Water & Oceans

"It’s among the wettest places on the planet, but shifts in rainfall, invasive grasses and a housing shortage are driving a wildfire spike on the islands."

"The United States and Mexico are tussling over their dwindling shared water supplies after years of unprecedented heat and insufficient rainfall."

"The receding water is affecting wildlife and could send arsenic-laced dust into the air that millions breathe".

"Up to 100 turtles and 20 dolphins have washed up dead on Sri Lanka’s beaches in the past month, as experts fear a link to the leak of toxic chemicals from a sunken freight ship."

"Just as vacationers head to the coast to beat the July heat, a new study offers a bit of caution: 82% percent of the almost 300 Gulf Coast beaches that recently underwent water testing were found to have potentially unsafe levels of fecal bacteria."

"A Houston oil company that grew into one of the largest producers in the Gulf of Mexico before going bust last year is planning to abandon hundreds of oil wells and pipelines it acquired over the last decade, potentially adding to the fast-growing tangle of neglected oil and gas infrastructure off the Louisiana coast."

"The hellish blaze that erupted in gulf pipeline operated by Mexican state oil firm Pemex was reportedly extinguished after several hours."

"An oil pipeline fire in the Gulf of Mexico was reportedly brought under control and extinguished after a hellish scene of massive flames erupting directly from roiling waters Friday.

The blaze west of the Yucatan Peninsula broke out at an underwater pipeline that connects to a platform operated by Mexican state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) at its flagship Ku Maloob Zaap oil development in the southern gulf, Reuters reported.

"As Tropical Storm Elsa closed in on Cuba early Monday morning, tropical storm warnings were expanded across Florida ahead of the storm's projected U.S. landfall around midweek. Tropical storm warnings are in effect across the Florida Keys and along the west coast of the peninsula from Flamingo northward to Englewood."

"New research reveals a positive feedback loop with negative consequences linked to lower springtime humidity across an already parched landscape."

"Part of the Arctic is nicknamed the “Last Ice Area,” because floating sea ice there is usually so thick that it’s likely to withstand global warming for decades. So, scientists were shocked last summer when there was suddenly enough open water for a ship to pass through."