Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 24 augusT 2017
In this file photo dated Wednesday March 30, 2011, showing
smoke emitting from a chimney in IJmuiden, Netherlands.
Dutch activists in
legal battle to urge
action on pollution
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — mainly in busy cities
(AP) — Environmentalists — where pollution limits
went to court Wednes- aren’t met. He said there
day to demand that the already is a “clearly posi-
Dutch government take tive trend” in reducing
urgent action to improve pollution.
air quality, arguing that The hearing is not the
authorities haven’t done first time Dutch environ- The Sikuliaq (see-KOO’-lee- (3,050 meters).
enough to meet Euro- mentalists have clashed
pean Union-mandated in court with the govern-
targets. ment. In a landmark vic- operated by the University cold water rises toward the according to the National
The summary hearing in tory in 2015, a court in The
The Hague was part of a Hague ordered the gov-
crowd-funded legal bat- ernment to slash green-
tle by the Dutch arm of house gas emissions by at
Friends of the Earth, which least 25 per cent by 2020.
says that the government The government has ap-
must do more to reduce pealed that ruling.
harmful airborne pollu- Hearings for a more com-
tion. prehensive challenge by
Lawyer Edward Brans, Friends of the Earth to the
representing the state, government’s clean air
said that the national efforts are scheduled to
government is working begin in November.
with provincial and lo- The court will issue its deci- blew over sea ice now stitution, who will serve as kilometers) starting 20 to 30
cal authorities to tackle sion in the summary case
“bottlenecks” in areas on Sept. 7.q
Arctic researchers to study
wind effects on marine life
and what we’re planning
to do, is to basically docu-
ment and describe how
the physical forcing of the
wind produces this favor-
able feeding environment
for the beluga whales,”
she said Tuesday. “It’s one
thing to say, ‘Oh, they can
find food along this shelf
break. But we want to find
out why they find their
food along the shelf break,
with numbers.” Upwelling
In this Feb. 25, 2015 file photo, the National Science Foundation events in the Beaufort are
projected to increase as
research ship Sikuliaq is seen moored in Seward, Alaska.
By DAN JOLING oceanographer at the Uni- sea ice continues to trend
Associated Press
downward, Okkonen said.
Associated Press versity of Alaska Fairbanks. Last year the minimum sea
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Wind drives water at the ice for 2016 was recorded
— A federal research vessel surface of the shallow con- Sept. 10, when ice covered
will launch on a cruise this tinental shelf, at depths of 1.6 million square miles
week to study how Beau- about 300 feet (91 meters), (4.14 square kilometers),
fort Sea wind affects plant north to water off the shelf, tied with Sept. 18, 2007, for
and animal life in a chang- which drops to depths the second lowest mini-
ing Arctic Ocean. of more than 10,000 feet mum on records since sat-
ellite measurements began
ak), owned by the National The result is a phenomenon in 1978. The lowest year on
Science Foundation and called “upwelling.” Deep, record was Sept. 17, 2012,
of Alaska Fairbanks, will de- surface carrying large con- Snow and Ice Data Center
part Friday from Nome for centrations of plankton, at the University of Colora-
the trip through the Bering which scientists hypothesize do, when sea ice fell to 1.31
Strait to waters on and off will attract fish, especially million square miles (3.39
the continental shelf in the Arctic cod. Large numbers million square kilometers).
Beaufort. of cod in turn attract be- Wind covering a greater
Climate warming in recent luga whale and seabirds distance over open water
decades has resulted in far that prey on cod. Aerial sur- becomes a greater force
less summer seasonal ice in veys have shown belugas on the ocean. “We have
the Beaufort, which stretch- congregating on the shelf a much bigger fetch,” Ok-
es from the northeast coast break, said Carin Ashjian, konen said. The ship will sail
of Alaska across Canada. a senior scientist at Woods transects in a box roughly
East winds that formerly Hole Oceanographic In- 37 by 62 miles (60 by 100
blow over open water, said chief scientist on the cruise. miles (32 to 48 kilometers)
Steve Okkonen, a physical “What we hope to do, offshore.q