater, measuring the currents, temperature, and wildlife. Gallager had said that his goal was to build more OceanCubes and to put them in oceans around the world, to better understand what is and what happens underwater. Some new location ideas include, the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. (Jose 2)


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scientists-deploy-underwater-observatory-to-track-warming-acidification

Cooler Year Fails to Shift Long-Term Trend of Arctic Sea Ice Melting 

By Christa Marshall and ClimateWire 

Studies have shown that this year's ice cover has dramatically changed, when compared to the last decades. It has been moved to the sixth- lowest of Arctic Sea ice. Scientist are now worried about what is really going on with ice melting and how weather is all affecting this too. In addition, scientists need to look more into the effects because they need to look at the future of animals and humans. Scientist have said that the sixth place ranking is not predicted to change but scientists need to look more into this. 

A scientist at, The National Snow and Ice Data Center, explained that we were below the amounts of 2009, after analyzing the ice on September 16th. The center quoted, "As is typical for this time of year, winds or currents can compact or spread apart the ice, resulting in small daily fluctuations". The ice cover is a shocking fifty percent more than last year. This indicates a problem and scientists are really concerned about future effects. Because of the warmer temperatures throughout the Earth, this means loss of ice in the future. An oceanographer, James Overland, talks about how the Arctic Ocean is becoming more acidic because of these warmer temperatures animals in the Arctic are at risk. James Overland has also been studying ice-free summers and what the future holds by 2030. In addition, Overland made a good conclusion about ice thickness and how the volume of the ice stays somewhat the same, even though there might be different things occurring in the Arctic. Lastly, the big storm last year had a long-term effect on the temperatures, which resulted in warm water that was carried to the Arctic, which contributed to the melting ice. 



http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cooler-year-fails-to-shift-long-term-trend-of-arctic-sea-ice-melting