Shark Populations Dropped 71 Percent Since 1970
February 01, 2021
FILE - A scuba diver swims near a whale shark as it approaches a paddleboat off the beach of Tan-awan, Oslob, in the southern Philippines island of Cebu, March 1 2013. (REUTERS/David Loh/File Photo)
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Scientists have known for decades that the numbers of some shark
species are decreasing. But a new study shows just how severely worldwide populations have dropped in the past 50 years.
The numbers of oceanic sharks and rays fell more than 70 percent worldwide between 1970 and 2018. The information comes from a study that appeared recently in the publication
Scripps Explores Connections between Diversity and Science in New Lecture Series | Scripps Institution of Oceanography ucsd.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ucsd.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
On a nighttime dive on a spectacular shallow reef in Cozumel, Mexico, underwater photographer Robert Stansfield spied something in the inky darkness he had never seen before: a tiny, transparent fish with bright markings, devilish eyes, and a gaping mouth full of needle-sharp teeth. Blown away, Stansfield quickly snapped a photo and began a mission to figure out exactly what he had seen.
Stansfield reached out to OGL collaborator Simone Rossini, professional research diver and Divemaster at Careyitos Advanced Divers, to see if he knew anything about the fish. Like Stansfield, Rossini was baffled by the bizarre creature. So, he did what researchers often do: he searched for experts. Rossini sent the photo to OGL’s director Dan Distel, who passed it along to a chain of experts that eventually stretched from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego to the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. All weighed in to try to solve the mystery.
Atmospheric river storms can drive costly flooding – and climate change is making them stronger
Tom Corringham, University of California San Diego
Posted On
31 January 2021
Atmospheric rivers deliver rain to California in 2017. NASA
Ask people to name the world’s largest river, and most will probably guess that it’s the Amazon, the Nile or the Mississippi. In fact, some of Earth’s largest rivers are in the sky – and they can produce powerful storms, like the one now soaking California.
Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of moisture in the atmosphere that extend from the tropics to higher latitudes. These rivers in the sky can transport 15 times the volume of the Mississippi River. When that moisture reaches the coast and moves inland, it rises over the mountains, generating rain and snowfall and sometimes causing extreme flooding.
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