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Forest fires in Greece



La Grèce est en flammes. Pictured above, provided by NASA August 25, one can see the extent of fires, fanned by strong winds northeast. These are the most devastating fires that Greece has ever known.

One cause of these fires is the exceptional heat wave experienced by the Central Europe this year, especially in Greece. Although this is not very sensitive in recent weeks in France, global warming is here, as confirmed by the NOAA chart below which shows the temperature anomalies over the period January-July 2007 compared to the same period seasonal the years 1961 to 1990 :



Besides Argentina, the climate is sensitive everywhere.

Over the period from January to July since records began in 1880 for the average land surface temperature over the oceans, 2007 ranks second, tied with 2002 and 2005.

But if we consider that the average land surface temperature, the period from January to July 2007 was the warmest ever recorded, as you can see the bottom curve on the chart below:



Global warming is confirmed and intensified. As expected, this is accompanied, among others, devastating forest fires.

For more information:
1. fires killed 51 people in Greece and threaten the site of Olympia (The World)
2. Climate of 2007 - July Global Analysis (NOAA)
3. Warming to end in May 2007 (Gaia)

images Credit: NASA and NOAA

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Extinction of Baiji



The baiji is gone. An international expedition of 30 scientists has traveled 1,669 miles for six weeks along Yangtze River in search of fresh water dolphin which was threatened with extinction. There have not found a single specimen of the whale.

The baiji, a freshwater dolphin living in the Yangtze River for twenty million years, was finally extinguished.

The main cause is the noise pollution of water due to the heavy maritime traffic on the Yangtze River. I have already spoken of here din World of Silence and damage it causes to marine mammals that are so spot underwater acoustics. In the case of the Yangtze, the baiji had to cope more fishing nets in Lesquer they choked, and industrial and agricultural waste discharged into the River.

Human activity has been due in less than one hundred years of this quiet and peaceful species that lived in this river for twenty million years. Hopefully the St. Lawrence belugas can survive longer than the Yangtze River baiji.

For more information:
1. The river dolphin died (Liberation)
2. Requiem for a Freshwater Dolphin (Scientific American)
3. Shock as dolphin Declared extinct (BBC News)
4. Baiji (Wikipedia)

Credit: Institute of Hydrobiology, Wuhan, China