Australians warned off 'Migaloo' the white whale

Yahoo News 30 Jun 09;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian officials on Tuesday warned the public to stay away from "Migaloo," a much-loved white humpback whale who has reappeared off the eastern coast.

Queensland authorities reminded enthusiasts Migaloo was a "special-interest whale" with a 500-metre (yard) exclusion zone for boats, jetskis and aircraft enforced by a maximum fine of 13,300 US dollars.

"The whale-watching regulations are there to protect the whales, but also to protect people from these huge, unpredictable mammals," said state environment minister Kate Jones.

"Adult humpbacks can weigh more than a fully-loaded semi-trailer so you need to stay out of their way."

Migaloo, meaning "white fella" in one of the Queensland Aboriginal dialects, is the only all-white humpback ever documented and has built up a loyal following since he was first spotted in 1991.

As well as two dedicated websites, the animal also inspired Operation Migaloo, an anti-whale hunting campaign by environmental activists which concluded in March 2008.

Celebrity white humpback Migaloo marks start of Australian whale season
Albino humpback whale Migaloo
Adam Ward, Sydney's Daily Telegraph The Telegraph 2 Jul 09;

Migaloo and friend photographed off Queensland in 2004, Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney

Whale watching season has begun in Australia and the star attraction of the annual migration – Migaloo, a rare white humpback – made his first appearance off the eastern coast this week.

The white Eastern Australian humpback celebrity, who was spotted off the coast of northern NSW, causes so much interest during his annual swim up to northern Queensland that the local environment authorities this week declared him a ‘special interest whale’ and threatened to issue hefty fines for anyone who gets too close.

There is now a 500m (1,600ft) exclusion zone around Migaloo for boats and jet skis, and aircraft must not venture closer than 2,000ft above.

The Queensland Environment Minister Kate Jones said anyone found in breach of these conditions faces a fine of up to $16,500 (£8,100). For other whales, the limits are 100m (350ft) for a boat and 300m (1,000ft) for jet skis and other watercraft, with a maximum penalty of $12,000 (£5,800).

“Migaloo has been declared a special-interest whale, granting him more space to swim up the Queensland coast,” Ms Jones said.

“The whale-watching regulations are there to protect the whales, but also to protect people from these huge, unpredictable mammals.

“Adult humpbacks can weigh more than a fully-loaded semi-trailer so you need to stay out of their way.”

Southern Cross University whale researcher Dave Paton spotted Migaloo at Evans Head, just south of Byron Bay near the border of Queensland and NSW, on Tuesday morning and said he was in good spirits and looked healthy.

“He was by himself and just cruising along looking very relaxed,” Mr Paton, who has seen Migaloo six times over the past decade, told The Times.

Migaloo is about 20 years old and weighs approximately 40 tonnes. He was first sighted off Cape Byron – the eastern most point in Australia - in 1991 and is usually spotted once a year during the annual whale migration.

Migaloo is named after the Aboriginal word for ‘white fella’ and is so popular there are two websites and at least four Facebook pages dedicated to him. There is even an album of whale songs being produced which features Migaloo’s distinctive song.

He is one of approximately 11,000 humpbacks who migrate from their feeding ground in Antarctica to different parts of the world each southern winter.

Many of them head for the coasts of New Zealand and Australia where they congregate in the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef and Harvey Bay in far north Queensland for mating, birthing and calving.

From the end of June and early July the whales can regularly be seen along the eastern Australian coastline, where whale watching has turned into a popular pastime and lucrative ecotourism business for the winter season, which lasts until November when the humpbacks head back to Antarctica to feed on krill.

Juanita Ryder from Sydney’s True Blue Cruises said this week they have been taking up to 100 people a day – including many tourists from the UK and Europe – for a $75 (£37) boat trip outside the heads of Sydney Harbour to watch the whales as they swim past in the Tasman Sea.

At Harvey Bay in Queensland, whale watching tour operators were this week busy preparing for their annual visitors.

Jill Perry, who has run Harvey Bay Whale Watch with her husband Brian for the past 23 years, said they see on average up to 500 whales and take approximately 12,000 people on whale watching tours each season.

Another popular location for sightings is the cliffs at Cape Byron, where most of the whale group converge before moving north again.

Wally Franklin, a whale researcher and director of The Oceania Project based at Byron Bay, said the population of the migrating humpbacks is improving.

However he added the population is still only 20 per cent of what it was before the last period of commercial whaling in Australia in the late 1960s. He said by the time whaling ceased, the humpback population had been reduced to only 150 individual whales.

Mr Franklin, who later this month will head to Harvey Bay for his annual research expedition, said Migaloo’s distinctive appearance means he is an ‘ambassador’ for the humpbacks.

“His white colouring gives him special significance, and he certainly demands respect because of that,” Mr Franklin, who is producing an album of whale songs which features Migaloo’s song, said.

“And because he is so distinctive and so well known he is somewhat of an ambassador for his group of whales.

“It’s quite an extraordinary experience to be in his presence.”

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'Voracious' ladybird threatens native UK species

Emily Beament, The Independent 1 Jul 09;

The recent arrival of the invasive harlequin ladybird in the UK is likely to threaten more than 1,000 native species, scientists warned today.

The harlequin has become a common sight as it has spread across the country in the past few years - even invading houses in the autumn to hibernate over winter in warm spots.

The ladybird is originally from Asia but was introduced in continental Europe to control pest insects which were damaging crops and has since spread to the UK on fruit and flowers and by being blown across the Channel.

A survey launched in 2005 has, with the help of the public, managed to track its progress using some 30,000 online records.

Since its arrival in 2004, the ladybird has spread from Essex to Orkney in just four years, with places such as London parks now recording staggering numbers of the insect.

The bug is a "voracious" predator, which preys on a wide variety of insects, including the larvae of other ladybirds, caterpillars and even fruit, and out-competes with native species.

As a result, the species poses a major concern for the UK's wildlife according to Dr Helen Roy of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).

Evidence from the US, which introduced the harlequin more than 20 years ago, shows "severe declines" in native species.

"We believe that the negative impacts of the harlequin on Britain will be far reaching and disruptive, with the potential to affect over 1,000 of our native species," she said.

"It's a big and voracious predator, it will eat lots of different insects, soft fruit and all kinds of things. Its reproductive capacity is also immense."

The harlequin ladybird has a variable appearance, is very difficult to tell apart from our native ladybirds, and can chomp through more than 12,000 aphids a year.

But it is also known to eat species such as lacewing larvae as well as pest insects carrying pathogens, depleting the supplies of the diseases which normally keep such species under control.

It will try anything it comes across when hungry, and had even been recorded eating the caterpillar of a brimstone butterfly, Dr Roy said.

Scientists from five organisations are presenting information about the harlequin at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition this week, and warn its arrival will mean "one winner, 1,000 losers".

Ladybirds do not have many enemies, as they are distasteful and toxic to many predators and let would-be diners know this with their bright colouring.

The harlequin ladybird has even fewer predators as it is not a native species.

But the researchers are exploring how the few native enemies that exist, including fungal disease, male-killing bacteria, parasitic wasps and flies, could be used to control the population - or may evolve to tackle the harlequin naturally.

One of the most promising ideas could involve encouraging the transmission of a sexually transmitted mite which makes some ladybirds infertile in a bid to reduce the harlequin population.

Dr Remy Ware, of the University of Cambridge, who is working on how the mite could control harlequin populations, said it was a naturally-occurring UK species which did not affect most British ladybirds because of their breeding cycles.

She said her team was examining if it could be artificially transferred to harlequins, where the ladybird's breeding pattern may allow it to be naturally transmitted, causing females to become sterile.

Dr Roy also said that if the harlequin is found in the habitat of rare ladybirds such as the five spot, which lives in just a few sites of disturbed river shingle in Wales, it may have to be physically removed to protect the native insect.

But she warned: "We haven't got a hope of blanket control of the harlequin ladybird. Anything we do here we'd have to do in other countries in Europe."

And she said the researchers were not encouraging people to kill harlequins as it would make no difference to the overall population and they may accidentally kill native species.

The scientists from CEH, the University of Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin University, Rothamsted Research and the University of Hull, will be at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition this week.

They will be explaining how to tell the difference between harlequins and native species and what methods might be used to control the invasive insects.

* The Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition is free to the public. It runs from Tuesday June 30 to Saturday July 4 at the Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London.


Invading ladybirds breed up ecological storm for UK species
A voracious predator, the Asian harlequin ladybird has spread across the UK since its arrival from continental Europe in 2004
David Adam, guardian.co.uk 30 Jun 09;

Millions of very hungry ladybirds are poised to create ecological havoc for hundreds of Britain's native species, scientists warn today.

Experts said the anticipated warm summer would provide the perfect conditions for the Asian harlequin ladybird to breed and prepare for a springtime assault. "They are creating a huge genetic stock ready for next year," said Helen Roy, a scientist with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

The insect, a voracious predator, has spread across the UK since its arrival from continental Europe in 2004. The bugs have been spotted as far north as Orkney, though they remain strongest in south-east England, where they have overrun many of London's parks.

"We believe that the negative impacts of the harlequin on Britain will be far-reaching and disruptive, with the potential to affect over a thousand of our native species," she said. "It's a big and voracious predator, it will eat lots of different insects, soft fruit and all kinds of things."

Unlike British ladybirds, such as the most common seven-spot, the harlequin does not need a cold winter for adults to reach sexual maturity, and so be able to breed. "That gives them a massive advantage," Roy said.

The ladybird, originally from Asia, was introduced to Holland and other European countries to control aphids on crops. From there, it crossed the English Channel on the wind, or hidden on fruit and flowers.

A public survey launched in 2005 has tracked its progress using some 30,000 online records. Roy said the results revealed a "staggering expansion". Scientists fear the harlequins will push out natural rivals through competition for food. They can munch through more than 12,000 aphids a year, as well as feed on other species such as lacewing larvae. The harlequin has even been recorded eating the large caterpillar of a brimstone butterfly.

Scientists from five organisations will present the latest findings on the spread of the harlequin this week at the Royal Society summer exhibition, and warn its arrival will mean "one winner, 1,000 losers".

Scientists are exploring whether harlequin numbers could be controlled using their few native enemies, such as fungal disease, male-killing bacteria and parasitic wasps and flies. One idea is to encourage the transmission of a sexually transmitted mite that makes some ladybirds infertile.

The researchers said people should not take matters into their own hands. Vigilante action against the harlequin invaders would make no difference to the overall population and could inadvertently kill similar-looking native species.

Ladybird 'risk to 1,000 species'
BBC News 30 Jun 09;

The Harlequin ladybird is putting over 1,000 species in the UK in peril, scientists have warned.

"The rate of spread is dramatic and unprecedented," said Dr Helen Roy of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

The ladybird has spread to most parts of the UK in just four years, preying on many other insects.

However, research outlined at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition suggests local ladybird parasites are adapting to prey on the interloper.

To help that process along, scientists are suggesting introducing a mite that renders the ladybirds infertile.

Originally from Asia, the harlequin preys on a wide variety of insects, including the larvae of other ladybirds, and will also eat fruit.

It was introduced in continental Europe to control pest insects.

First "spotted" in Essex in 2004, the invader was quickly classified as a major threat to the UK's 45 native ladybird species.

Since 2005, its spread has been tracked by a survey inviting members of the public to report sightings.

'Top predator'

"What we've seen is that the southeast is the stronghold, but they have also reached Orkney, Northern Ireland, far west Wales and far west Cornwall," said Dr Roy.

The researchers have also worked out how the insect fits into the UK's ecology.

"The Harlequin ladybird is a top predator and we know that it sits within a web of many other insects that it interacts with, and other organisms as well," Dr Roy told BBC News.

"Because there's nothing very much that attacks it, we believe that 1,000 species all have the potential to be impacted."

Dr Remy Ware of Cambridge University is looking into potential measures to stop the frantic spread of the ladybirds.

She said that some natural enemies of UK ladybirds, known as parasitoids, are adapting to prey also on the Harlequin. Parasitoid flies and wasps lay their eggs inside ladybirds, killing them.

"We have evidence from the past two years that these two groups may be adapting to attack harlequin as a novel host," Dr Ware told BBC News.

Mite work

Another more promising predator for the insects is a sexually transmitted mite that renders female ladybirds infertile. The mite must be passed from one generation to the next by inter-generational mating.

Native ladybird species produce just one generation per year, which does not leave enough time for the mite to propagate.

But the Harlequin has as many as five generations per year, making it an ideal candidate to carry and pass on the mite.

"We're not suggesting that we would introduce a novel enemy into the UK; it's actually already here and in time we expect it would naturally take on in the harlequin," Dr Ware said.

"We've developed methods whereby we can artificially infect Harlequin ladybirds with the mite - it'd be a case of infecting them and releasing into the wild."

However, Dr Ware stresses that the suggestions are still in the formative stages.

Read more!

Hi-tech puffins to monitor decline in UK seabird populations

Severin Carrell, guardian.co.uk 30 Jun 09;

Short, stubby and gifted with a distinctive comedy beak, the puffin is an iconic bird. But seabird may also be the bellwether for a crisis in the seas around Britain.

The puffin now has a new role, helping scientists investigate the causes of a steep decline in seabird numbers across the British Isles using miniaturised digital tracking devices, including one borrowed from in-car satellite navigation systems.

Data for last year shows puffin numbers suddenly and sharply crashed. Scientists found that on the most significant North Sea colonies, puffin populations fell by a third or more. Adult puffins were malnourished, with large numbers washed up dead along the UK's coast.

Confronted by other evidence of a significant change in the North Sea's health, which has led to declines of up to 40% in seabird numbers in just eight years, conservationists have begun a series of urgent studies into its possible causes. Many believe climate change is the main culprit.

On the Farne islands, a low-lying archipelago off the Northumberland coast 50 miles north of Newcastle, puffins are now being fitted with equipment which should help plug large gaps in scientific knowledge about the species and, in turn, other threatened seabirds.

Scientists will use three different devices on up to three dozen puffins: GPS monitors; "geo-locators" which work differently; and time and depth recorders.

They will monitor how and where they feed and behave once they leave their burrows on the Farnes, and track their movements while they winter at sea. Each puffin will carry only one small device which will be attached with super-strength glue onto its back.

Food is a critical issue: zoologists believe last year's population slump – when numbers plummeted on the Farnes from 58,000 in 2003 to just 38,000 - is closely tied to a collapse in their main food source, the sandeel.

Populations of the slender, silvery fish, whose availability may be crucial to the puffins' long-term survival, have been in decline since the 1990s because of heavy trawling for fishfarm feed and exposure to the changes in plankton distribution brought about by rising sea temperatures.

Puffins nest in dark, dry burrows that the birds carve out each spring from the soft, sandy earth, shaded by sea campion, nettles and coarse, hardy grasses. Their behaviour on land and within sight of the islands is well understood. However at sea, scientists have been largely guessing.

Dr Richard Bevan, a zoologist with Newcastle university who is leading the National Trust research on the Farnes, said: "All we can record at the nests is the number of chicks, how quickly the chicks are growing and the numbers that fledge, but what we don't know is what they do as soon as they fly away.

"Puffins can theoretically be foraging anywhere within a 60km radius of the islands, which is a huge area for us to cover. But the further they have to forage the more energy they use, and the intervals between when they feed their chicks will increase, so chicks will be fed less and are less likely to do well."

The results of the hi-tech monitoring will help conservationists establish whether puffins have regular feeding grounds and allow them to protect those places. Evidence that puffins spread across a wide area would present a more difficult problem, perhaps increasing pressure for a more substantial conservation effort.

That information will also help protect the significant Arctic tern, sandwich tern, guillemot and shag colonies on the Farnes, which are home to approximately 160,000 adult seabirds and their offspring.

This research could prove crucial. Last month, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the UK's most authoritative conservation research agency, reported that about 600,000 seabirds had been lost since 2000, 9% of the total population. There are now 40% fewer black-legged kittiwake – another bird that feeds on sandeels – and 33% fewer European shags breeding in the UK than 40 years ago. On Shetland, globally significant colonies have collapsed.

Yet this year's research so far has given Bevan and the trust grounds for optimism. Their trawls for sandeels around the Farnes suggested the tiny fish were, this year at least, relatively abundant. Puffins are flying in – their short wings urgently flapping 400 times a minute, with sandeels dangling from their beaks.

Bevan believes last year's population crash may be explained by unusual north-easterly winds during last year's breeding season, which may have cooled the seas at the wrong time. Herring – a fish which competes for sandeels – were also abundant, and may have out-eaten the puffins.

Last year's population crash may be a blip, not a trend. But it does indicate there are changes in the marine environment which scientists do not yet understand, Bevan added.

"It's a warning sign. I'm willing to bet that this year numbers would be up from last year, but not up to pre-2008 levels. The problem is, we don't know what's happening out there. There's a change in the ecology of the North Sea. What the implications are of that, we have no idea."
Seabirds in trouble

Black-legged kittiwake

Its numbers have fallen by 35% since 2000 due to declines in sand eels caused by overfishing and climate change. Breeding success has fallen markedly on the North Sea.

Herring gull

One of the UK's best known gulls, notorious for scavenging from trawlers and city dumps, but is a new entry to the UK "red list" of threatened birds because its numbers are sharply falling, down by 69% since 1969 and 33% since 2000.

Arctic skua

This relatively rare inshore seabird was put on the UK's "red list" of threatened species this year as its numbers are declining rapidly: 2,100 were counted in 2002, but it has declined by 57% since then.
Seabirds on the up

Great skua

Its numbers have rocketed by nearly 400% since 1969 and by 56% in the last eight years alone - but at the expense of others. The large scavenger has outmuscled the herring gull for trawler discards and preyed on Arctic skuas. Cuts in discarded fish suggest it will increasingly have to steal food from other seabirds to survive.

Sat nav fitted to puffins in bid to halt decline
Tracking devices glued to birds as scientists try to explain slump
Cordelia O'Neill, The Independent 1 Jul 09;

Puffins living in one of the most remote places in the UK are to be fitted with "sat nav" devices to help scientists discover why their numbers are falling.

This summer, researchers will use GPS technology to track the movements of a colony of puffins living on the Farne Islands, off the Northumberland coast, in a bid to explain a dramatic decline in numbers over the past five years.

The distinctive black and white birds will be tagged with GPS transmitters in order to shed new light on puffin movement and behaviour, researchers from Newcastle University said.

The tags, which are glued on to the birds' feathers and fall off after several days, will map their movements to find out where they go to find fish, how they get there and what they do once they arrive.

A survey of the breeding pairs of puffins carried out on eight of the Farne Islands in the summer of 2008 found that numbers were down by one-third compared with the previous survey in 2003 – the puffin population dropped from 55,674 to 36,500 in five years.

Researchers from Newcastle University are working with National Trust wardens on remote Brownsman Island to tag and ring the puffins before fitting them with the GPS devices.

The puffins will also be weighed and measured to make sure that the tags do not affect their feeding habits.

In addition, the puffins will be fitted with small time-depth recorders, which will help scientists find out more about the way that puffins dive in search of food.

The recorders will give detailed information about how often and how deeply they dive, and at what sea temperatures – helping to explain how puffins might be affected by climate change and possible changes in sea temperatures.

David Steel, the National Trust head warden on the Farne Islands, said: "This has become the case of the disappearing puffins. Young puffins are successfully fledging each year and it would seem that their staple food, the sand eel, is in good supply but they're just not coming back to the islands. This research, including further counts, is designed to shed some light on what is happening."

Dr Richard Bevan, from Newcastle University, said: "Technological developments now mean that we're getting closer to finding the pieces of the jigsaw to help solve the puffin puzzle.

"The new data will help explain what the puffins are doing when they're on the Farne Islands and hopefully then help us to understand why numbers have declined so dramatically."

Puffins in Farne Islands be fitted with 'sat nav'
Puffins are to be fitted with satellite transmitters for the first time in an effort to understand a worrying decline in the sea birds.
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 1 Jul 09;

In the last five years numbers puffins plummeted around Britain.

On the Isle of May in the North Sea, the largest breeding colony in Britain, numbers fell from 70,000 in 2003 to 41,000 in 2008. On the Farne Islands numbers also dropped by around a third, from 56,000 to 36,000, during the same period.

However scientists do not know why numbers are decreasing. Possible reasons include climate change, that is causing the birds' main food source sand eels to move north to cooler waters. Pollution can also affect numbers and competition from other species such as gulls.

In an effort to find out the reason, scientists will fit global positioning system (GPS) technology to puffins to work out where the birds go to feed in the winter, how they get there and how long they stay in different areas. The devices will also provide information on diving behaviour, such as how often they dive and how deep and sea temperatures.

The birds on the Farne Islands will be fitted with a tiny GPS attached to a leg ring this summer. When the data is collected from returning puffins the following year it will provide clues to the kind of feeding grounds the birds have been to and therefore the threats they are exposed to.

Puffins spend the winters at sea, floating, swimming and diving for food, coming to land only during the nesting season.

Dr Richard Bevan, of Newcastle University where the data will be processed, said scientists will be able to work out why puffin are dying from seeing where the birds go in the winter.

"Technological developments now mean that we're getting closer to finding the pieces of the jigsaw to help solve the puffin puzzle. The new data will help explain what the puffins are doing when they're on the Farne Islands and hopefully then help us to understand why numbers have declined so dramatically," he said.

David Steel, National Trust Head Warden on the Farne Islands, said puffins are breeding successfully so it was essential to find out what could be causing the death of the birds out at sea.

"This has become the case of the disappearing puffins," he said. "Young puffins are successfully fledging each year and it would seem that their staple food, the sand eel is in good supply, but they're just not coming back to the islands. This research, including further counts, is designed to shed some light on what is happening."

Read more!

Huge declines in woodland birds in the UK

Matt Walker, BBC News 30 Jun 09;

The nightingale has effectively vanished from woodlands across the UK.

A 30-year survey of British woodland birds has found that its population has fallen by more than 95%.

Seventeen other bird species have also declined significantly, many of which overwinter in tropical west Africa where their habitat is being destroyed.

Numbers of starling, linnet, bullfinch and willow warbler all crashed, while 12 species, including the blackcap, magpie and collared dove, increased.

These startling trends in the populations of some of the UK's best known woodland birds comes from the British Trust for Ornithology's (BTO) Common Bird Census, which gathered data on 49 species between 1967 and 1999.

The results of the survey have not been reported before.

Although the survey ended in 1999, the data provides the longest and most up-to-date trends anywhere in the UK or Europe for how the composition of woodland bird species has changed in modern times.

Of the species studied, the populations of 17 species significantly decreased since 1967, while the populations of 12 have significantly increased.

The greatest disappearing act has been that of the nightingale, whose numbers fell by 95% over the study period.

Numbers of starling fell by 91%, linnet by 89%, lesser redpoll by 85%, and spotted flycatcher by 83%.

Of the birds whose status in woodlands improved, numbers of the collared dove increased by 1052%, and the stock dove and wood pigeon by 359% and 344% respectively.

"Using these longer term datasets can provide really important additional insights over the more recent ones," says Chris Hewson of the BTO, who along with colleague David Noble has published the latest trends in the journal Ibis.

"For instance, much ado was [recently] made over the Red Listing of the Cuckoo. But an equally iconic species that missed out by the skin of its teeth was the nightingale, which actually declined in woodlands by 95% over the period examined, more than any other species studied and greatly in excess of the 63% decline shown by the cuckoo."

Hewson says that had these longer term trends been taken into account, then the nightingale would have been Red Listed too.

The causes of the varying fates of British woodland birds are many and varied.

"Some scarce resident species such as the lesser spotted woodpecker, redpoll, willow tit and hawfinch have declined and we're still not absolutely sure why," says Hewson. "But in some cases at least, less sympathetic woodland management looks a likely cause, along with possibly the impacts of browsing by an exploding deer population in some parts of the country."

The availability of food explains other trends. For example, numbers of collared and stock doves and wood pigeons have exploded due to the increased planting of winter crops, which provides a valuable source of food for these birds over the winter months. In contrast, linnets and turtle doves have suffered due to a lack of seeds in the summer.

However, changes in habitat outside of the UK are also having a major impact, particularly on migrant woodland species that spend part of the year in Africa.

"Our results illustrate that a whole suite of migrants are declining, but that over the 32 year period we studied the species of migrant in decline changed," says Chris Hewson.

During the beginning of the survey period, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was species such as whitethroat and redstart that spend the winter in the arid Sahel just south of the Sahara that were suffering due to drought conditions in that region.

"Now, though, these species are doing ok as rainfall levels have recovered," says Hewson. "But by the end of the period we looked at it was the species that winter further south in the humid tropics of west Africa that were suffering."

More recent data from the British Bird Survey, which replaced the Common Bird Census in 2000, shows that all the woodland species that migrate from west Africa continue to decline.

"That leads us to believe they are suffering from changes occurring in west Africa, possibly due to the intensification of agriculture and other land use changes leading to habitat degradation," says Hewson.

The BTO has now started a major research programme to study these migrant birds, backed by an appeal called Out of Africa recently launched in an attempt to fund the work.

That will involve starting a field project in Ghana and Burkina Faso this October with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The BTO is also collaborating on a pan-European project to track the migrations of nightingales using GPS tags, to find out more about where British nightingales spend the winter.

"This research will hopefully enable us to identify what the changes happening in Africa are that are causing these declines and ultimately, we hope, to enable us to come up with suggestions for solutions that would benefit not just the birds but also the people who live there," says Hewson.

Read more!

Peregrine falcons found dead

More than 50 peregrine falcons have been found poisoned, trapped or shot this year in one of the worst years on record for persecution of the protected bird.
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 1 Jul 09;

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have recorded 50 dead birds already this year, with more cases waiting to be processed. Last year just 79 birds were found dead in the whole year.

The findings include a female peregrine and her chick in Sunderland found next to the body of pigeon that police suspect was poisoned bait. A racing pigeon in Walsall was found with a pill capsule taped to its leg that wildlife crime officers believe was designed to poison any bird of prey that killed the pigeon.

Peregrine falcons were also found "peppered" with shot in the Forest of Dean and a bird crash landed in a back garden near Litchfield in Staffordshire with its leg caught in a spring trap.

All five chicks were stolen from a peregrine nest site near Mansfield within a week of them hatching. It is the fourth year in a row the nest has failed, according to the RSPB.

Mark Thomas, RSPB Investigations Officer, urged the Government to add peregrines to its list of priority species for wildlife crime enforcement.

"These crimes are cruel, needless and selfish. That they happen at all in the 21st Century is a disgrace. Peregrines have taken 30 years to recover from the devastating effects of pesticide poisoning and still we find them targeted by people who hold a grudge against them," he said.

"This has included rogue elements within the pigeon racing and game shooting communities, who blame them for the loss of their birds. Then there are those crooked individuals intent on taking eggs and chicks for falconry.

"The Government recently made the persecution of birds of prey one of the UK's wildlife crime priorities, with emphasis on five key species. We believe peregrines should now be added to that list."

Read more!

Protection sought again for giant, spitting worms

Nicholas K. Geranios, Associated Press Yahoo News 30 Jun 09;

SPOKANE, Wash. – Fans of the giant Palouse earthworm are once again seeking federal protection for the rare, sweet-smelling species that spits at predators.

They filed a petition Tuesday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting the worm be protected as an endangered species.

"The giant Palouse earthworm is critically endangered and needs the protection of the Endangered Species Act to have any chance of survival," said Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The center filed the lawsuit along with Friends of the Clearwater, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon and Palouse Group of Sierra Club.

The worm has been seen only four reported times in the past 110 years, but supporters contend it is still present in the Palouse, a region of about 2 million acres of rolling wheat fields near the Idaho-Washington border south of Spokane.

Decades of intense agriculture and urban sprawl have wiped out much of the worm's habitat, said Steve Paulson with Friends of the Clearwater. Only about 2 percent of the Palouse prairie remains in a native state, he said.

The worm can reach 3 feet in length, is white in color and reportedly possesses a unique lily smell, said Greenwald, who is based in Portland, Ore. It is the largest and longest-lived earthworm in North America.

During the Bush administration, the agency rejected a similar petition from the groups, saying there was not enough scientific information about the species to prove it needed protection. The groups hope to have better luck with the Obama administration.

"We no longer have an administration adamantly opposed to protecting species," Greenwald said. The latest petition includes new research the groups hope proves the worm is rare and threatened, he said.

Doug Zimmer of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Seattle said they had not seen the petition and could not comment on its merits. "It's always good to see new information and good science on any species," Zimmer said.

In 1897, the giant Palouse earthworm was described as "very abundant" in the region, but sightings are rare. The last confirmed sighting was made on May 27, 2005, by a University of Idaho researcher. Before that, the worm had not been seen since 1988.

Most earthworms found in the Northwest originated in Europe, arriving on plants or in soil shipped to the New World. The giant Palouse earthworm is one of the few native species.

In previously rejecting endangered species protection, the Fish and Wildlife Service said there was too little information in the scientific record. That prevented the assessment of population trends.

The agency concluded that while the Palouse prairie has experienced a dramatic conversion of native habitat to agriculture, it was not clear if that hurt the worm. The agency also found no information on predation or transmission of pathogens by other earthworms to the giant Palouse earthworm.

___

On the Web:

http://www.palouseprairie.org/invertebrates/palouseworm.html

Searchers shovel Northwest dirt seeking giant worm
Nicholas K. Geranios, Associated Press Yahoo News 11 Jul 09;

MOSCOW, Idaho – The giant Palouse earthworm has taken on mythic qualities in this vast agricultural region that stretches from eastern Washington into the Idaho panhandle — its very name evoking the fictional sandworms from "Dune" or those vicious creatures from the movie "Tremors."

The worm is said to secrete a lily-like smell when handled, spit at predators, and live in burrows 15 feet deep. There have been only a handful of sightings.

But scientists hope to change that this summer with researchers scouring the Palouse region in hopes of finding more of the giant earthworms. Conservationists also want the Obama administration to protect the worm as an endangered species, even though little research has been done on it.

The worm may be elusive, but there's no doubt it exists, said Jodi Johnson-Maynard, a University of Idaho professor who is leading the search for the worm. To prove it, she pulled out a glass tube containing the preserved remains of a fat, milky-white worm. One of Johnson-Maynard's graduate students found this specimen in 2005, and it is the only confirmed example of the species.

The worm in the tube is about 6 inches long, well short of the 3 feet that early observers of the worms in the late 1890s described. Documented collections of the species, known locally as GPE, have occurred only in 1978, 1988, 1990 and 2005.

The farmers who work the rich soil of the Palouse — 2 million acres of rolling wheat fields near the Idaho-Washington border south of Spokane — also have had little experience with the worm.

Gary Budd, who manages a grain elevator in Uniontown, said no farmer he knows has talked about seeing the worm. He compared the creature to Elvis.

"He gets spotted once in awhile too," Budd joked.

Johnson-Maynard and her team of worm hunters are working this summer at a university research farm and using three different methods to try and find a living worm.

One involves just digging a hole and sifting the soil through a strainer, looking for any worms that can be studied.

The second involves old-fashioned chemical warfare, pouring a liquid solution of vinegar and mustard onto the ground, irritating worms until they come to the surface.

The third method is new to this search, using electricity to shock worms to the surface.

"The electro shocker is pretty cool," said Joanna Blaszczak, a student at Cornell who is spending her summer working to find the worm alongside Shan Xu, a graduate student from Chengdu, China, and support scientist Karl Umiker.

The shocker can deliver up to 480 volts. That makes it dangerous to touch, and it could potentially fry a specimen.

On a recent day, Umiker drove eight 3-foot-long metal rods into the ground in a small circle and connected them to batteries. Then he flipped the switches. The only sound for several minutes was the hum of a cooling fan.

"I'm kind of bummed we haven't seen anything yet," Umiker said.

Eventually, a small rust-colored worm dug its way to the surface. It was not a GPE, but it was collected for study anyway.

The search for the giant worm is reminiscent of efforts in Louisiana, Florida and the swamps of eastern Arkansas to find the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker. The large, black-and-white bird was believed to be extinct until a reported sighting five years ago stirred national experts and federal funding to launch a full-blown campaign to verify its existence. Search efforts later dwindled after biologists and volunteers were unable to find the evidence they were looking for.

The GPE was described as common in the Palouse in the 1890s, according to an 1897 article in The American Naturalist by Frank Smith. Smith's work was based on four samples sent to him by R.W. Doane of Washington State University in nearby Pullman.

Massive agricultural development soon consumed nearly all of the unique Palouse Prairie — a seemingly endless ocean of steep, silty dunes — and appeared to deal a fatal blow to the worm.

They were considered extinct when Idaho graduate student Yaniria Sanchez-de Leon in 2005 stuck a shovel into the ground to collect a soil sample and found the worm that now is in the tube in Johnson-Maynard's office.

Conservation groups quickly petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the worm as an endangered species, citing as proof the lack of sightings. But the agency said there simply was not enough scientific information to merit a listing.

Conservationists recently filed a second request, saying they had more information. They are also hoping the Obama administration will be more friendly than the Bush administration. The GPE would be the only worm protected as an endangered species.

Doug Zimmer of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Seattle said the agency isn't ready to comment on the petition.

"It's always good to see new information and good science on any species," Zimmer said.

Farmers are keeping a wary eye on the process.

"The concern is whether a listing is going to end up curtailing farming activities," said Dan Wood of the Washington State Farm Bureau. "I don't know if people plan to stop all farming for the possibility of a worm being somewhere."

Most earthworms found in the Northwest originated in Europe, arriving on plants or in soil shipped to the New World. The giant Palouse earthworm is one of the few native species, and has become quite popular with the public.

While it's tough to come by a live GPE, visitors seem happy to take a picture with a dead one. Johnson-Maynard said she has received calls from tourists who want to come to her office and be photographed with the specimen.

"A lot of people are curious about it," she said.

___

On the Web:

http://www.palouseprairie.org/invertebrates/palouseworm.html

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Mobile pollution sensors deployed in the UK

BBC News 30 Jun 09;

Cyclists, buses, cars and even pedestrians will become mobile pollution detectors in an initiative launched on Tuesday. Led by Imperial College London, the project will trial three types of mobile, wireless pollution sensor.

These will measure traffic pollutants throughout the UK, and transmit their data via the mobile phone network. Scientists say such detailed mobile measurements could help improve the management of air quality.

Four UK universities are collaborating on the project, which will deploy 100 sensors in London, Leicester, Gateshead and Cambridge.

Each one will measure up to five different traffic pollutants simultaneously, including carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide.

"We will be able to gather much finer detail about pollution, and really understand its microstructure," Neil Hoofe, coordinator of the Mobile Environmental Sensing System Across Grid Environments (Message) project, told BBC News.

He explained that the measurements would be fed into a database that could be accessed "in real time".

"Each sensor has a satellite positioning system, so we could have a bus create a map of the air pollution as it drives along its route," he said.

"This data could be used to provide people with local information - perhaps advice for those with respiratory problems about their journey to work .

"In a wider sense, it could also be used by traffic managers, helping them decide how to phase traffic lights in a way that might reduce traffic pollution."

The smallest sensors can be carried by people and linked up to their own mobile phones. These "electrochemical cells" convert pollutants into a small electric charge.

Larger devices, capable of monitoring temperature and noise levels as well as pollution, have been designed to be attached to lampposts and traffic light poles.

The most sophisticated and largest of the three devices, which is designed to be fitted to vehicles, uses ultraviolet light to differentiate between the pollutants.

"There is a lot we do not know about air quality in our cities and towns because the current generation of large stationary sensors doesn't provide enough information," said the project's director, Professor John Polak, from the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College London.

"We envisage a future where hundreds and thousands of mobile sensors are deployed across the country."

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Rhine three degrees warmer than 100 years ago: study

Yahoo News 30 Jun 09;

BERLIN (AFP) – The Rhine river between Germany and the Netherlands is on average three degrees warmer than 100 years ago, with power stations the main culprits, the German green group BUND said on Tuesday.

According to a study commission by BUND, this stretch of the river is warmed two degrees Celsius by waste water pumped in by industry and by nuclear and coal-fired power plants, and by one degree by global warming.

The warming of one of Europe's biggest rivers affects wildlife, with salmon known to stop swimming upstream to spawn if the water temperature reached 25 degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit), BUND said. Temperatures of 28 degrees (82 Fahrenheit) have been recorded.

"The waste heat from all German power plants would be enough to warm every single building in the country," Joerg Nitsch, head of BUND in the German state of Hesse, said in a statement.

"This gigantic waste of heat that the Rhine has to deal with shows how utterly inefficient producing electricity with coal and nuclear power is," he said.

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Nigeria's oil pollution stark example of resource curse: Amnesty

Yahoo News 30 Jun 09;

ABUJA (AFP) – The pollution caused by half a century of oil extraction in Nigeria is one of the world's most disturbing examples of the curse of natural resources, a global rights lobby group said Tuesday.

Amnesty International said environmental pollution in Nigeria's southern oil region, the Niger Delta, had deprived tens of millions of people of their basic rights to safe food, clean water and good health.

In a damning report released Tuesday, Amnesty described the situation in the Niger Delta, home to 31 million people, as a "human rights tragedy" which had fuelled anger and conflict.

"People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with, and wash in polluted water; they eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins -- if they are lucky enough to still be able to find fish," said the report.

Farmland in the region, one of the most important wetlands on earth, is being destroyed by oil spills.

"After oil spills the air they breathe reeks of oil, gas and other pollutants; they complain of breathing problems... but their concerns are not taken seriously," the report added.

Amnesty blames both the government and multi-national oil giants for the rights abuses in the south of Africa's most populous country.

"Their poverty, and its contrast with the wealth generated by oil, has become one of the world's starkest and most disturbing examples of the resource curse," the report said.

"The destruction of livelihoods, the lack of accountability of both the government and the oil companies, and the failure of the government to invest in development in the area, all feed the frustration which has increasingly found expression in conflict -- often violent conflict," Amnesty said.

The most active of the militant groups has been the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), responsible for many of the oil installation attacks over the past three years.

The regional militants and bandit gangs that rove the creeks of the Niger Delta have brought current crude production down to 1.8 million barrels a day compared with 2.6 million at the start of 2006.

Oil spills, waste dumping and gas flaring are endemic in the region, where at least 60 percent of the population relies on the natural environment for their livelihood.

"The Nigerian government is failing in its obligation to respect and protect the rights of people in the Niger Delta," said Amnesty's head of business and human rights, Audrey Gaughran.

"Some oil companies... have taken advantage of this government failure, and have shown a shocking disregard for the human impact of their activities," she added.

Royal-Dutch giant Shell, the largest operator in Nigeria, blamed much of the oil spillage on sabotage, dismissing Amnesty's report for not constructively helping to improve the situation.

Amnesty "forget(s) that about 85 percent of the pollution from our operations comes from attacks and sabotage", said Shell spokesman Olav Ljosne adding that 133 Shell workers had been kidnapped in the delta since 2006.

He added the report "does not address the fundamental issues -- poverty, crime, corruption and militancy."

Amnesty, however, said a recently set-up national oil spill detection and response agency (NOSDRA) "appears to have a more robust approach" to the problem.

Gaughran said the Nigerian crisis is an example "of the lack of accountability of a government to its people, and of multinational companies? almost total lack of accountability when it comes to the impact of their operations on human rights".

Nigeria, the world's eight largest exporter of crude, relies on oil for more than 90 percent of its export revenue. In a bid to end the delta conflict, President Umaru Yar'Adua last week offered unconditional amnesty to the militants.

But Gaughran slammed the amnesty offer saying it was treating symptoms and not the root causes.

"I don't think the amnesty will work and our concern is that it legitimises or allows impunity for the human rights violations that have been committed," she told reporters in Abuja.

Protests -- armed and peaceful-- "are frequently met with excessive use of force ...including extrajudicial executions", said Amnesty.

Lax regulation fuels Niger Delta unrest: Amnesty
Randy Fabi, Reuters 30 Jun 09;

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has failed to regulate its oil industry adequately, fuelling anger in the Niger Delta by leaving communities exposed to the effects of oil spills, gas flaring and waste dumping, Amnesty International said.

Weak government oversight and a lax attitude among foreign oil firms during half a century of oil extraction has brought wealth to a few but left many villagers mired in poverty, the rights group said in a report published on Tuesday.

"People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water. They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins," said the report's co-author, Audrey Gaughran.

"The land they farm on is being destroyed. After oil spills the air they breathe smells of oil, gas and other pollutants. People complain of breathing problems and skin lesions, yet neither the government nor oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution."

An upsurge in attacks by militants in the delta, one of the world's largest wetlands and home to Africa's biggest oil industry, is eating into Nigeria's revenues and pushing world energy prices higher.

Amnesty said the majority of the evidence it gathered in its 140-page report related to the operations of Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell.

It accused Shell's SPDC joint venture, which operates onshore in the Niger Delta, of harming human rights by failing to mitigate pollution and environmental damage adequately.

Shell said Amnesty had come to the oil hub of Port Harcourt to confront it with questions but made "no attempt at open dialogue to understand the complexities and pressures that define the relationships SPDC has with various stakeholders."

"They forget that 85 percent of the pollution from our operations comes from attacks and sabotage that also put our staff's lives and human rights at risk," Shell's Africa communications director Olav Ljosne told Reuters.

IMPOVERISHED VILLAGERS

The crisis in the Niger Delta is often portrayed as a simple conflict between Western oil firms and impoverished villagers.

But it involves a web of vested interests of corrupt politicians, mafia-like networks of thugs, and a trade in industrial quantities of stolen oil worth millions of dollars a day.

Shell's Ljosne said that between 2006 and 2008 armed gangs had kidnapped 133 SPDC employees and contractors and five people working for the joint venture had been killed.

"This is the reality of the Niger Delta, and it's a reality that is not reflected adequately in this report," Ljosne said.

"We share Amnesty's concerns for the people of the delta and we would welcome the opportunity to work constructively with them on solutions, as we do with others," he said.

Amnesty acknowledged that communities sometimes contributed to the problems, vandalizing infrastructure to win clean-up contracts or demanding payment for access to spill sites.

It made little mention of government corruption. Former state governors stand accused of looting hundreds of millions of dollars from the billions the region receives each year as its share of federal oil revenues, money meant for development.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Robert Woodward)

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Global food supply far from secure: farming expert

Laura MacInnis, Reuters 30 Jun 09;

GENEVA (Reuters) - Africa's farmers need help to access loans, fertilizer and export markets to avoid future food supply crises caused by climate change and commodities speculation, a top agricultural expert said on Tuesday.

Wheat, rice and maize prices have fallen sharply from their 2008 highs, when protests broke out across the developing world over unaffordable staple foods and countries imposed export bans to ensure their people had enough to eat.

Akinwumi Adesina of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, an aid group headed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said commodity markets dampened by recession were serving to mask "the next storm."

"The global food supply remains far from secure," Adesina told the U.N. Conference and Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

"We have not yet tamed the forces of speculation, climate change will yet trample our farm fields, crop diversity remains under increasing threat," he said in a speech. "Global grain reserves may be replenished for the time being, but global food security remains a goal, not a reality."

One of the biggest problems, according to the agricultural economist from Nigeria, is the persistently paltry harvests from Africa's farms, most of which are tended to be "without access to basic farm inputs, finance or markets."

"While yields across the globe, especially in Asia and Latin America, have steadily increased, the yields of Africa have remained constant -- sitting at about one-quarter of the global average," Adesina said.

MORE FINANCING NEEDED

He called for international donor agencies and the banks and insurance providers active in the agricultural arena to step up their activity in Africa, and work to help farmers access small loans that meet their productive needs.

"Lack of access to finance is a major constraint to unlocking the potential of agriculture in Africa," he said.

The diversity of crops now being produced across the continent must also be preserved.

Plant diseases such as the blight that ruined Ireland's potato crop and caused famine are among the biggest risks to the global food supply, especially if major staples such as wheat or rice should be affected.

Adesina said the variety of foods being produced in Africa, often on the same farm -- with maize, groundnuts, rice, cowpea and sweet potato all grown in a cycle -- served as an important insurance that must be maintained however possible.

But he allowed that hefty costs may be involved in boosting the productivity and output of small-holder farms across the vast continent, which is highly vulnerable to extreme weather and the effects of climate change.

Citing figures from the International Food Policy Research Institute, the expert said that Africa will need $32 billion to $39 billion annually to achieve an agricultural transformation -- not including infrastructure costs.

(Editing by Stephanie Nebehay)

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Droughts and floods threaten China's economic growth, forecaster warns

Cost of crop failure soars as weather disasters become more frequent and severe
Tania Branigan, guardian.co.uk 30 Jun 09;

China faces an increase in weather disasters which will threaten crops and economic growth, the country's most senior forecaster has warned.

He Lifu, of the National Meteorological Centre, told the China Daily newspaper that events such as droughts, floods and storms had become more frequent and severe since the 1990s and the trend was likely to continue.

"Extreme weather will be more frequent in the future due to the instability of the atmosphere, and global warming might be the indirect cause," the forecaster told the English-language paper. He said his agency responded to 16 emergencies last year, the most since its foundation in 1949.

The annual economic cost of extreme weather has soared from 176.2bn yuan (£15.6bn) on average in the 1990s to 244bn yuan (£21.5bn) between 2004 and last year, according to ministry of civil affairs figures cited by the paper.

Farmers are resorting to their own measures to avoid losses. Wheat producers in Henan, Shandong and Hebei fired chemical pellets into the clouds this month to prevent hail and heavy rain from damaging their harvest.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has also warned that drought has become more frequent since the 1990s, causing more crop failures.

According to the China Daily, the headquarters figures show that annual grain loss caused by drought has averaged 37.3m tonnes since 2000 – almost twice the level in the 1980s – while the annual average proportion of damaged crops has risen to 59.3%, compared with 48% in the 1990s.

Sun Jisong, the chief forecaster at the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, cautioned that part of the apparent increase in extreme weather might be due to more advanced observation techniques and improved recording.

He added that dealing with the rise would require reduced consumption of energy and resources to tackle the causes and improve forecasting and defences.

Last month, the annual Red Cross report said that a rise in weather-related disasters worldwide over the last decade – from around 200 a year in the 1990s to around 350 – was continuing. Its secretary general, Bekele Geleta, warned that extreme-weather events would become more frequent and more severe.

China braces for extreme weather: state media
Yahoo News 30 Jun 09;

BEIJING (AFP) – China is bracing for extreme weather, with strong gales and scorching heat in recent weeks serving as harbingers of disasters to come, state media has said.

Since the 1990s China has experienced a steadily growing trend of weather-related calamities, such as droughts, storms and floods, with experts saying global warming is partly to blame, the China Daily reported.

"Extreme weather will be more frequent in the future due to the instability of the atmosphere, and global warming might be the indirect cause," said He Lifu, the top weather forecaster at the China Meteorological Administration.

Last year, the administration responded to 16 weather-related emergencies, the highest number in six decades, according to the paper.

This year could prove equally hazardous, with weather in different parts of China registering various forms of extremes in recent weeks, the paper reported.

The eastern province of Anhui was hit twice by intense storms in June, killing 37 people, while parts of north China are now seeing temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), it said.

The changing weather patterns do not just take a toll in terms of human lives but are also immensely costly.

In the period from 2004 until 2008, extreme weather caused average annual costs of 244 billion yuan (36 billion dollars), up from an average of 176 billion yuan in the 1990s, the paper said.

China has shown increasing concern in recent years about the consequences of global warming.

But as part of ongoing global negotiations to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012, China has said the bulk of the responsibility for emissions cuts lies with developed nations.

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Most complete Earth map published

BBC News 30 Jun 09;

The most complete terrain map of the Earth's surface has been published.
The data, comprising 1.3 million images, come from a collaboration between the US space agency Nasa and the Japanese trade ministry.

The images were taken by Japan's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (Aster) aboard the Terra satellite. The resulting Global Digital Elevation Map covers 99% of the Earth's surface, and will be free to download and use.

The Terra satellite, dedicated to Earth monitoring missions, has shed light on issues ranging from algal blooms to volcano eruptions.

For the Aster measurements, local elevation was mapped with each point just 30m apart.

"This is the most complete, consistent global digital elevation data yet made available to the world," said Woody Turner, Nasa programme scientist on the Aster mission.

"This unique global set of data will serve users and researchers from a wide array of disciplines that need elevation and terrain information."

Previously, the most complete such topographic map was Nasa's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, covering 80% of the Earth's surface. However, the mission's results were less accurate in steep terrain and in some deserts.

Nasa is now working to combine those data with the new Aster observations to further improve on the global map.

NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of Earth
Joint Press Release 29 Jun 09;

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA and Japan released a new digital topographic map of Earth Monday that covers more of our planet than ever before. The map was produced with detailed measurements from NASA's Terra spacecraft.

The new global digital elevation model of Earth was created from nearly 1.3 million individual stereo-pair images collected by the Japanese Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or Aster, instrument aboard Terra. NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, known as METI, developed the data set. It is available online to users everywhere at no cost.

"This is the most complete, consistent global digital elevation data yet made available to the world," said Woody Turner, Aster program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This unique global set of data will serve users and researchers from a wide array of disciplines that need elevation and terrain information."

According to Mike Abrams, Aster science team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the new topographic information will be of value throughout the Earth sciences and has many practical applications. "Aster's accurate topographic data will be used for engineering, energy exploration, conserving natural resources, environmental management, public works design, firefighting, recreation, geology and city planning, to name just a few areas," Abrams said.

Previously, the most complete topographic set of data publicly available was from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. That mission mapped 80 percent of Earth's landmass, between 60 degrees north latitude and 57 degrees south. The new Aster data expand coverage to 99 percent, from 83 degrees north latitude and 83 degrees south. Each elevation measurement point in the new data is 30 meters (98 feet) apart.

"The Aster data fill in many of the voids in the shuttle mission's data, such as in very steep terrains and in some deserts," said Michael Kobrick, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission project scientist at JPL. "NASA is working to combine the Aster data with that of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and other sources to produce an even better global topographic map."

NASA and METI are jointly contributing the Aster topographic data to the Group on Earth Observations, an international partnership headquartered at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, for use in its Global Earth Observation System of Systems. This "system of systems" is a collaborative, international effort to share and integrate Earth observation data from many different instruments and systems to help monitor and forecast global environmental changes.

NASA, METI and the U.S. Geological Survey validated the data, with support from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and other collaborators. The data will be distributed by NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center at the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science Data Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., and by METI's Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center in Tokyo.

Aster is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched on Terra in December 1999. Aster acquires images from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, with spatial resolutions ranging from about 15 to 90 meters (50 to 300 feet). A joint science team from the U.S. and Japan validates and calibrates the instrument and data products. The U.S. science team is located at JPL.

For visualizations of the new Aster topographic data, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/20090629.html .

Data users can download the Aster global digital elevation model at: https://wist.echo.nasa.gov/~wist/api/imswelcome and http://www.gdem.aster.ersdac.or.jp .

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

L.A. from space: New view from JPL and NASA [Updated]
LA Times 30 Jun 09;

In collaboration with agencies in Japan, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has put together a topographical map that covers 99% of the Earth's land mass, a more complete map than was previously available.

"We've got everything except a very small part of the South Pole and the North Pole," said JPL's Michael Abrams, the U.S. science team leader for the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission Reflection Radiometer project, also known as ASTER. "We're able to cover Alaska, Greenland, northern Asia and Antarctica."

The resolution is so clear that you can plainly see Dodger Stadium and other landmarks in pictures of Los Angeles.

The most complete previous set of topographical data, collected by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in 2000, included about 80% of the Earth's landmass. Because the space shuttle had a limited orbit, the radar-imaging device missed land masses above 60 degrees north and 57 degrees south in latitude.

ASTER, which started collected images in visible and infrared light nine years ago, rides aboard Terra, a satellite that is part of NASA's Earth Observing System. Its orbit enables it to collect images up to 83 degrees north and 83 degrees south in latitude and also gives it a better angle to collect data in steep mountain areas, Abrams said. The infrared instrument also collects more thermal data than previously available, he said.

The ASTER images are meant to complement the radar images, Abrams emphasized. The shuttle radar instrument has some pictures ASTER could not get because radar can penetrate clouds, which perpetually obscure some tropical areas from ASTER's sight.

Scientists recently realized they had more than 1 million scenes, enough to create a global topographic map, Abrams said. The data was released Monday, free to the public. ASTER's images have a resolution down to 50 feet, which is enough to detect houses, but not so fine as to see the shape of the house or what people are doing in the house, he said.

Scientists have already used the satellite instrument to calculate changes in the width and height of glaciers, but Abrams said he could also see a host of commercial uses for the new data. He said cellphone companies could use the new maps to scout sight lines for new transmission towers and Google could probably easily incorporate the new data into its maps.

[Updated at 8:50 a.m.: According to NASA, the cost to produce the instrument was $800,000, with the U.S. space agency contributing half.]
--Jia-Rui Chong

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