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Welcome to the latest newsletter from the Bridge Marine Science Group. Our aim is to bring you news from around the world and keep you updated with current affairs. We hope you enjoy reading and invite you to visit our website for the full texts.
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Record CO2 Levels |
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 The latest readings from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii indicate that CO2 levels in the atmosphere have reached their highest levels in the past 650,000 years. The data, reported in the Guardian (13 May, 2008), shows that levels have risen 40% since the start of the industrial revolution. Overall CO2 levels appear to be accumulating faster than expected and the trend is accelerating. Readings show that atmospheric CO2 concentration is currently 387 ppm (parts per million).
This atmospheric rise coincides with a weakening of natural carbon sinks, including the worlds Oceans. Climate models have assumed that about half of the CO2 released by human activity would be re-absorbed by forests and oceans, but their capacity to absorb appears to be declining. Climate scientists and environmental groups consider that the situation is only going to get worse until something is done about human CO2 emissions.
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Water Treatment by Electrochemistry |
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 A North Wales based company, Aquacure, is pioneering an electro-coagulation system of waste water treatment. Several years of testing of the systems and techniques they have developed shows great promise in the removal of contaminants such as arsenic, heavy metals and phosphates. Reducing levels of such contaminants in discharges to water courses and the coastal environment could have positive impacts on coastal water quality and levels of eutrophication. Trials of the system with major commercial companies are proving very effective in the removal of contaminants from product waste streams.
One selling point of the technology, reported in the publication Advances Wales, is the ability to treat large volumes of water from a piece of equipment with a small footprint. Successful applications of the technique have already been made in the field and include the treatment of water to drinking standard during applications in Portugal.
Read Full Article (May 08, Newsletter)
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Worlds Third Largest Oilfield ? |
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 The announcement last month of what could be the Worlds third largest offshore oil field is continuing to generate interest. The Guardian (16 April, 2008) reports that the newly discovered Carioca field off the coast of Brazil could hold 33 billion barrels of oil. Petrobras, the Brazilian State Oil company that made the discovery in partnership with BG, is expected to make an official estimate in the near future.
Petrobras has rapidly become a world leader in deep water oil exploration and production. Most of its operations take place in deep water areas and regularly at depths of up to 2000m. The news of the find has been greeted with some relief by world economists and energy consumers, many of whom remain worried by recent pronouncement that world oil production has peaked and will henceforth head into steady decline. However, there has been some debate over the exact size of the new find. Sources close to the exploration companies say that it is too early to put a figure on the size of the reservoirs.
Ironically Brazil has a strong bio-fuels industry, originally instigated to cut its net import of oil. Bio-ethanol is now produced widely from crops such as sugar cane and all vehicles in the country must use a bio-fuel mix.
Oil Rig Image © BigStockPhoto.com |
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